The next frontier of inclusive beauty is unfolding, with a rising tide of skincare brands made specifically for complexions of colour.
In early 2023, I had a full face freak-out that made me feel helpless and sent me into hiding. The stress of moving across the province and away from my hometown of Toronto, with the added pressure of becoming a first-time homeowner, unleashed a relentless barrage of blemishes on my face, with dark spots to match. No one welcomes a breakout with open arms, but as a woman of colour, I try extra hard to stop a pimple in its tracks because I know that its aftermath involves my ultimate nemesis: hyperpigmentation.
“Hyperpigmentation is any deviation from your baseline,” says Dr. Renée A. Beach, founder of Toronto’s DermAtelier on Avenue. “Skin gets injured, and melanocytes — melanin-producing cells in the bottom layer of the epidermis — go into an overdrive response, where they produce more colour.” From a breakout to a bug bite, anything that causes inflammation or irritation can trigger the development of dark spots, which are notoriously hard to get rid of, especially for those with melanin-rich skin.
“Melanin is a factor in everyone’s complexion,” says Beach. “It determines the pigmentation on our face, around our nail beds, in our lips and in our hair.” But there are different pigmentation types and ratios found in lighter and darker skin tones. And that factor impacts the epidermis in a few ways, including how breakouts heal. My dark-spot-riddled complexion was a major blow to my self-esteem at a time when I was meant to be enjoying farewell visits with friends and family and snapping memories along the way. Today, my confidence has recovered but my skin hasn’t; the evidence of that trying time still lingers via post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
It’s an epidermal experience that Eadem co-founder Alice Lin Glover knows well. Before starting the brand with Marie…
Read the full article here
