SKIN 101

Your skin is the largest organ in your body! It acts as a physical barrier to harmful pollutants, provides insulation, is the site of Vitamin D production, protects against excessive water loss, excretes toxins, and maintains your internal temperature. The skin is composed of many layers of ectodermal tissue and the thickness of your skin varies on different body parts, with your skin underneath your eyes being as thin and delicate as a egg shell (0.5 mm) and the skin on your palms of your hands or soles of your feet being eight times as thick (4mm)!

Cleansing, exfoliating and moisturizing your skin in moderate amounts with all natural, clean, organic, delicate products can reduce the wear and tear on your skin, and delay the appearance of wrinkles, scaly skin, blemishes, and acne.

Tips for maintaining healthy skin:

1. MOST IMPORTANT- A good clean diet! Our body needs a specific ratio of nutrients daily to function properly, and a deficiency disrupting your body internally will reflect itself on your skin!

The best way to achieve this is from a primarily plant based diet. Plants contain phytonutrients and antioxidants that eliminate free radicals. Free radicals are produced naturally, but are accelerated by an unhealthy lifestyle and environmental factors which contribute to aging and cause damage to your body.

2. Hydration– Drink plenty of water! More than 8 glasses a day. Dehydration leads to less plump skin which has the tendency for forming creases (aka wrinkles) in the skin, and slow the removal of toxins from your body.

3. Reduce stress– Learning to control stress via meditation practices or changing your lifestyle or routine will directly impact your physiology in a wonderful way. Stress (aka.your psychological state) has a direct influence on the way your body functions.

4. Sleep!! Aim for 8+ hours/night.

5. Clean your skin daily. Don’t sleep with your makeup on!

a. Use coconut oil or some other form of natural makeup remover. Makeup can dry out your skin, and independent of quality, it can clog your pores and not allow your skin to breathe.

b. Gently use your hands (not any abrasive wash cloths etc.) with cleanser to remove built up dirt and bacteria from the day. It is an option to use a device such as a Clarisonic or a similar machine on your face once or twice a week for a deeper clean. If you decide to use something like this make sure you use the most gentle exchangeable head, as to reduce abrasion.

c. A couple times a week use a gentle exfoliating cleanser to remove the top layers of dead keratinized epithelium from your skin to reveal your natural silky soft skin underneath.

d. Use a toner if you want. There are many gentle products out there that contain aloe vera, cucumber etc. to reduce the size of pores, cool and refresh skin.

e. Then ALWAYS apply moisturizer. The will keep your skin from drying out, especially for those of us that are not lucky enough to live in humid environments! Make sure you use something with healthy, all natural ingredients however, because remember that the skin absorbs almost anything!

So don’t expose yourself to:

•Parabens

•DEA (diethanolamine) and TEA (triethanolamine) – used to adjust pH and act as an emulsifier which can combine with nitrates to form cancer causing agents

•Triclosan – anti-bacterial chemical that may disrupt hormones

•Petrolatum and petroleum distillates – crude oil as an anti-foaming agent (toxic)

•DMDM hydantoin – preservative that interacts with other chemicals to release formaldehyde, which is cancer causing and a neurotoxin

•Dibutyl phthalate – fragrance enhancer disrupts hormones

•Coal tar dye (FD&C/D&C)– made from petroleum to treat psoriasis and dandruff

•BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) – preservative and anti-oxidant, slows down color change in product, banned in other countries, hormone disruptor.

•Benzoyl peroxide – anti-acne agent, potential to irritate skin

•Artificial dyes (FD&C/D&C) – Blue 1, Green 3 are cancer causing

•PABA – may cause sensitivity to the sun and is cancer causing

•Benzene – found in crude oil, cigarette smoke and gasoline is used in nail polish and is toxic.

Ingredients you WANT to see in your products:

Anti-aging ingredients:

Glycosaminoglycans
- natural moisturizers, with the most common being hyaluronic acid
Keratolytic Agents: AHAs (AHA mandelic or malic acid for darker skin tones), Glycolic Acid, BHA, Salicylic Acid
- exfoliants, but want to use in small doses as you don’t want to be over-exfoliating
Anti-oxidants: Vit C, Vit.E, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Coenzyme 10, Selenium, Retinoids (Retinol, Retinyl Palmitate)
- scavenge free radicals into harmless compounds as mentioned above under the diet section.
Skin Brighteners: Red Algae Extract (Palmaria palmata; Oligosaccharide), Phenylethyl Resorcinol, Hydroquinone, Alpha-arbutin, Reservatrol, Azelaic acid, Kojic Acid, Licorice extract
- to even out skin tone
Peptides: pentapeptides, oligopeptides, copper peptides, neuropeptides
- used to heal skin tussle and promote production of normal skin cells.
Plant Stem cells
- to restore skin
Stabilizing agents: Niacinamide (B3), Hyaluronic Acid, Linoleic Acids and Phospholipids
- benefits the skin barrier to keep moisture in and pathogens out.
Botanicals: Caffeine, Isoflavones, Green Tea, Marula Oil

f. REPEAT DAILY.

g. Use face masks. You can find a variety of recipes for homemade face masks on google or pinterest. Look for recipes that include ingredients such as:

Coconut oil
olive oil
honey

h. Acne. ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT TO USE GENTLE PRODUCTS and EAT PROPERLY! Use basically the same procedure as above, but reduced exfoliation is a must when you have breakouts, it may just further inflame the acne. However, if you do have a breakout and you want immediate relief you can apply essential oils to the pustule (lavender oil, tea tree oil), coconut oil, toothpaste, tea bag (astringent). Don’t pop white pustules, or otherwise known as open comedomes! It will further inflame the area. A miracle worker for acne is applying apple cider vinegar as a toner! It does wonders! It balances the pH of your skin, while the acidity is anti-microbial.

Spas have many options as well: