The Skincare That Stayed - Obaji Medical

There is something rather strange about getting older. You don't notice it happening in quite the way you imagine you will when you are young; there is rarely a morning when you wake up and suddenly feel that time has caught you. Instead, it arrives almost imperceptibly, through small observations that accumulate over the years: the first line that remains after you stop smiling, the subtle change in the texture of your skin, the pigmentation that wasn't there before, or the moment you catch your reflection in a particularly unforgiving mirror and realise that your face is beginning to carry a little more evidence of the life you have lived.

When I was nineteen, I thought very little about any of this. At nineteen, ageing belonged to some distant version of the future, and skincare was something I associated more with my parents than with myself. I certainly wasn't thinking about collagen, cellular turnover or photoageing, and the idea that I might one day spend an inordinate amount of time researching the science behind a bottle of serum would have seemed faintly ridiculous.

And yet, around that time, Obagi Medical entered my life, introduced through my family, and what began as simply another part of our skincare routine has, rather remarkably, remained with me for the better part of fifteen years.

That longevity is perhaps the most meaningful endorsement I can give it.

Over the past few years, particularly through The Curiosity Project, I have become increasingly fascinated by longevity and wellness, and skincare has naturally become part of that exploration. I have tried an extraordinary number of products and treatments in the process, from sophisticated serums and supplements to lasers, energy-based devices and procedures that promise to change the way we age. Some have genuinely impressed me, while others have served as useful reminders that the beauty industry has become extraordinarily adept at packaging relatively ordinary ideas in the language of scientific discovery.

The older I become, the more sceptical I have become of skincare that relies primarily on beautiful packaging, complicated terminology or the suggestion that one miraculous ingredient is about to change everything. What interests me now is considerably less glamorous: whether something works, why it works, whether there is credible science behind it, and, perhaps most importantly, whether the results are significant enough that you would continue using it when the novelty has disappeared.

That is where Obagi has always felt different.

Before Obagi became a skincare brand, it was a philosophy

Obagi Medical was founded by Dr Zein Obagi, a dermatologist whose approach to skincare was based on the idea that the skin should be treated as a living biological system rather than simply a surface to be moisturised or cosmetically improved. The company traces its origins to 1988, when the original Nu-Derm System was introduced, and its philosophy centred around physician-dispensed skincare designed to address the underlying processes associated with pigmentation, photodamage and visible ageing.

That distinction is important because, when you look at the history of skincare, much of the industry has traditionally been concerned with making the skin appear better. Obagi's approach was more ambitious: to create structured treatment systems built around active ingredients that could influence the biology of the skin and, over time, improve its appearance as a consequence.

Today, terms such as retinoids, exfoliation, hyperpigmentation and photodamage are common currency, but the philosophy behind Nu-Derm was considerably more medical than much of the skincare market of its era. Obagi subsequently built a reputation around physician-dispensed, clinically tested formulations and systems rather than simply chasing the ingredient of the moment, and that emphasis on treatment rather than cosmetics is one of the reasons the brand has remained so relevant.

It is also why I have always felt that Obagi belongs in a slightly different category from conventional skincare. You don't really encounter it in the same way that you encounter most beauty brands. It has historically been something you discover through dermatology, through a clinician, or through somebody who has been using it for years and quietly tells you that this is what they use.

In my case, that somebody was my family.

Fifteen years of consistency

For roughly fifteen years, Obagi has been a constant in my family's skincare routines, and there is something rather comforting about that continuity. We live in a world where skincare changes almost as quickly as fashion; every season brings another breakthrough ingredient, another technology, another brand claiming to have discovered the secret to younger-looking skin. Yet there is something to be said for a product that quietly remains in your bathroom while everything around it changes.

I began using Obagi when I was nineteen, long before I had developed the curiosity about longevity that I have today, and I think that hindsight has changed the way I understand those early years. The real value wasn't necessarily one particular product or one dramatic transformation. It was the habit of taking care of my skin consistently, and of being introduced at a relatively young age to the idea that the condition of your skin later in life is influenced by what you do to it now.

That concept has become increasingly important to me as I have become more interested in longevity more broadly. Longevity is often discussed in terms of biomarkers, cardiovascular health, strength, metabolic health and the number of years we might eventually live, but there is another dimension that is less frequently discussed: how we want those years to look and feel. Skin is, after all, the organ through which much of the outside world interacts with us, and it records an extraordinary amount of what we have been exposed to.

Which brings me to the problem I encountered this year.

I had been spending more and more time outside.

The price of an outdoor life

Over the past couple of years, sport has become an increasingly large part of my life. I have returned to tennis after more than a decade away, become heavily involved in padel, started running again and generally found myself spending far more time outdoors than I had previously. There is something I love about it that is difficult to replicate indoors: the combination of movement, competition, fresh air and the slightly primitive satisfaction of finishing something physically difficult.

The downside, of course, is that the skin has absolutely no interest in whether you are outside because you are playing a beautiful game of tennis or because you are lying on a beach. Ultraviolet exposure is ultraviolet exposure, and cumulative sun exposure is one of the major environmental contributors to premature visible skin ageing, contributing to pigmentation, uneven tone, loss of texture and the broader collection of changes we describe as photodamage.

I began noticing those changes in myself.

Nothing dramatic had happened, but the texture of my skin seemed less refined than it had been, and there were areas where the tone wasn't as even as I would have liked. It was the sort of deterioration that is easy to dismiss because it happens gradually, but once you become aware of it, you begin noticing it everywhere: in photographs, under bright lights, in the mirror after a long day outside.

It was at that point that I decided to return to something I had known for most of my adult life, but this time with an entirely different understanding of what I was asking it to do.

I started the Obagi Nu-Derm System a few months ago.

What followed surprised me.

Why Nu-Derm works as a system

One of the things that makes Nu-Derm interesting is that it isn't really a single skincare product at all; it is a coordinated system designed to address several aspects of the skin simultaneously. The current prescription Nu-Derm approach incorporates cleansing, toning, pigment correction, exfoliation, moisturisation and, crucially, sun protection, with the precise prescription and sequence determined according to the individual's skin and treatment goals.

That approach makes intuitive sense when you consider what we are actually trying to achieve. Skin ageing is not caused by a single mechanism, so why would we expect one serum to reverse it? Pigmentation is one issue, cellular turnover another, environmental damage another, and the continued exposure that caused much of that damage in the first place is yet another. Treating these things together is fundamentally different from buying a succession of unrelated products and hoping that, somewhere between the cleanser and the overnight mask, something miraculous happens.

One of the most important components of the prescription Nu-Derm system is hydroquinone, which has been used in dermatology for decades as a pigment-correcting agent. Prescription-strength hydroquinone works by interfering with melanin production and is particularly relevant to the treatment of hyperpigmentation and uneven skin tone.

It is an ingredient that has attracted considerable discussion in recent years, partly because modern skincare has developed a tendency to divide ingredients into fashionable and unfashionable categories. I find that slightly amusing. There is nothing inherently more impressive about an ingredient because it was discovered recently, just as there is nothing inherently less effective about one that has been used for decades. What matters is whether the biology makes sense and whether the clinical evidence supports the claim.

Hydroquinone is a good example of why I have become increasingly interested in medical skincare rather than simply fashionable skincare. It isn't there because the ingredient sounds exotic; it is there because it has a specific job to do.

The same principle applies to the exfoliating components of the system. By encouraging the removal of accumulated surface cells and supporting more consistent cellular turnover, the treatment is designed to improve the appearance and feel of rough, uneven and photodamaged skin. The result, when everything works together, isn't simply brighter

skin but skin that appears more uniform and refined.

That was actually one of the first changes I noticed.

Not necessarily in the mirror, but when I touched my face.

The texture felt different.

The retinoid question

For certain patients, a physician-directed Obagi regimen may also incorporate tretinoin, a prescription retinoid derived from vitamin A. Tretinoin has been used in dermatology for decades, most famously in the treatment of acne, but its effects on cellular turnover and its role in improving the appearance of photoaged skin have made topical retinoids an important part of the wider conversation around ageing skin.

This is another area where I think the distinction between cosmetics and medical skincare becomes particularly interesting. A moisturiser can make your skin feel softer almost immediately; a prescription retinoid is working through biological processes that are considerably more fundamental. The latter requires patience, appropriate medical guidance and, importantly, rigorous sun protection.

And that last point is particularly relevant for someone like me.

Because the greatest skincare routine in the world becomes somewhat pointless if you spend two hours playing padel in the midday sun without protecting the skin you are trying to improve.

The least exciting part may be the most important

We tend to gravitate towards the exciting parts of skincare. We want to talk about lasers, retinoids, peptides, stem-cell technology, growth factors and whatever new ingredient has appeared on the cover of a beauty magazine that month. We rarely want to spend much time talking about sunscreen because there is nothing particularly glamorous about it.

Yet for someone who spends as much time outdoors as I do, it is arguably the most important product in the entire routine.

Obagi's Nu-Derm philosophy incorporates broad-spectrum sun protection as an integral part of the regimen rather than treating it as an optional finishing step, and that is precisely how I think about it now. If ultraviolet exposure is one of the major contributors to the very damage you are trying to correct, preventing further exposure has to be part of the treatment rather than an afterthought.

I have become much more disciplined about this as my relationship with outdoor sport has developed, because I have no intention of giving up the things I enjoy simply to preserve my complexion. I would rather understand the damage, minimise it and take proper care of my skin while continuing to live the life I actually want to live.

That, in many ways, is what longevity means to me.

It isn't about trying to freeze yourself at thirty.

It is about extending the period during which you can continue doing the things that make you feel alive.

The results I wasn't expecting

A few months into using Nu-Derm again, something rather unexpected happened: I stopped thinking about the individual products and started noticing my face as a whole.

The texture had improved considerably, the unevenness I had been noticing had softened and there was a general refinement to my complexion that I hadn't anticipated from simply returning to a system I had known for years. The change wasn't theatrical, and perhaps that is why I trusted it. I didn't wake up one morning looking like a different person; instead, over time, I began looking increasingly like a better version of myself.

There have been several moments recently when I have caught my reflection and thought that I looked a few years younger. That is obviously a subjective observation, and I would never pretend that a skincare system can literally reverse the passage of time, but there is something meaningful about restoring the texture, clarity and evenness that your skin possessed before years of cumulative environmental exposure began to take their toll.

It feels less like becoming somebody else and more like recovering something you had gradually lost.

And perhaps that is the best description I can give of what Obagi has done for me this time around.

It has not stopped time.

It has simply made my skin look less burdened by it.

What I use

My relationship with Obagi has always been about the system rather than one hero product, but the Nu-Derm regimen is particularly interesting because each component has a defined role within the broader process. The cleanser prepares the skin, the toner helps condition it for subsequent products, the prescription pigment-correcting treatment addresses excess pigmentation, the exfoliating component works on texture and surface renewal, and moisturisation and sun protection support the skin throughout the process.

The prescription 4% hydroquinone treatment is particularly important for pigmentation, while exfoliation addresses the roughness and uneven texture that had become increasingly noticeable to me. Where appropriate, prescription tretinoin can form another part of the regimen, working on cellular turnover and the broader signs of photoageing under professional supervision.

I don't think the lesson here is that everyone should suddenly go out and buy the same routine.

In fact, quite the opposite.

The thing I have learned after fifteen years of using Obagi, and after several years of testing almost everything else I can get my hands on, is that good skincare is intensely individual. What works for one person's pigmentation, sensitivity, oil production or degree of photodamage may be completely inappropriate for somebody else. The prescription components of Nu-Derm in particular are exactly that: prescription treatments, and they deserve to be approached with the same respect that we would give any other medical intervention.

What I do think is worth borrowing is the philosophy.

Understand what you are trying to change. Understand which ingredients actually have evidence behind them. Understand the biology of your skin. Build a routine around a purpose rather than a collection of attractive bottles, and above all, give something enough time to work before deciding whether it has failed.

Fifteen years later

There is a rather lovely symmetry to the fact that the skincare I am most excited about today is the skincare I discovered at nineteen.

Back then, I used Obagi because it was what my family used. Today, I use it because I have spent years becoming curious about the science of ageing, experimenting with different technologies and treatments, and learning to distinguish between something that merely sounds impressive and something that genuinely changes the skin.

That distinction has made me more, rather than less, appreciative of Obagi.

The brand isn't interesting to me because it has managed to remain fashionable for decades. It is interesting because the philosophy behind it has remained remarkably consistent: treat the skin as biology, use active ingredients with a defined purpose, create structured treatment systems and measure success by what happens to the skin rather than by how impressive the marketing sounds.

And perhaps that is why I keep returning to it.

Fifteen years is a long time in skincare. Ingredients rise and fall, brands appear and disappear, technologies become obsolete and new ones arrive promising to revolutionise the industry. Yet there is something reassuring about discovering that, after all that experimentation, one of the things that genuinely works for you was something you already knew.

My skin has changed since I was nineteen. Of course it has. I have changed too. I have spent more time in the sun, played more sport, travelled more, lived more, and accumulated all of the tiny environmental insults that come with simply being alive.

But I have also learned that ageing well isn't about pretending those things haven't happened.

It is about taking care of the evidence they leave behind.

And so, fifteen years after Obagi first became part of my life, I find myself using it again with considerably more knowledge and considerably greater appreciation for what it is actually trying to achieve. The bottles may sit quietly on the bathroom shelf, but behind them is a philosophy that has survived decades of skincare trends, and in an industry increasingly dominated by novelty, there is something rather compelling about a product that doesn't need to shout about what it can do.

Sometimes the most interesting discoveries aren't the things we find for the first time.

Sometimes they are the things we finally understand.