What Is Slugging? The New Viral Pregnancy-safe Skincare Trend That Everyone Is Talking About!

K-beauty is the gift that keeps giving and never disappoints. In fact, some of the best skincare practices, such as double-cleansing, which may have already become a mainstay in your skincare routines, are all gifts of K-beauty. The latest buzzword from the world of K-beauty is ‘slugging.’

What is slugging? Well, as slimy as the skincare term sounds, this K-beauty trend was in fact made popular a few years ago, but recently made its renaissance back into the beauty world, thanks to Reddit. Plus, masses of Reddit users have attributed that slugging their skin at night gave them ultra-moisturised and hydrated skin the next morning. Moreover, this skincare trend is pregnancy-safe (rejoice expecting mums!) and can do much more than just moisturising your face. We have got you with everything you need to know about slugging, below!

First Off, What Does Slugging Mean?

We just gave you a vague idea of what slugging means. But, let’s take a deeper insight into this skincare trend’s workings, shall we? You may already be aware that in the world of K-beauty, moisture reigns as the most important aspect of all skincare routines, and slugging is the ultimate way to maximise moisture in your skin. To put it in simpler terms, the idea of slugging basically centres around coating your skin in a thick layer of petroleum jelly or facial oil as the final step in your skincare routine. While it doesn’t directly add hydration to your skin, it serves as a good occlusive (a moisturising agent that creates a barrier on your skin surface and locks in hydration), thereby revealing a smoother and softer skin texture. 

How Does Slugging Work For Your Skin?

The core benefit of slugging your skin is strengthening your lipid barrier for it to heal and rejuvenate. How exactly? So your skin barrier, aka the topmost layer of your skin, is largely responsible for how your face looks and feels. But this barrier can easily be compromised due to environmental insults like the sun’s rays or pollutants, or even using overly harsh skincare products.

Moreover, when your skin barrier is damaged (even slightly), it fails to maintain a healthy balance of moisture and hydration and strips off suppleness and plumpness from your complexion. Therefore, your main focus should be to strengthen your skin barrier and keep it protected against the outside chaos, plus harsh skincare ingredients. And slugging is the best way to do that!

Slugging your skin can repair your damaged skin barrier by creating a moist environment that allows your barrier to rebuild itself and heal. In fact, this skincare technique is also beneficial for dry skin conditions, such as eczema as it helps lock in hydration and forces the moisture back into the skin cells.

Is Slugging Bad For Acne-prone Complexion?

The short answer is: Yes! Slugging may be a tad bit risky for those with naturally oily and acne-prone complexions. This is because the process of slugging your skin requires the use of an occlusive that can make your already oily complexion even greasy, and you wouldn’t want that in your dreams, right? Additionally, slugging your oily complexion may irritate your hair follicles, clog pores, and stimulate acne. 

Instead of using an occlusive, you may consider using an oil-free moisturiser packed with barrier-strengthening ingredients like hyaluronic acid and niacinamide. Make sure that the moisturiser also contains potent antioxidants like vitamin C, squalane, aloe vera, and green tea that help maintain the oil balance in your skin, keep it hydrated, and protect your skin barrier. 

How To Slug Your Face?

There are two ways to slug your face: the traditional way (overnight) and the short-contact way (wash-off face mask).

How To Slug Your Skin Overnight

At night, your skin goes into repair mode and works the hardest to heal the damage caused by various factors. Hence, slugging right before bed is the most preferred method. All you have to do is:

• Step 1: Follow your normal skincare routine but omit your spot treatment
• Step 2: While your skin is still slightly damp from the products, spread a generous amount of a natural age-control facial oil until every part of your skin is thoroughly covered.
• Step 3: Cleanse your skin with a natural clay face wash (with bentonite clay, Kaolin clay, and Moroccan lava clay) in the morning to remove the excess oil and dirt accumulated on your skin surface. 

How To Short-contact Slug Your Skin

This method is perfect if you don’t prefer going to bed with a sticky and oily face. The only downside of this method is that it is not as fast-acting as the traditional way, but it still does the job of healing your damaged skin barrier pretty well.

• Step 1: In the evening, after you are done with your day’s work, remove your makeup, and wash your face.
• Step 2: When your skin is visibly damp after cleansing, coat it with a thick layer of facial oil.
• Step 3: Go about your usual activities at home, and then after a few hours, wash your face.

Like most K-beauty-inspired skincare trends, slugging is creating waves in the beauty circles. You should definitely try slugging if you want to repair your damaged skin barrier, boost hydration, and wake up to dewy, smooth, and nourished skin. Plus, this skincare technique is pregnancy-safe, and all you need to do is focus on using pregnancy-safe products, like the ones mentioned above. BRB, we are going to try this new skincare hack to achieve baby-soft skin, wbu?

Also read:

Ultimate PM skincare routine: Want that Sonam Kapoor glow? Check out these amazing skincare products for a nourished and spot-free complexion.

CTM skincare routine: Tackle all your pregnancy skin woes with this expert-approved CTM skincare routine. 

Featured image: Kareena Kapoor Khan/Instagram