She has over 9 years of experience writing about fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being, translating medical research and expert insights into practical advice readers can trust. Tavishi Dogra is a Deputy Chief Content Producer, Health & Wellness, at Hindustan Times.
Skincare was supposed to be self-care. Somewhere along the way, for much of Gen Z, it became a second job. It emerged from content. Social media rewards visibility and process, so a five-minute routine does not perform as well as an elaborate one filled with serums, essences, ampoules, and multiple layers of actives.
The 12-step routine did not emerge from dermatological need.
A gentle cleanser ; a moisturizer suited to your skin type; sunscreen without exception; and one active ingredient introduced at a time, only if your skin actually needs it. “In my clinic, I increasingly see young patients walk in not with a specific skin concern, but with fatigue. This is what I call beauty burnout, the exhaustion that comes from treating skincare as a performance rather than a practice,” Dr Noopur Jain, Founder & Consultant Dermatologist, Skinzest, Gurgaon, tells Health Shots . “I see this most in patients who describe anxiety around missing a step or guilt after using a product out of order. That is not skincare. That is a compulsive loop dressed up as self-care, and it deserves the same attention we would give any other compulsive pattern, not just a dermatological fix. Everything beyond that should be need-based, not trend-based, and ideally guided by a professional rather than an algorithm. “The larger cultural shift I would like to see is a redefinition of what taking care of your skin even means. It is not the number of products on your shelf or the minutes spent on your routine each night. It is whether your skin is functioning well and whether your relationship with it feels calm rather than anxious. It has needed protection, patience, and more time alone than social media would have you believe. It is a barrier to protect. The moment your routine starts costing you peace of mind, it has already stopped being skincare.
They are tired of maintaining routines that stretch to 10 or 12 steps, tired of tracking which serum goes before which essence, and tired of feeling like skipping a step is a personal failure. That is a complete routine for the overwhelming majority of people under 25. Skin has never needed 12 steps to be healthy.
What I tell my Gen Z patients, and what I would tell any parent watching this from the sidelines, is that skincare should feel almost boring,” says the dermatologist. If there is one thing I would want the beauty burnout generation to hear, it is this: your skin is not a project to optimize,” says Dr Jain.
