Skincare & Rejuvenation

We hardly need to say that beauty comes in many forms. For some, beauty is elevated with makeup; for others, it lies in clean, fresh, radiant skin. But for everyone, beauty comes from within. Beauty means something different to every woman. When it comes to skincare, no two routines are ever exactly alike, but skincare is also an expression of self-love and self-empowerment. On this day celebrating women's equality, let's explore beauty in all its forms.

Beauty and self-care

Skincare isn't only about improving the look of your skin. For many women around the world, skincare is self-care and self-love. Whether it's a five-minute mud mask or a whole day at a luxury spa, this time spent caring for yourself is precious and beautiful.

That's why women have devoted themselves to these rituals for thousands of years. Upper-class women in ancient Rome favored an overnight mask called tectorium, which could be washed off with milk in the morning, or scrubs made from olive oil, rinsed with clean water, and scented oils from cedar wood, myrrh resin, and saffron. Women in modern West Africa may love a fragrant moisturizer made from shea butter, an extract from Africa's shea tree. Whatever form the routine takes, women everywhere find opportunities to spend time caring for themselves. It's the simplest form of self-love, though for the busy lives of modern women, self-care can be as easy as it gets.

Skincare shapes identity

Skin is a map of each woman's history, individuality, and way of life. Laugh lines, wrinkles, sun spots, and stretch marks are all the result of years of laughing, working, creating, and growing. We might trace a woman's life story through her skin, but we can also learn plenty about a person by looking at how she cares for it.

Many researchers have found that women around the world adapt their skincare routines to their lifestyles, so they can keep beautiful, healthy skin no matter what the world throws at them. For example, in rural China, women protect every square inch of their skin, which means it wrinkles more slowly than average, even though they work outdoors nearly year-round. Like these women, women everywhere use skincare to care for their health, embrace their femininity, and shape their identity, at any age.

Ancient recipes connecting generations

In many cultures, self-care is what ties women of different ages together. Some skincare methods are so deeply rooted in history that they've become expressions of identity. The use of spices in skincare is a clear example. For women in Indonesia, turmeric and other cleansing spices are turned into natural scrubs, rich in cleansing, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Women in Myanmar grind a wood called thanaka into a paste to protect their skin from the sun. Beyond protecting the skin, this ancient formula also decorates the face with various patterns.

For these women, and women everywhere around the globe, these recipes and skincare methods are passed down from mother to daughter, empowering women across generations.

The ways humans care for their skin may differ from continent to continent, country to country, even family to family, but its importance is understood the world over. For every woman, pampering and caring for the skin is a source of individual identity, protection, and self-care. From soaps and serums to moisturizers, cosmetics, and supplements, all of it is self-care that says so much about who we are, both as women and as individuals. On this day of women's equality, we celebrate the diversity of skincare, products, ingredients, and skin types, which together make up beauty in all its variety.