Earlier today, someone reached out suggesting that I didn’t come up with the 3-Step Moisture Method™, asking me if I really did “invent it.”

It’s a pretty rare message to receive but this person informed me that a few super lovely trolls on the internet are trying to spread this conspiracy theory, and I gotta say, I’m honored!

Let’s talk about it and see if what they’re saying is true.

(I’ll be rolling my eyes throughout this entire post though, so picture it.)

How The 3-Step Moisture Method Was Born (Warning, it was not very interesting!)

I never thought of myself as having invented anything.
All I know was that I was the first one who shared it publically that I’m aware of. I couldn’t know what other people were doing in their own bathrooms, right?

I used a moisturizer on damp skin since about my late teens. I later started experimenting with various hydrating sprays, thinking they had magical hydrating properties (that magic was water).

That was the extent of my moisturization routine up to that point.

It was back in 2015-2016; I don’t even remember exactly because I had no idea what I stumbled on, how it would spread across the world, how many people it would help improve their skin, and how few people it might bother, lol.

I was in my bathroom excited to try a new serum I purchased. It was a serum containing Hyaluronic Acid from the health food store of all places.

But I decided to try this new serum underneath my moisturizer.
There was no eureka moment, no, “OMG, I MUST NAME THIS AND SELL THIS!”

See? Boring!

I just liked how it felt and continued to use it inconsistently at first, later increasingly more consistently.

Months later, I realized that my skin had no flakes in the winter, which was a nice change since usually, I’d experience quite a bit of tightness and flakes in the Canadian winter.

Anyway, it took me a while to understand that the humectant step made a huge difference in my skin. It was when I made the connection, and recognized HOW and WHY it was effective, that I decided to share it.

That’s when I first wrote about layering hydrating products (published back in Jan 12, 2017, on olenaloves.com or popthepimple.com). All those articles still live on this domain because of some backend tech thing.

In my second moisturization article, published Jan 13, 2017, I first publicly shared “How I Moisturize For Clear Skin” — I called it my moisturizing routine.

I didn’t think to name it yet.

By Feb, 2017, I did my 28-Days of Clear Skin video series on YouTube where I shared one skin tip a day in a video and an accompanying article. It later turned out that the non-skincare-related tips were actually useless, while the skincare tips themselves did all the heavy lifting.

A lot of people got clear skin from that series — and one of those tips was drum roll please! 🙂

The Moisture hack — “You And Everyone You Know Is Moisturizing Wrong“! This video started getting shared — but you need to remember that YouTube wasn’t what it is today 5 years ago.

(Yes, the 3SMM is FIVE YEARS OLD at the writing of this post!)

Back then there were like three acne coaches who were sharing some version of jojoba oil, oil-cleansing, caveman regimen, and various diets.

My business mentor even suggested I be the first not-for-hippies-skincare coach (nothing against hippies). That’s just to say that the internet landscape was very different from today.

No videos were telling you to moisturize in 3 steps, they were telling you to CLARISONIC TWICE A DAY. *gasp!*

There wasn’t a skincare blogger that I followed that shared this method; no person, article, book, or video had this info laid out for me.

Skincare wasn’t as huge of a topic as it is today.
People really forget that.

Everything was just kinda emerging and gaining traction.

Where The Confusion Might Lie?

Some people suggest that this method existed before me, specifically in Korean skincare.

It is possible that the 3-Step Moisture Method™ sounds like the Korean 3-5-7 Skins Method to some people.

This is where precision is essential.

The Korean multiple skins method refers to layering toners. Like three times, five times, or seven times. It’s a specific method.

But I’ve actually never tried it.
If you like this method, that’s fine; do you.

It’s not the same as the 3-Step Moisture Method™ — the point of which is to give the skin exactly what it needs in terms of hydration, minimizing the need for a sh*t ton of different products.

I simply pointed out that you can maximize hydration by layering one humectant serum under your moisturizer. Not 2 steps, not 18 steps, just 3 specific steps. 🙄

The beauty of the 3-steps is the simplicity: water + humectant + moisturizer. Even shitty moisturizers work better with this method!

So what’s the problem?

Arguments Used To Attack My Ownership of The 3SMM

1 “She stole it from K-Beauty!”

Some absolutely clever people say I stole this method from the Koreans. Whoopsie!

Do you think I didn’t google it before trademarking it? OMG, LMAO.

*Remember that I’m eye-rolling through this whole ridiculous post*

No such 3-step Korean method existed. Noneeeeeee. 

At the time, the super-popular 10+ steps routines and the 7 skins method (also known as 3 or 5 skins) did exist. Again, skins referred to the number of layers of toner.

These are two totally distinct methods that you can use if you please, but they are still different from the 3SMM, unless different and same are synonymous to you.

I don’t know when things expanded to essences, lotions, gels etc. but as far as I know, the Korean way of doing skincare included a lot of layers of various hydrating products, of which I used none. 

2 “My grandma used HA as the second step and taught me this method; it’s a part of our culture, YOU didn’t create it.”

I absolutely LOVE this argument. 

*Muahahahahahah*

Here’s the thing with dates and history — there’s a trail of everything that happened.

Unless your grandma is currently about 26 years old, you’re absolutely mistaken.

“First isolated by the German pharmacist Karl Meyer in 1934, hyaluronic acid has been used by the cosmetics industry since 1996. Prior to that, it had been used by athletes to help speed up recovery from sprained ankles and other joint problems.” (Source)

Can you imagine that HA wasn’t always used in serums?

It had other uses first, like filler and helping with drug delivery. (Source)

Hyaluronic Acid only started to be used in skincare way later around 2013-2017 (as evidenced by the studies and their dates). We had to first figure out this molecule and how to best administer it.

HA started to be marketed for its topical “anti-aging” properties around 2015; companies labeled HA-containing products as “firming.” 

Why firming you ask? 

Because when you apply HA without sealing it in or to dry skin, it can have a bit of a tightening/lifting effect. 

When you apply it over water and seal it in, you get more plumping and softening effect.

So these words: “firming,” “tightening,” “lifting” and “anti-aging,” sold a lot of HA, until it was LATER remarketed as “hydrating.”

Nobody was told to apply it to damp skin or seal it in with a moisturizer.

For what felt like the longest time, people used HA serums IN PLACE OF moisturizers (one acne coach even shared this tip on a podcast about 3 years ago!).

And that’s around when the uproar around HA started, people started saying that it dehydrates the skin, that’s it’s inflammatory — all due to user error.

Apparently, using HA under a moisturizer wasn’t really that intuitive.

But there’s more!

“Well, my grandma used aloe, a humectant, so there!” 

Let’s dive into a history lesson. 

“Shiseido is one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world. Founded in 1872, the company celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2022. It is the largest cosmetic firm in Japan and the fifth largest cosmetic company in the world.” (Wikipedia)

It started by making toothpaste. 

“Shiseido shifted from pharmacy-based products to cosmetics in 1897 with the introduction of Eudermine, a softening lotion to hydrate the skin, packaged in a ruby-red bottle worthy of a high-class perfume. (Over a century later, Eudermine remains a favourite with consumers.).” (Source, Shiseido Timeline)

For perspective, Vaseline was invented in 1870 in the US by Unilever.

It’s hard to imagine a time in which you hadn’t lived, but people didn’t have as many options as we do now. Not even close!

If there was a moisturizer, there were maybe a handful. Though Shiseido came up with a cold cream in 1918. That’s two moisturizers in TWENTY-ONE YEARS.

They didn’t have hyaluronic acid serums to layer underneath. 

The modern-day idea of serums didn’t exist.

If your grandma, by chance, layered some aloe underneath her moisturizer, good for her. She should have trademarked it! 🙂

But aloe can be quite astringent and cause redness in sensitive skin — I don’t recommend it as part of any method or skincare routine.

Literally, regular humans didn’t know about humectants, emollients, occlusives, HA, trans-epidermal water loss until fairly recently as these topics began to blow up. 

To say that someone’s grandma used these specific 3 steps well before the products even existed is a tad absurd.

3 “Olena didn’t come up with the 3SMM because companies use it in their instructions.”

*Eyes still rolling*

They use it in their instructions NOW.
Now is the crucial point missing from this argument. 

Do you really imagine this was always the case?

If I may put two and two together, don’t you think that companies implement NEW ideas over time, including in their instructions?

It’s called market research.

Shampoo companies used to say “Rinse and repeat” because that meant the customer used up the shampoo more quickly.

Times change.

Companies didn’t tell us how to moisturize UNTIL RECENTLY. I only started to notice these changes in the last 2 or so years from more forward-thinking companies.

This is largely why we were all doing it wrong for so long. 

This is literally why I wrote 5 years ago, on this blog “Sorry, this topic kinda frustrates me… The skincare industry provided us with moisturizers, but they didn’t explain what they’re actually for or how to use them.”

Moisturizing wasn’t intuitive, and there was a time when we all thought a moisturizer would be enough, even on dry skin. *The horror!*

But now we should happily give credit to companies for finally including helpful instructions on their products — even though they didn’t always know the right way to use their products either.

The Facts

Nobody had a problem with me sharing the 3-Step Moisture Method™ originally in January + February, 2017. I only received positive feedback!

Some people only started to get hot and bothered in recent years — probably coinciding with when they started learning about skincare.

Where were all these people before I posted my first article or video?

Maybe they were upset by the updated 3-Step Moisture Method™ video on Nov 3d, 2019? They might not even know that the original articles and videos exist…How embarrassing.

“I learned it from Dr. Dray!” Great! That’s super cool! Good for you! Here’s a trophy!

She stated in one of her videos that she’s experimenting with a new method after my video went live, where she introduced a middle step when moisturizing. This isn’t shade, this is just pointing out a sequence of events.

Even Dr. Dray herself was applying her fave Neutrogena moisturizer directly to damp skin without any additional steps in between until around April, 2017. You can dig and find the exact video, I’ve done enough homework here.

It’s so weird that there’s no mention of the 3SMM or even the newer “Moisture Sandwich” before 2017…Even the “Moisture Sandwich” gained popularity mostly around 2020 mainly because of blossoming skincare influencers like Charlotte Palermino, who started talking about skincare on social media in 2020. Still no shade, just stating facts.

Why did it take so long for the 3SMM to explode if it existed in your grandma’s time? Why wait until after I posted about it?

The real issue that the people with the issues have, is this:

I was bold enough to trademark the 3SMM.

But they likely don’t understand how a trademark works. They probably think I *patented* the 3SMM and that they’re breaking the law every time they properly moisturize their face. 😀

(Are your eyes also rolling?)

A trademark prevents brands from using the 3SMM name and selling it. They weren’t clever enough to come up with it, though they appear clever now for including it in their instructions.

I came up with this method and this name and I am just protecting myself from people using the name for commercial use. 

The 3SMM is FREE and helps thousands of people. You’re free to use it, or not. It’s not that deep.

Do you understand now?

To The Moochers

A. I’m not from Asia nor had parents or grandparents who taught me any moisturizing methods. But I did have a Korean dad for some time, who I still love dearly — no, he didn’t pass on any skincare secrets. 🤷🏼‍♀️

B. If someone came up with the 3SMM before me, they could have called it something and/or trademarked it. I would have loved to have known about it sooner! I didn’t need to be the first to share it.

C. Why isn’t the 3SMM mentioned anywhere before I shared it? Also, the weird part is nobody cared or was bothered by it when I did share it *five whole years ago*. All these conspiracy theories only started in the last year or so. Where were all these people in 2017? Maybe still using aloe?

D. Things can get independently invented all over the world at different times, sure. But back to point B and C. I was the one dumb enough to share something I thought could be useful and certainly never imagined it would become this popular or that it could even bother people. 😅

E. Please consider that the skincare industry is ever-changing. It wasn’t the same two years ago, let alone 5, or 10. The internet wasn’t the same, the information wasn’t the same, and people were not the same as they are today.

So to that one troll calling me a grifter for naming something I came up with, YOU are not just a grifter. You’re a moocher.

You prey on someone else’s efforts while having nothing to show for yourself, you take and take but have nothing to give.

Yuck.

Which Brings Me To My Final Thoughts

To the rest of you,

I genuinely only started blogging about skincare to help people get clear skin, and since then I’ve been able to help thousands of people around the world heal from some of the most severe skin conditions for free.

I saw a need that I could fill.

The landscape has changed, and so have I.

I used to care about people knowing that I came up with the 3-Step Moisture Method because I was so proud of it. But it’s hard to keep caring.

In recent years, the arrogance and entitlement taking over the internet has become so disgusting that frankly, I now keep my very best ideas for my clients and my course, and to myself.

Why do you think you hadn’t seen a new YT video in over a year?
It’s the entitlement for me.

If you don’t appreciate free? If you don’t enjoy creativity?
Fine. I’ll stop giving — really, I’ll just slow way down; I enjoy what I do too much to actually stop.

People don’t realize that each piece of content took HOURS.
Literally, just this one article look around 8 hours to write and edit.
No, I didn’t eat yet today and it’s 8:30 pm. What a total waste of time.

That’s time I can spend working with clients or chilling, not defending myself against moochers.

My latest IG carousel took about the same time to put together and was far more useful.

People today are different, and they make creating content a chore instead of it being fun. They stifle creativity instead of incentivizing it. Instead of just walking by like a civilized human being, they spit on your name first.

A person’s word used to mean something, now people just spread whatever they want without considering the consequences.

People today don’t value hard work and effort and just jump from shortcut to shortcut — even if that shortcut means making up lies about a fellow human being.

People today can benefit from someone else’s work AND still feel the need to sh*t on them for it.

And I’ll never understand this approach.

Nobody is asking for a thank you or a pat on the back here.

But.

If some of ya’ll don’t have the good sense to be valuable human beings, the least you can do is get out of the way to those of us who give a f*ck to be good at what we do.

So to answer the question “Who came up with the 3-Step Moisture Method?™“
The name is Beley, Olena Beley. 😉

I hope you continue to use it and share it with all your friends and fam!

Love & Logic,
Olena

PS. Most of you are like “Who dafuq cares?” and I feel you on that! I don’t know why the sudden interest or why the suspicion about a way TO MOISTURIZE, but the Pandemic has been really hard on a lot of people.