Introduction: When Skincare Hurt More Than It Helped There is a quiet grief many Black women carry in their skin. Not from what is visible—but from what was done to it. Burning peels passed off as “treatment.”Stinging creams sold as “working.”Bleaching lotions disguised as “brightening.”Texture labeled as a flaw instead of biology. For many of us, skincare wasn’t introduced as care.It was introduced as correction. At Velvet Melanin, we are naming the truth:A generation of Black women is recovering from skincare trauma—rooted in colorism, misinformation, and punishment-based beauty standards. This article is not about routines or products. It’s about healing…