If you’re looking to establish or enhance your skincare routine, relevant information isn’t hard to find. Dozens of companies are incorporating it into their approach, and a significant portion of what they present and cover has value, even if it’s mostly product-oriented and biased.
But getting comprehensive skin health info is an entirely different matter. As someone who’s constantly on the hunt for accurate information that’s easy to access, digest, and absorb, I can testify firsthand that it’s a lot harder than it looks.
Which is why the new MasterClass series on skin health should definitely be on your watchlist. It’s a “must-see” series that will increase your skin health knowledge and improve your skincare routine.
The MasterClass approach
Let’s start with an overview. The MasterClass series consists of 21 short episodes, along with one longer one. The episodes are narrated by four different skincare experts, each offering a slightly different perspective.
There are three dermatologists — Dr. April Armstrong, Dr. Michelle Henry, and Dr. Shereene Idriss. The fourth is Ron Robinson, an award-winning cosmetic chemist who also founded BeautyStat, which has built a noteworthy cult following.
They definitely take a direct approach to skincare. To get an idea of how direct, consider these quotes from the trailer. Henry and Idriss offer blunt statements right out of the gate, leaving little room for doubts as they tackle an especially controversial subject.
“There’s no such thing as a healthy tan,” Henry declares. “Tan is a skin’s response to damaging UV light.”
Idriss quickly follows with another zinger. “And so sunscreen can prevent up to 90 percent of your skin’s aging,” she adds, then expresses a frustration that doubtless affects nearly all dermatologists. “Just wear the damn sunscreen.”
Her summary of the series is just as blunt. “No fluff, no BS,” she previews. “[It’s] skincare facts straight from dermatologists.”
The topic list is impressively long and targeted
On-screen personalities aside and fluff-free quotes aside, the goal of these experts remains the same throughout. They’re out to increase the skin health knowledge of their audience, and to give simple tips to establish or improve skincare. Their presentation is refreshingly free of specific product pitches, which is part of the reason your learning curve will be so high if you watch.
The short list of topics illustrates the comprehensiveness of this series. It includes building daytime and nighttime skincare routines, cleansing and moisturizing, vitamin C, exfoliation, and so on. The more advanced material covers topics like peptides, understanding acne, and skin cancer, so no stone stays unturned when it comes to skin health.
The key takeaways are especially telling
While most short lists of takeaways for a series like this lean toward superficial and shock value, the list for this one is downright startling:
- The truth about sunscreen: SPF 100 is a myth—most countries cap at SPF 50 for a reason
- Skin cancer is the wake-up call: Every tan is a sign of skin damage
- The real cost of skipping exfoliation: We shed 10–12 grams of dead skin daily
- Moisturizer 2.0: Meet polyglutamic acid—5x more hydrating than hyaluronic acid
- Menopause & collagen loss: Why we lose up to 30% of our collagen within five years
- The pinch test: How to tell if your skin’s truly hydrated
Plenty of highlight episodes
By now, you’ve probably guessed that there are plenty of highlight episodes, but there’s a caveat with these. Yours will depend on what you already know about skin health and skincare, not to mention what you’re looking to learn. The basics are thoroughly covered, and the fact that most of these episodes are just over five minutes long makes them especially easy to digest and use.
Another factor that makes this series entertaining is that virtually all the episodes include at least one factoid or point that even skincare veterans may not know. The scripts are extremely well-written, and the delivery of all four experts is both professional and watchable. It’s a little like watching an updated series of TED talks, minus the upfront emphasis on personalities that tend to dominate the world of TED. The videos are also far more focused than most YouTube videos and podcasts, which tend to wander all over the skincare map.
How to get the MasterClass Skin Health series
Purchasing this particular MasterClass series comes with a series of caveats involving the MasterClass membership structure. For starters, a membership is required.
You’ll pay a minimum of $10 per month for the lower level of membership, and there are two higher levels available, depending on how many devices you want to be able to use and whether you want to be able to access the classes offline. You can cancel any time and there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee — cancellations take effect after the current billing period — which means you could get the series for free if you’re especially, um, thrifty.
Don’t do it. There’s far more to this membership than just the skin health series. MasterClass subjects cover a lot of ground, from A&E, science & tech, business, and so on.
The skin health series is more than worth the investment, and you’ll find yourself wanting to go back and access this information again, especially when it comes to the guide section for products. At least some of what you’ll learn will likely last a lifetime if you’re serious about skincare, which we all should be as much as possible.
