THE SKIN FILES
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Dehdyrated, ashy skin · Tried & tested
Sister Lorraine Pushed Past Half the Choir on Christmas Eve to Grab My Face. Then She Asked One Question.
Carolyn J.
November 2026 · 4 min read
After the last amen
The same Sister Lorraine who’d asked “Why yo’ face so ashy?” in front of the whole choir pushed past the altos, the tenors and two deacons to get to me.
She took my face in both hands and turned it toward the candles. The whole choir stand went quiet.
“Lord have mercy, Carolyn,” she said. “Look at you. You’re glowing. Who did your face?”
Christmas Eve, during the reading.
"Nobody, Sister Lorraine.”
“Don’t you lie to me in the Lord’s house. Who did it? Facials? Fillers? Tell me.”
Pastor stopped shaking hands. Somebody in the alto section laughed out loud.
“I promise you. Nothing.”
My goddaughter Imani held up the tablet so Dee could see from her hospital bed. My sister was grinning ear to ear.
“Lorraine,” Dee said through the speaker, “ask her about the fish.”
To understand the ‘fish,’ I have to go back to that Saturday in my kitchen, and a small glass bottle I almost laughed right out of my house.
The Kitchen
Imani, my goddaughter had been working on my face for ten minutes when she put her brush down.
She turned me to the mirror. My foundation was already sitting on top of my skin like paste. Flaking around my nose. Catching on the dry patches down my jaw. Gray everywhere else. I looked like a dusty photograph of myself.
“Auntie, you can’t lotion your way out of this,” she said. “Your skin isn’t missing grease. It’s missing water.”
She wiped my face clean, pulled a small glass bottle out of her own bag, pressed a few drops into my skin and mixed a few more into my foundation.
“It’s Korean. Everybody in Seoul has been using it for years. It’s made from salmon DNA.”
I laughed. Out loud. Salmon? Fifty-eight years of shea butter and cocoa butter, and now this child wanted me putting fish on my face?
Then she put my foundation back on.
It melted in. No dragging. No flakes. My skin looked smooth and rich, like it had a light coming from underneath.
Hours later, nothing had moved. No gray, no cracking at my smile lines, no shine sliding off by lunch.
“It works as a primer,” she said. “But it’s also skincare. Your makeup looks better today. Your skin looks better every day after.”
I bought my own bottle that night.
What this little bottle actually did for me
Week 0
Week 10
Week 1–2
The grey, tired look goes first.
Within a few days my face looked lit from the inside, like I’d just had a facial. And it lasted all day, not just until I got to work.
Week 4–8
Your foundation stops cracking.
No more paste sitting on top. It melts in smooth and stays put through the whole service, the fellowship hall and the drive home.
Week 8–10
The patches fade week by week.
The flakes around my nose and the rough patches down my jaw softened week by week. My skin looked smooth and even, and I stopped reaching for concealer.
Nothing burns, nothing stings, no strange smell. Just a few drops in the morning and or night.
It doesn’t change one thing about your color.
It just brings back the rich, smooth, glowing skin you’ve always been proud of.
Why I tried Salmon DNA anyway
In our house, ashy meant you’d let yourself go. So we greased. Vaseline on your knees before church. Cocoa butter on your elbows. Shea butter on everything else. If you were still ashy, you just weren’t putting on enough.
And maybe you’ve done the same. Heavier and heavier butters and oils. Shining when you leave the house, gray and dry again by noon.
Spending money on product after product and still hearing about it from the church mothers.
I took the bottle to my esthetician to make sure I wasn’t putting something silly on my face.
“Most of my Black clients come in using heavier and heavier butters. What their skin is missing is hydration, and oil/heavy creams sit on top. So dead, dry skin builds up and looks gray. Fix that and the glow comes back on its own.”
Felicia K.
Medical Aesthetician · 25 Years
How much effort is it, honestly
Minimal effort. I apply it daily morning or night, sometimes both. Few drops all over the face (forehead, under eye, cheeks, jaw, nose) and that's it. Less steps in my routine and my skin is actually getting better.
It does the job of the primer, the facial and half the jars on your dresser, for less than one trip to the salon.
You’ll see the glow in days, and by the time you walk in, nobody will be asking why your face is so ashy. They’ll be begging to know what you're using.
Back at the church
So when Sister Lorraine held my face up to the candles, she wasn’t seeing somebody new. She was seeing my skin the way it was always supposed to look.
After the service she pulled me aside and asked, real quiet, what I was using. I told her. She laughed exactly like I did. “Fish? On your face?”
Dee watched the whole reading twice. She says I’ve never looked better. I believe her.
You don’t need more lotion. You just need your glow back.
— Carolyn
The one I used
YURSLF Salmon DNA - 50,000 PPM
This is the exact product in my photos above. No grease, and the only thing that fixed my ashy skin. Keep your color and get your glow back.
YURSLF Salmon DNA Ampoule
Fragrance free · Sensitive Skin Safe
★★★★★
4.9 · 4,200+
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Comments
184 comments · sorted by top
BW
Brenda W.
Verified buyer
2 days ago
“You can’t lotion your way out of this.” Chile. I have been doing exactly that since 1985. Week 4 now, and my foundation doesn’t crack anymore.
👍 311
Reply
PH
Patricia H
4 days ago
Every church has a Sister Lorraine. Ours sits in the second pew. Praying for your sister Dee. Sending this to my whole usher board.
👍 247
Reply
GT
Gloria T
Verified buyer
1 week ago
Started this for my grandson’s graduation. Eight hours outside and no gray, no flakes around my nose. My daughter asked who did my makeup 😂
👍198
Reply
THE SKIN FILES
This review was produced in partnership with YURSLF. The writer tested the product over twelve weeks; photos are self-supplied and unretouched. Statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual results vary. © 2026 The Skin Files.
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