What I Don’t Know About Skin
August 27, 2009 by cathiebeck
Filed under 'A New Face' blog
What I don’t know about getting — and keeping — healthy (and therefore beautiful) skin — could be put in an expanded, 25-volume set of Encyclopedia Brytannica, apparently. Not that anyone knows what that is.
If you’ve read previous A New Face blog posts, you know that I tripped upon a Paramedical Aesthetician named Beryl Reker — who has the skin of a 30-year-old and who is in her late 50s — and she’s taught me a thing or 1,200 about everything I’ve been doing wrong to have health skin (and everything I’ve simply not been doing).
I posed this question to her recently: What can a girl on a budget — say, less than $500 — do to secure and retain healthy skin?
Here’s her answer — I could do a lot, apparently.
This list is not necessarily in order of importance — but is more meant to be a comprehensive approach to skin health and beauty.
1.
Genetics plays a roll, but if that’s working against a person, nutrition and health habits are the number one thing.
2.
Effective Sun block, reapplied every two or three hours, even if one just begins using it, can make a dramatic difference in skin. (See previous post for what “effective” entails — it’s not your average, over-the-counter sun block — and makes a world of difference to skin health.)
3.
Retin A was originally developed to treat acne, but we learned that Retin A users’ dermis becomes thicker and stronger. Retin A use for just six weeks shows significant difference. It’s a fast-acting medication.
4.
The average person’s skin “sheds or turns over” every 28 days in you’re in your 20’s. It takes 45 days by the time you reach 50. Get educated about true skin health – the clock can be turned back! Skin health can return to that 28-day cycle.
5.
Regardless of age, a 30-year-old or a 50-year-old needs to protect their against free-radicals. Vitamins A, B, C,and E are effective in neutralizing the free radicals that break down healthy cells. Think of the old “Pac Man Game.” It’s like those free radicals go into tissue and munch on healthy cells. A good antioxidant on skin neurtralizes free radicals, so those free radicals are not munching on healthy cells.
What you ingest, however, doesn’t necessarily reach skin in processing. It’s critical to treat the cells bi-directionally by eating healthily and treating your skin topically to reach the cells directly.
However, a 50-year-old will want to physiologically change tissue – restructure the tissue – to strengthen and thicken. At 50, it takes 45 days for skin to turn over — the cells are dead and absorb light rather than reflect light. The goal is for the skin to look luminescent which is what happens when light is able to reflect off the epidermis.
6.
There is quite an arsenal of effective ingredients out there that will get your skin in good shape. Here are a few:
Peptides – are small and are able to penetrate to the deeper layers of skin. They signal the body that new collagen needs to be produced.
Growth Factors – these are proteins that promote the organization and maintenance of cells and tissues within the body. They play a major role in the healing of skin damaged by the sun’s ultraviolet rays (sun damage by UVA= aging skin!)
GLX Technology – an advanced fusion of clinically demonstrated benefits of glycolic acid and natural antioxidants. Again, protection, prevention and correction.
L-Ascorbic Acid, Hyaluronic acid, Arbutin, Kojic Acid, Aloe, Lactic Acid, Alpha Lipoic Acid – all are powerful, all are accessible to the average person.
Vitamin B3 in the form of niacin. Niacin thickens all 3 levels of skin and renders added protection. Vitamins A, B, C, and E are all important for the integrity of the skin. You don’t need an expensive moisturizer. Moisturizers simply hydrate skin.
The bottom line is that in a clinical formula, a combination of these powerful ingredients will help you turn back the clock. A qualified clinician will be able to evaluate your skin and develop a program specifically for you.
