It seems as if in a single day, everybody on #beautytok has added slugging to their skin-care routines. For the newly initiated, slugging refers back to the skin-care strategy of slathering a heavy occlusive, like petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline), because the final step of your nighttime skin-care routine to lock in moisture and hydrate the pores and skin. It gives wonderful water retention and hydration, leaving your complexion wanting supple and bouncy. Slugging additionally works to revive the pores and skin barrier and is a preventative in opposition to floor water loss.
Apparently, in contrast to most TikTok developments that stick round for a number of weeks, max, this one appears to be right here to remain. Pores and skin-care manufacturers like Jouer and Loops are embracing slugging, a lot in order that they’ve included slugging merchandise into their new launches. And it doesn’t cease there: Starface founders Julie Schott and Janet Park lately launched Futurewise, a skin-care model devoted solely to slugging—one other indication that this pattern isn’t going away anytime quickly.
The Slug Life
Regardless of slugging’s latest recognition on social media, it’s really been round for hundreds of years. The hydration methodology was first found by the Native American Seneca tribe within the fifteenth century and has since been handed down by way of generations inside completely different cultural communities and turn into a Okay-beauty mainstay. Furthermore, it has been used as an efficient methodology to restore the pores and skin barrier and supply hydration for very dry pores and skin in dermatology for many years.
Pores and skin slugging, as per the specialists, gives a mess of skin-care advantages. “If the pores and skin is dry, slugging may restore a number of the pores and skin’s pure moisturizing components, locking in hydration, defending the pores and skin’s barrier, and sustaining pores and skin integrity and elasticity,” says Jodi Logerfo, DNP, a nurse practitioner in New York. “Slugging might also assist enhance the indicators of getting older, like nice traces and wrinkles, as a result of it may possibly assist easy and plump up the pores and skin.”
The issue with slugging, warns Julie Russak, MD a board-certified dermatologist training in New York Metropolis, is that it’s not acceptable for lots of pores and skin sorts.“You probably have oily pores and skin, acne-prone pores and skin, or seborrheic dermatitis, you shouldn’t be slugging,” she says. “Should you’re utilizing retinol in your skincare routine or when you’re utilizing exfoliating acids, slugging will seal them in and may result in irritation.”
Nonetheless, the observe could be significantly useful within the case of dry pores and skin with a broken-down protecting barrier. “When the pores and skin is sealed with an occlusive barrier comparable to Vaseline or Aquaphor because the final step, it helps the lively substances in serums or moisturizers to penetrate into the pores and skin higher. It additionally decreases transepidermal water loss,” says Dr. Russak
Slugging goes past Vaseline
Whereas Vaseline is mostly used for slugging, it isn’t formulated particularly for facial pores and skin. So increasingly manufacturers are creating slugging merchandise which can be extra cosmetically elegant than their predecessor.
Christina Zilber, the founder and artistic director of Jouer Cosmetics, has been slugging since her mom taught her to place Vaseline beneath her eyes within the Nineteen Eighties and lately launched Luminize In a single day Darkish Circle Slugging Balm ($30), a darkish circle slugging balm. “I believed Jouer may supply a extra fashionable method by incorporating substances that concentrate on particular under-eye points, comparable to vitamin Okay and caffeine for darkish circles and puffiness,” she says. “I additionally felt as if there have been stronger substances than petroleum, Aquaphor, or Vaseline to supply occlusive advantages, so we’ve loaded it with shea butter, jojoba seed oil, sunflower seed oil, and extra.”
One other widespread problem with Vaseline is that it may possibly get very messy. Meg Bedford, the CEO of Loops, needed to resolve that downside, so the model launched Dream Sleep Nighttime Slugging Face Masks ($7 to $35), the primary hydrogel sheet masks particularly designed for slugging. “With a layer of the first-of-its-kind Slugging Serum delivering nourishing pure oils, nutritional vitamins, and antioxidants to your pores and skin in a single day, Dream Sleep works to seal, hydrate, and plump your pores and skin when you dream, making it each a practical barrier in addition to an lively serum doing the work when you sleep,” she says. “In simply ten minutes, earlier than you drift off to sleep, you let the masks do the work, and it gained’t depart any mess in your pillow like different occlusives.” It incorporates lively substances comparable to bakuchiol, ceramides, and niacinamide, which promote cell turnover, improve elasticity, defend in opposition to free radicals, brighten, and fortify the pores and skin.
And although sure TikTok developments come and go, Futurewise has banked its whole model on the idea that slugging is right here to remain. “We had been engaged on the model for some time, and definitely, the thought took place a very long time in the past, and it wasn’t one thing we determined to create due to the virality,” explains Futurewise co-founder Janet Park. “Slugging is a observe that basically works and is backed by historical past and medical professionals. We had been very considerate about creating high-quality merchandise that might stand on their very own other than any pattern. And if something, the virality isn’t even doing justice to the efficacy of the method, which is why now we have created a ton of content material to assist educate individuals.” The model has three merchandise, and you may get all of them—Slug Enhance, Slug Cream, and Slug Balm—in a $66 package. This energy trio incorporates humectants, emollients, and occlusives that work collectively to deeply nourish and revitalize your pores and skin, restoring its pure steadiness and offering intense hydration
Cocokind lately launched the Ceramide Restoration Balm ($22) and it’s full of a mix of pure substances like ceramides, squalane, and vitamin E to nourish and strengthen the pores and skin barrier in a single day whereas locking in moisture. Ceramides “assist protect the obstacles of the pores and skin and lock in moisture in addition to defend the pores and skin from pollution,” Sheel Desai Solomon, MD, a Cary, NC dermatologist beforehand advised Nicely+Good. For these allergic or delicate to petroleum jelly, this balm is freed from fragrances, preservatives, and different doubtlessly dangerous components, making it a extra pure and mild choice for these with delicate pores and skin.
It is going to be attention-grabbing to see how the observe of slugging evolves and is included into new skin-care merchandise as extra individuals uncover its advantages. As with every skin-care approach, searching for skilled recommendation is at all times a good suggestion when you’re uncertain about what’s finest on your pores and skin.