An Esthetician's Go-To Tip For Bad Skin Days — No Product Required

Even as a beauty director who spends much of her time obsessing over skin care, products, and a slew of experts' best tips, I am no stranger to bad skin days. I regularly wake up with a blemish (or three!), dark circles, and the occasional rosacea flare-up that leaves me feeling less than ideal. On those days, I reach for a skin care treatment—or my trusty concealer to cover up whatever I'm feeling self-conscious about. 

But according to holistic esthetician Hayley Wood, there's another item I should be reaching for: a photo. 

In the moment—like, say, when we wake up to a new zit—it's only natural for us to be overly critical of ourselves. Zeroing in on a problem and seeing nothing but the problem is human. You may even be tempted to go overboard and attack the issue at hand—be it with harsh treatments, picking, or simply doing too many steps. So here's an easy trick to pull yourself out of your self-sabotaging spiral. 

"When you're outside of a situation—like when you're a couple of years, months, or even days down the road—you are not going to remember that zit. So I always tell my clients they should have a visual to hold on to so they can start applying that shift in perspective for themselves," Wood explains. "For example, I ask them, 'Isn't there like a photo of you from like five years ago, or even like a month ago, where you know you didn't feel good when you took the photo—but now that you are removed from it, you realize you were way too harsh on yourself, and actually you look great?'"