I decided to do a little beauty 101, The basics so here's a short list of pointers I've made based off of common questions I get asked frequently....enjoy!!!
I just want to start off by saying, I'm a major nerd when it comes to the chemistry of the skin, any aesthetician should be, its very meticulous work. There is a deep science to addressing the chemistry to do what we'd like our skin to do and maintain the upper hand.
Lets start off with the several skin types and what factors into them:
We all start off with a hereditary base, other factors include lifestyle, medications, environment, any disorders or diseases, allergies, and products used. All these things contribute to our skin type. Also our skins PH levels change daily, in understanding the importance of this factor balancing your regime and not just over product using, remember all the different chemical and ingredient bases interacting together can cause more harm than good.
Every skin and chemistry is individual, but can be treated with in the general realm of products and treatments that suit.
Skin Types:
Normal- This skin type is pretty easy to identify, pore size is tight, no breakouts, not much dryness, non sensitive to products, little reaction to sun and environment.
Sensitive- Redness, easily reacts to environment and products, can not tolerate sun, or aggressive treatments.
Rosacea- Yes this is a diagnosis but I had to include it because it can be mistaken for sensitive skin. Rosacea is a dermatology enigma sort of there is no origin. But I can tell you if your skin experiences, extreme redness sometimes, in just one area of the face or all over, or gets extremely over heated, has visible capillaries, and can be oily or breakout prone on top of all these other symptoms, then its most likely Rosacea.
Dry/Aging- Always coarse to touch, can see visible loss of collagen, wrinkling, products do not penetrate into the skin due to surface buildup, and has a lack luster or dull appearance.
Acne/Oily- Breakout prone, cystic, blackheads, oily even after face was recently washed, this is a battle this skin type, easily active and causes emotional and physical distress, usually a long road of finding products and treatments that balance and heal this condition, sometimes even internal medication is needed to cut oil production.
Combination T-zone oily- When basically everything around the t-zone is normal, and the t-zone is oily or break out prone, also this skin type can flare up with hormonal changes as well.
So these are the basic umbrellas our skin would fall under, in my own words.
Basics:
Rule of thumb when washing your face count to 25 then rinse, this is a good clean !
Eye creams are applied on the orbital bone only, it will heat up and bleed in all surrounding eye area
Order of products are : cleanse, exfoliate (every 2-3 days), apply treatment or serum, moisturizer and in the am add SPF over all.
Toners are great for through out the day, they are germ killing, are hydrating and protect the skin from harmful free radicals.
Masks can be used at your leisure but for most effectiveness use about every 3-5 days, leave on for 10-20 minutes.
ALWAYS wash off your make up at night, our skin does all its processes while we sleep, you don't want to intrude on that with dirt, pollution, product chemicals and oils.
Some Personal beauty rituals I feel in my experience that are tried and true:
Body scrub- At least two times a week, increase to 4-5 times a week in the summertime. There are many good ones, with this you don't have to be too particular, you can even make your own. My favorites are: Eminence coconut scrub, Fresh brown sugar body polish, and a recipe you can whip up yourself is: brown or white sugar 1 cup, 3/4 coconut oil or avocado oil, add a few dabs of your favorite aromatherapy oil, easily purchased at any organic grocer. Blend together and scrub!
Body and Face Moisturize daily- This keeps the fibers of the skin supplemented and firm. Also super soft. Some of my favorites include Aveeno: skin relief moisture repair, Eminence: Coconut body firming lotion, Skin Medica: TNS body lotion. This is just a few for now I will soon put up a whole favorites post and be more in depth on products I love and why.
Body Brushing- This is so under rated, a basic boar bristle style body bath brush is used for this, start from the feet and work up towards the under arms this is where our lymph nodes are located we are pushing toxins with the brush to the lymph dumpster essentially. This increases circulation and oxygen, helps with cellulite, and exfoliation as well.
Oral supplements/vitamins- My favorite line is Nutametrix, my uncle is a vitamin chemist and has studied every type of vitamin he could and he's in his 90's, his wife lived past 100 years of age, he odes this to vitamins. Well upon my own investigation, I find these vitamins to be in a class of their own, they are in powder form and you create custom cocktails that suit your needs. I have been taking them for 3 years now and never felt better. To start a well rounded multivitamin is a must, add b complex vitamins for brain health, A probiotic for skin clarity and digestion, if you have acne this is a must. Then they have the crem de la crem of vitamins which is called Opc-3, this is a supplement miracle, so many uses its in general an anti inflammatory packed with antioxidants, but can be used for inflamed joints, headaches, menstrual cramps, inflammation, after workouts, acne and rosacea inflammation, and allergies by increasing the dose a bit. Here's the link, if directed by me you receive 10% off.
www.nutrametrix.com/peacefullyzen
Teas- Drink tea, green tea especially, just keeps you supplemented with antioxidants to fight a world of ailments. You can also use green tea bags after you drink as de-puffing eye pads, refrigerate for 10 minutes- 30 minutes then place over eyes until warm.
Yoga/work out- Obviously we know this is very uplifting to ones daily regime. Not always easy to get to though, even once a week is better then none a week :)
Change your pillowcases often- Oils and dirt get into the fibers of the fabric and get redeposited into clean skin when left too long .
Get Facials at least every 3 months, Every season. I would recommend myself, but my spa is in the process of being built, so its not open yet but soon! Its gonna be amazing! ill keep you posted!
Green Juices -Just to give the body and skin nourishment, detox and glow!
Regular massages- It keeps muscles relaxed, cellulite at bay- but yes this is more of a luxury.
Okay so now I am gonna make some recommendations for each skin type. I know there are a million blogs about beauty but maybe someone will relate to me in someway and also my patients that trust me and believe in my work beyond all the rest. so yes there is some repetitive content but its my own so why no share it!
Dry/Aging
Wash-lemon cleanser (if you have combination skin with active t-zone oil), coconut milk cleanser if just dehydrated.
Both By Eminence organic skin care. I will be mentioning this line a lot, They are my favorite, I had a chemist test about 400 lines to tell me what is the absolute best line, years ago when I started a spa for a dermatologist, I wanted to make sure I had the best product to offer and also use the best product for my treatments and a product that would suit many different skin types(I told you I was a nerd!) and he said this one was the cleanest and most active. I've been using it for years in my treatments and they are powerful and deliver. Okay so back to the regimes.
Serum- For organic go for Eminence Bamboo Firming Fluid, Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Serum or Lavender Age Corrective Night Concentrate by Eminence. For other great alternatives that provide powerful results try Skin Medica- TNS Essential Serum, and or SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic. These are super charged anti-aging compositions that really reduce, correct, and prevent signs of aging.
Eye cream- Okay eye cream is pretty universal so i will put a few general favorites and so know to repeat in each regime recommendation. I LOVE Teamine by Revision Skin Care really helps with de-puffing and dark circles it has caffeine inside to boost circulation, also i am obsessed with their Teamine Concealer great product, Eminence Herbal Eye Contour cream its super hydrating, soothing and illuminates the eye, and Neostrata Intensive eye Therapy it uses apple stem cell to repair the delicate eye area, super silky application.
Moisturizer - I love Eminence Fire Thorn and Blueberry Soy Recovery Cream. They are both extremely plumping and Hydrating.
Oily/Acne- Even combination skin can benefit from this regime as well.
Wash- Citrus was by Eminence. It has mild lychee exfoliates beads to slough off build up and a nice composition of citruses to kill bacteria.
Toner- Oily Skin Solution by Neostata. Its a mild salicylic based product to further help kill deep rooted bacteria.
Moisturizer- Probiotic Moisturizer
Treatments for this skin type: Silk Peel Acne Brush, Chemical Peels (salicylic based)
Sensitive skin-
Wash- Sweet Red Rose Cleanser by Eminence, If your skin is mildly oily go for Lemon Grass Cleanser by Eminence.
These are cream based if you like gel based, Stone Crop Gel Wash by Eminence is a great choice too.
Serum- Stone Crop Serum is anti-inflammatory and very hydrating, also aids in evening out tone.
Moisturizer- Sweet Red Rose Moisturizer uber lux or for a lighter feel try Echinacea Recovery Cream by Eminence, Both are very soothing.
Treatments for this skin type: Facials, LED Light Therapy, IPL thearapy, and Oxygen.
Uneven Pigmented-
Wash- Stone Crop Gel Wash By Eminence.
Serum- Lytera by Skin Medica great break through new product. Very helpful in reducing pigmented areas.
Moisturizer- Stone Crop Moisturizer, this products force is powered by an extract of a cactus that organically brightens skin, smells great too.
Treatments for this skin type: Clear and brilliant, Fraxel, chemical peels, and Silk Peel Microdermabrasion.
Any skin type can add in specialty products as well, i wanted to keep this post mildly basic but will get more in depth later. So if you'd like a weekly mask to try definitely you want to try what else but Eminence Quince and Ice Wine Masque do this twice a week, for exfoliants a enzyme powered great one is Yam and Pumpkin 5% do this before the masque for a mild facial result. For a stronger grit style exfoliant try Strawberry Rhubarb Dermafoliant so wonderful of a product. Start twice a week.
A few side notes, I've been asked about these listed items and would like to address their place in the regime world.
Clarisonic face cleansing brush- Its okay to use weekly, not a total necessity but can be helpful, just be careful of cleaning it properly, the brush head can eventually become porous and harbor bacteria and you'd be redepositing dirt and oils back into the skin, and for acne it may stimulate oils to produce more.
Clarisonic Opal- A little hypey, only really works with their eye cream and their eye cream isn't great.
Nono- At home hair removal tool, this thing is basically a mini weed whacker with a light that can't possible be powerful enough to do much, our lasers in dermatology even take time to work and those are 75,000 dollar machines. so just be careful because the beauty industry will try and get you due to the popular demand of solutions.
At home micro current system- This i don't mind cause every bit helps but its gonna be slow going again for this to be approved for at home untrained use really can't have the power to make drastic change.
At home microdermabrasion- I would leave it to professionals with this one, these can cause microscopic damage and harm skin or cause abrasions, and again can not have the proper power to produce professional results. So don't waste your time your better off going for a chemical peel or microdermabrasion at a dermatologist or spa seasonally. I will create another post about treatments, costs and efficiency soon.
Face make up- The absolute best is Eminence sun defense minerals. THE BEST! great coverage, easy to apply, smells great, heals skin while protecting us from the sun.
And last but not least Saggy neck solutions- Skinceuticals Neck, Chest and Hand Repair speaks for its self or Revision skin care Necktifirm... as far as treatments go, Ulthera, collagen building Fraxel, Radio Frequency such as Venus freeze or Pelleve. These all help give you the upper hand, help reduced the appearance of anything unsightly to you significantly.
I'm working on a product line, keep you posted :) got some very cutting edge ideas.
Hope this helped, I'm doing my best to get this blog going, thanks for the support.
