The Outline's "The Skincare Con"

Submission 3,973

Overview

The Outline's "The Skincare Con" refers to an article published in The Outline which argues against the merits of skincare products, concluding they are a scam attempting to sell women products based on an unattainable ideal of "perfect skin." The piece generated many responses on Twitter, which in turn led to people making jokes about the various hot takes on skincare.

Background

On January 30th, 2018, The Outline published a piece by Krithika Varagur called The Skincare Con."^[1] The piece argues that modern skincare products purport to encompass vague concepts like "all-natural beauty" and "no-makeup-makeup," ideas which mean to be pretty without the use of noticeable makeup. Furthermore, the piece cites studies from dermatologists which claim basic items like moisturizer have unclear benefits. Varagur quotes stories from doctors and the subreddit /r/SkincareAddiction which find people overusing skincare products with harmful acids, essentially turning their faces into a giant open wound. Varagur concludes that investing in skincare is a waste of money with the ultimate aim of attaining an unattainable ideal of "perfect skin."

Developments

Quickly, the piece generated strong reactions from Twitter. Many Twitter users were unhappy with the piece's assertions. Twitter user and Allure magazine editor Sam Escobar tweeted^[2] that the piece reiterated an older argument against makeup that states women only use makeup to please men rather than their own enjoyment, gaining over 150 retweets and 690 likes (shown below, left). Writer Alana Massey countered the piece by tweeting^[3] an excerpt of a piece she wrote which frames skincare as a ritual of femme generosity and empowerment, gaining over 120 retweets and 490 likes (shown below, right). Buzzfeed^[4] compiled the range of Twitter reactions to the piece that day. Racked^[5] wrote a piece defending skincare in response to The Outline article that day.

As debate and criticism circled around the skincare article, Twitter users parodied the debate by offering parodies of hot takes about skincare. For example, Twitter user @nopoweradeinusa^[6] tweeted a joke about skincare and his foreskin, gaining over 530 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @leyawn^[7] created a joke about his take which gained over 700 likes (shown below, right).