How to Build a 5 Minute Skincare Routine Like an Engineer
A science-backed skincare routine that actually works - I know, I'm the guinea pig and the grad student who's read all the research about the science behind it.
When I started my master’s program at the Technical University of Delft in 2020, I became so invested in my academic work that I made taking care of myself the last priority. That neglect had consequences for my physical health, consequences I’m still recovering from (e.g., a repetitive stress injury from computer overwork.)
Perhaps you’ll find the following bizarre, but I’m grateful for the physical fallout, because it meant that before I turned 30, I had to confront something that, now that I’m looking for it, I see many people avoid until their 40s, 50s, or even later.
Through that breakdown (which in many ways was the result of pain and disregard I inflicted on myself), I had to face the fact that my body has limits, and that those limits matter. If I wanted to build a sustainable intellectual life - first as a master’s student, now as a PhD student in mechanical engineering - I couldn’t keep treating my body like an afterthought. It wasn’t an obstacle to my ambitions. It was central to sustaining them.
And so, the engineer that I am, I understood that I had to design systems that would guarantee my physical body got my attention consistently and without exception.
Since then, I’ve developed two such systems. Together, they’ve marked a shift in how I relate to myself, and the benefits have been many-fold:
I bought a midcentury vanity and promised myself I’d sit at it every morning and night, rain or shine, and give myself at least five minutes. By creating a space dedicated solely to my physical self, I ensured that part of me got daily attention. (The logic is the same as having a dedicated desk for work.)
I committed to moving my body with the specific aim of getting stronger, at least three times per week. And while I won’t go deep into that here, because this post is focused on skincare, I’ll just say: (a) strength training reflects the same shift: understanding my body as something I need to support and protect if I want to do this kind of knowledge work over the long haul, and (b) I’ve personally found a lot of value in Lagree and Barre.
This post is about the first system: skincare. (Though there is research that shows how strength training leads to better skin…) Because, at this point, I’ve been asked more times than I can count how I built my routine and what products I recommend. So I decided to put everything in one place.
This is my engineer’s guide to building a skincare starter pack, from first principles to product picks. Here’s how it’s structured:
Five Minute Routine: A 5-minute routine for anyone getting started *I put it first because I have a sense you might not be interested in skin 101
Skin 101: An overview of what skin is, and why skincare (possibly) matters **it’s pretty comprehensive, so definitely scroll past if you just want the routines
The Five Minute Routine
At its core, this routine is evidence-based in its ability to accomplish the following:
Cleans your skin effectively
A two-step cleanse (oil followed by gentle water-based cleanser) removes excess sebum, sunscreen, pollutants, and dead skin cells, clearing the way for other products to work and preventing clogged pores.
Keeps your skin hydrated
Hydrated skin functions better. It reduces inflammation, improves barrier integrity, supports immune regulation, and slows visible signs of aging like dullness or fine lines.
Protects against photoaging
UV radiation is the primary cause of visible aging. Daily use of broad-spectrum sunscreen is the single most effective intervention to prevent premature wrinkles, pigmentation, and structural degradation.
Supports long-term repair
Several ingredients can support your skin’s ability to repair itself and maintain structural integrity over time. Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid + ferulic acid + vitamin E) helps protect against oxidative stress and supports collagen synthesis. Peptide-based serums (like those from Allies of Skin or Medik8) use signaling molecules (and sometimes growth factors) to improve elasticity and firmness. Niacinamide- and peptide-based formulas like Dieux Deliverance help reduce inflammation and reinforce the skin barrier. And topical vitamin A (like adapalene or tretinoin), used at night, increases cell turnover and stimulates collagen production, making it one of the most well-studied and effective compounds for improving skin texture, tone, and visible aging.
And is for the vibes
And then, there’s one step I include not because the data demands it, but because it changed how I felt about doing skincare: essence. It’s a watery layer applied after cleansing that helps prep your skin to absorb hydration more evenly. It’s fast, light, and makes everything else go on better. It’s not essential, but it made the whole thing feel like care.
numbuzin - No.3 Super Glowing Essence Toner - 200ml
Naturie - HATOMUGI Skin Conditioner (Random Version) - 500ml
MISSHA - Time Revolution The First Treatment Essence 5X - 150ml
Sulwhasoo - First Care Activating Serum VI - 60 ml
Vitamin C
A well-formulated vitamin C serum protects against oxidative stress, supports collagen production, and improves tone and texture over time. Best used in the morning, paired with sunscreen. Ideally, it has (L-ascorbic acid + ferulic acid + vitamin E). I have bought both the Timeless and Skincueticals with my own money.
Timeless - 20% Vitamin C + E Ferulic Acid Serum - 1 oz
SkinCeuticals - C E Ferulic® with 15% L-Ascorbic Acid - 1 oz
Barrier + Inflammation Support
With niacinamide, peptides, and cannabinoid extract, this is designed to reduce inflammation, calm redness, and support the skin’s barrier function. I have bought the Dieux Deliverance with my own money.
Dieux - Deliverance Antioxidant & Niacinamide Trinity Serum - 1 oz
Peptides + Growth Factors
These serums use signal peptides (and in some cases, growth factors) to support elasticity, skin density, and visible firmness. They’re typically well-tolerated options for improving structural resilience, e.g. collagen production. The Allies of Skin and Medik8 are on my wish list.
Medik8 - Liquid Peptides Advanced MP - 1 oz
Allies of Skin - Multi Peptides & GF (Growth Factor) Advanced Lifting Serum - 1 oz
Embryolisse - Lait-Crème Concentré - 2.5 oz
Cetaphil - Hydrating Moisturizing Cream - 16 oz
numbuzin - No.4 Full-Nutrient Firming Cream - 2 oz
La Roche Posay - Cicaplast Baume B5 Soothing Multi Purpose Cream - 1.35 oz
NIVEA - UV Super Water Gel SPF50 PA+++ - 5 oz
Beauty of Joseon - Relief Sun : Rice + Probiotic SPF50+ PA++++ - 1.7 oz
Round Lab - Birch Juice Moisturizing Sun Cream SPF50+ PA++++ - 1.7 oz
Supergoop! - PLAY Everyday Lotion SPF 50 with Sunflower Extract - 5.5 oz
The evening routine is quite similar, but with a few key swaps. You’ll skip the sunscreen, double cleanse (because: sunscreen, sweat, grime), and add a new treatment that’s photosensitive, meaning it works best while your skin is out of the sun. Otherwise, same structure: cleanse, prep, treat, moisturize. Nothing complicated.
Consider doing your routine 30 to 45 minutes before bed so your products have time to absorb; otherwise, half your skincare ends up in your pillowcase.
Anua - Heartleaf Pore Control Cleansing Oil - 6.8 oz
Vanicream - Gentle Facial Cleanser for Sensitive Skin - 8 oz
Pro tip: You can layer your essence as many times as you want. This technique is sometimes called “flooding” - applying 5 to 12 layers (yes, really) to deeply hydrate the skin before locking it in with moisturizer. You can even mix and match different watery products. The goal is to hydrate your skin like a sponge; soft, full, and better able to hold on to everything that comes next.
Pro tip: There’s a lot of hype and incomplete information about retinoids online. Here’s what actually matters: both tretinoin and adapalene (Differin) are vitamin A derivatives, also known as retinoids. They work in slightly different ways, but both help with acne, increase cell turnover, and support collagen production over time.
Tretinoin is prescription-only; adapalene is available over the counter. But that doesn’t mean one is “better.” Adapalene works just as well over time for many people, with fewer side effects. And going for the strongest prescription isn’t always smart—higher doses of tretinoin can damage your skin barrier, which can lead to irritation, inflammation, and even accelerate signs of aging.
The best approach: use the strength you can tolerate consistently. If you can get a prescription, great. If not, over-the-counter adapalene is a perfectly solid place to start.
Skin 101
By now, you may have already chosen a product or settled into a five-minute routine, and that might be enough. But maybe you’re wondering: What exactly are these products doing? How do they work, and what systems are they acting on?
This next section is for the people who want the why. It’s a breakdown of how skin functions, how ingredients interact with different layers of skin, and how a well-designed routine supports biological processes, not just aesthetics.
When people find out I love skincare (maybe because my skin is that glowy, or maybe because I once tried to convince my doctoral advisor that a project on Korean skincare was academically valid), they usually respond in one of two ways.
The uninterested skeptic: This person sees skincare as shallow, vain, or purely aesthetic. And I get it. The skincare industry is saturated with overpromising products, confusing routines, and beauty standards I want no part of. If that’s where you’re coming from, I’m not here to convince you to do a full routine. I just ask one thing: wear sunscreen.
The unconvinced skeptic: This person isn’t opposed to skincare, but they want it to make sense. They want to know what the skin actually does, how skincare might support those functions, and what’s worth the effort.
1. The uninterested skeptic
This person sees skincare as nothing more than shallow vanity. And if that’s you, I can concede: you might be right.
Skincare has indeed been heavily marketed through (problematic) beauty standards, as such, it’s easy to dismiss it as performative or self-indulgent. Given you’re a skeptic, I’m not interested in ordaining you in the Cult of Skincare because in many ways, I share some philosophical concerns with the premise of this industry, which I am not going to navigate in their entirety here in this post, but I do implore you to take up one habit that I hope we can both agree has nothing to do with vanity: wear sunscreen.
Wear sunscreen and reapply it (ideally every two hours if you’re outside).
Because vanity aside, skin cancer is real, and wearing sunscreen, hats, and sunglasses can prevent what is often a fast-moving and dangerous disease.
Given you might not read past this, here are a few basics about sun protection that seem not to be general knowledge, and I’d love for you not to get skin cancer:
You’re probably not using enough sunscreen.
The average adult needs about one to two fingers’ length of sunscreen for just their face. That’s way more than a quick dab. Stick sunscreens can help if you hate the feeling of cream on your hands, but know that it’s hard to get good coverage with a stick, so you’ll need to swipe many more times than feels intuitive.
Not all sunscreen smells or feels like sunscreen.
Especially those from Korea and Japan. If you’ve avoided sunscreen because you hate the smell, the texture, or the way it lingers on your hands, there are better options now. I might make a whole post titled Sunscreen for People Who Hate Sunscreen, but for now: look for gel or watery formulas from Asian brands. They feel like moisturizers, or even nothing, not gloopy paste.
Not all sunglasses protect your eyes.
If your sunglasses don’t have proper UV protection (and many of the “dupes” on Amazon don’t), you’re just wearing tinted plastic. That can actually increase your risk of sun damage to the retina, which leads to long-term vision problems. Skip the dupes and save up for designer glasses or something from a licensed seller like Ray-Ban, Sunglass Hut, or even a good drugstore brand with verified UV filtering.
Hats are your friend.
Baseball caps are not your friend (unless you’re just protecting your scalp, which is especially important if you’re bald or have a shaved head), they leave your whole face exposed from the sides. Opt instead for wide-brim hats/visors, sun-protective bucket hats (SPF fabric or extra wide brim), or straw hats/sombreros.
2. The Skeptic Who’s Open to Being Convinced
Your skin isn’t decoration. It’s your body’s largest organ, and it performs vital physiological functions every single day. Skin is an organ with structural, chemical, and regulatory functions. It provides mechanical protection, regulates temperature and fluid loss, initiates immune response, and enables healing. It also plays a role in sensory perception and, in some cases, pharmacological absorption.
So yes, your skin is a big deal with a high array of core physiological responsibilities which have implications for how we think about skincare: not as an aesthetic luxury, but as a daily maintenance practice for a material system that does measurable, continuous work.
Across time and cultures, skin has been treated as a site of medical and therapeutic intervention. Transdermal delivery methods like nicotine patches, hormonal creams, magnesium sprays, and corticosteroid ointments work precisely because the skin is porous and responsive. More holistic approaches (such as massage, sauna, or traditional bathing practices like the hammam, or traditional Korean/Japanese/Russian/etc. spas) have also long recognized the skin as a point of interaction with systemic health. These methods improve circulation, encourage fluid movement, and support relaxation and immune function.
The point is not that skincare is new or modern, it’s that the skin has always been understood, implicitly or explicitly, as a system worth maintaining.
First, what is skin?
Skin has three structurally and functionally distinct layers: the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. Each layer responds to different classes of intervention. Most cosmetic and therapeutic routines target the epidermis; a smaller set of interventions affect the dermis. The hypodermis is largely beyond the reach of daily topical care.
Understanding the different layers of your skin helps clarify what you can realistically expect from skincare products and treatments, and what’s mostly marketing fluff. Skincare is not magic, but it is effective when you know what systems you’re working with.
Epidermis: Barrier integrity, water retention, pigment production, localized immune surveillance
The epidermis is the outermost layer of skin, and the one most directly affected by daily skincare. It plays a critical role in keeping pathogens and irritants out, retaining moisture, regulating pigment, and initiating immune responses. Most over-the-counter skincare products (cleansers, moisturizers, exfoliants, sunscreen) work at this level.
The epidermis contains three key cell types:
Keratinocytes: produce keratin, a structural protein that maintains the barrier
Melanocytes: produce melanin, which protects against UV damage and determines pigmentation
Langerhans cells: coordinate immune surveillance and inflammation
As seen above, the epidermis contains five sub-layers:
Stratum corneum: dead keratinocytes (corneocytes) embedded in lipids; the layer you touch and see. This is where moisturizers reduce water loss, exfoliants remove buildup, and sunscreen sits to block UV.
Stratum lucidum: present only on palms and soles; not relevant to facial skincare.
Stratum granulosum: where keratinocytes start producing lipids that form the barrier, moisturizers support this process indirectly.
Stratum spinosum: provides mechanical cohesion through cell junctions. Healthy communication here is essential for barrier stability.
Stratum basale: contains the stem cells that replenish the epidermis and melanocytes that regulate pigment. Retinoids, niacinamide, and azelaic acid can influence this layer through signaling pathways over time.
Interventions that influence the epidermis:
Cleansers: remove sebum, pollutants, and microorganisms without disrupting barrier lipids
Moisturizers: support the lipid matrix and reduce transepidermal water loss (TEWL)
Humectants (e.g., glycerin, hyaluronic acid): attract water into the stratum corneum
Exfoliants (e.g., AHAs, BHAs): increase cell turnover, smooth texture, unclog pores
Melanin-regulating agents (e.g., niacinamide, azelaic acid, hydroquinone): reduce hyperpigmentation by affecting melanocyte activity
Broad-spectrum sunscreen: prevents DNA mutations and pigmentary changes triggered by UV radiation
Dermis: Tensile strength, elasticity, vascular exchange, inflammatory response, wound repair
The dermis is the layer beneath the epidermis. It provides your skin with its mechanical strength, flexibility, and ability to repair itself after injury. While it’s less accessible to surface treatments, it plays a critical role in maintaining skin function and integrity over time.
The dermis contains:
Fibroblasts, which synthesize structural proteins like collagen and elastin
Extracellular matrix components, such as glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans, which retain moisture and support tissue structure
Capillaries, which deliver oxygen and nutrients
Sensory neurons, which relay information about pressure and temperature
Immune cells, including mast cells and macrophages, which regulate inflammatory response
Damage or degradation in the dermis (whether from ultraviolet radiation, mechanical stress, or age-related changes) can lead to decreased elasticity, delayed wound healing, and visible scarring.
Interventions that influence the dermis (directly or indirectly):
Topical retinoids (e.g., tretinoin, adapalene): stimulate fibroblast activity and increase production of collagen types I and III
L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C): supports collagen cross-linking and reduces reactive oxygen species
Microneedling: induces controlled dermal injury to trigger neocollagenesis
Medium-depth chemical peels: penetrate to the upper dermis and promote structural remodeling
Laser therapies (e.g., fractional non-ablative): initiate dermal regeneration without removing the epidermis
Red light therapy (low-level light therapy): may increase mitochondrial activity in dermal fibroblasts, enhancing tissue repair under certain conditions
Peptides (e.g., matrikines): under investigation for their role in dermal signaling and collagen regulation; some evidence but limited consensus.
Changes in the dermis occur gradually and require consistent intervention. Improvements in tensile strength, wound repair, and scarring outcomes are among the most measurable benefits.
Hypodermis: Thermal insulation, energy storage, mechanical cushioning, fluid regulation
The hypodermis, also called subcutaneous tissue, is the innermost layer of the skin. It primarily consists of:
Adipose tissue, composed of adipocytes that store triglycerides
Loose connective tissue, which provides mechanical support and elasticity
Lymphatic vessels, which drain interstitial fluid and support immune function
Larger blood vessels, which supply the dermis and regulate thermal exchange
This layer cushions internal structures, provides energy storage, and helps regulate body temperature. It also contributes to facial and body contour through its distribution and volume.
The hypodermis is not meaningfully influenced by daily topical skincare. Changes here are more often driven by systemic inputs (e.g., metabolic health, hydration, muscle tone) or professional interventions.
Interventions associated with the hypodermis:
Facial massage and manual lymphatic drainage: may temporarily reduce fluid retention in superficial lymphatic pathways
Radiofrequency-based devices: use thermal energy to stimulate subcutaneous collagen contraction and lipolysis (in clinical settings, *** I am very wary of this tech)
Injectable fillers (e.g., hyaluronic acid-based): restore volume loss due to adipose atrophy
Strength training and thermal therapies (e.g., sauna use): improve circulation and may indirectly support lymphatic and vascular function
Daily routines focused on barrier support will not reach this layer, but understanding its role is useful when considering broader skin health, particularly as it relates to volume loss, circulatory health, and temperature regulation.
Second, Why You Might Care (Or Not)
So now you know: skin is a high-functioning organ. It regulates heat and water loss, initiates immune responses, repairs itself under stress, and filters environmental inputs. It’s structured. It’s responsive. And it’s doing all of this continuously.
But whether or not that convinces you to do skincare is another question.
Because the truth is: unless you have a specific skin condition or you’re actively preventing sun damage, most of the effects of skincare are localized and, if we’re being honest, mostly cosmetic.
Realistically, you can understand everything you now understand about skin and still choose to walk around with dry lips and tight cheeks and be perfectly fine. You could just meditate instead. In fact, meditating with chapped lips might do more for your holistic wellbeing than skincare; for according to the research, meditation is kind of a miracle, and bluntly, the same can not be said for skincare.
So next, it’s in your court:
Do you want to engage with your skin as a site of maintenance and attention?
And are you okay with the fact that the most reliable benefit might just be spending a little bit of time with yourself, every morning and every night?
Some people, like myself, find these skincare rituals grounding. Some find them vain or unnecessary.
You get to decide (as long as you’re wearing sunscreen!)
With that, apply SPF, and happy skincare!