Sep 21, 2026 · 22 min · 9 segments
Your skin can only handle so much and more isn’t always better. The point at which your skin can no longer keep up with everything you’re asking it to handle: exfoliating, adding active ingredients…
Let's start with a simple analogy.
Imagine you're carrying a backpack.
One pound, easy.
Five pounds, still manageable.
10 pounds, you can probably handle it.
15, now you are working a little harder.
20, you're starting to feel it, and eventually you reach a point where your body says, that's enough.
Now, here's the important part.
If someone hands you one more pound when you're carrying five pounds, you probably won't notice much.
But if you're already carrying 20 pounds and they add one more, that one pound can feel like a huge difference.
Your skin is going to work similarly.
One exfoliating product might be perfectly tolerable.
One retinoid might be perfectly tolerable.
One professional treatment might be perfectly tolerable.
But when you combine multiple sources of stimulation, your total load increases and eventually you're going to hit your threshold.
What is the skin's threshold? When I say threshold, I'm talking about the point where the amount of stress or stimulation your skin is experiencing exceeds what it can comfortably tolerate and recover from.
It's not a single universal number.
There isn't a magic formula where I can say your skin can tolerate exactly seven units of irritation.
That's not how biology works.
Your threshold can change.
It can be influenced by your skin's baseline condition, the barrier function, genetics, age, environment, climate, your current skincare routine, treatment history, product frequency, the use of active ingredients, cleansing habits, UV exposure, heat, cold, humidity, stress, hormonal changes, and other factors.
so your threshold isn't fixed it's going to be dynamic that's why your skin can tolerate something perfectly well in january and struggle with the exact same routine in july or tolerate a retinoid for six months and then suddenly become irritated after adding an exfoliating acid the product didn't necessarily become bad but the total load changed This is one of the most important concepts in this episode is the total load is what's going to matter.
Your skin doesn't experience your products in isolation.
It experiences the total load.
So let's say you use a cleanser, a vitamin C serum, an exfoliating toner, a retinoid, a spot treatment, a clay mask, and then you get a professional peel.
Let's start with a simple analogy.
Imagine you're carrying a backpack.
One pound, easy.
Five pounds, still manageable.
10 pounds, you can probably handle it.
15, now you are working a little harder.
20, you're starting to feel it, and eventually you reach a point where your body says, that's enough.
Now, here's the important part.
If someone hands you one more pound when you're carrying five pounds, you probably won't notice much.
But if you're already carrying 20 pounds and they add one more, that one pound can feel like a huge difference.
Your skin is going to work similarly.
One exfoliating product might be perfectly tolerable.
One retinoid might be perfectly tolerable.
One professional treatment might be perfectly tolerable.
But when you combine multiple sources of stimulation, your total load increases and eventually you're going to hit your threshold.
What is the skin's threshold? When I say threshold, I'm talking about the point where the amount of stress or stimulation your skin is experiencing exceeds what it can comfortably tolerate and recover from.
It's not a single universal number.
There isn't a magic formula where I can say your skin can tolerate exactly seven units of irritation.
That's not how biology works.
Your threshold can change.
It can be influenced by your skin's baseline condition, the barrier function, genetics, age, environment, climate, your current skincare routine, treatment history, product frequency, the use of active ingredients, cleansing habits, UV exposure, heat, cold, humidity, stress, hormonal changes, and other factors.
so your threshold isn't fixed it's going to be dynamic that's why your skin can tolerate something perfectly well in january and struggle with the exact same routine in july or tolerate a retinoid for six months and then suddenly become irritated after adding an exfoliating acid the product didn't necessarily become bad but the total load changed This is one of the most important concepts in this episode is the total load is what's going to matter.
Your skin doesn't experience your products in isolation.
It experiences the total load.
So let's say you use a cleanser, a vitamin C serum, an exfoliating toner, a retinoid, a spot treatment, a clay mask, and then you get a professional peel.
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