2016年4月19日星期二

I Tried Dry Skin Brushing So I Could Be Fancy AF

I brushed my skin and I liked it. Kind of.

BuzzFeed

Dry skin brushing is a thing that cool, fancy people do. You take a brush, and instead of brushing something like hair, your teeth, or an animal, you brush your skin. All over your body. This is what cool people do to make their skin nice, and I wanted in on the action.

I've always wanted to be a fancy person. But I'm not. I don't have a "skincare routine." I don't own any products with "serum" in the name. I don't spritz my face with a gentle rosewater mist when I'm on an airplane. I wish I could be that person, but I'm just so, so lazy.

But I wanted to try this skin brushing thing. Fancy beauty bloggers rave about it. They lured me in with their claims that dry brushing benefits your overall health— by "improving circulation," "helping remove toxins from the body," and "reducing the appearance of cellulite."

I asked New Jersey dermatologist Dr. Marc Glashofer about the alleged health benefits associated with dry brushing. He said there is no scientifically validated medical benefit of dry skin brushing when it comes to claims like removing toxins from the body and decreasing cellulite.

"Though dry brushing has become increasingly popular, actual benefits are unclear," Dr. Glashofer said. "And there is not much research to back up any related health claims."

Technically all we know for sure about skin brushing is that it exfoliates the skin. Even if other benefits are unproven, I want to be fancy, so I decided try it out. I bought a brush specifically labeled "skin brush." It's not all that different from a loofah, but "skin brush" sounds like something a serial killer would own.