Tips and tricks on younger looking skin
When Should You Start Caring About Your Skin? Yesterday! There is no better time to start taking care of your skin than right now. From the time we are born, protecting our skin should be a huge focus in our daily lifestyle. Obviously, we can’t turn back time, but we can optimize our current skin condition and alleviate skin damage that may have already occurred. We are all guilty of neglecting our skincare in one
way or another, but it is never too late to start enhancing your skincare regimen to achieve healthy skin! Of course, aging is not preventable but there are plenty of tips and tricks to follow to minimize and delay those early signs of aging or diminish signs that are already pre existing. The key to anti-aging, or maintaining younger looking skin, is knowing what ingredients, methods, and tools are right for your current age of skin and how to implement those properly. Read further as we discuss important key ingredients, crucial skincare steps, advanced technologies, and tips and tricks!
Did you know our skin is the body’s largest organ? The skin has six major functions: Protection, absorption, secretion, sensation, excretion, and regulation. All of these major functions play a role in maintaining healthy skin. Our skin has 3 main layers, each having sub-layers making it a total of 8 layers of skin. These 8 layers contain valuable structures to aid these functions. (See illustration) Each layer provides important jobs to produce, nourish, and grow new skin cells. Our skin cells go through cell reproduction and division called mitosis in order to provide new healthy skin cells to replace those skin cells that are at the end of their lifecycle.
Our skin cells go through continuous mitosis while DNA decides what each skin cell will become. Cells remain in the epidermis while they remain viable to replenish damaged skin cells. When a cell is no longer viable and able to continue mitosis, it is then programmed to become a keratinocyte and is migrated to the surface. Once these cells reach the surface (the Corneum layer) they are then ready for desquamation. Desquamation is the skin’s natural shedding mechanism of these dead skin cells. As we get older this cell renewal process starts to slow down and becomes harder for our skin cells to reproduce, follow the cell cycle, and desquamate. It is important to keep our skin cells as hydrated, nourished, and protected as possible so they can remain strong and healthy as long as possible. Doing your part and sustaining great skincare will benefit your anti-aging goals and help you achieve beautiful healthy skin!
HOW CAN I SUSTAIN GREAT SKINCARE?
Selfcare
Though you may not think self-care plays much of a part in skincare, there are some factors to consider. The lifestyle you lead can contribute to healthy skin or it can tarnish it.
Making sure you’re getting an adamant amount of sleep is a big part of self-care. Doctors recommend that adults get 7-8 hours of sleep. I know what you’re thinking, I could only dream of a full 8 hours of sleep! Not only does a full night of sleep provide so many benefits to your body it has plenty of effects on your skin alone. Studies have shown that even just one night of lack of sleep can cause: increase of fine lines and wrinkles, darker under eye circles, swollen eyes/hanging eyelids, droopy corners of the mouth, and paler skin. According to other studies, it results in increasing signs of aging and weakens the skin's ability to recover from environmental damages. The skin does its best work during a good deep sleep stretch. During deep sleep, your skin performs crucial maintenance to strengthen and condition itself. Now, who has time for 8 hours of sleep? Though this may be hard to achieve, a good step to making time for crucial rest can start by just being more conscious of your nightly routine. A couple personal tips I have been trying to practice more is finding ways to mentally wind down so that my brain is ready to turn off on time. This can be simple tasks such as completing a skincare routine at a certain time, putting your phone up for the night when lying down, meditating in a quiet place for 15 mins, or drinking bedtime tea. Find a routine that works for you!
Another major factor in self care is stress. Like getting the right amount of sleep each night, stress can cause many reactions to not only the skin but the body entirely. According to Dr. Whitney Bowe, prolonged stress can cause a bundle of effects to the skin. In an article posted by Dr. Whitney Bowe, she explains, “The body’s counterattack on stress does not just involve surges in stress hormones such as cortisol and the subsequent breakdown of tissues such as collagen. In addition, two other players are often involved in direct skin damage: inflammation and oxidation.” Though inflammation is our body's autoimmune response as a natural protective mechanism, it can have an adverse effect if it accompanies the skin over a long period of time. Examples of some adverse effect’s inflammation can have on the skin are psoriasis, eczema flare ups, rosacea, and acne. Oxidation is another major invader to the skin due to it producing harmful free radicals in the skin. Free radicals are aggressive, unstable, oxygen-containing molecules. Basically, they are molecules that have lost an electron causing them to become unstable
which then results in them stealing an electron from another molecule, causing a ripple effect of unstable and damaged molecules or skin cells. According to Milady Standard, “One free radical can oxidize millions of other compounds… They can also damage DNA and RNA, and they contribute to the hardening of collagen and elastin cells. This all leads to premature aging and increases skin sensitivity, irritation, age spots, and dryness.” Later we will discuss how we can protect our skin from free radicals specifically, as we cover beneficial ingredients. As far as stress-induced skin damage, we cannot expect to live a stress-free life. Unfortunately, stress is inevitable and is a part of life. Finding ways to release stress and not let it build up inside of us, creating prolonged stress retention, is our goal here. Check-in with yourself and be honest with your emotions and feelings. You may be someone that bottles things up and pushes it far down and tells yourself “it’s fine.” You may be someone who lets stress totally consume you and bring you down. There may even be certain circumstances that cause you to handle stress one way and then other times you handle it another way. Regardless, we need to allow ourselves to pause, accept our emotions, talk about them, and ask ourselves how can I dispute this stress and let it go?
Lastly, the one most of us struggle with the most, is diet. Take note, when we say “diet” don’t mistake that with trying to achieve a specific weight goal, eating exactly “this” and nothing else, or not allowing yourself treats ever again. We are the first to admit this may be the hardest to consider and stay on track with. We are food lovers!! How can we not be with all the amazing food choices we have right around the corner from us? In all seriousness though, diet plays a huge part in not only your health entirely, but, your skin specifically. Proper dietary choices help regulate hydration, oil production, and cell function. Proper nutrition supports healthy skin in many ways. Collagen, elastin, and keratin are all made from protein. The majority of the body’s energy is supplied by carbohydrates or more specifically glucose. Nutrients are broken down into a substance (ATP) which provides energy to our cells. Another form of energy the body uses is fats. Fats are lipids that are used to lubricate the skin. There are many different types of fats, some that are good and some that are bad. The helpful fats we intake are linoleic acid (omega-6) and alpha-linolenic (omega-3). Omega-6 aids in the production of important hormones and helps strengthen the skin’s lipid barrier. Omega-3 is known to support healthy skin and reduce inflammation. Finally, vitamins are another major supplement to skin health. It is important to include vitamins in your daily diet because the body cannot synthesize all vitamins and minerals on its own. Vitamin A supports the overall health of the skin, aiding in the function and repair of skin cells. This is also widely known as retinol. This is a very popular anti-aging vitamin as it assists in repairing fine lines and wrinkles. Vitamin C is personally, in my opinion, the most crucial skin vitamin that everyone needs to have in their skincare regimen. It is an antioxidant that helps protect the body and skin from free radicals, as well as, aids in repairing the skin. Vitamin E is commonly used in conjunction with Vitamin C because of its additional protection of free radicals and healing properties. These are just a couple of examples of beneficial vitamins. All vitamins have many functions in assisting our body for optimal health. Lastly, water intake. Having said our skin is the body’s largest organ, it is also the last to receive water. Making sure you are intaking the advised amount of water per day is crucial! Health authorities recommend that the average adult should drink eight 8oz. glasses of water a day. For a more specific calculation take your body weight and divide it by 2. Divide this number by 8 (8 ounces). The resulting number gives you approximately how many 8 oz. glasses you should be intaking a day. Ultimately, having a healthy balance of food/water intake is the goal so that we can fuel our bodies with the support it needs to help us be as healthy as we can be.
Skincare regimine:
Understanding what your skin needs and doesn’t need is important! Everyone’s skin is different, it reacts differently, responds differently, and looks different. Creating a customized skincare routine is the best way to achieve your best skin! As a skincare specialists, it is our job to customize these skincare routines for you based on your current skin condition and goals. We understand skincare can be overwhelming, so allow us to guide you through it and educate you as we achieve beautiful skin.
Typically, a skincare routine has 6 main steps. Cleansing, exfoliating, mask, treatment serums, eye products, moisturizer, and SPF. These steps can vary from how often you include all 6 steps on a day-to-day basis or night and daily basis. For some skin conditions, some of these steps can be more critical to than others. How we can customize these steps for you is by booking a complimentary skin consultation. For now, I will briefly break down each of these steps.
Cleansing: This is singly one of the most important steps to skincare. Cleansing should be done morning and night. You want to be using a skin-type-specific cleanser. I recommend one of our milky or gel cleansers in the morning, followed by our deep pore cleansing DUO at night. The milky or gel cleanser in the morning will start your day off right, while the DUO will break down any makeup or any grime your face has collected throughout the day.
Exfoliation: This step is to be done in moderation. It is important to use exfoliants appropriately and correctly. Using an exfoliant too often can actually cause more harm than good to your skin. The Tuel PowerScrub is recommended to be used 1-2x a week, on wet skin and with wet hands. The Tuel PowerPeel is recommended to be used 3-4x a week, depending on skin thickness and health. Either product can be used morning or night, but when used in the morning make sure to follow up with Tuel’s Moisturizing Daily Protect SPF.
Mask: This step is also to be done in moderation. We recommend using any of Tuel’s four treatment masks 1-2x a week. Each of these masks is designed to target specific skin goals. Serums: This step is recommended to be used every day, some twice a day. Serums are concentrated doses of specific active ingredients that target and treat certain skincare concerns. Moisturizer: This step is recommended 1-2x a day but is not limited to this amount. Ideally, if you find yourself needing to apply moisturizer more than twice a day you may need to consider that moisturizer might not be the correct one for your skin. Tuel has a moisturizer for each skin type/condition that is formulated with specific ingredients to help condition and hydrate each skin type the way it needs to be moisturized. Yes! Every skin type needs moisturizer. Moisturizer helps lock in hydration and creates barrier protection to prevent transepidermal water loss (TEWL).
SPF: This step is another extremely important skincare step. SPF should be used every day, starting with applying it in the morning to protect us from harmful rays, free radicals, and any other environmentally caused damages. It is also recommended to reapply throughout the day if you are going to be exposed to harmful factors for long periods of time. You want to be using an SPF of at least 30. Though it is additional protection, SPF in your foundation is not enough. Think about it this way, if we are not protecting our skin with SPF, then we are depleting any progress we have made to our skin. We recommend the Tuel Moisturizing Daily Protect SPF. Not only is it a powerful SPF protectant, it doubles as a hydrating moisturizer as well! They also have it available in Daily Protect Oil Free for our oily clients too!
Advanced Treatments
Along with products and ingredients, advanced technologies and treatments are other hot topics in skincare. Some of the most result-driven technologies/treatments are LED, Microcurrent, dermaplaning, and chemical peels. LED (light emitting diode) is an advanced treatment that pulses up to four UV-free LED lights into the skin that has been proven to stimulate collagen, reduce fine lines and wrinkles, lighten hyperpigmentation, reduce redness, and kill bacteria. At Body and Brow you can add this service to any facial treatment or reserve our private LED room for treatment. Another very popular Body and Brow service is our advanced microcurrent treatment. This service can also be added to any facial or is included in our advanced facial service. The microcurrent we use is the award-winning and highly recognized NuFace Facial Toning Device. This device delivers instant results by stimulating your facial muscles and collagen by the use of microcurrent. This is a painless professional treatment, many clients even find it relaxing. Achieve smoother, tighter, more contoured skin with just one session! Trust me, you’re going to want to prolong these results at home with your very own NuFace device. Dermaplaning is another instant result service offered as well. This is a manual form of exfoliation that removes the outer layer of dead skin and peach fuzz. Routine dermaplaning can improve texture, fine lines, and wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, and scarring. The most well-known facial treatment is chemical peels. A series of chemical peels can be administered based off of thorough skin analysis and acclimation. Chemical peels are a chemical form of exfoliation that sloughs off dead skin cells, improves texture, reduces fine lines and wrinkles, and conditions and tones the skin.
Benefits of a Facial
At-home skincare is the most important step toward having healthy and strong skin. Having a consistent at home routine, effective products, and continuing to adjust your products as you reach different stages of your skin, gives you a great foundation for achieving younger-looking skin. Along with a solid at-home care, a professionally given facial treatment is highly encouraged. Not only do you get a professional skin analysis, customized treatment plans, and professional product recommendations, you also benefit from a deeper cleanse, professional only products, any extractions that may be needed, advanced technologies and chemical peels, and the added relaxation of the service itself. A professional facial will help enhance and prolong your results. A professional skincare technician is your go-to for skincare advice, treatments, and coach to healthy beautiful skin.
Cites Used:
Sleep studies #1 -
Sleep studies #2 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25266053
Sleep Studies #3 -
https://media.cleveland.com/health_impact/other/Lauder%20Sleep%20Skin%20Study%202013%20IID% 20Poster%20%202013%20final.pdf
Stress on the skin - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stress-affects-skin_l_5c991662e4b0a6329e1a0996 https://drwhitneybowe.com/is-your-skin-stressed-out/
Free radicals: Joel Gerson, Janet D’Angelo, Sallie Deitz, and Shelley Lotz. (2013) Milady Standard Eleventh Edition. Clifton Park, New York.