I had 56 products on my shelf and skin that was getting worse.

After my children were born, my skin rewired itself. Cystic acne, monthly and reliable. I had spent thousands, and each month a breakout would arrive, leave a scar, and wait for the next one.

Four days before my 40th birthday, I photographed every product on my shelf — all 56 of them — and ran an audit. I was cancelling active ingredients by applying them consecutively. I was destroying my own skin barrier.

I shelved fifteen products immediately. The rest were sequenced correctly, for the first time. Six weeks later, I was receiving compliments on my skin.

B is for my daughter Blaire. E is for my daughter Eleanor. It also stands for Balance and Equity — the two things a correctly sequenced protocol finally gave my skin.