Building A Beauty Regimen For Dark Skin

After she opened her Philadelphia dermatology practice, Susan C. Taylor began thinking a lot about the beauty regimens of women with dark skin.

Since then, Dr. Taylor, who is African-American, has become co-founding director of the Skin of Color Center at St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospitals in Manhattan and Chief Executive of Rx for Brown Skin, a skin-care line designed for Asian, Indian, Latino and black skin.

And for many years, she has applied her findings to her own daily regimen. As a student, she says, "I would get up in the morning and wash my face with soap, then fall into bed at night without washing again."

Now, she gently washes her face twice daily with her fingertips, rinses, and pats dry with a soft cotton towel. She tones and follows up with a moisturizer. "I started cleansing with gentle products and realized that my skin changed," she says.

It is important to avoid rubbing and scrubbing the skin, she notes. Brown skin is very easily irritated, and that can lead to lingering dark marks, discolorations and scars.

Read more: The Wall Street Journal