The one thing the routine is organised around right now — calm skin, acne, pigment, sun protection and so on.
Other concerns are queued, not ignored. Changing several things at once makes it impossible to tell what helped.
See it in Skin Job →Learn the basics
The words this desk uses,
in plain English.
You do not need to know the ingredient families, product categories or routine language before you start. Use the three doors below if you know the question but not the term, or use the glossary when you already have a word in front of you.
Start with what you know
No vocabulary test required.
By concern
What am I trying to change?
Start with dryness, breakouts, uneven tone, irritation, texture or another visible concern. The desk will translate the concern into the next useful question.
Start by concern →By ingredient
What does this ingredient actually do?
Retinoid, niacinamide, salicylic acid, vitamin C, peptides: start with the thing on the label and place it in the routine before deciding whether you need it.
Start by ingredient →By product
Where does this bottle belong?
Cleanser, serum, moisturizer, sunscreen or treatment: map what you already own, what job it has and whether two products are doing the same work.
Start by product →A–Z reference
Plain-English glossary
Any underlined term inside the desk can bring you back here. These definitions explain the desk’s language; they are not diagnoses or product recommendations.
- The desk
Your one saved skincare session: your answers, products, budget and dates, kept in this browser.
Nothing is sent to a server. Clearing this browser's site data clears it, so use Backup if you want a copy.
See it in Skin Brief →- Skin Brief
A one-page summary of what your routine is for, its order, what to protect, and the next thing to do.
See it in Skin Brief →- Primary job
- Routine spine
The morning and evening order of steps: cleanse, treat, moisturise, protect.
An empty slot is allowed. It is better than a product with no job.
See it in Routine Architecture →- Leave-on active
An ingredient meant to change skin — a retinoid, an acid, benzoyl peroxide, vitamin C — in a product you do not rinse off.
These are the products that can irritate when they overlap, which is why the desk counts them.
See it in Active & Tolerance →- Clear
Nothing in the current routine needs attention before you carry on.
See it in Active & Tolerance →- Watch
Something deserves attention. Keep going, but read the note beside it.
See it in Active & Tolerance →- Hold
Do not add anything new until the flagged issue settles.
Holding is a normal outcome, not a failure.
See it in Active & Tolerance →- Verify
The desk cannot tell from a name alone. Check the label, the source, or with a professional.
See it in Active & Tolerance →- Evidence strength
How well published human studies support what an ingredient is claimed to do.
It is a separate thing from match confidence, and the two are always shown separately. A match is not evidence.
See it in Claim Literacy →- Match confidence
How sure the desk is that a product contains an ingredient, judged from its name or its ingredient list.
High confidence says the ingredient is there. It says nothing about whether it works. A match is not evidence.
See it in Active & Tolerance →- Source note
The card that shows where a statement comes from, when it was checked, and how sure it is.
See it in Claim Literacy →- Reference library
The public, read-only list of sources, ingredients and videos the desk draws on. It holds nothing about you.
See it in Claim Literacy →- On pause
A product you own but are not using this phase — set to zero uses a week.
Pausing keeps the product and its history. It is not throwing it away.
See it in Cabinet review →- Stepping up
Using a strong active more often, one small step at a time, and only after enough calm days.
Only one product steps up at a time, so if skin reacts you know which one it was.
See it in Active & Tolerance →- Ceiling
The most you plan to spend on skincare this month.
See it in Budget used →- Floor
The minimum that still gets funded — sunscreen and barrier care first.
See it in Budget used →- Available budget
How the monthly ceiling is split between jobs — this much for sunscreen, this much for barrier care.
See it in Budget used →- Monthly spend
What your products cost per month at the rate you actually use them.
See it in Budget used →- Reassessment window
How long to keep a routine unchanged before judging it — usually weeks, not days.
See it in Reassessment →- Cabinet review
Giving every product you own a job: keep, use differently, wait, or replace when it runs out.
See it in Cabinet review →- Decision Record
A printable record of what you decided, when, and on what evidence — kept in this browser.
- Professional visit
A summary of your home routine and your questions, to take to a dermatologist or clinic.
See it in Professional Visit →- Dark marks (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation)
Flat brown, grey or darker patches left behind after a spot, rash, scratch, bite or irritation has healed.
Anyone can get them. They are reported more often, darker and longer-lasting in medium and deeper skin tones, and can take months or longer to fade. Irritation from strong products can cause new ones, which is why the desk steps actives up slowly and puts daily sunscreen first.
See it in Active & Tolerance →Read the guide →- Lighter patches (post-inflammatory hypopigmentation)
Areas lighter than your usual skin that can appear after inflammation, an injury or a cosmetic procedure.
They are easier to see on deeper skin tones. Several different causes look alike, so new or spreading light patches are worth showing a dermatologist rather than treating at home.
Read the guide →- Melasma
Long-lasting brown or grey-brown patches, usually on both sides of the face, linked to light and hormones.
It is reported more often in women and in medium to deeper skin tones, and anyone can be affected. Only a clinician can confirm it. It often returns, especially with sun, so daily tinted sunscreen is part of most advice. Peels and lasers can make it worse.
Read the guide →- Visible light
The part of sunlight you can see. It can darken pigment, especially in medium and deeper skin, and SPF does not measure it.
SPF measures protection from sunburn (UVB), and Broad Spectrum means UVA protection too. Neither label says anything about visible light. Tinted sunscreens colored with iron oxides can block it; untinted ones generally do not.
Read the guide →- Keloid
A raised scar that keeps growing beyond the edge of the original wound and does not flatten on its own.
Keloids are reported more often in people with deeper skin tones and in people with a personal or family history of raised scars, and anyone can be affected. They can follow piercings, acne, burns or surgery. If you form raised scars, talk with a dermatologist before elective procedures or piercings.
Read the guide →- Razor bumps (pseudofolliculitis barbae)
Tender bumps that form when shaved or removed hairs curl back into the skin.
They are reported more often with tightly curled or coily hair, and they affect anyone who shaves or removes hair, on the face or the body. They can leave dark marks or raised scars. Bumps that persist, hurt or scar are worth showing a dermatologist.
Read the guide →- Ochronosis
A blue-black or grey darkening of the skin that can follow long-term use of hydroquinone, often from lightening creams.
It is hard to treat and may be permanent. It is reported mostly in people with deeper skin tones who used a cream for years. Blue-grey darkening where a lightening product was used is a reason to stop using more of it and see a dermatologist.
Read the guide →- Sun response (phototype)
How your skin usually reacts to strong sun without sunscreen: burns easily, burns then tans, or rarely burns.
It describes how skin burns or tans, not skin color or heritage. The scale clinicians use was designed around burning and tanning in fair skin, so the desk asks about sun response in plain words and never treats it as a stand-in for race.
- Skin of color
A term used in research for people with medium and deeper skin tones.
This site says lighter, medium or deeper skin tones by default, because that describes how skin looks, not who someone is. It uses "skin of color" when citing research that does. It avoids "ethnic skin," because everyone has an ethnicity, and it does not treat any heritage as one uniform skin type.
On a phone
How this desk moves
The desk is one session. The phone just has less room. Three controls: the menu, the section list, the brief bar.
01
Menu is top right
Home, Desk, Claims and Your Brief. Light and dark live in the small control at the bottom right, not in here. Close the menu with the same control, or Escape.
02
Pick a section
The list carries every section — Skin Brief, Skin Job, Routine Architecture, Active & Tolerance, Cabinet review, Budget used, Not working?, Reassessment, Professional Visit, Claim Literacy, Compare, The Ledger. On a phone the list is the whole story; the numbered strip is a desktop thing.
03
Your Brief is the bottom bar
Tap it for the live rail — job, monthly spend, next action. Save sits beside it. Copy, print, export, duplicate, pin compare, and reset live inside the drawer.
04
Optional: add it to the home screen
iPhone: Share → Add to Home Screen. Android: browser menu → Install app. The session still lives in this browser. No account.