Skin Health

Skin Health- Skin Care and Supplements

For those of you who don’t remember your high school anatomy class, our skin is the largest organ we have. It has many functions, the main being to serve as a protective barrier from our environment. It also has the job at regulating our body temperature, collecting sensory information for us and plays a vital role with our immune system to protect ourselves against viruses and diseases. So it would be hard for one to argue why it’s so important to take care of our skin as much as we try to take care of our other organs.

Just like with the rest of our body, if we are neglecting it and not taking good care of it, it won’t take good care of us. There are many ways we can take care of our skin as with the rest of our body. First and foremost, the easiest way to take care of our skin is to be mindful about what we are putting in our bodies. What we feed our body is what we are feeding everything that makes up our body. You literally are what you eat. Fun Fact: Every 35 days, your skin replaces itself and your body makes new cells from the food you eat.

Now, who am I to say you shouldn’t or can’t indulge in your favorite foods or give in to your sweet tooth? All I’m saying is that there is definitely a correlation with our skin’s health and what we put into our bodies from foods and supplements, to the not good things like nicotine and other drugs (prescriptions or otherwise).

Today we’ll talk about skin care and supplements.

Let’s start with basic care. We are lucky that with our skin we can clean it daily. Not many organs you can say that about. I guess you could clean your colon daily but that doesn’t sound like much fun! But for our skin we are given the opportunity daily to give it a jump start for it to work properly for you. By cleansing your skin; specifically your face, neck and décolleté, you are giving that delicate skin the opportunity to repair the cells that were harmed and help scavenge for any free radicals that could be lurking around waiting to cause harm. Without cleansing properly at night after a day full of maybe or maybe not make-up wearing, sunblock applying, touching our face and the pollutants in the air clinging to our pores like little spider monkeys our skin needs a little help. Using an appropriate cleanser rids your skin easily of the daily grime so it’s not settling in your pores and giving your skin extra work. Otherwise your skin starts to get “weighed down” with the everyday oil production and air pollutants that settle on our skin. So if your skin isn’t cleansed at the end of the day it has a much harder time at sloughing off those dead cells and bringing fresh, healthy cells to the surface ready to fight off any invaders that mean to cause harm.

Cleansing in the morning is also equally important. Imagine moving nonstop for 8 plus hours. Not resting once, trying to get a job done. You’d probably want a shower, yeah? Just to feel refreshed probably. I'd imagine that’s how our skin feels. When you are at rest is when your skin is working overtime to build and repair and do all the things we are wanting from it. So, using a gentle cleanser in the morning is a great way to thank our skin for all the hard work!

Equally important, when applying anything to our skin (like a moisturizer or any serums) your skin needs to be cleansed and toned properly so those products can penetrate through the epidermis and be effective. All of this is why choosing the proper cleanser matters as much, if not more than the serums you chose. What we apply directly to our skin (as long as it can reach our true skin, the dermal layer) effects those cells specifically. So, when we purchase those amazing anti-aging serums and brightening serums, they are working only in the area to which it was applied. Which is great! This helps give target treatments for those areas that need a little extra love. The next step in the Skin care aspect is getting professional skin treatments. This could mean facials, chemical peels, laser treatments, micro needling or anything else you can think of. It could be as often as every 4-6 weeks which is ideal and what I recommend with my clients, to quarterly or maybe you can only treat yourself once a year. Anything extra you do for your skin is better than nothing at all. Your skin care concerns would dictate which direction of treatments your esthetician would choose for you along with the appropriate skin care regimen for home use.

When we take supplements, it is systemic and is working throughout our entire body. Just because we aren’t applying something topically doesn’t mean it doesn’t have an impact on our overall skin’s appearance. But how do we know what supplements we should be taking? That’s a good question and unfortunately there are no direct answers, because there could be so many more follow up questions to find the perfect supplement program for you. What I can do is talk about some basics that I like to use.

Before I go any further, I want to make it abundantly clear that I am not a physician and am in no way saying this is exactly what you should be doing. I am simply sharing with you what I like to use and why. Also, make sure you are buying reputable supplements. Where you get them and the brand really does matter simple because of where they are sourcing their ingredients, so make sure you do your research.

First, I always take a basic multivitamin. Most of us aren’t getting the basic nutrition our bodies need with our daily diets so I’m sure most can benefit from this one. My multivitamin helps give me a full spectrum of antioxidant protection, helps protect against dietary deficiencies, protects against stress-induced nutrient depletion and supports a healthy metabolism. So, there’s my first dose of antioxidants that help every ounce of my body on top all the other benefits.

My next supplement is fish oil. Omega-3 fatty acids are vital to proper health, but we cannot produce them on our own. Instead we consume them through diet and/or supplements. Now, I can’t speak for anyone else but I know I am not consuming fish oils in my diet. I wish I could say otherwise, but I just don’t like fish. I truly wish I did because I know all the health benefits. Thankfully we have supplements! Omega-3 acids are required for a number of body functions from proper blood flow to brain development. Now, lets talk about everything in between and why its so good for our skin. First Omega-3 supports cardiovascular health. This effects our skin because when we have good circulation our skin tone is healthier and more even. Ever noticed that glow you get after a good workout! Its because our blood is pumping and circulation has been increased. Next, it supports healthy skin, joints, and connective tissue. Our connective tissue is made up primarily of collagen fibers so it makes sense we want to help support, protect and strengthen what collagen we have while we are doing other things to promote collagen production (i.e. chemical peels, microneedling or other laser treatments). Lastly it helps maintain a healthy inflammatory response. This is important for our skin because the longer you have inflammation within your skin, like a blemish, the more likely you will have scaring in the form of hyperpigmentation.

Vitamin C might or might not be an obvious one but that’s the next on my list. We all know vitamin C (along with zinc) are the powerhouse for our immune system, right? Its just as important for our overall fight against premature aging. Vitamin C does an incredible job at fighting the free radicals that like to cause harm in our body and within our skin. There’s so many different types of Vitamin Cs out there, how do we know which one we should take? The answer to that goes back to what I said before about buying from a reputable brand that uses the best ingredients.

When you take care of your skin by using the correct products externally and good supplements internally you are giving it all the building blocks for the best foundation of beautiful skin.