Explanation: You’ve probably heard of the 10-step routine, it’s one of the biggest trends we’ve seen in the “skincare world”. It comes from South Korea and encourages you to develop a skincare routine that includes everything from creams, serums, spray serums, micellar water, double cleansing, essences and face masks. A long routine may give the impression of a better and more advanced routine for your skin, but multiple products can actually mean the opposite.

When you use multiple products, it also means that you get a lot more of the less good substances for your skin, i.e. preservatives, perfumes, dyes, stabilizers and more glycols. Since the skin's immune cells are located superficially in the top layer of the skin (epidermis), they can easily react to substances that come into contact with the skin. Overexposure to various substances that are primarily there for the sake of the product to keep it fresh for a long time (such as preservatives) can hurt rather than help the skin.

Explanation: This is a fairly common myth, but researchers on the skin's barrier function say no to this. The more water we drink, the more we pee. What works to hydrate the skin are moisturizers in creams that instead bind and replace the water in the skin when it dries out.

Good moisture-binding ingredients to look for are: sugar (e.g. glycerin, sorbitol, xylitol or erythriol) or urea, ectoine, N-acetyl glucosamine which is the building block of hyaluronic acid, Pre-, post- and probiotics have also been shown to provide good hydration.

Explanation: It is much more important to consider the season than the weather on a particular day. The UV index varies mainly with the season and time of day. Other factors are weather and the thickness of the ozone layer. During the summer, the UV index in Sweden is usually 4–7 and during the dark season between November and February below 2.

In the summer at the Mediterranean, the UV index is high or very high, between 7 and 10, and at the equator, extreme levels higher than 10 can occur all year round. In Sweden, the sun is highest in the sky at the summer solstice in June. This is also when we are exposed to the greatest amount of UV radiation. Between November and January, the sun is so low that UV radiation is marginal.

In other words, there is a big difference between summer and winter in our latitudes. Using a skin cream with sunscreen every day, all year round, is therefore unnecessary. During the summer months, when the UV index is high, it is recommended to use sunscreen (in the form of cream or clothing) even on cloudy days.

Explanation: Oily skin is often associated with slightly larger pores and more sebum production. This can in some cases lead to blackheads, which can be both white and black. A common misconception is that oily skin is dirtier than normal skin and therefore needs to be washed more. The black pore has nothing to do with dirt, but instead contains oxidized melanin, which is black in color.

In November 2018, a team of dermatologists from the School of Medicine at New York University published an article analyzing fourteen studies on cleansing for acne patients, involving a total of 671 test subjects. The results showed that excessive cleansing does not lead to improvements in acne-prone skin.

However, it may be worth reducing sebum production and accelerating skin cell renewal to reduce the risk of clogged pores. This can be done with ingredients such as niacinamide, zinc retinol and various acids in low concentrations, e.g. lactic acid, lactobionic acid or salicylic acid2.

Explanation: What we often associate with natural today is what is taken in finished form from nature. It can be natural oils or butter from sunflowers or coconuts. I would say that the most natural thing is to use the fats that are already in the skin and that the skin is used to.

The skin does not produce sunflower oil, olive oil or shea butter, but it does produce substances such as squalene, ceramides, cholesterol, triglycerides and many different fatty acids. This unique composition of substances has been attempted by many skin care manufacturers, partly by using natural oils that contain interesting lipid compositions, and partly by isolating individual substances from the oils and using them in other formulations. The skin simply feels best with substances that it is used to and that are natural to the skin.

Akdeniz, M., Tomova-Simitchieva, T., Dobos, G., Blume-Peytavi, U., & Kottner, J. (2018). Does dietary fluid intake affect skin hydration in healthy humans? A systematic literature review. In Skin Research and Technology . https://doi.org/10.1111/srt.12454

Gillbro, J. (2019). The Skin Bible . Bookmark.

González-Muñoz, P., Conde-Salazar, L., & Vañó-Galván, S. (2014). Allergic contact dermatitis caused by cosmetic products. In Actas Dermo-Sifiliograficas . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adengl.2014.09.007

Park, ME, & Zippin, JH (2014). Allergic contact dermatitis to cosmetics. In Dermatologic Clinics . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.det.2013.09.006

Zaragoza-Ninet, V., Blasco Encinas, R., Vilata-Corell, JJ, Pérez-Ferriols, A., Sierra-Talamantes, C., Esteve-Martínez, A., & de la Cuadra-Oyanguren, J. (2016). Allergic Contact Dermatitis Due to Cosmetics: A Clinical and Epidemiological Study in a Tertiary Hospital. Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas (English Edition) . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adengl.2016.02.022