Tallow, Toxins, and TikTok: What Skincare Gets Wrong Partner Episode with Osmia

The skincare industry is worth over $180 billion globally. The science backing most of it? Let's just say your liver isn't the only organ that doesn't need a detox.

This episode is sponsored by Osmia, Science-backed skincare formulated by a physician who actually reads PubMed. Use code YDS20 for 20% off your first order at osmiaskincare.com.

This week we're doing something a little different: a partner episode with Osmia, one of our sponsors this season. But if you know YDS, you know we don't do puff pieces. Dr. Sarah Villafranco is a board-certified emergency medicine physician who left the ER to formulate skincare, and brought her doctor brain with her. She's here because she shares our allergy to pseudoscience, not because she's paying us to be nice—and we approached this conversation with the same critical lens we'd bring to any industry deep-dive. (You can read more about how we handle sponsorships and editorial independence at yourdietsuckspodcast.com/our-advertising-ethics-policy.)

We talk about why tallow is the new wellness grift (sorry, ancestral girlies), what "natural" actually means when the FDA doesn't regulate it, and why your 20-step TikTok routine is probably making your skin worse. Sarah breaks down the three products that actually matter, explains why thicker doesn't mean more hydrating (remember: hydrate has "water" in it), and makes the case for the least sexy skincare advice ever spoken aloud: consistency.

We also get into the ethics of beauty marketing, why "anti-aging" language is completely absent from everything Osmia does, and how to be your own N of 1 experiment when it comes to your skin, which should sound familiar if you've been listening to this show.

Plus: the St. Ives Apricot Scrub accountability moment we all needed, why medicated lip balms are a scam, and the skincare equivalent of taking 500 supplements a day.

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by serums, confused by "clean beauty" claims, or suspicious that the wellness industry just found a new way to sell you a crisis and then the cure, this one's for you.