We Made Our Dads Try Our Skin Care Routines and Here's What Happened

Moms are often the source of beauty inspiration for gals from a young age, but what about Dads? Sure not all of them are savvy on the latest-and-greatest skin care products on the market—or know the specific differences between them—but that’s what beauty-obsessed daughters are for, right? With Father’s Day right around the corner, two Skincare.com editors challenged their Dads (who admittedly aren’t very familiar with the beauty sphere) to take on their respective skin care routines for one morning. Read on to discover what happened!

JESSIE QUINN

When it comes to skin care, my Dad sticks to the bare minimum. And by bare minimum I mean, he sometimes uses body lotion when his skin is dry and he maybe splashes his face with water in the morning. Needless to say, his routine—or, lack thereof—could use some major help in the product department. Enter: me and my 10-step skin care routine. Now, typically I can't convince my Dad to try a new product to save his life but for the sake of this assignment, he decided to humor me and try out multiple products from my daily routine. Since I didn't want to overwhelm him with ten different steps, I stuck to my version of "bare minimum" with cleanser, serum, moisturizer, and sunscreen.  

The first step in my skin care routine is cleansing. For this step, I decided to introduce my Dad to the benefits of micellar water. I typically use this product pre- and post-workout to remove makeup and cleanse my complexion of dirt and impurities (when cleansing my skin at home, I prefer the double-cleanse method... but that's too fancy for Dad). Upon application, my Dad asked me many times over, "Are you sure I don't have to rinse this off?" I don't think he was fully convinced that a skin care product could call for so little commitment.. Next up: serum. I like to switch my serums depending on my skin concerns at that moment. My Dad has dry skin, so we stuck with a hydrating facial serum to nourish and soothe his complexion. After serum comes moisturizer. This is where I got to school my Dad in the importance of using the right moisturizer for your skin type. We went with a day cream that’s lightweight, fast-absorbing, and hydrating. Last, but certainly not least, is sunscreen... and another lesson about the importance of daily sunscreen application. We went with a lightweight, Broad Spectrum sunscreen that was easy to reapply and small enough to fit in his work bag for touch-ups throughout the day (much like the one I carry in my purse!). 

The takeaway from this experiment? Daughters know best. Just kidding! In all honesty, spending time with my Dad, showing him some products I love, and sharing the knowledge I've acquired about skin care over the years was more fun than I could have imagined. Although he still thinks some—read: many—of the products I use are unnecessary, he liked the ones that I showed him and promised to never use body lotion as a facial cream again. Progress! 

KATE MARIN

My Dad is a very minimal guy when it comes to skin care. He’s a surfer so he’s frequently exposed to UV rays, and he shaves his facial hair daily for work. For as long as I can remember, my Dad has been using the same drugstore shaving cream and disposable plastic razors, and he’s not one to willingly apply traditional skin care products like cleanser and moisturizer. To put things into perspective, I bought him a body lotion eight years ago and it’s still under his sink (and for sure it’s expired). He does use sunscreen regularly, but typically only applies it on his face. I, on the other hand, use about eight products on my face every morning and up to ten at night. A compromise was clearly necessary, so I narrowed his routine down to four basic products— cleanser, toner, serum, and moisturizer formulated with SPF—for this assignment.

To start things off, I gave my Dad a gentle exfoliating cleanser that always leaves my combination skin feeling smooth to the touch. (He has combination skin like me.) I told him to focus on massaging the cleanser into areas that are prone to excess grease, like the T-Zone for example. Next, I poured a quarter-sized amount of toner onto a cotton round —after explaining to my Dad that it’s not just water—to help balance his skin. I stuck with a gentle mineral-rich toner. For serum, I gave my Dad a lightweight blend formulated with hyaluronic acid to help plump the appearance of his skin with hydration and smooth the look of wrinkles and fine lines, as well as help soften and moisturize his skin. Finally, we finished with a fast-absorbing moisturizer formulated with Broad Spectrum SPF to help keep his skin protected from harmful UV rays. Who knows if he’ll keep up with this routine, but I’m glad he was open to taking a little extra time to give his skin the attention it deserves.