Your routine is doing too much

Don't worry, we can help...

There’s a lot of (unnecessary) discourse in the skincare world about skin type. Oily, Dry, Combination. We’re not fans of categorizing skin this way because it implies that skin is static. There is one skin type however that we are on a mission to support—Reactive Skin.

If you’ve ever had the unfortunate experience of being there, then you know exactly what we’re talking about. Skin that’s been through too much. The industry used the impossible standard of textureless skin to sell physical and chemical exfoliants of all kinds. Most of these are just not good for your skin’s health. When you pair the desire for poreless skin with unanimous encouragement by the industry to use highly concentrated Vitamin C and Retinol in addition, you’re creating a literal cocktail for barrier disruption. Attempting to mitigate this disruption is how we arrived at the 10 step routine in the first place. These extended routines contain equal parts aggressive actives and soothing products that promise hydration, moisture, and ingredients that even sound calming.

This logic is commercially convenient and biologically backwards. Your skin is a living ecosystem with its own regulatory intelligence. You disrupt that ecosystem easily when you treat your skin like a passive surface waiting to be optimized through outside action. 

Your skin barrier—the stratum corneum —functions as a coupled system with your skin's microbiome. That’s the community of bacteria, fungi, and microorganisms that live on the surface. A balanced microbiome regulates immune response, controls inflammation, maintains hydration, and protects against pathogens. When it's healthy, your skin is resilient. When it's disrupted, everything becomes harder. Products sting and breakouts increase. Suddenly, your ‘soothing’ toner feels like an astringent and your heaviest moisturizer feels like a water cream. Since the industry indoctrinated you to the idea that products fix skin problems, you start trying to replace what you believe are the culprits of your skin’s cries for help.

And so begins a potentially endless cycle of chasing what you once had, before you flew too close to the exfoliation sun. We don’t believe in making moral judgements on the aesthetics anyone might choose to pursue. Similarly, we’ll never tell you what you should or shouldn’t buy. We’re here to present the facts from our POV. The difference between the Human Care perspective and Big Beauty’s is that we’re here to advocate for you and for a better system overall. If and when we’re enjoying profits, it’s because doing what we believe is right led us there.

We want to offer an off ramp from the break/fix skincare that keeps you buying and them profiting. We formulated the MILO Trio for the balance achieved when your skin is getting everything it needs. Our formulas are gentle enough that if you choose to add something else, you’ll be starting from a strong and resilient base. We’re here to support you in building the routine that works for you. Whatever leaves you feeling full instead of depleted.  

Our goal is to start a conversation while demonstrating our values through unique products and unique action. Big Beauty has a lot of practices we need to unpack and we’re ready to talk when you are. Let’s start being honest about what the industry runs on and how deeply entrenched it is in our broader social landscape. That’s the discourse we need right now.