When Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother came out, Amy Chua became the symbol of push-hard, results-first parenting. The Tiger Mom sees a problem and responds with more effort, more structure, more pressure. You push the child until they succeed.

That logic shows up in skincare too.

A typical “strong” conventional cream is very Tiger Mom:

·       redness? shut it down;

·       roughness? peel it;

·       lines? push harder on cell turnover.

Your skin behaves as long as something is telling it what to do. When you stop, or when life piles on stress, hormones, cold air or lack of sleep, the balance tips and your face starts arguing with everything. Can it be effective? Clearly. Is it sustainable over the long term? Not always.

Later, Chua has talked about how she had to soften and change, especially with one daughter – that what worked for one child didn’t work for the other, and that paying attention and nurturing more became necessary. Not all “kids” respond well to control and pressure.

Skin is the same. Some of us really are better off with more support and whispering, rather than management and shouting.

For lack of a better word, let’s call what we do the “elephant mom” approach: patience, nourishment, and a protective environment.

Whole-ingredient, botanical-based skincare leans that way. It doesn’t mean “weak” or “old-fashioned.” It means the cream or serum is built so that the ingredients that feel good are also feeding the barrier, the calming plants are gently modulating irritation rather than shutting your immune system off, and the formula isn’t stripping your microbiome every day just to stay preserved.

In the Tiger-Mom approach, the product is in charge and your skin is being managed.

In the Elephant-Mom approach, the product keeps supplying what your skin, microbiome and barrier need so they develop over time and can handle more on their own.

Elephants are among the most maternal species on earth, and despite living on plants they are the biggest and some of the most intelligent mammals on land. We have the same kind of faith in true, nourishing power: our products look less like “wow, instant transformation” and more like “huh, my skin just isn’t melting down all the time anymore” — bare-face days included.

Tiger-style products have their moment. Sometimes you do need something strong and corrective. But for the cream or lotion you live in – the one that touches your face (and your kids’ faces) every single day – an Elephant-style, whole-ingredient formula is the one that quietly changes the baseline.

As Amy Chua, the original Tiger Mom, now admits, “the things I regret more are the harsh things I said to them and losing my temper.” Maybe it’s time, for our skin as much as our kids, to let a little more Elephant Mom in.