Episode 24 -The Truth About Skin Health, Inflammaging, and Beauty Industry Myths with Dr. Ebru Karpuzoglu

By Jessica Garrison

We are so lucky to feature our next guest, Dr. Ebru Karpuzoglu. She is hyper, headstrong, and loves challenges. Melissa also says she has a humble confidence in her. Wherever she goes, people meet her and want to tell her their stories, but this time, we get to hear hers. 

Ebru’s work includes skin wellness and she tells us about the many factors that can affect your skin. She uses the term inflammaging, inflammation and aging together, because of the inflammation that wears down your body and your skin that causes you to look older than you actually are. Chronic inflammation can also occur with constantly high cortisol levels causing this, and Ebru has the scientific research to back up her claims. However, people were not necessarily taking her information to heart because she had published research papers rather than a book. So she created her book, Empire of Mirrors: Exposé of Beauty Untold, as a new way for people to see her research on skin health. Her work is fascinating to me because I love discussing skin care, and Ebru shares more than just what’s on the surface.

I admire Ebru because her goal has always been to convey the truth and it is what she continues to do. We see a lot of marketing manipulation, especially in the world of makeup and skincare. Rather than letting people fall victim to whatever the big companies are serving up, Ebru has put her work into a book that can be read by anyone and allow a person to make an informed decision before they purchase a product. The system was not built for women, so we have to build our own system that works for us, and within this system, Ebru welcomes everyone to the table. She especially likes to support women-owned businesses because of the competition mindset that many women are brought up with. Everyone has something to contribute and is a necessary part of the conversation.  Ebru says that “her success doesn’t diminish mine.” A lot of times there are no or only a few women in the room, so we feel like there aren’t as many positions for us, so we have to compete with each other for them. But that is not true at all. We should be lifting each other up, defending one another, and questioning why there aren’t more women in the room. The enemy is the patriarchy, not other women. 

Ebru has her own website that features her skin care products, frequent concerns or questions, and a quiz you can take to see what fits best for your skin. Your skin is a huge indicator of your health, so this is a topic that I think everyone could use more education on. It isn’t vain or selfish to take care of yourself in all areas of your life. 

Ways to Engage:  Get curious about marketing techniques or cues that seem manipulative. Are they trying to get you to compare yourself to others? Are they trying to uplift everyone rather than pulling someone else down to look better? Are they being transparent with their work? Start with the beauty industry and continue to expand to all media to become more aware of manipulation in marketing.