Daddy Jo Is Not Angry at His Face

Let's clear something up, because there is confusion out there and Daddy hears it at every dinner party.

People assume that because Daddy Jo sells a scrub, Daddy Jo scrubs his face. He does not. Daddy Jo is not angry at his face. He and his face have an understanding.

By all means, scrub the rest of you. Scrub your heels. Scrub those elbows, those knees, the back you can't quite reach. Scrub your scalp — please, scrub your scalp. Daddy has products he loves for exactly this: THE SCRUB, the Icelandic Volcano face-and-body scrub that the body adores, and THE SCALP SCRUB, Rosemary & Mint, for anyone whose hairline has been quietly accumulating product since 2019. Corpus was built for this work. The body is tough. The body can take it.

But the face. The face is the money maker. It is the one part of you people actually look at, and it is precisely the part that should never be sanded down.

Microbeads, crushed walnut, fruit pits, salt from the sea. Daddy knows a queen or two who still keeps a tube of apricot scrub in the shower, and to them Daddy says, with love: stop it. Micro-tears in the skin are not a look. Not anymore. We have evolved.

The other kind of exfoliation

Here is what those queens don't realize: there is a second kind of exfoliation, and it does everything the sand promised without a single scratch.

Chemical exfoliation. AHAs and BHAs. Acids that dissolve the dull, dead layer instead of grinding it off. Gentle, precise, and, when done right, close to instant in what it does for your face.

Daddy Jo's day does not end without it. Not one.

The ritual: Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Peel

Daddy's nightly non-negotiable is the Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Daily Peel, a two-step system that comes in individually wrapped pads. Yes, wrapped. We'll come back to why that's genius.

Step one is the active pad. Cleanse first, then wipe it over the face and leave it. Two minutes. Brush your teeth. Decide which sweatshirt gets the brooches tomorrow. Let the acids do the work.

Step two is the neutralizer. It stops the exfoliation and, as a bonus, behaves like a very good toner. No separate toner required. One less bottle. Daddy approves.

Then, immediately, while the face is still damp, go in with your night moisturizer. This is the trick. Damp skin locks in the goodness of both steps. Daddy's pick, coming soon to FLESH, is REGNUM, the Collagen Anti-Age Night Cream. Until then, whatever you love for PM. But do it while the skin is damp.

That's it. That's the whole thing. Three minutes and your face is, quite literally, new.

Pick your strength

The Alpha Beta comes in several varieties, and this matters because your face is not everyone's face.

• Gentle, for the fragile and the sensitive. No shame in it.
• Universal (the standard), where most of us live.
• Extra Strength, for those who like a little drama.
• The Glow Peel, which delivers retinol along with the acids and leaves a healthy, sun-kissed look without a minute in the sun. Daddy is fond of this one before an event.

Daily? Daddy says adjust.

The box says use it daily. Daddy finds every other night, or a couple of times a week, more than adequate. Listen to your skin. You will know. If it looks tight and cross with you, back off. This is a relationship, not a punishment.

Why at night. The secret.

Two reasons, and the second one is important.

First: doing the peel in the evening means a closer, cleaner shave the next morning. Dead skin gone, blade glides. You're welcome.

Second, and hear this: AHAs and BHAs are photosensitizing. They make your skin more vulnerable to the sun, and sun on freshly exfoliated skin is how you end up with hyperpigmentation you did not ask for. Do the peel at night. And if you insist on using acids in the morning, use your damn sunscreen.

Until Daddy Jo has a sun care line of his own, Daddy turns to two names: Dr. Dennis Gross for the Ultimate Defense sunscreen, which pairs perfectly with the peel, and Supergoop for the rest. The best of the best. No debate.

The gym bag argument

Back to the wrapped pads. Individual foil packets, two per pad set. They don't leak. They don't dry out. They slide into a gym bag, a dopp kit, a blazer pocket on a red-eye. Daddy has done a full peel in an airport lounge and no one was the wiser, except for the man who complimented his skin at baggage claim.

For the extreme among you

If you are the type who already owns the ice roller and the gua sha and wants the next level, Daddy will point you to Dr. Dennis Gross's FaceWare Pro LED mask. Red light for anti-aging, blue for acne. Best in show. It is an investment. It looks slightly alarming on. It works.

What's coming from FLESH

Daddy uses his own chemical exfoliants too. ACIES, for the lighter days, and CORTEX, for the in-depth ones. Both coming soon. And yet Daddy has not been able to give up the Alpha Beta, and he suspects he never will. Some things are simply perfect. There is room in the cabinet for both.

The verdict

Sand for the body. Acid for the face. Peel at night. Moisturize while damp. Sunscreen always.

Take Daddy's advice and pick some up today. Your skin will thank you, and you will thank the almost instant lift in how you look across a candlelit table.

Who's your Daddy? Daddy Jo.