Skincare Across the Ages: From Nivea to Niacinamide

 There I was, shivering my way back home after dropping my little one off at school. The cold wind bit at my cheeks, making me wish I'd layered on more than just a thin coat of moisturizer. As I hurried along, I overheard two teenage girls animatedly discussing their skincare regimes. Words like "hyaluronic acid," "niacinamide," and "double cleansing" flew around with the same ease as if they were talking about their favorite Netflix shows. I couldn’t help but smile and drift back to my own teenage years—a time when my skincare routine consisted of splashing some cold water on my face and hoping for the best.

Back then, the closest thing I had to a skincare regime was occasionally swiping some of my mom’s Nivea cream when the winter winds made my cheeks as chapped as a pair of old leather shoes. It was a simpler time. There were no multi-step processes, no serums, and certainly no influencer-endorsed products. The height of sophistication was knowing which bar of soap didn’t make your skin feel like the Sahara.

As these girls chatted about their favorite K-beauty products and the benefits of retinol, I couldn't help but chuckle. The most exotic thing I ever put on my face was probably a cucumber slice, which usually ended up in my salad rather than on my eyes. And let’s not forget the occasional dabbling in some zit cream that smelled like a chemical lab explosion. Ah, the memories.

It’s fascinating to see how times have changed. These teens have access to a world of information at their fingertips, while I was blissfully ignorant of the intricacies of skincare science. I mean, who knew that vitamin C wasn’t just something you drank in orange juice?

However, despite all the advancements, I like to think that we had our own kind of charm. We might not have had flawless, glass-like skin, but we had personality. And isn’t that what truly counts? That’s what I’ll keep telling myself, anyway, as I browse through an online store wondering if I should finally give that hyaluronic acid serum a try.

As I neared home, I left the girls to their conversation and hurried inside, feeling a little wiser and a lot more nostalgic. Sure, the beauty industry has come a long way, but some things never change—like the universal desire to look and feel our best, no matter what age we are.

And who knows? Maybe one day, these girls will overhear the next generation discussing their skincare holograms and teleportation facials and will find themselves smiling, just like I did, reminiscing about the good old days when all they needed was a trusty tube of sunscreen and a dream.