What Is Glass Skin? How To Achieve The Look.
You’ve probably seen those ladies with skin that shines from across the room. And you’re thinking to yourself “is she sweating?”. “Is she covered in so kind of greasy substances?”.
No, sis. That’s what we call, Glass Skin.
You know the type of skin I’m talking about. The dewy, silky smooth, shine like the rays of 1,000 suns type of skin. The flawless, ‘I woke up like this’, ‘how does she do it’ type of glow.
Is this not the skin we all want? Maybe you do not care for the shine, but with the Glass Skin Routine, the shine is inevitable, and guaranteed to have you and others saying WOOOOOW when they see your natural glow.
So What Really Is Glass Skin?
Photo by: Audrey M Jackson, Unsplashed
If you have never heard this term, let us catch you up to speed.
Imagine our beauty routines here in America multiplied by 100. Korea has given us the foundation for glass skin with their product specific order and routine. There’s levels to this Glass Skin game, but we will get to that in a moment.
Alicia Yoon put it like this, “Glass skin is when your skin is at its very healthiest”.
Who wouldn’t want their skin to be its finest? This routine is just one of the many steps to a strikingly clear complexion. Don’t forget about not only what goes on the body, but also what goes into the body.
The first step will probably have you shook, because depending on your skin type, you might think this step will make things worse.
Who Is Glass Skin For?
Honestly, if you have skin that you want to improve, this is for you. Maybe the steps will differ depending on your melanin, but rest assured, this is for YOU.
What does that mean? Typically, the Korean Glass Skin steps include products that may not be suited for our brown sugar babes (A.K.A. our brothers and sister with brown skin).
Some of the products we tried, like the rice flour exfoliator turned out to have bleaching properties to the skin.
Not everyone is so comfortable with the bleaching properties of the products in the routine, but to each his or her own. We tailored our routine to fit any skin type, tone, or texture. You can decide if it is good for you to use any chemical exfoliator or bleaching products.
For the sake of the blog, let’s go with natural, non-bleaching products that can be used even on sensitive skin like Eczema.
Steps To Glass Skin
- Oil Cleansing Action
Yup, you hear us right. Double Cleansing. But the first wash is with oil. OILLLLL (in my Soulja Boy voice)….You’re kidding, right? Please hear me out. We are going to give it up to Korea, again, for introducing this method to us. Our skin’s lives have been changed forever. And if you or someone you know has eczema, read closely to find out how you can find relief with this step.
So, it sounds crazy, but oil is one heck of a cleanser when attracting other oils and impurities. Imagine the oil in your pores all lodged in there, gross, and yucky from the day. Then imagine a superhero oil that comes in and sweeps all that gunk out ever-so-gently, revealing soft glowing skin after the first round. That’s what this step does, singlehandedly. But it isn’t just any oil. You want the perfect blend of oils that will cleanse and moisturize without adding too much weight back into the pours.
PRO TIP: only oil cleanse on dry skin. If your face and neck are wet, it won’t attract the oils and dirt correctly. Find Oil Pull Cleanser Here
- Your second cleansing will be with actual soap. This step is important and soooo satisfying because it reveals baby soft, hydrated, and refresh skin. We found with testing that our BLK Foam Cleanser gives such a rich lather with only 3 pumps, that it can get all the oil up in one wash.
This is a special one because often times, people claim that their soap is authentic Raw African Black Soap, but you have to be certain based on the color, smell, and feel of the soap. We do not recommend that you play around when it comes to your skin, so go for the authentic stuff, always. We got you covered in that area.
Enjoy this step, make a foam soap beard, have fun with it. The oil sucks up the soap, then when water is reintroduced it lather as if someone is pouring extra soap from above.
- Please exfoliate. This step is so overlooked that it is a shame. How is your skin supposed to reflect off of the sun if it is covered in layers of dull, dead skin? If talking about dead skin cells is a trigger, I will keep it PG.
You need to exfoliate. Earlier in the blog we mentioned chemical exfoliation, which may be necessary depending on your situation. We recommend you talk to a spa, aesthetician, or dermatologist about what chemical exfoliation looks like. You need to be as safe as possible with this step. Always do your research.
But let’s talk about manual exfoliation. This where my Eczema brothers and sisters get the cheat code.
A big issue with eczema is the buildup of extra unnecessary skin. We constantly break out, heal, then peel naturally. For normal people, you do not see it, it happens microscopically. But for us Wolverine folks (because we can heal so rapidly LOL) we need to manually force away those old cells. Hence the itching. Read closely…
Get yourself some microdermabrasion scrub. That’s just a fancy word for a scrub that removes dead epidermal cells by way of tiny crystals. The right scrub, like the Ruff Buff Scrub, will have a mixture of dry textures that will exfoliate with small, medium, and large sized crystals to help reveal the new skin we are after.
PRO TIP: Instead of scratching or pick old scars, use this scrub to itch your scratch. You don’t break your skin and after the oddly satisfying event is over, your hands and body will be silky smooth. Be a bit gentler when using this on the face.
- This next step we combine into one with such a powerful product, you will be screaming TAKE MY MONEY! If you want to break this step up, go for it. Tag us in your results!
You will need some type of essence/toner to add to your routine. We wanted to see if an essence would work better alone, or if we paired it with a serum formula what the results would be.
Toner essence, like a hydrosol, is awesome. It evens the complexion and rebalances the pH of the face and neck. But for our foundr’s dry, Eczema prone skin, she needed more. So she went to the lab and combined the essence with the ingredients for a serum and came out with a creation like no other. The texture is so rich and thick, we had no other idea what to call it beside Gold Face Goop.
This product is formulated for the gods. Combined with some of the finest ingredients available, this product brings the power of Colloidal Gold, Hyaluronic Acid, and Vitamin C, to name a few, together to cool down the skin after the harsh exfoliating.
Yup, we did that. We put gold into a serum because after testing, we see the rapid healing power and capabilities of this ingredient.
So you got your toner and serum combined into one product, cool.
- After all of that hard work, you will want to moisturize. A.B.M….always be moisturizing. This goes for my Eczema brothers and sisters and really, anyone with skin. Men, women, children, aliens lol…MOISTURIZE YOUR SKIN. Do not do all this work just to walk out of the bathroom dry, ashy, or chapped. You want to put these products on in the proper order for optimal absorption. This is called Skin Care Layering. Layer these products IN THAT ORDER IN THAT ORDER…(that’s a Momma Dee reference) .
So, you want to seal this all up with moisture. Again, not every moisturizer is the same so you will want to find one that is naturally powerful enough to do multiple things. For instance, you can use the Body iCing as a thick moisturizer, but you can also dab it around the eyes as your eye cream. This is an important step, but the most powerful results come from products that do multiple things with seamless absorption.
- Finally, if you plan to go outside, you need a sunscreen. Yes, brown skin girls and boys, you too. Our melanin allows for protection from those UV rays, but when you exfoliate, like we did 3 steps ago, you remove layers of the skin. You want to protect that new layer with even a mild SPF…SPF 30 seems to go well from us brown beauties. If you have fairer skin, you will need a stronger SPF.
To recap, Glass Skin if for everyone, you need the right products to achieve the look. And be patient. Do this daily for the best results and always do your research. We only recommend products we have tried so you can rest knowing we care about the results and test it on ourselves first.
Now go out there and get your GLOW on.