by Suzanne Nuyen

June 14, 2026

Good morning. This week, SpaceX makes its stock market debut, a Somalian World Cup referee was hailed as a hero back home after being denied entry into the U.S., and an Ohio voting rights group said it was raided by the FBI.

A smarter way to care for your skin

by Malaka Gharib, Life Kit digital editor

About a decade ago, I developed melasma on my face. The hyperpigmentation left my skin with an alarming gray patch that darkened in the sun.

I remember going to an upscale skin care retailer and buying nearly $150 worth of creams and serums that promised to “correct” or “erase” the patches.

But here’s what happened after weeks of using these beautifully packaged products: a whole lot of … nothing!

Beck Harlan for NPR

This was my first big lesson in the world of skin care, and one we talk about in Life Kit’s latest newsletter series, Guide to Skin Care. While over-the-counter topical products can be effective for some skin concerns, they have their limits.

Effective treatment for melasma, I’d later learn from my dermatologist, may include a chemical peel or a medication like hydroquinone. I’ve used both to manage my melasma.

With our one-week newsletter guide, hopefully you’ll make smarter choices about your skin. Knowing what really works to improve your skin’s health and appearance can save you time and money — and help you cut through all the skin care jabber on the internet.

So if you’ve got a cabinet full of products you’re not sure you need, or just want some evidence-based advice on skin care, this guide is for you.

As the editor of the series, reported by health and wellness journalist Kelle Walsh, I learned a lot from the half-dozen dermatologists, researchers and cosmetic chemists she spoke to. (Some of them also do consulting work for companies that make skin care products.)

Here are three surprising facts I learned from the series:

🧼 You don’t need cleansers with special ingredients. They just wash off anyway. “It’s staying on your skin for such a short period of time” and then you rinse it off, says dermatologist Amy Wechsler — so it’s not going to do much more than clean your skin. So opt for a gentle, fragrance-free cleanser with hydrating ingredients.

🧼 Just because a product is expensive doesn’t mean it works better. “There is no correlation between how much you spend on a product and how well it works,” says dermatologist Fayne Frey, who tests skin care products for her consumer guide FryFace.com. “I've seen very expensive ones work well, and I've seen very expensive products that [don’t].”

🧼 Foreign sunscreens are probably better. Sunscreens made in Europe, Japan and South Korea allow different chemical filters, including bemotrizinol, that are better at blocking the sun’s deep-penetrating UVA rays than what’s long been approved in the United States. But recently, the Food and Drug Administration added bemotrizinol to the list of permitted sunscreen ingredients.

We hope you will join us for this one-week newsletter journey on skin care. The series also includes activities and questions to help you become more intentional about the products you’re using on a daily basis — and understand your skin care goals.

After this newsletter series ends, you’ll receive weekly emails from Life Kit on lifestyle topics like health, money, relationships and more.

Check out more great reads from the NPR network you may have missed:

Socioeconomic factors like household income, education and neighborhood quality can have powerful effects on a child's brain development, according to a new study in the journal Science. An analysis of more than 2,300 children ages 9 and 10 found that these environmental factors are associated with brain differences that can clearly be seen in MRI scans. The findings challenge earlier research that focused on links between brain development and factors like IQ and mental health.

A core part of many immigrants' path to the American dream has been caught up in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. For decades, the Small Business Administration has granted loans to immigrants who are legal permanent residents in the United States. But in March, the U.S. small-business agency stopped approving loans to firms that are not fully owned by U.S. citizens, a first in its history.

The race to the midterms this year has been marked by scandals in both parties. In Texas, Ken Paxton won his Republican Senate runoff, after facing legal battles, criminal investigations, allegations of infidelity, a public divorce and an impeachment by the Texas House. In Maine, Democrat Graham Platner pushed past reports that he sent women sexually explicit messages while married and had a tattoo of a Nazi emblem to win his Senate primary. In generations past, just one of these scandals would be enough to end a political career. But experts say changing norms, political polarization, partisan loyalty and a deep distrust of the media have made it easier for politicians to weather these controversies.

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Pod club

: A KKK member stands in front of a burning cross.

Harry Benson / Stringer/Harry Benson / Stringer

Thanks for tuning in last week to the Code Switch episode about the evolution of internet slang, and its origins in Black culture and online incel spaces.

Today, we're listening to an episode of Throughline about the shifting line between free speech and criminal threats. As threats against public officials become more common, how has the standard of what defines a criminal threat changed? And how do we balance safety and free speech in a world where the two seem increasingly at odds? Listen to the episode or read the transcript.

Where do you draw the line between free speech and a criminal threat? Listen to the episode and share your thoughts here. Your response could appear in next week's Sunday newsletter.

Love podcasts? For handpicked episode recommendations every week, check out Pod Club — a newsletter written FOR podcast fans BY podcast fans. Subscribe here!

And, on this week's episode of The Sunday Story from Up First, check out the first episode in a new series from NPR's Embedded that investigates the death of Antonio Mays Jr. In the summer of 2020, Mays Jr. traveled 1,000 miles to take part in racial justice protests in Seattle. He was shot and killed less than a week later.

World Capitals

NPR

It's time for the Sunday Puzzle! For this week's on-air challenge, Puzzle Master Will Shortz will provide a clue. Change the first and last letter of the clue to get a six-letter name of a world capital. For example, if the clue is VASSAL, the answer would be NASSAU. Check this page later to hear the answers, or catch them live on Weekend Edition at 8:41 a.m. ET.

This week's challenge comes from listener Michael Pickard. Name something in 10 letters that's found in a kitchen. Drop its sixth letter to name something on a keyboard. Then drop the new word's fifth letter to name something no one wants to get. What words are these?

Submit your answer here, and you could win a chance to play next Sunday's on-air puzzle.

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This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.

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