
The Best Skin-Care Trick: Be Rich - coloneltcb
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/01/skin-care-secret-wealth/579337/
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timerol
I think the article misses the point slightly, in a way that I notice a fair
amount. A better title would be "The Best Skin-Care Trick: Spend Money". I
often notice that we talk as if there is this magic group of "rich people"
that has enough money to spend on anything and everything, instead of a bunch
of people that spend various amount of money they have (or don't have) on
things that they want.

Famous or Just Rich, or taking on debt to try and make it as an Instagram
model?

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TaylorAlexander
The largest group of money spenders also happen to be rich, because rich
people disproportionately represent money spenders.

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tomsthumb
Rich people disproportionately represent spent money might be more accurate.

“Rich people” is a relatively small category of money spenders.

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TaylorAlexander
That’s fair.

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rthomas6
Wow, talk about correlation != causation. Being attractive increases your
likelihood of being wealthy. You know what else is good for your skin? Lower
stress, something else correlated with high incomes. People who are wealthy
also tend to take better care of themselves, via healthy diets, adequate
hydration, and enough sleep, which the article mentions as also helping skin
health.

There is no effort to exclude these confounding variables in this article, or
even that the aforementioned expensive skin treatments do anything at all. Or
that the rich people even use these treatments. All it says is that only the
rich have access to these treatments, and therefore that's why their skin
looks better.

You could just as easily write an article with the title "The Best Trick to
Get Rich: Have Good Skin".

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anbotero
During my childhood I lived in the most exclusive and with the (actual) most
rich families of my hometown. I think, in fact, the factors you mention make
it for better skin than using skin-care products.

I say this because in retrospective I remember a lot of the girls there did
NOT use makeup of any sort, and they had beautiful, almost perfect skin (some
with acne, but the skin itself was smooth), compared to my sister or any of my
girl friends at school (living among the richest doesn’t mean I was). I lived
there for 14 years, but studying the change between my neighbours and my
friends (and myself) at school, wow, the difference was incredible.

Even these days, no matter how hard they try, I can pretty much all the time
distinguish if a person really comes from rich backgrounds or not, by their
skin and their voice tone/accents (no matter how hard some people try).

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toufiqbarhamov
Two things strike me about that article. First, a lot of those treatments and
creams are known bullshit. A _lot_ of beauty products are, and paying more for
them isn’t proof against that. Second, it almost feels like a submarine
designed to get people convinced that the products really do work, and if they
just spend money on them they can look rich beautiful too.

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yayana
Yes, I think it is trying to imply the causation that the industry wants to
enforce.

I would posit that people who had time and money for (undeniably) damaging
treatments of ancient times also had wealth and better skin.

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conductr
Anecdotal but I have long noticed a correlation between money and “skin care”
at the spectrum of middle class level. In high school and college when I was
dating a lot, the girls with the best acne control/make up regiment we more
often to live in a better neighborhood so I assume richer family. I’m sure
there’s some social component of their mom dresses up nice, cares about looks,
and has passed that down.

Now I’m married now and know the costs of maintaining my wife’s face. It’s not
cheap at all. A few hundred dollars a month at MAC. And she doesn’t really do
much extra in terms of serums/lotions/spa but I think she does buy premium
makeup (not luxury). She’s fairly “basic” in her needs but enough to be girly.
It just adds up quick and it doesn’t last long.

Hair cuts and shampoos and nail care are also pretty big expenses. Probably
averaging another 200-300 a month.

Dang. I’ve never added it up like this. This is crazy! So my wife’s grooming
costs about $500 a month.

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rococode
I think the correlation between money and skin is also partly due to factors
like diet and lifestyle. The more money you have the more you can afford to
eat healthier foods, keep a regular sleep schedule, spend time on regular
exercise, etc, which I feel are all components of good skin.

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pulisse
In addition to the factors you mention, there's also freedom from chronic
stress.

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lenticular
The only proven medication to reverse skin aging is humble, generically
available Retin-A (or other retinoids). Surgery is available only to the rich,
but that carries the risk of winding up with a strange, uncanny valley face.

edit: I really attribute more of the difference in appearance between rich and
poor as due to lifestyle as opposed to any fancy spa treatments. The poor are
more likely to drink more, smoke more, and be overweight. I imagine sunscreen
use is much lower as well. All of these factors absolutely do contribute to
poor skin.

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romeoEtJoliet
There's more to skin-care than skin aging - some women struggle with acne for
hormonal reasons and as a side effect, blemishes.

Sunscreen is also incredibly useful to prevent sun damage, and moisturizers
can prevent deep lines later in life.

None of which is to say that people need to spend an arm and a leg on skin
care products, but finding skin-care that works for you might be costly

(e.g., finding a moisturizer that is light enough for daily use, a daily
sunscreen that doesn't make your face look metallic from zinc, a non-
prescription retinoid available in a container that won't oxidize readily).

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lenticular
That's true. Although Retin-A is the most effective topical acne medication as
well. Aside from some medical moisturizers with urea, the most effective
moisturizer is just Vaseline (I say this as a person with extremely dry skin
and many problems resulting from that). It prevents the evaporation of water
effectively. For the most part, moisturizers are only as effective as they are
greasy.

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blang
> None of them mentioned Mzia Shiman, who tends to the skin-care needs of
> Victoria’s Secret models. The facials at her New York spa start at $200, and
> more advanced services offer tightening and plumping via LED light bed or
> electric microcurrent.

How sure are we that these $200 treatments do anything and aren't just snake
oil? I feel that the reason why Victoria's secret models skin looks great has
a lot to do with when you see them. You see them in professional photos most
often. These photos benefit from:

1) Skilled photographers 2) Skilled make up artists 3) Perfect lighting 4)
Photoshop

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rthomas6
Also them being picked to be VS models because of their good skin.

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webmaven
At the age models break into the industry (often mid-teens), many women have
decent enough skin (and after they get their break, they can afford to
maintain an effective skincare regimen).

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cascom
newsflash: rich people have better access to _______, making them more likely
to _________, what are the implications for people who can't afford _________
and what should the _______ industry do about it?

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5trokerac3
> To play, all you have to do is notice a person and try to decide if they’ve
> caught your eye because they’re famous. It will feel like they’re famous.
> But more often than not, it’ll just be a regular person who looks like a
> celebrity, with that polished glow they always seem to have.

One of the first things I noticed after leaving SoCal was how rare it was to
see a plastic surgery disaster - something that's a daily occurrence there.
Most times I saw one I thought, "is this a B-list celebrity that jacked up
their face?"

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maxxxxx
That's something you notice immediately when you get to places in Southern CA
like Santa Barbara. People look super healthy. Part is probably weather but
part is certainly money.

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cascom
Personally i think its the accessibility of year round outdoor activities
(surfing, biking, etc)

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TaylorAlexander
The area is known to be very image focused. I think a culture of people who
believe you must be a certain kind of physically attractive to be worth dating
is a huge reason.

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megaman8
I find it hard to believe that skin products actually change your skin
quality. My wife has been applying all kinds of creams and products to her
face half an hour or more every day for decades. We're the same age and our
skin quality is pretty comparable.

Now, she does look a lot better when she's wearing makeup, that stuff really
works when it comes to hiding minor imperfections especially from a distance.

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atombender
Yes, there are absolutely skin products that improve the skin. If you read the
article, they mention tretonoin (originally marketed as Retin-A), a retinoid,
is frequently used as a skin rejuvenating agent. It has genuine medical uses;
softening fine lines is a happy side effect more than anything. It's a
prescription cream. There's also urea (also called carbamide), niacinemide and
many others that modify skin biology in subtle ways. As the article mentions,
many of the beauty treatments are in fact not creams, but things like laser
treatments.

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barryparr
One reason rich people tend to look better than the rest of us is genetics:
the only reason the rich marry out of their class is for physical beauty.

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Scoundreller
> Even if you forgo high-tech treatment and avoid skin problems such as cystic
> acne or dermatitis, which Saxena notes usually require intervention from an
> expensive dermatologist

Iunno, I think most family doctors should be capable of taking a first or
second attempt at treating these.

And what the heck is broader than dermatitis?

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momentmaker
Some skin care products are marketed as luxe products yet don't product any
results.

People think higher the price, the more effective it is. That usually isn't
the case in skin care industry.

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njarboe
Best Skin-Care Trick: Have Good Genes and a Few Good Habits.

