Can customised skincare replace a multi-step routine?

“Do I need more products?” was my first thought when I was invited to try out Forest Essentials’ skincare customisation service late last year. It’s not as intense as my parasocial bestie Hudson Williams’s lineup, but I do have 20 products on rotation based on my skin and patience to slap layers on to my face at the time. My skincare routine is already customised. Cica and ceramides for stressy, annoyed skin. Acids and tret for the night. Caffeine extract and sun protection for the day. Serums, cleansers, essences, creams. I did not need more products.

There is no cure for greed (beauty girls will corroborate), and soon I found myself filling out a basic skin assessment form that the good people at Forest Essentials had sent across. The next day I was sitting across Dr Taruna Yadav, senior Ayurvedic doctor and consultant at Forest Essentials, on a Zoom call for a dosha consult. During the course of our conversation, which covered everything from the kind of food I enjoyed eating to my period and my skin concerns, Dr Yadav revealed the result of my Ayurvedic personality test: I was Pitta-dominant.

Pitta is a combination of the elements fire and water and is characterised by strong digestion, an energetic personality, and natural leadership (my mother is scoffing somewhere). According to Dr Yadav, it is also at the root of my skin’s tendency to bloat and freak out without a moment’s notice. She suggested a few tweaks to my diet—avoid spicy, sour, fermented foods, coffee, and deep-fried snacks (ignored, sorry); drink jasmine tea and jeera-ajwain water for water retention (10/10 recommend); drink amla juice mid-day (bought amla and forgot).

The rest of her suggestions for my Pitta-afflicted skin were sent off to the FE HQ, where they set to work making a custom moisturiser and essence. Her recommendation was a mix of cooling Ayurvedic ingredients like vetiver, aloe vera, and gotu kola (centella asiatica), and healing actives like azelaic acid, plant-based squalene, and ceramides to tend to my moody skin.

After a couple weeks’ wait, my bathroom shelf had its new inhabitants. And they arrived perfectly timed with an excruciatingly long and busy January, when washing my face felt like an achievement. The rest of my lineup mostly ignored, I spent three minutes every morning and night pat-pat-patting the essence and cream on my face like the influencer on IG taught me to. I regretted not having the aptitude for a career in influencing. I dissociated. The red rash on my neck calmed down a bit. Someone told me I looked dewy when I felt dead inside.

The notable thing about the whole process was that it’s the opposite of how we’ve become used to consuming now—it’s slow and intentional. Before the products could reach me, I had to talk about my day, my diet, my skin, and what I wanted to address. In return, I was given solutions for not just my reactive skin but also the things in my body that make it that way. Also, bit of a flex having “Customised for Ridhima” casually printed on your daily skincare, no?

Overall thoughts? I may never stop hoarding skincare, but at least for days when multiple products feel daunting, I know a couple that will still do the job.