Tsaio Girls on Period Mask: Is period-focused skincare legit?

An intriguing face mask targeted to a niche market: young women who experience skin-related woes around that time of the month.

I love buying stuff online. But I also like shopping for products in person, and when I don’t feel like having my senses bombarded by the loud music, bright lights, and strong perfumes at Sephora, I head to Ricky’s NYC. It’s one of my favorite places in the city to explore skincare products at my leisure. They also stock The Ordinary products, as well as items from a bunch of other brands. I noticed quite a nice hodgepodge of American and international brands, including lots of Asian beauty sheet masks. One in particular caught my eye: “Girls on Period Mask.” How could I not stop and take a picture of that?

tsaio girls on period mask rickys nyc

Let’s take a closer look at the ingredient list to see how it might be able to save you from “off-color” period skin, and deliver a “pink and fresh complexion.”

TSAIO Girls on Period Mask ingredients

I’m not sure if the last ingredient is supposed to be “citric acid” instead of just “citric.” I wasn’t able to find it in many places online.

The packaging is quite interesting—it shows a Cinderella-looking girl with some paleness in her cheeks (maybe because she’s had an overly heavy flow and doesn’t have any blood left in her face?). The whole idea behind this product is simultaneously off-putting and darkly humorous, to be honest.

Everyone has different experiences with their period (and what it does to their skin), but in my case, I do feel like my skin breaks out more during the week leading up to my period. But I haven’t noticed that my skin is duller or more colorless around that time of the month. I’m not sure if I buy the idea of looking “off color” during your period—I think that might be more psychological than actually rooted in scientific evidence. But I am on board with anything that helps you feel better during the most uncomfortable time of each month.

This mask comes from Taiwanese beauty company Tsaio, and is formulated with some nice detoxifying ingredients like willow bark extract and burdock root extract, as well as other beneficial ingredients like niacinamide, allantoin, and zinc. Plantago loanceolata leaf extract has also been shown to help with wound healing and provide anti-inflammatory benefits.

This mask claims to help brighten skin for anyone who is suffering from menstrual cycle-related dullness. But this study found that there was no link between one’s cycle and brightness of skin: “We also did not find an effect of cycle on facial skin luminance, suggesting that self-reported changes in human skin lightness are inaccurate or based on regions of the face (e.g. around the eyes) that we did not analyze here.” The researchers found that there was some link between ovulation time and redness of skin, but that it was too complex to sum up into any one-size-fits-all observation.

Another study found that there was a link between hyperpigmentaiton and one’s menstrual cycle. In the week prior to menstruation, skin would be darker than the rest of the month. However, keep in mind that this study was conducted in 1961, so it’s probably a bit outdated.

If you’d like to give this mask a try, you can find it online here or at your nearest Ricky’s NYC store. Let me know if you do try it—I’d love to know what you think.

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