Skincare and Cultural Memory: What We Inherited from Our Mothers

From petroleum jelly lashes to bar soap face washes - here’s to the beauty rituals that shaped us.

Mother’s Day is about love, gratitude, and reflection - but it’s also about legacy.
And for many of us, that legacy shows up in the way we care for our skin.

Our first ideas of beauty didn’t come from magazines or dermatologists.
They came from watching the women who raised us - our mothers, aunties, grandmothers, older sisters.
And whether it was slathering on petroleum jelly, rubbing lemon on dark marks, or using one soap for face, body and hair, those rituals were more than just DIY skincare.

They were acts of care, passed down like family recipes.

💭 The Beauty Rituals We Grew Up With

Many of us remember:

Petroleum jelly on everything - lips, eyelids, knees, even lashes.
Bar soap that made our faces feel squeaky clean (but also strangely tight).
Baby powder in places it probably shouldn’t have gone.
And the ultimate one-size-fits-all solution: "Just drink more water."

These habits came from love, resourcefulness, and sometimes - limited access to better options.
But they also came with gaps in science, and a lack of understanding about things like barrier health, hyperpigmentation, and hormonal acne.

🌱 Unlearning, Relearning - With Grace

At Silki, we don’t believe in shaming where we came from.
In fact, we believe in honouring those early beauty lessons—even as we gently unlearn some of them.

Because your mom’s petroleum jelly routine? That was barrier care before it had a name.
Her obsession with body oil? That was early body love.
Her advice to “never leave the house with dry lips”? That was generational wellness in action.

We now know:

Bar soap can damage the acid mantle of your face.
Over-exfoliating can harm melanated skin.
Not all oils are non-comedogenic.
And yes - water helps, but you also need targeted hydration like hyaluronic acid or ceramides.

✨ Silki Is Rooted in That Evolution

Silki exists because we saw the gap between what we were taught and what our skin truly needed.

We’re the generation that reads ingredient lists.
That learned about hormonal cycles and skin changes.
That started asking, “Wait… why does this burn?” instead of just pushing through.
That went from using whatever was on the bathroom shelf to crafting intentional, barrier-safe routines.

And now, we’re the ones teaching.
Whether it's to our little sisters, our daughters, or even our moms, we're passing down upgraded wisdom.

💗 This Mother’s Day, Let’s Celebrate Both

Celebrate the woman who showed you how to care for yourself, even if she only had one product on her shelf.

Celebrate the moments of skincare tips that you now share with her - maybe even convince her to stop using bar soap!

Celebrate the evolution.
Celebrate the tenderness.

Because skincare isn’t just about looking good.
It’s about remembering where we came from, honouring what we learned, and choosing better with love.

🌸 A Love Note from Silki:

This Mother’s Day, we’re not just celebrating moms—we’re celebrating beauty legacies.
From the makeshift remedies to the modern-day serums, it’s all part of our story.

Thank you, Mama.
For everything you taught us.
And everything we’re still learning - together.