(Skin)
The Ultimate Skin Care Routine â For Your Butt
Way back in 2017, Madonna famously touted the benefits of butt masks. âDonât you want soft skin on your butt? Donât other people look at your butt? Your butt has an audience! I encourage it,â the iconic singer exclaimed to the New York Post as the world collectively raised an eyebrow. But this is Madonna weâre talking about â of course she was ahead of her time. Today, butt masks are trending with the masses, making it easier than ever to pamper yourself like the Queen of Pop.
Even if your derriere doesnât have the audience of, say, a butt-baring superstar, it canât be denied that all women deal with fun issues in this area every once in a while. âThe most common problems for the buttocks area are acne and hyperpigmentation,â Dr. Aanand Geria, a dermatologist with Geria Dermatology in New Jersey, tells TZR. Sure, you probably have a few sheet masks in your collection designed to treat these same exact concerns â but it turns out, the skin on your backside is not the same as the skin on your face.
âThink about the difference between the skin on the neck or around the eyes and skin in the armpits or groin area,â adds board-certified dermatologist and founder of SkinTour.com, Dr. Brandith Irwin. âSkin is thicker on the booty than around the eyes, for example. In addition, glands are paired with hair follicles and the amount of hair makes a difference. And what about jeans and pants rubbing, and all the sitting we do? Booty acne or irritations needs a different approach.â
âThe skin on the body, in general, is much less forgiving than the face because there are fewer pores (hair follicles) which contain stem cells,â Dr. Geria explains. âThe latter is important for our skin in terms of repairing damage â this is why wounds on the face heal so much better than those on the body.â He says that pimples and scarring on the butt will stick around longer than blemishes on the face. Unless, of course, you treat your tush to its very own skincare regimen.
Booty-specific products typically contain active ingredients at higher concentrations than you would normally use, or stronger exfoliators to penetrate thicker skin. For example, the ground walnut shell in Aneseâs That Booty Tho scrub is likely too rough for the face but works wonders on your other set of cheeks. The same can be said for the exfoliating orange peel extract in Bawdyâs Slap It mask â itâs strong, so itâs not something youâd necessarily find in facial skin care.
âI have had butt cryotherapy, butt facials, and I have been taking care of my butt daily,â Sylwia Wiesenberg, the founder of Bawdy Beauty, a brand that specializes in sheet masks for (you guessed it) the butt, tells TZR. âI donât know what my butt would look like today without all of this â I should have done one cheek only [when I started] â but at 40, I feel fabulass!â If thatâs not a glowing endorsement for a regular back-end routine, I donât know what is.
Jokes aside, Bawdy is serious about butt care. For starters, the brandâs sheet masks are perfectly shaped. âI tried regular face sheet masks on my butt and they left me with visible outlines of a mouth, nose, and eyes,â Wiesenberg laughs. âPlus, I needed two of them â so the economics donât work, especially when you focus on quality masks.â Bawdy also only uses clean, natural ingredients that address common backside problems: Aloe leaf fights acne, orange peel exfoliates, and chamomile has antibacterial properties to fight butt breakouts.
âSince the buttocks is particularly prone to acne, because the pores are blocked all day long due to sitting, scrubs can be helpful,â Dr. Geria says. Reach for Anese That Booty Tho scrub to gently buff away dead skin cells and help eliminate any behind blemishes. âBe careful not to scrub more than once or twice a week, as this can cause irritation,â he warns.
The dermatologist also recommends looking for a booty mask with sulfur or clay to absorb excess oil and buildup (like Anese Down With the Thickness), as well as inflammation-fighting and skin-brightening ingredients (like the goji berry and caffeine in Bawdyâs Slap It mask) to ensure even tone and texture.
For a post-shower treatment, Dr. Irwin recommends an acne gel with 10%+ benzoyl peroxide. âI like Topixâs Glycolix Facial Cream (it works well on the body, too). You can purchase other benzoyl peroxide treatments at most drugstores, no prescription is needed.â She also notes that these products can sometimes stain your clothes, so apply them at night and consider skipping the pajamas.
If a firmer, plumper rump is what youâre after, Dr. Geria says to be wary of masks that claim collagen will help. âUnfortunately, collagen in a skin care regimen is useless, since the molecule is too large to penetrate through the skin into the dermis,â he explains. However, you may see results from "plant-based collagen," a substance made from plant matter that mimics the real thing and helps your body replenish its own collagen stores. High doses of hyaluronic acid (found in Nannette de GaspĂ© Uplift Revealed Tush Mask) can make the skin in this area look plumper, too.
While the butt mask craze may seem like itâs putting more pressure on women to look perfect in every way, Wiesenberg sees it as a celebration, instead. âThe butt, to me, is the most beautiful muscle in your body, the most powerful one too â the stronger it gets, the faster you run, spin, and squat,â she says. âSo I decided to make butt beauty matter; to make women [love] the part of their body they criticize the most.â
As far as the logistics of applying and removing these sensitively-placed masks? Follow Madonnaâs lead: âPut it on, you lay down⊠Maybe you can ask your significant other to remove it for you.â
Ahead, the must-have masks, oils, and lotions that are making #bootybeauty happen.
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