Whenever I tell people that skincare and the beauty industry are two of my biggest passions, it’s often met with a perplexed look. The reaction doesn’t surprise me anymore — after all, men have been conditioned to believe that caring for your skin and putting your best face forward is ‘feminine’ and therefore emasculating.
But I never believed that rhetoric or bought into it. For as long as I can remember, looking after my skin has always been a badge of pride for me. My earliest memory of beauty was my mother teaching me the importance of moisturising every day and having a consistent routine, like applying lip balm and then vaseline jelly on top before bedtime.
Then when I hit my teenage years, my interest in skincare catapulted into an obsession. During these transformative years, I experienced every skin condition you can imagine: severe acne, excessive oiliness, scarring, hyperpigmentation, dryness, flaking, eczema, and itchiness. You name it — I experienced it all. Many days and nights were spent trawling Reddit forums, YouTube tutorials and playing trial and error with new products every day.
In hindsight, making my face ground zero for testing every skincare product under the sun wasn’t the best idea. But it was throughout this time that I amassed my own repertoire of knowledge around skincare and beauty. While I loved an innovative beauty product more than the next person, what I was more fascinated with was how skin acts when exposed to different ingredients, formulations and climates. What made our skin tick, and why does it function the way it does?
I’ve kept all of this knowledge in my head, only taking it out whenever friends, family or work colleagues asked for my insight.
Until now.
I created Skin School as a library of sorts, designed to educate anyone who needs a little helping hand when it comes to the often overwhelming world of skin, skincare and the beauty industry at large.
To me, looking after your skin and putting your best face forward shouldn’t be biased towards one gender. Skincare is for everyone.
At Skin School, the four pillars we stand by are:
Inclusivity
Diversity
Education
Inspiration
It is our mission to deliver on these values through content that goes beyond the clickbait articles that are unfortunately predominant in online media. Alongside the knowledge-based articles and user reviews (because who doesn’t love a good beauty review?), Skin School will explore our identity and connection to our skin, examining the very definition of what ‘beautiful’ is through personal essays, thought pieces and of course, sound advice straight from the experts.
I hope Skin School serves you well.
So without further ado, let’s talk about everything skin.
Aleczander Gamboa, Founder & Editor of Skin School
