For Meagan Good, skin health and self-love are one in the same.
About two years ago, the “Think Like a Man” and “Deception” actor suffered a skincare scare when an unlicensed dietitian treated her for sun damage — a process that led to skin discoloration on her face and an onslaught of criticism from her online following, many of whom accused her of skin bleaching.
“It’s so important for me as a Black woman to be able to present myself as proud of who I really am in my heart, and I wasn’t able to do that during that time,” said Good, 40. “But what it gave me was a certain amount of freedom from people’s opinions and judgments, and that’s something I had been praying for for a while.
“And when I wasn’t in a position to defend myself because I looked crazy, I had to learn how to be okay with the fact that some people don’t want to believe the best, and that’s okay.”
Healthier skin
Good, whose skin returned to normal about a month ago, now continues to focus on loving herself when tending to her skin. Her regimen includes using micellar water, a purifying cleanser, an eye cream, a retinol, a facial cream, and sunscreen.
That’s not all that she does to keep her skin glowing and healthy, though. In fact, Good takes a holistic approach, making sure she gets plenty of rest, that she ties her hair up at night to prevent oil from transferring to her pillow and skin, and mostly avoids alcohol.
“I wanted my skin to match my heart and my spirit,” she explained.
Good’s skincare advice to others is to experiment, find what works for you, and adapt your routine by the seasons and with age.
“What works for the summer is sometimes very different from what works in the winter,” she said. “What works when you’re 26 sometimes doesn’t work when you’re 30.
“I’ve been very intentional about treating my skin like this is the only skin I get for the rest of my life, so I want to take the best care of it possible.”