It really shouldn’t be a surprise that I give the side eye to any skincare products that try to sell me on healthier, more glowing skin. As a teenager, I was conned into a torturous beauty routine that involved scouring my face furiously with jagged bits of apricot pits, then dabbing on glorified rubbing alcohol, which promised a “tingle” that was more akin to a four-alarm blaze. So I’ve spent most of my adult life doing the bare minimum for my face—a quick cleanse with a very boring (but dermatologist approved) drugstore cleanser, a slathering of sunscreen (not as religiously as I should, at least until a few years ago), a little moisturizer, and a very occasional sheet mask as a fun “spa day” self-care ritual with my daughters.
My Gen Z daughter, on the other hand, has created a skincare routine worthy of a TikTok beauty influencer, with multiple products imported from Korea, twice-weekly masks, and tools to ensure a seamless application. Her skin has that celebrity glow, without a lick of makeup applied. But could putting a little more work and adding a lot more product into my beauty routine do something to revive my decades-older complexion and give me a little bit of that dewy magic? I decided to take her skincare regimen for a test drive to see.
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What My Daughter’s Skincare Regimen Involves
Based on what I saw when my daughter broke out her big skincare basket, I think Gen Z is likely to be wrinkle-free well into their 70s. I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of the skincare ingredients we see dermatologists recommend over and over again represented—hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and retinols, just to name a few. And she’s also already slathering on high-quality sunscreen daily.
Here’s her daily skincare routine:
Double Cleansing She starts out with an oil-based cleanser, which is applied to dry skin, then uses a water-based cream cleanser after she rinses the oil-based cleanser away.
Phyto Enzyme Peeling Pads My daughter had a bit of acne in her teenage years, but this is what she uses on her cheeks and forehead to help keep blemishes at bay.
Niacinamide Serum Applied once daily to help brighten her skin.
Facial Oils She’s currently out of them, but has used them to moisturize, along with a gua sha stone to massage her skin.
Related: How to Use a Gua Sha Routine to Depuff Your Face and Brighten Your Complexion
Sunscreen or Moisturizer She uses a high-SPF sunscreen in the morning and moisturizer in the evening.
She’s also far more diligent about incorporating face masks into her routine, using two per week: a sheet mask that suits whatever her skin needs in the moment and a clay mask.
What Happened When I Tried the Gen Z Skincare Routine
After a very elaborate (and super fun) show and tell, it was time to embark on my new routine. For a full week, I dedicated myself to scrubbing, swabbing, and softening my face following her prescription. Here’s what I learned:
I needed to make some tweaks to make her skincare routine work for me
Obviously, there are differences between what 20-year-old skin needs vs. 50-year-old skin, and though I tried all of her products at least a couple of times, some of them seemed a little too harsh, and I swapped in more age-appropriate versions that worked for my skin. I traded in the peeling pads for a hyaluronic acid and squalane toner that I’d gotten as a Christmas gift and used intermittently since, and I swapped out her second cleanser for my favorite standby after a few tries. I also used my own anti-aging sheet mask vs. her anti-blemish version.
Related: This Is What Skin Concerns Look Like at Every Age (20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and Beyond)
I’ve fallen in love with the double cleanse
To be honest, the double cleanse was the part I was most skeptical about—sort of like the “rinse and repeat” shampoo directions, which just seemed like an attempt to get you to go through product way faster than necessary. But using an oil-based cleanser seemed to soften my skin well beyond what my usual cleanser and moisturizer combo could achieve.
Gen Z has a few cool tricks up their sleeves
I always love learning a new hack—like my daughter’s pro tip to use a gua sha to gently press a sheet mask more firmly onto your face. (I hate the way they always feel like they’re about to slide off, and this solved that problem!)
My skin definitely became “younger”
My skin felt a bit softer and glowed a bit more. And as the week ended, I developed the most obvious sign that I had turned back time on my face—a big fat pimple on my chin. (Maybe it is time to break out an enzyme peel after all!)
I probably need to do a little more to help my skin along
I think it’s time to trade in my low-maintenance skincare routine for a more mid-level engagement. Adding in an anti-aging toner and more frequent masking—especially if I have my own personal Gen Z skin-care expert by my side—seem like doable additions to my skincare regimen, and I may be stealing her oil-based cleanser more often (or buying my own). Maybe I can’t get a redo on my bad teens and 20s skincare—and I definitely can’t recreate my daughter’s glow on my own skin—but a little more effort will clearly go a long way toward maybe getting mistaken for an elder Millennial on the street. And I’d consider that a major win.
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