With everything happening in the world right now, you might find your skin-care routine naturally taking a back seat to other, much more important daily tasks (i.e. staying safe and sane during your self-quarantine, and checking in with friends and family members to make sure they are doing the same). If this is the case, don't stress — it could actually be a much-needed break for your complexion. In fact, of all the many beauty trends that filter in and out of your social media feeds, the practice of temporarily paring down your skin-care products may actually hold some merit.

In other words, slacking on your standard skin-care routine right now is totally OK — not just because we are all dealing with unprecedented feelings of stress during a global pandemic, but also because it may coincidentally benefit your skin. Aptly dubbed "skin fasting," the idea is this: Minimizing your skin-care routine, or even forgoing it altogether, for a set amount of time will allow your skin to reset.

But, as with most trends, the interpretation — and reasoning behind it — seems to differ from person to person. So, should you really shelve all your skin-care products for a few weeks? Or, does cutting out one product here and there make a difference? We asked experts for the full breakdown on skin fasting, including whether or not it really lives up to the hype.

What are the potential benefits of skin fasting?

"A skin fast allows the skin to return to its natural homeostasis," explains Deanne Robinson, a board-certified dermatologist based in Westport, Connecticut. The theory is that when we use skin-care products, we are essentially coaching our skin on what to do, and thereby throwing off its natural, self-regulating cycle.

For example, applying moisturizer or facial oil could signal to our skin cells that it need not produce as much natural sebum because we've got it covered (pun intended). Or, in using exfoliants like retinol, alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), or beta hydroxy acids (BHAs), we're chemically inducing increased skin cell turnover, aka speeding up our skin's natural renewal rate.

By temporarily stripping away the use of products via a fast, the thought is that "when we take away the support system to our skin, it allows it to get back to what it naturally does," Robinson explains.