ABOUT

Written by Marcia E Cripe, RN
Last Updated: August 2026

A FIRE AND A BROKEN SKIN BARRIER

A few years ago, a fire damaged part of our home. We lived in a rental for a stretch, then moved back into the house while we waited on the insurance claim to be settled and the repairs to happen. It was a hard season — the kind where skincare is the last thing on your mind.

For a long stretch, the only thing I put on my face was a cheap drugstore cleanser with scrubby beads. No moisturizer. No routine. No barrier support. The water in that rental was full of iron — enough to turn my hair orange, and enough to quietly stress my skin every single day.

By the time we were back in our own house, my skin barrier was a mess: patchy, flaky, tight, and reactive. I remember trying to put on makeup one morning and watching it cling to every dry patch instead of covering anything. That was the moment I realized how far I'd let things go.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN THE REST OF MY LIFE

Around the same time my skin was collapsing, the rest of my life was moving in a genuinely positive direction. I'd started what still feels like the most meaningful job I've ever had — as an RN intake coordinator for an inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF). I'd finished a major weight-loss journey and lost 120 pounds, roughly half my body weight. I'd decided it was time to get the whole picture of my health back in order, and my skin was part of that.

Rebuilding my barrier changed how I thought about everything: the science I already knew, the products I'd never paid attention to, and the enormous gap between "clinical information" and "actually knowing what to do at your own bathroom sink."

That gap is why Skin Logic exists.

WHY I BUILT SKIN LOGIC

I wanted to build the resource I wished I'd had — the science of how skin actually works, explained clearly by someone with a clinical background who's also living it, in real time, right alongside the reader.

Most skincare content is one of two things: marketing dressed as advice, or clinical language pitched over the head of the person reading it. I wanted a third path — a working nurse sitting down with peer-reviewed literature, translating it faithfully, and being honest about the limits of what the evidence actually says.

Skin Logic is where I do that work in public.

MY BACKGROUND (THE SHORT VERSION)

My clinical anchor for Skin Logic is wound care — the discipline of understanding tissue at a cellular level, how the skin barrier fails, how it heals, and how outside variables either help or interfere with that healing. Barrier repair, the topic that anchors most of the site's early content, is the same set of principles I've applied clinically for years, translated for the bathroom sink instead of the bedside.

I am a nurse, not a dermatologist, not a cosmetic chemist, and not a research scientist. I'm transparent about that because it defines the scope of what I can responsibly write about — and because it's exactly what makes the site useful. I sit in the space between primary literature and the reader.

WHERE I AM RIGHT NOW WITH MY OWN SKIN

I'm in my mid-40s. My current skin concerns are aging skin, dullness, enlarged pores, and uneven texture — the ordinary stuff, not exotic pathology. I'm actively using an exfoliant and a retinoid, but inside a routine specifically built to protect the barrier I spent so long rebuilding — not compromise it again.

That order matters. Barrier first, then anti-aging. Getting that wrong is one of the most common mistakes I see, and it's a mistake I made myself. It's also why so much of Skin Logic circles back to barrier health before anything else.

HOW I WRITE FOR SKIN LOGIC

Everything I publish on Skin Logic is:

• Written or edited personally by me. No ghostwritten content, no anonymous freelance work.
• Verified against primary literature. Peer-reviewed dermatology, cosmetic chemistry, and wound care journals — PubMed and PMC are the default sources. Blog aggregation is not.
• Honest about the limits. When the underlying evidence is thin, indirect, or drawn from an adjacent field, I say so directly inside the article, not in a footnote.
• Structurally consistent. Every article follows the same skeleton — mechanism, evidence, practical protocol, limits, next steps — so readers can navigate confidently across topics.

The full editorial policy — how I source, verify, and update content, how I handle corrections, and how I disclose commercial relationships — is documented on the Editorial Standards page.

THE TWO THINGS THIS SITE IS NOT

HOW I HANDLE COMMERCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Skin Logic is reader-supported. That includes display advertising, affiliate links (including Amazon Associates), product reviews of purchased and gifted items, and occasional clearly labeled sponsored content. Every article involving one of those relationships carries a visible disclosure at the top of that article.

One principle behind all of it: commercial relationships do not decide clinical positions. If a product is not appropriate for a given skin concern, I say so — regardless of whether I earn a commission on it. Full policy on the Terms of Service page.

HOW TO REACH ME

The contact form on the site comes to me directly. Corrections, questions, and feedback are all welcome — I read every message. For inquiries about permissions or partnerships, use the same form and I'll respond personally.