A Wren Says

I have been using Barbara Sturm’s Darker Skin Tones Discovery set for over a month. Well, the full regimen for a month. For an additional month (probably more) I have been using the cleansers alone or the moisturizers alone. I think at this point I can give a review. Please read the whole thing.

It made me not enjoy skincare anymore.

Hear me out.

I decided to try the line at all because I had developed some hyperpigmentation on my cheek, due to acne scarring. The line was designed to target that issue, that is common in people with darker skin. (By darker skin, I think they mean above the shades of white that many brands cater to. This is a large spectrum of brown.)

 The full kit contains trial sizes of the darker skin tones line of the face cream, the face cream rich, hyaluronic serum, enzyme cleanser, and the foam cleanser. I previously reviewed the hyaluronic serum. I found I had a better experience with it than I had with such products in the past, but it was not magic. The tiny bottle ran out pretty quick, and I still had all the other products to work through.  

Well, I didn’t notice a change in my cheek, and I didn’t notice a difference in pore size either, which was another claim. What I did notice was drier skin. I’m not talking the usual dry patch on my cheek. It is possible that I didn’t see any fading because my skin didn’t feel healthy enough to heal, being so dehydrated. I mean the edges of my nose were dry, flaky, and irritated. Granted, I still wear a protective face covering nearly daily, but I had that habit in the time before I was using the kit as well. And also, my forehead, that was dry, too. It didn’t matter if I was using the face cream, the rich version, or even put an oil on top. It was just always dry, and I hated it. I also experienced my irritated skin getting more irritated, despite the ingredient purslane, which is supposed to be soothing.

Now here is a huge disclaimer. Remember, I have dry skin. My dry skin, though melanin-rich, was probably not supposed to use this product. Even though this is marketed to darker skin tones (with a strong push toward Black consumers specifically), it is not for all dark skin. I bought this from a different site, but when I went to the Dr. Barbara Sturm site for this project, I saw that it very specifically says that it is intended for oily skin. That language is not on any of the retail sites I checked. So, I can’t really fault the brand. (But I will because they do send the language to retailers. Please fix that.)  While I did not have a good experience, I refuse to write the brand off when I was using a product that was not designed for my skin type.

I get the importance of developing a target market, but I think marketing this line as for darker skin tones, the net was cast both too wide and too narrow at the same time. These products provide an option for oily acne prone skin. Lighter people with that skin type will probably not consider these products because of the packaging. And while I appreciate the inclusivity, darker skinned people like me with dry skin are going to get swayed into getting the wrong product and have a bad first experience with the brand. It should probably be for just for oily, acne prone skin, regardless of how light your skin is. (I do see that this is what they recommend on the site’s routine finder for oily skin. So I guess I’m right.) Maybe they will change the branding and find other ways to build inclusivity into their business practices.

Because I clearly tried the wrong product, I will not write the brand off. I had previously tried a sample of the vitamin c serum, The Good C and liked it. I would be willing to try that and more dry skin friendly products from them. All of the models and celebrities who love the brand can’t be wrong, right?

Final thoughts: If you have oily, acne prone skin, definitely try this. If you have dry skin, though darker, maybe pass. It’s available from Dr. Barbara Sturm, Nordstrom, Mr. Porter, and other fine retailers.