Skincare Lessons I Learned From My Mom

Her simple, consistent approach not only changed the way I cared for my skin, but also became the foundation of Jo Collection.

An old photo, but the lessons still hold up.

My mom, Joanne, passed away before she ever got to see Jo Collection come to life. But every part of this brand carries her fingerprint. From the way our formulas work, to the way we talk about skincare like it’s something personal, not performative.

She was a licensed cosmetician trained in Montreal. But more than that, she was someone who saw skincare not as vanity, but as care (maybe a little vanity...lol). She believed taking care of your skin was a way of taking care of yourself of pausing, showing up, and treating your face like something worth protecting.

I didn’t always share her enthusiasm (daughters not listening to their mom's... shocking I know), but when I wrecked my skin trying to fix it (overdoing harsh tools, chasing trends, and suffering a full-on skin barrier meltdown) it was her voice I heard in my head. And it was her legacy I reached for when I started rebuilding.

Jo Collection is named after her. But it’s not just a name. It’s the continuation of her philosophy passed down, studied deeper, and turned into something I hope would make her proud.

The Wisdom She Passed Down

Joanne believed in skincare the way some people believe in medicine, not just for beauty, but for care, for ritual, and for prevention. She understood the science behind healthy skin. Her knowledge wasn’t flashy. It was foundational. And it’s the reason Jo Collection exists today.

These aren’t just skincare tips. These are the truths she built into her life and the ones I now build into Jo Collection.

1. Skincare should be consistent, not complicated.

My mom didn’t believe in 10-step routines. She didn’t have time for them. She was always helping others planning events, lifting people up, encouraging anyone with a dream. I watched her help so many people bring their visions to life from launching nursing staffing companies, to helping my second grade teacher publish a children’s book, to friends starting food or beauty businesses. If someone had a passion, she fell in love with it and gave them everything she could to help it succeed.

And yet, she always made time to care for herself. Her skincare was never complicated, just consistent. Three simple steps: Cleanse, exfoliate, protect. A small act of self-care that fit into even her busiest days.

It wasn’t about perfection. It was about habits. About making time for yourself, even in the chaos. That mindset lives in everything we make. Not because it’s trendy but because it’s sustainable.

She understood something that now sits at the core of Jo Collection: real change only happens when you show up again and again. And consistency only works when the routine is simple enough to keep going. Skincare doesn’t need to be 10 steps. It just needs to be smart, intentional, and doable.

That mindset lives in every product we make.

2. Gentle is powerful.

She used to say that redness isn’t a sign of effectiveness it’s a sign of irritation. For her, skincare wasn’t about scrubbing, stripping, or shocking the skin. It was about supporting the skin’s natural ability to renew, balance, and protect itself. She never believed that skincare had to be painful to work. She trusted the skin to do what it’s built to do, and believed the job of skincare was to support it, not fight it.

That philosophy directly shaped The Pineapple Peel: our gentle, daily exfoliant that stops on its own before it goes too far. No burning, no rinsing, no harshness. Just real results, over time. It works with your skin, not against it. Just like she taught me.

3. Everyone needs skincare - even if they don’t realize it.

She had a theory: men practice skincare every day, they just call it shaving. wash, shave (exfoliate) and after cream. She used that as a way to explain exfoliation to clients who thought skincare “wasn’t for them.” To her, it was never about gender or glam. It was about skin and treating it well, no matter who you are.

That insight lives on in Jo Collection. Our products aren’t made for a type of person, they’re made for anyone with skin, and a life that needs something easy and effective.

That insight lives in our commitment to making Jo Collection inclusive, approachable, and free from unnecessary fluff.

4. Taking care of yourself should never feel like a chore.

For my mom, skincare was more than what you put on your face. It was a daily ritual of self-respect. A moment to pause, breathe, and remember that you’re worth taking care of even on the days when no one else sees it. Her rituals were moments of pause and presence, not pressure. She believed taking care of your skin was a form of taking care of yourself.

She didn’t talk about it like that. She just lived it. Quietly and consistently. And that energy is something I now try to build into every formula and every message we share.

That belief is at the heart of everything we do. We make products that are effortless to use, easy to stick with, and designed to make you feel good in your skin, not overwhelmed by your shelf.

5. She didn’t just inspire the routine- she inspired the brand.

Watching her pour herself into helping others built something in me that I didn’t fully understand until I started Jo Collection. She never made a big deal about it, she just showed up. She saw people’s dreams, believed in them, and pushed them toward possibility. Over and over again, I watched her remind people that they could do the thing they were scared to try.

Like the time she learned at a parent-teacher conference that my second grade teacher dreamed of writing a children’s book. Most people would have smiled politely and moved on. But not my mom. She took it seriously. She set up meetings, asked questions, found connections, and helped that teacher bring her first book to life (even though my mom didn’t know anything about publishing herself). She just knew how to show up for someone else’s dream.

That was who she was. If someone had a spark, she’d fan the flames. She believed in people harder than they believed in themselves and she made you feel like anything was possible.

Without realizing it, she was planting that belief in me too. Watching her made me think, Maybe I could build something someday. That quiet kind of confidence is what carried me through when I created Jo Collection.

She didn’t just inspire the way our skincare works. She inspired the fact that it exists.

She showed me that building something of your own wasn’t selfish it was a way of honoring what you care about. That belief is what gave me the courage to create Jo Collection not just as a product line, but as a reflection of everything she stood for.

She didn’t just teach me how to care for my skin. She showed me how to care deeply and to turn that care into something real.

This Brand Is Her Legacy

I wish she could see what Jo Collection has become. I wish I could tell her how many people her wisdom has helped. I wish she knew how often I think of her when I’m formulating or writing a product description or seeing someone’s review that says “this finally worked for me.”

But in a way, she already knows. Because she’s in all of it.

Jo Collection is her steady hand. Her belief in simplicity. Her deep, quiet faith in people. Her voice softened, studied, and passed forward.

She’s the reason it works.
She’s the reason I started.
She’s the reason I kept going.

She taught us that consistency is what transforms skin. That gentleness is strength. And that skincare is a gift, not a burden.

We just took those lessons and bottled them.

Love always,

Leah

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