Here at Who What Wear, we have zero chill when it comes to French-girl style and beauty. We openly aspire to the effortless IDGAF attitudes of our chic sisters across the pond who manage to have effortless confidence and imperfectly perfect glowy skin to match. It’s our daily mission to re-create what women in France seem to do naturally. In an effort to make our skincare routines just a little bit more French, we reached out to Sophie Strobel, a higher-up in the R&D department at French skincare brand Talika, and asked her what we Americans seem to be doing wrong.
“Wrong,” of course, is not quite the right word. It’s simply that the American approach to skincare is motivated by rules and perfection while the French come at it another way. “We don't like pressure, and we tend to criticize the rules,” Strobel told me. “French women, as usual, don't always listen to professional advice. They only take what they want from dermatologists and prefer keeping work to a minimum and fun for the rest!”
French women also value a little dash of imperfection, and they prefer to be out in the world drinking wine and kissing beautiful people rather than wasting away in the bathroom. This lifestyle is obviously not conducive to many common American skincare habits. Which products typical of most skincare routines in the USA would you never find in France? Below, Strobel listed six American products that she (and most other typical French girls) would never use—plus, a few French-inspired swaps.