Daily Rituals for Beautiful Skin
tried and true skin/care
Good skin-care is not just about the quality of the products that we put on the skin. While probably not breaking news for most of you, what we do for our internal and overall health manifests itself in the skin’s outward appearance.
With so many skincare products on the market, it can sometimes be overwhelming to know what the best routine might be for you as an individual. While we are a company that makes skincare products for all skin-types, we wanted to share some of the simple things that anyone can do on a daily basis to improve their skin, regardless of whatever products they choose to use. When paired with quality skincare, the advice below are tried and true actions that can have a synchronous positive impact on the skin for pretty much anyone. (Spoiler - a lot of skin health is internal 🙂)
HYDRATION
The body uses water in many different ways for countless functions and processes. Water carries nutrients and oxygen to every cell and encourages lymph flow, and as we know our bodies are composed mostly of water, it’s pretty clear that hydration is an important component of overall health, including skin health.
A simple way of thinking about it, is that water helps keep our cells clean. It flushes out the various toxins through the various processes of our organs (kidneys, liver, lungs, intestines, etc.) which in the world we live in with larger populations living in cities with polluted environments, becomes more and more crucial. When this waste is not properly or promptly flushed out, it will find an alternative route, primarily through your skin. Acne, blackheads, rashes, and skin eruptions can develop when the body doesn’t have enough water to expel the byproducts of organ detoxification via the “normal”, water-based route.
So making sure to drink water every day is crucial for clear, supple, luminous skin, and to avoid the toxins from clogging up our pores or worse. We also need to apply it topically, these are not mutually exclusive, to maintain a homeostasis, which in turn keeps your skin in balance, looking healthy and plump, which is pretty much what we all want. A good tip is to spritz and massage a hydrosol as often as you like throughout the day to provide an extra dose of hydration, while also benefiting from the restorative plant compounds that you don't get in a regular thermal water spray.
Exactly how much water to drink depends on person to person since other factors can dehydrate us (drinking alcohol, ingesting too much sodium, too much sugar, etc), but a general rule of thumb is to drink water regularly throughout the day. The key is the “regularly” part since drinking a bunch of water once a day does not do the body as well as drinking the same quantity at various intervals throughout the day. (Also, just to be clear, soda, coffee, or any flavored drinks don’t count.)
Ideally invest in a proper water filter as increasingly more and more substances are making it into our tap water like heavy metals, chlorine, fluoride, bacteria, pharmaceuticals, VOCs, just to name a few. A few other tips:
Start the morning with a big glass of warm water with a pinch of sea or Himalayan salt and a squeeze of lemon to replenish electrolytes.
Eat water-rich fruits and vegetables because they contain a special form of water, almost gel-like, that brings more absorption and energy to the body than regular water.
Add a tablespoon of chia seeds (Salvia hispanica) to your water or herbal tea. These fascinating seeds swell when in contact with moisture and release a gel that hydrates 3 times more than drinking water.
Drink bone broth, rich in all kinds of nutrients like minerals and amino acids that support healthy digestion and the production of collagen through reducing inflammation levels (inflammation promotes faster collagen breakdown).
Herbal Infusions! Benefit from the powerful antioxidants in plants through herbs like nettle, oatstraw, green tea, chamomile, rosemary, lemon balm, red clover, and astragalus that help prevent damage to your body’s cells and keep you healthy.
SLEEP
When it comes to skin health, sleep is probably the best-kept skincare tip. When you are sleep deprived, the skin will most likely look sallow, dull, tired, and saggy. “You look tired” is almost never a compliment… Even one night of poor sleep can have a visible impact. Sleep plays a significant role in giving a healthy appearance because when you sleep your body is programmed to switch into recovery mode.
The time at which we go to sleep is an important factor for proper recovery. According to various studies, skin cells renew themselves far more quickly at night than during the day, a process that peaks between 1am and 2am. Between 11pm and 4am the micro-circulatory system works harder to deliver more oxygen and nutrients to the skin. Melatonin also kicks in, peaking around 2am, which has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, helping to protect skin cells from free-radical damage. The production of collagen and elastin also increases with the secretion of growth-hormone which typically begins at the start of the sleep-cycle, whereas, at the end of the sleep-cycle, levels of the hormone Cortisol fall, thereby helping the skin repair daytime damage.
This is why we also recommend people to use our Rejuvenating Facial Oil, charged with high quality Biodynamic ingredients, during the night-time routine. Providing the skin with our balancing and synergistic formula provides all the nourishing nutrients the skin benefits from for these restorative processes.
EXERCISE
Another tip which may not surprise many, but exercise is an excellent tool to achieve healthy looking skin, and overall health obviously as well. Physical activity is a great stress-reliever, producing endorphins which trigger positive feelings in the body and relieve any potential pent-up aggression caused by stress. It oxygenates our cells through rapid breathing, stimulates internal processes through increased blood flow, and improves cardiovascular fitness and muscle endurance, translating to increased energy and a healthy complexion.
The increased blood flow brings fresh supplies of nutrients and oxygen to the skin, as well as carry away waste products like free-radicals and cellular debris. Sweating also helps push out toxins and debris out of our pores, although we do recommend to not let the sweat linger too long on the skin where those compounds can set right back in.
Try to wash the face shortly after a hard or long sweaty bout of exercise and replenish it with a nourishing face oil and water-based serum or cream.
SUNLIGHT
Exposing the skin to the sun is a tricky one because it’s all about finding the right middle ground. We all need sunlight, particularly for vitamin D, but as we all know too much sun is not a good thing for the skin. Arguably nothing ages the skin faster than increased and prolonged exposure to the sun. But there are ways to benefit from the sun’s rays and not contribute to premature aging.
First, it’s worthwhile to understand the “why” and the “how”. The spectrum of the sun’s rays are made of 3 primary wavelengths: Visible light, UV light, and Infrared light. Visible light is pretty self-explanatory, it’s the “light” that we see coming from the sun and accounts for ~45% of the rays that make it to us. Ultra-Violet light is a type of electromagnetic radiation that is invisible to the human eye, and while it accounts for only about 5% of the rays that reach the Earth’s surface, it does the most damage to our skin. Of this 5%, 95% of UV rays are UVA rays, which have the ability to penetrate through clouds and windows, as well as through to the dermis, the second main layer of skin that maintains our skin’s integrity. These rays can lead to the production of free-radicals and degrade our collagen levels. While less prevalent and less-penetrating than UVA rays, UVB rays are responsible for burning our skin with overexposure as well as potentially impacting our skin’s cellular DNA (in worst case scenarios leading to skin cancer). Infrared light, the 3rd component of the sun’s rays, is the primary wavelength that delivers heat and accounts for ~50% of the sun's rays.
This is why we wear SPF when in the sun! What’s important to note is that the harmful UV rays are not dependent on the seasons, they’re always there whether in summer or winter. This is why we often recommend wearing a broad spectrum SPF whenever you’re outside for extended periods of time. That being said, we should limit midday sun exposure even when wearing SPF, seek shade where possible, and wear protective clothing in order to minimize any potential overexposure. Also keep in mind that SPF strength is dependent on your skin, with fairer skin types often requiring higher levels of SPF protection. If you are unsure about which SPF is right for your skin, speak to your dermatologist.
Incorporating skincare products that are rich in antioxidants and protective ingredients like our facial oil is also recommended before and after sun exposure. This will aid your skin in repairing itself and help fortify it for the next outing.
But it’s not ALL bad. One of the biggest benefits of sunlight is its stimulation of vitamin D production. UVB rays, for all the negative impacts it can have on the skin, counterintuitively also trigger the production of vitamin D when they come into contact with the cholesterols in our skin. But what’s important to note here though, is that the time of year and time of day are crucial factors.
This is because it is the ANGLE of the sun, and thereby the angle at which the UVB rays hit our skin, that stimulates the vitamin D production. In order to know when is the right time to benefit from the UVB rays and their vitamin D stimulation in our skin, there is an app called DMinder that takes all the various factors into account (location, season, altitude, etc) to let you know when to go outside and allow your body to make vitamin D. FYI, 10-15 mins of exposure daily is sufficient to get proper vitamin D production, and yes, you should still wear sunscreen, no matter how much you put on, some UVB rays will still make it through.
SELF MASSAGE
Facial massage is something that has recently gained some attention, particularly around the gua sha tool and techniques, but in reality it has been around for centuries thanks to Traditional Chinese Medicine. Our face is made of muscle and skin, so while taking care of the skin is obviously very important, we can actually have some amazing benefits by caring for the muscles underneath as well. Like all muscles, they too are subject to gravity and the wear-and-tear of aging, so it makes sense that massage, exercise, and acupressure is important to keeping them healthy.
All natural face-lifting massage techniques (and there are plenty) have the same benefits: stimulating blood flow, releasing tension, and removing toxins. Through specific repetitive movements we can tone our face muscles to lift and soften our own facial contours to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Not to mention they’re incredibly relaxing and pleasant! Picking a certain routine will likely depend on the benefits you’re searching for, but the setup is usually the same. All you need is your hands and a good oil, especially if you have a good cleansing oil as you can cleanse and massage simultaneously. If you do choose a cleansing oil, it’s best to use one that doesn’t have any emulsifiers or synthetic ingredients. And it doesn’t take very much time, 5-10 minutes a day is all you need! The key is to keep it up.
Facial exercise is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. By making specific movements with your face, you are exercising specific muscles which will help tone and strengthen those muscles (and it’s both fun and funny if you use a mirror and see the faces you make! 🙈). Facial exercise is really the only way to work out these muscles, there is no cream or serum that penetrates down to the muscle, and even if it did, it wouldn’t be able to tone or strengthen it. In order to exercise our leg, arm, or chest muscles is not by applying products, it’s by working them. A good program that we’ve come across is Carole Maggio’s “Facercise” which is easily available on Amazon.
Another good tool for facial “maintenance” is facial acupressure, or facial reflexology. While I love the facial massage and exercise programs, facial reflexology is probably my favorite, I find it incredibly relaxing while also beneficial. Loosely stemming from Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupressure, there are multiple points on the face that relate to our chi channels (or meridians) and through specific, gentle movements we can stimulate blood flow, improve circulation, and reduce muscle fatigue. Personally, I’m quite partial to using the specific facial reflexology tools, pictured above.
And there we have it. While it would be difficult to find the time to do them all on a daily basis, I try to do the easy ones every day (drinking water and exercising) while integrating the others as often as time permits. Hopefully these tips prove useful!
XO,
– Carolina