“I was taught very early on that as soon as I was done shooting, you wash your face.” This is one of the first things Tiffani Thiessen tells me when I ask her, over Zoom, whether growing up squarely in the spotlight for over three decades gave her an accelerated awareness of her skin—an invaluable asset to any actress. If you remove the part about the cameras, though, you’ll see that Thiessen—who has starred in several iconic television series including Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills, 90210, and now hosts MTV’s food-based comedy clip show Deliciousness, which is currently in its second season—has a remarkably relatable approach to skin care.
“How I treat my skin depends on the stages I’ve been in,” she says. “As a teenager I would get a breakout and I’d be self-conscious. In my 20s I didn’t have to worry about wrinkle cream and all the things I use now at 47, so there’s been different ways of looking at skin care.”
Also relatable: her admission that, as a working mom of two, she finds there often just aren’t enough hours in the day for tending to her skin. “Some days are harder than others to spend that extra 20 minutes at night when you’re exhausted and all you want to do is just crawl into bed and not do the nine steps.”
Like many nonfamous people, I’m deeply fascinated by women who have spent their lives making a living successfully entertaining others, a career choice that invariably lends itself to never-ending scrutiny by an entitled public. When I ask Thiessen about whether she was pressured to change her look over the years, she was quick to say it wasn’t her face that was picked apart.
“It was my weight. It was always my weight, always my body,” she says. “I fluctuated a ton, from an adolescent to becoming a young adult and, you know, I still fluctuate after having children.”
Whether she realized it or not, Thiessen shared a story that, I imagine, succinctly sums up being a woman in Hollywood. In addition to trying crash diets when she was younger, she told me, she once was very close to getting a TV role after having her daughter. “I was one of those girls that didn’t lose weight nursing. I actually kept it on. For whatever reason, my body needed the extra fat.” She says she was told that before shooting started, she’d need to lose 30 pounds. “I literally said to my agent, ‘I don’t know if that’s possible because I’m nursing and I’m not going to go on a crazy diet and lose my supply for my little girl.’”
She ended up not getting the role, and while she says she’ll never know if that was the reason, the same standard apparently didn’t apply to her would-be leading man. “The funny thing is that the guy who I’d be playing opposite—and I’m not going to name names—but he was like 50 pounds overweight.”
As for her general philosophy on aging, Thiessen tries to embrace it gracefully. “It depends on the day,” she says. “There are moments when I look at old pictures, then I look at myself now and I’m like, ‘Oh, wow. I’ve got wrinkles, but I’ve lived such an amazing life.’”
For now she’s perfectly happy relying on an arsenal of key products proven to work for her and shies away from those that use needles, given her super-sensitive skin—if something goes wrong, a working actor doesn’t have the luxury of time to fix it. “That scares me more than my lines,” she says. “But this could be a whole different conversation when I’m 57.”
As the actress and host—also an accomplished cookbook author—elaborated on the rest of her skin-care routine over Zoom, it was hard not to think of the word relatable again. From the cult-favorite micellar water used with drugstore cotton pads to the affordable facial steamer, and a curiosity about beauty-specific CBD, Tiffani Thiessen’s go-to products are accessible and, clearly, effective.
My makeup removers
My routine is a little longer at night just because I’m usually taking off everything from work if I’ve got a full-makeup thing happening. I’ve been using Simple wipes for sensitive skin. They’re super cheap and you can get them anywhere. They take off a lot of the heavy stuff first. That’s what I start with. And then I use a scrub from my facialist Christina Radu; she’s kind of big here in Los Angeles. I’ve been using it for so long and it’s hard for me to find something else that actually works. I just love the way it makes me feel—so clean—and it takes off all the extra makeup. I use it with warm water. [Editor’s note: Radu’s scrub is only available for purchase in-office.]
My facial steamer
After I wash my face, I try to use this Microderm steamer for about 10 minutes—I love this thing. It’s like steaming your face over a pot of hot water, but you sit right in front of it and it’s almost like a mini facial. It’s also putting a lot of moisture back into my skin if I’m on stages or sets, which are so drying because the air conditioning is running like crazy and it’s super cold.
My micellar water
Bioderma is great. It’s not expensive and it easily takes off that little bit of sweat or anything else that comes out from the steam. I use this last, and most of the time I’ll see something on the pad, which is crazy because, as clean as I thought I was going to be after all the other steps, Bioderma still gets more off. I use it with drugstore cotton pads.
My face oils
Then I go between two different oils. If my face is extremely stressed, I use this CBD oil on my face that I actually really like and hasn’t made me break out. It’s one of the newer products I’ve experimented with. It’s called Equilibria, and Lauren Conrad and Hannah Skvarla [of The Little Market] sent it to me. On days when my skin’s doing great, I’ll use Rodial’s lifting oil. They have great stuff; I love their makeup too.
My sunscreens
I really believe in SPF but didn’t worry about it as much when I was a kid. I grew up in California, and we were at the beach almost every weekend. I was the girl whose mother and grandmother were using baby oil to suntan. Now I’ve become very strict about sunscreen, making sure I use it all the time and wearing hats when I go hiking because I always try to protect my face. I do love laying out, and I love the beach, but I’m responsible when it comes to the sun.
There are two sunscreens I use. One is a cream, also by Rodial—I’m obsessed with their whole vitamin C line. It’s an SPF 30. If I’m feeling too sweaty and there’s already so much on my face, there’s a really good SPF by Coola that’s a mattifying mist. It’s really nice and goes over makeup.
My lip balm
A lip balm that I absolutely love is by Smith & Cult. It’s another CBD product—I’ve really gotten into the CBD thing as far as beauty. They make ones with color that I use during the day—they’re glossy, and they’re really nice on your lips, and I’m kind of obsessed. I have almost every color.
My new gadget
Honestly, I don’t have a lot of gadgets besides the steamer, but I did get these new ice rollers that I love. I use it before I put my makeup on, and oh, my gosh, they really make a difference. It feels like someone’s literally massaging your face with a cool little ice cube.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
