As Seen in Vogue
This summer, wildfire smoke washed Manhattan in shades of silver and gray. When Vogue set out to discover what truly protects skin from the air around us, it found its answer in a Rescue Spa treatment room.
In July, the sky over Manhattan took on a shade Vogue's Alice Gregory likened to tarnished silverware. Smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted hundreds of miles south, the Air Quality Index soared, and the city was urged indoors. Gregory found herself thinking first about her lungs, and then, inevitably, about her face.
A season of silver skies
Her feature, "Clear the Air: Is Pollution Making Your Skin Worse?," is a witty, beautifully observed chronicle of one woman's quest to protect her complexion. Unlike the visible soot that preoccupied the Victorians, today's fine particulate matter drifts through apartment windows unseen. That didn't stop Gregory from stocking her medicine cabinet with sleek, clinical bottles promising "shields" and "fortification."
The dermatologists she consulted confirmed the stakes. Particles produced by combustion are fine enough to slip past the skin's outer layers, and air pollution has been linked to premature aging, hyperpigmentation, and flare-ups of eczema, rosacea, and acne.
The dermatologist's verdict
Raj Fadadu, MD, a dermatologist at UC San Diego who has studied the effects of wildfire smoke in San Francisco after 2018's Camp Fire, offered a refreshingly candid perspective on the products lining Gregory's shelves.
"A lot of the hype is likely speculative without strong clinical evidence." Raj Fadadu, MD, in Vogue
Dr. Fadadu acknowledged that the theory behind antipollution skincare is probably sound, and that there is "limited evidence" that topical niacinamide and vitamin C "could help reduce the negative impacts of air pollution on the skin." His own prescription for poor air quality days, however, was elegant in its simplicity: wash your face, try to stay inside, close your windows, wear a mask.
Gregory took the first of those to heart. She booked a facial at Rescue Spa.
Inside the treatment room
Diana Yerkes, lead esthetician at Rescue Spa in Manhattan, had been reading the season on her clients' faces all summer. Regulars arriving on their four-to-six-week schedule were showing more congestion than usual, their complexions looking, in her word, "gray."
It is the kind of insight that only comes from a trained eye and a steady stream of faces, and it made Gregory's appointment one of the most illuminating moments in the story.
"At the end of the day, cleansing is your most important step." Diana Yerkes, Lead Esthetician, Rescue Spa, in Vogue
Yerkes, it turned out, shared Dr. Fadadu's appreciation for simplicity. The esthetician and the dermatologist arrived at the same conclusion: the real transformation happens at the sink.
The art of the double cleanse
For Yerkes, cleansing twice is nonnegotiable. The first pass sweeps away the day's obvious traces: sunscreen, subway grime, the faint residue of a morning coffee. The second, ideally with the same non-stripping formula, leaves skin truly, luminously clean.
The reasoning is rooted in the skin itself.
"Your skin mantle is made of oil, and when you apply oil on oil it removes all the residuals more efficiently than when you strip it down with some bubbly situation." Diana Yerkes, in Vogue
Her verdict on Gregory's drugstore soap? Banish it to the shower. Commit to the ritual, Yerkes said, and within 28 days the difference would show. Ever the realist, she added: "I'm not promising unicorns."
The Rescue Spa double cleanse
- The first pass. Massage a non-stripping cleansing balm over dry skin to melt away sunscreen, makeup, and the city's daily residue.
- The second pass. Repeat with the same balm to lift everything the first pass loosened.
- The ritual. Make it nightly. Consistency is the secret, and Yerkes' timeline for visible results was 28 days.
Danucera Cerabalm, the star of the ritual
The hero of Gregory's facial was a honey-like cleansing balm from Danucera, the skincare line created by Rescue Spa founder Danuta Mieloch. That balm is Danucera Cerabalm, the honey-textured, oil-based cleanser Yerkes reaches for in the treatment room and recommends for the double cleanse at home.
Gregory emerged with skin she described as hydrated and plump, along with one unforgettable image: after her 60-minute treatment, the white towel beneath her head bore a tawny outline of everything the city had left behind.
At home, she arranged her new collection along the bathroom sink, beginning with a stout jar of amber-colored cleansing balm. What won her over was the ritual as much as the formulas: a nightly routine lovely enough to turn basic hygiene into something she looked forward to.
Our philosophy
Beautiful skin begins with the fundamentals, performed thoughtfully and consistently. No serum can clear the skies over an entire city, but a considered nightly cleanse remains one of the most meaningful gestures you can make for your skin. It is the philosophy on which Danuta Mieloch built Danucera, and the one Vogue discovered when it came to Rescue Spa for answers.
The ritual worth keeping
"Air Apparent" is a sharp, stylish look at the antipollution skincare boom, and it arrives at a truth we have always held close. Before investing in shields and fortification, invest in your cleanse. Choose an oil-based balm. Cleanse twice. Make it nightly. And when your skin is ready for a reset, book time with an esthetician who can read what the season has written on it.