What Beauty Rules Do You Always Break?

This story was originally featured in Youngish, our new beauty newsletter for women who aren't old, but aren't exactly young either. Sign up here for weekly updates.

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Who here likes rules? Judging by PureWow’s top performing stories, many people seem to like them very much—especially as they pertain to trying a new fashion trend or a skincare regimen.

Perhaps we can chalk it up to decision fatigue? As adults, we’re bombarded with so. many. choices throughout our days. Particularly around scheduling. Good God, I hate scheduling. Hey, big tech. I don’t need a ChatGPT song lyric generator. If I’m using AI for anything, I want it to schedule my dentist appointment for me.

Anyway, back to having rules. I get their appeal. As humans we prefer to think in binaries. Good vs bad. Right vs wrong. In vs out. Slay vs nay. (Did I just Google, “do people still say slay?” Yes, I did, and the answers were divided. Shocker.)

But deep down, we all know that life is messier than the neat compartments we crave because we’re human. We are inconsistent and error-prone by nature. I certainly am.  

For every rule I’ve ever written about as a beauty editor—and there are many—I have broken most of them. Repeatedly. Here are a few that come to mind:

• I don’t wash my face every single night.
• I always pick at my pimples.
• I don’t floss every single day.
• I often pick off my gels or press on nails.
• And this is the one I’m most ashamed about: I rarely reapply my sunscreen. I’m trying though.

Which brings me to my last point, rules can be good for some general guidance, but please let go of any guilt you may feel about not following them to a T. Let’s not sweat the small stuff y’all—nor judge others for their choices. I write about beauty for a living and if I’m too tired to properly wash my face tonight ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ I’ll do better tomorrow.

Do you guys have any beauty rules you always break? If so, I’d love to hear them. As in, please email me at youngish@purewow.com so I’m not the only pimple picker on blast here.

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