Hear me out: Our skincare routines are a little like masturbating

“The fingers we rub in our eye creams with are the same fingers that can make us come. Both are odes to self-intimacy.”

From facemasks to fingering, carving out time for self-care is important. As a society, we’re getting better at recognising more diverse activities as legit forms of self-care. We’re discussing self-driven orgasms in the same breath as our daily skincare routines.

Now, it seems women are finding more ways to make themselves feel good through touch – whether that’s their face or their bodies.

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Though female desire has long been a taboo subject, conversations around self-pleasure and our preferences have become increasingly normalised. I’d argue that the benefits of skincare routines and masturbation are not too dissimilar – in fact, they’re almost parallel. Hear me out.

Pleasure and ritual

At their core, skincare and masturbation are rituals associated with personal pleasure. For many of us, assembling our skincare routine is a pleasurable practice that calls on us to invest in and take time to ourselves daily, even if it’s just a few minutes.

Sex therapists also preach the benefits of daily erotic touch. Again, it doesn’t need to be long. “Masturbation is simply health maintenance,” says sexologist and sex and relationship writer Laura Miano.

Also, consider the physical act of applying skincare. Pressing in our serums and luxuriating in the silky texture of a lotion can be a sensual moment.

Sex therapists tout the benefits of physical touch even if it doesn’t result in orgasm. Taking some time to explore our bodies, whether that’s our erogenous zones or otherwise, can provide more than a nice little dopamine hit – it can have positive impacts on our body image and self-confidence as well. “Be present when masturbating, focus on your pleasure rather than just reaching an end goal,” says sexologist Cam Fraser.

Similarly, dermatologists encourage us to spend some time indulging as we rub in our skincare products. Cleansing balms can be slowly massaged into the face and there are many benefits of using a gua sha or similar tool to glide facial oils across the skin.

Regena Thomashauer, author of Pussy: A Reclamation, refers to these rituals as ‘pussification practises.’ This essentially means to give ourselves positive attention.

“I take a bath instead of a shower because it makes me feel more relaxed… After the bath, I use coconut oil on my skin; it smells beautiful and nourishes the skin deeply,” she writes.

Self-care as intimacy

The growing emphasis on self-care in beauty and wellness has paved the way for a greater focus on female masturbation. Sexual wellness brands like Girls Get Off seek to empower women by using sex-positive mantras to remove shame and normalise self-gratification. Additionally, thanks to the growing availability of ethical porn, it’s becoming more normalised for women to talk openly about their sexual desires.

Whether it’s personal pleasure or the pursuit of radiant skin, skincare and masturbation involve a physical act that focuses on nurturing oneself. The way we admire our faces is not so different from how we touch ourselves in front of a mirror. A gentle massage of moisturiser and a soft stroking of essential oils are the same motions we use when masturbating. The fingers we rub in our eye creams with are the same fingers that can make us come. Both are odes to self-intimacy.

Mindfulness and psychological benefits

In a world full of distractions, skincare and masturbation demand your attention – a focus of our fingers and a stillness of our mind. Like our skincare routines, masturbation can be a self-soothing practice.

Research has shown that self-touch gestures can help reduce stress-related cortisol responses. Just as the sensory experience of applying skincare promotes relaxation and mindfulness, masturbation triggers the release of neurotransmitters linked with positive emotions, reducing psychological stress. Both practices also help improve body image and promote positive self-worth. Oh, the wonders an orgasm and a facemask can work for your mental health!

Orgasms as skincare

As the parallels between skincare and masturbation grow closer, it seems we’ve now reached a point of overlap. Companies have started including masturbation as an essential step in our skincare routines, whether that be a part of an elaborate 10-step routine like Goop’s ‘Just-Had-an-Orgasm Glow‘ – or simply by having one.

The long-term effects of masturbation have been proven to increase oestrogen levels, correlating to less collagen degradation and the appearance of skin ageing.
Not only can orgasms give you a flushed complexion and immediate glow, studies have shown that frequent masturbation can delay menopause in women – which also delays the ageing of the skin. On top of this, orgasms are linked to reducing stress and improving sleep, which can help with acne and other inflammatory skin conditions.

The benefits of allocating time for your skincare regimen and for self-pleasure are endless. If only men spent the time they did masturbating on applying skincare, the world would be glowing.

For more on self-care and self-pleasure, try this.