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    The Daily Skinny

    Discover short-form editorial content, skincare education, product insights, trends, routines, tips and commentary from top sources globally, curated for SA.

    A healthcare provider in a white coat speaking with a patient in a clinical setting Skin Safety
    SAHPRA 10 min read 363

    South Africa Banned Skin-Lightening Creams in 1990 — They're Still On Sale

    SA banned mercury and high-dose hydroquinone skin lighteners in 1990, but SAHPRA raids show they're still being sold illegally today.

    • South Africa banned skin-lightening products containing hydroquinone above trace levels in 1990, years ahead of most countries.
    • SAHPRA raids still regularly seize illegal mercury-containing creams and unregistered skin-lightening products worth millions of rand.
    • Mercury in skincare is absorbed into the bloodstream and is linked to kidney damage, neurological symptoms and skin scarring.
    Read the breakdown
    Portrait of a Black woman with focus on her hand and a ring Skin Of Colour
    Skin of Color Society 9 min read 881

    South African Dermatology Just Joined a Global Push to Fix Skin-of-Colour Care

    The Skin of Color Society's new Global Council includes South Africa as a founding member, aiming to close a real research gap in skin-of-colour dermatology.

    • The Skin of Color Society launched a Global Council on 1 September 2026, uniting 22 dermatology organisations worldwide.
    • The Dermatological Society of South Africa is a founding member, alongside bodies from Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Madagascar and Tanzania.
    • Skincare research has historically skewed toward lighter skin types, leaving real gaps in treatment guidance for melanin-rich skin.
    Read the breakdown
    A woman with long brown hair wearing a grey turtleneck sweater Acne Care
    beiersdorf.com 7 min read 200

    Microbiome skincare is getting serious about acne

    A new probiotic acne-care system sounds promising, but South African shoppers should separate the science from the sales pitch.

    • The new routine uses two viable, skin-native bacterial strains.
    • Beiersdorf links the launch to more than 20 years of microbiome research.
    • The announcement does not provide detailed product-specific performance results.
    Read the breakdown

    What is The Daily Skinny

    The Daily Skinny is SkinLabs®' running briefing of skincare science — new studies, ingredient controversies, regulatory changes and industry news — read, filtered and translated into what it actually means for South African skin, climate and shelves. A study on barrier repair published somewhere isn't useful on its own; what matters is whether it changes what you should be doing on a Highveld winter morning or a humid KwaZulu-Natal afternoon, and whether the products it's relevant to are even sold here.

    New briefings publish most mornings, each a few minutes' read, written by the same editorial team behind SkinLabs' product reviews and Shelf Showdowns — so a briefing about a new niacinamide trial links straight through to the reviews and comparisons where that evidence already shapes our scoring, not off to a generic external source. Every briefing carries an SA context tag showing exactly why it's relevant here, not just a global science recap.

    The Daily Skinny is free to read on the site. Members get it bundled into a monthly PDF magazine — the same editorial content, collected and formatted for offline reading — as part of their SkinLabs membership.