Skincare: A Whole-Body Approach
By: Emerson Vranich
At some point in your life, you have worried about your skin. Maybe its breakouts, dryness, texture or loss of elasticity; and I'm sure we all have seen the ads, TikToks, clips, and videos selling products with a promise do fix all that and more. As an esthetician, I love my skincare products, however, not every case calls for an overhaul of your usual routine.
Something most people rarely think about is this: what we do to our body, we do to our skin. Stress, Diet, Sleep, and Hydration are prime factors in overall health AND in skin health. If you haven't slept, you get sunken and dull skin, if you dont drink enough water you can get oily dehydrated skin, stress can cause breakouts and spicey food and irritate sensitive skin! Your overall health will affect your skin.
All of this can seem overwhelming, I'll break it down to some main categories and common problems along with offering up simple solutions. Hydration, Stress, Diet and Hygiene, they are foundations of overall health, which is the base of healthy skin.
Hydration - The cheapest and fastest way to improve your skin is by making sure you are hydrated. Oily skin can worsen with dehydration. Your skin cant make water, so the next best thing it can make is oil. Dehydrated skin also shows more signs of aging (part of the reason hyaluronic acid works so well for mature skin is because it brings water into the skin and plumps it up). Your skin is the largest organ of your body, it needs water just like everything else.
Stress - If you are stressed, your body is stressed, and when your body is stressed it makes a cocktail of hormones that increases all kinds of inflammation, including in your skin. Redness, acne, rosacea, even psoriasis and eczema can be flared up with stress. Making time for yourself, getting enough sleep, taking time off work, yoga and meditation are all excellent practices to reduce stress.
Hygiene - This one is basic, most of us have a routine so well worn that we don't even think about it anymore. It can overlooked when thinking about treating skin conditions. Hot showers (as amazing as they feel) will dry the skin by stripping it of necessary oils. Reusing the same loofah for months can cause body breakouts and odor, make sure youre replacing it once a month. Using a scrubbing cloth, or exfoliating loofah gentle every day will smooth flakey or rough skin. I invite you to take a closer look at your general hygiene practices, like changing sheets, washing clothing, etc. Anything that will contact your body for an extended time.
Diet - The most common issues that arise from diet are acne, rosacea and psoriasis. Inflammation in your body with create inflammation in your skin. Common triggers for breakouts are dairy, high sugar, and high fat foods. If you’re dealing with a chronic skin condition, alongside medical care, it might be beneficial to try reducing some of these and seeing if it helps reduce your outbreaks. Eating a well balanced diet rich in antioxidants can also slow down some signs of aging and even help reduce damage caused by harmful UV rays. Aside from skincare benefits they can also reduce risk for certain diseases. Play around with your diet, find what works best for you.
This all may sound significantly more complicated than just using getting new skincare. You don't have to change your entire life to have healthy skin. Simply, take a closer look at your daily routine and habits. Try to see if there is anything that can be improved with a small change. By taking care of your body and overall health, youre giving your skin a leg up.
