Skin Solutions for the body
I have to admit that when I do a facial I mostly do consider what’s going directly on the face. But as you can imagine, since skin covers the whole body it isn’t the only place in which we can experience imbalance. The skin is a communicator of what is going on internally so it can be difficult to determine why we all of a sudden could be experiencing a rash or breakout in an odd place. Skin conditions that aren't on the face can be just as damaging to our self-esteem. With these weather shifts and increase in the holiday celebrating there are a few pesky skin conditions that most of us struggle with but never talk about. Today I want to talk about how to support your whole body for best body skin practices.
My everyday skin hacks
Great skin comes from a few different factors. Good genes are ideal, a healthy lifestyle is always a plus, and some results-driven products can usually turn most conditions around. However, there are a few things that I do daily that can really take your skin from great to GRAND almost immediately. I like to call these my skin hacks, mostly because they are free and simple. Today I'm going to walk you through the few that I do pretty much every day and make the biggest difference in my skin's success.
What I've had done...
Yes, I mean exactly what it sounds like. Today I want to talk about what I've had "done" as an esthetician as well as what I haven't and why. People ask me this all the time because they want to know if I have a big secret to my skin's success. I've been taking care of my skin for a long time and given the perks of being in the industry I've been able to try a lot of things. There are things I also haven't tried but performed on others. It's sort of a mixed bag but I'm very excited to share this once and for all.
Why you're not taking advice...
At the risk of starting this post like I’m about to go on a rant, I just want to preface that there is some education squeezed in here so keep reading to get to the good stuff. I can’t help but get a little annoyed when a client tells me that they were given advice by someone else when it goes one of two ways. Either the advice is something I’ve been trying to drill in my client’s heads but they seem to only hear it from someone else. Or it’s completely conflicting with my advice but they take it instead! Maybe it’s the youngest child syndrome but I do have a really hard time with people not listening to me. If you take the time to come to see me, spend time telling me everything about your skin and health, and then decide that my advice isn’t for you - that’s one thing. However, I find that the issue lies more with people who are seeking a very specific result are not only completely shutting my advice off but look to me to blame when things aren’t getting better. This may seem harsh, but you can understand my frustration. 95% of my clientele are very compliant and benefit greatly from my feedback because it’s personally tailored to them. So why do the 5% not take the advice? I can’t answer with certainty but my impression (and personal experience with being a client myself) tells me that there is a huge block that needs to come down first.
What's your intention?
Every day we set an intention for ourselves, whether we are conscious of it or not. I get to work on a diverse group of people all the time and there are two major things that I see as a commonality amongst my clients time and time again: 1 - They all have skin (duh) and 2 - There are disconnects with their intention for themselves and intention for their skin. You can’t commit to being healthy or loving to yourself and exclude your skin in that factor. Your skin is part of the package people so it’s important to remember that you can put forth just as much love in your skin as you do everything else. So how do you start setting intentions for your skin? Here’s how to do it.
Timelines for your skin
One question I am constantly faced with regarding skin concerns is a timeline on when things will be better. I hate to break it to y’all but putting a timeline on your health is like telling God your plans - it doesn’t work out that way. There are a few things you can do to help create a plan for yourself but when dealing with a live organ that reflects the imbalances of your internal organs, there is only so much you can control. I want to run through a few steps to help you stay on track when things seem to be going nowhere or even feels like you’re taking a few steps backward.
Intuitive Skincare.
This weekend I had 3 clients in a row tell me about their person experience with strong intuitive pulls. The first noticed some strong coincidences between her and a new person in her life. The second was very specific in the signs that she asked the universe for (and received them). And the third had a gut feeling about a previous skin therapist she worked with. Sometimes you just know things and there is no rhyme or reason behind it. That is your intuition tapping in to help guide you. That “I just know” feeling is not something that is taught but it can make the most impactful shifts when you listen in. When I first started my skincare practice I had to really tune into my intuition. Most spas that I had worked for had a set protocol and formula to what they wanted their services providers to follow so I felt silenced in a lot of what I truly wanted to convey to my clients. The good thing is that behind closed doors in the treatment room I would usually break the rules and talk about what I felt was truly going on. Whether it was my intuition telling me that my client needed a quiet facial to soothe their nervous system or that they needed to talk about what was really going on in their lives, I wouldn’t structure the facial around selling product or upgrading the treatment. I knew that when I was going to start to build my practice, I would have to create an environment in which I could build the treatment as it needed to unfold. Those intuitive pulls became so much more powerful once I dropped the tight structure of a spa’s idea of what works for the client. I use those same instincts to decide what to use on skin, whether it’s my own or yours. So how can you tap into that yourself? Here are my top 3 intuitive tips for the best custom skincare.
Reading between the lines...
Just the other day I got to catch up with an old friend that I worked with at my first job as an esthetician. We were on the phone for over 2 hours catching up on the years that had passed by. While reminiscing she reminded me that as early as 19 years old I approached my skin care practice the same as I do now - with an integrative approach. It sort of hit me that I have always just looked at skin care a certain way that may not have been the norm back then but is slowly starting to become mainstream. I have been asking about diet and hormone health since day one because I recognized early on that skin is a reflection of our health and we didn’t have to suffer with the imbalances without finding the root cause first. When I meet someone for their first appointment with me I send over a 12 question health history consultation that scratches the surface on your internal health. I need that background to shed some light on what I can do to your skin as well as an understanding of where you are physically and emotionally. I want to break down why I ask certain questions to help you gain a better understanding of how it’s all connected and why I have to read between the lines...
Education.
As I continue on my annual reflective journey with my birthday rapidly approaches, a common theme coming up for me in my daily work is one of education. Whether it’s because of the people who reach out to me for my expertise or the time I spend to educate myself on any of my multiple subjects of interest.I spend a lot of time applying the knowledge I have gained during my time as an esthetician that I have just recently started accepting the role of an educator. Yes, I know I don’t have a teaching degree but the basis of my work centers around education. The tricky part about my line of work is that it isn’t always valued as an esteemed profession. As I previously mentioned in my “perception” and “becoming an esthetician” pieces, I had to trust my instinct and ignore the naysayers when I chose this path.
Physical and emotional scars
A common topic that has been brought up to me over the last few weeks has been scarring. Whether it’s a physical scar or just the emotional aftermath of a bad breakout, this topic is very difficult for anyone who has suffered from an inflammatory skin condition. Remember when we thought scars were cool when the rugged bad boys from the movies would proudly wear one? Scars have a bit of a backstory and most of them can be worn as a badge of honor. That is unless they are a painful reminder of a previous breakout or other skin imbalance. So many clients are concerned about potential scarring from their previous acne that they would literally do anything to make it go away. For the client whose main concern is scarring and I tend to ease their mind by reminding them that not all scars are created equal and with the right homework they will turnover their cells enough to smooth out their skin. In order to to do there are a few questions to be taken into consideration first:
What every city transplant needs for their skin care
Due to the universal pull of abundance I’ve been manifesting I recently had a considerable amount of new clients. One thing that most of them had in common was that they were recent transplants to LA. Without even seeing them I already knew what they would be dealing with. Each individual had a completely different background and circumstance yet they all were experiencing a common Skin Food Talk category of skin imbalance. Since I’m co-founder and lead the skincare side of Skin Food Talk I already knew what would be common symptoms because they were experiencing compromised detoxification organs that led to inflammation and irritations. So why is it that this happens to nearly every city transplant? As someone who has lived in 3 states, 2 countries and countless homes, I can confidently say I’m the expert of this topic. Here are my top 3 skin care tips for new city transplants:
Why makeup is a luxury, not a necessity.
If you’ve ever had a treatment with me you know that in my consultation form my very last question is what is your ultimate skin goal? I wrote a post about year ago about becoming makeup free and since then the most common answer to my skin goal question still remains the same - to be makeup free. I may have done a few of you a disservice by immediately exclaiming how easy that goal is because of my personal relationship with makeup. I grew up obsessed with makeup to the point that if I could translate the equivalent of my obsession to the current time, I would 100% be one of those instagram/snapchat/youtube tutorial gals. I loved creating looks, doing other people’s makeup and I was praised for my natural ability in this department. I booked jobs all the time in the beginning of my career that I can safely say that the spring and summers of 2007 and 2008 were spent with me at my makeup counter dolling gals up for events like prom, graduation and weddings. I loved it but it also taught me a lot about how many people lacked confidence, self awareness and even struggled with a little body/facial dysmorphia. My love of makeup started because of artistry but my relationship to it on an everyday basis changed because of my own evolution of self love and acceptance. So with that, I want to dive back into how being makeup free has nothing to do with skincare, it has everything to do with acceptance.
Healthy Skin vs. Perfect Skin
As a person who heavily identifies with the struggles of being a perfectionist I do notice that I tend to have a physical response to the word itself - "Perfect". When someone tells me they want “perfect” skin, it really hurts my heart because it creates an emotional block that we have to investigate. I have tried to overlook the term as it has followed me around my whole life, but it’s gotten to the point now where I am doing you a disservice if I don’t correct this terminology. Healthy skin does not equal perfect skin. I’m going to repeat that: HEALTHY SKIN DOES NOT EQUAL PERFECT SKIN. Health is an ongoing journey to bettering yourself for the sake of feeling good while having love, acceptance and appreciation for yourself. Perfection is not attainable and generally comes from a place of low self worth, self loathing or simple delusion that you have to fit a mold. As someone who has struggled with anxiety their entire life, it’s easy for me to fall into my perfectionist trap and unknowingly use the term with intent on delivering a positive message. So today I want to breakdown the differences of why healthy skin doesn’t equal perfect skin and advice on how to shift your mindset towards acceptance in being your true self.
Sun Care SOS part 2
To follow up from last week’s post I wanted to discuss the most positive thing I noticed over Memorial Day weekend. Over the years I have heavily influenced my husband’s relationship with sunscreen. This is a man who grew up in Texas and can tolerate sun and heat unlike many other auburn haired, Irish descendants. Reason being is that his skin has been trained to tolerate heat because of where he grew up as well as having other heritage factors that make him more tolerant of heavy heat levels. So regardless of all these factors, James has unfortunately experienced some gnarly burns over the years and after enough wife nagging, he has shifted many of his old habits. During our camping trip he was the first person to apply sunscreen prior to heavy sun exposure and to reapply throughout the course of our time in the sun. He turned to me at one point and said “I think I just have to apply every 30 minutes in order to not burn”. I almost cried tears of joy in that very moment. YES! HE GETS IT! This type of attitude can infectiously spreads because once you see someone caring for their skin it triggers the thought that maybe you should do the same. As soon as the sunscreen was out, others would start asking for a round of cover up. When I talk about sun care, I don’t necessarily only mean sunscreen. Sun care to me means how you are caring for your skin from the sun. Sunscreen is a huge and non-negotiable factor but I am talking about extra preventative steps such as the following: