What’s with all the detoxes lately? They’ve infiltrated our diets, our minds, our bathtubs, and our skin-care products. If you haven’t embarked on a digital detox, then you may have caught Javon Ford, a cosmetic chemist, as he tries to talk sense to the beauty-obsessed on TikTok and Instagram. His videos are fact-filled and yet addictively watchable, which is an achievement in itself. This month, for Air Mail Look, he analyzes the ubiquity of the detox.
Detoxing the skin is a scam!
If there are toxins in your skin, your skin will get rid of them. If there are toxins in your body, your body will get rid of them to the best of its ability. Most Americans drink, and the liver does a great job of removing toxins from your body. I mean we don’t stay drunk. Alcohol gets metabolized in the liver.
Your body works on its own. Drinking a smoothie or applying a product is not going to remove the toxin any faster.
There are some exceptions. If you ingest heavy metal poison, you have to get what’s called chelation therapy, but you’re not supposed to be eating poison in the first place.
I know some exfoliants call themselves ‘detoxes,’ but they’re not removing toxins; they’re just removing the upper layers of the skin. Let’s say toxic pollution is on your skin. Washing your face and exfoliating twice a week is all the detox you need. That will encourage your skin to increase cell turnover, which will reveal a newer layer of skin underneath.
A mineral bath is not going to do it. Definitely not. Skin detox is not a thing.
Javon Ford is a Los Angeles–based cosmetic chemist
