PART 1. A Guide To Skincare & Natural Products - The 101
Skincare Collection Summer 2021
As the list of my herbal skincare offerings expand, so does the list of questions I receive about them.
How do these products differ from conventional ones?
How do I use these them?
The skincare industry is a giant monster and trying to make sense of it all can lead the unsuspecting victim down an endless rabbit hole. I often find myself hours into frantic research, 25 tabs open, reading about parabens that ruin your hormones and fragrances that cause painful irritations. It can be difficult enough to identify your own individual skincare needs & problems. Sprinkle in mainstream trends, constantly changing & unrealistic beauty standards, top it off with thousands of different types of products, endless lists of chemicals, and the pressure to find the right thing for our exact personal circumstances can quickly increase.
The honest truth is that there is not one single skincare method that works for everybody. Any product that claims to: have an absolute guaranteed effect, to magically erase your problem, or to reduce your routine to only using that product, is not actually going to help you in the long run. It’s likely exploiting your internal desire to change your lifestyle habits that lead to healthier & more holistic routines. The goal is to take the easiest step towards that. To understand what products you use on a daily basis and make an attempt to switching more socially, ecologically and personally conscious options.
Before talking about the different types of products and what they do, let’s look at basic processes of skincare first. Depending on skin types & individual circumstances, some people might need a more extensive routine, while others might need a simpler and shorter daily routine.
The Steps of Skincare
1. Cleansing
2. Exfoliation
3. Toning
4. Problem Specific Treatment
5. Moisturization
That being said, skin health is about more than just beauty and skin types. It’s a direct result of overall wellbeing, routine/lifestyle, genetics and diet. Nothing can externally change what is brought into the body internally. This includes a spectrum of things from personal, physical, biological, emotional, social & environmental circumstances and disparities. Consequently, a holistic approach is fundamental in order to have a solid & sustained (skin) health.
Now let’s talk about at the plethora of available products. To help my clients, and anyone out there that find themselves confused or spoilt for choice, I compiled a straight-forward guide to assist you in understanding different categories of skincare products.
EXFOLIATORS & TONERS
Includes astringents, scrubs, chemical exfoliators & more.
Exfoliation
PRO: Improved texture, smoother skin, blood flow stimulation
CON: Microtears, overexfoliation
These steps are just as important as cleansing & moisturizing, but they are often overlooked or misunderstood.
EXFOLIATION is the shedding of remaining debris & dead skin cells from the surface of the skin.
This step brightens the complexion and improves the overall texture of the skin. This is usually achieved through physical exfoliation (scrubs) or chemical exfoliation (acids). It’s important to note that the particles in many of the popularized scrubbing m
ethods, such as apricot seeds, salts, sugar or coffee grinds, are too large and too hard to be utilized on the face area, as they can cause micro-abrasions(tiny little cuts invisible to the eye) in the skin tissue. Micro-tears & over-exfoliation can lead to quicker aging, reduced elasticity skin and increased redness + irritation in the skin. These methods should be only utilized on the body, while chemical or mechanical exfoliators(soft brushes, washcloths) are recommended to be used on the face & neck area.
This step should not be repeated daily, but rather as a weekly or bi-weekly treatment, depending on individual need.
Toning
PRO: Reduced redness, restored PH
Cons: Drying, disrupting to skins microflora
TONING is the step that helps minimizing the damage from exfoliation and restoring balanced PH levels.
The previous steps of cleansing & exfoliating can strip the skin of its natural oils & disrupt its microbiome.
Toners are usually astringents (meaning they constrict & tighten skin tissue) which are often used to soothe redness and reduce the appearance of pores. The best practice is to avoid harsh products during this step, because the skin is already in a vulnerable state. Avoid alcohol as much as possible, unless you have a specific need or treatment. Look for products witch hazel, rosewater & chamomile, mostly hydrosols & herbal infusions.
After this step, all other problem specific treatments - tailored for individual needs - should be initiated. Apply any acne creams, medicated salves, aging serums and so on.
MOISTURIZERS
Not all moisturizers hydrate but all hydrators moisturize. What?
This is a KEY characteristic that splits moisturizers into 2 different categories. Moisturizers are anything that help maintain, and/or add moisture to the skin.
All of these products create a barrier that prevents the water in and on the surface of your skin from escaping too fast. Yet, not all moisturizers contain water.
Hydration
Recommended for: Dehydrated skin (lacking water = dull, tight),
Problematic skin
(acne prone, chronic issues)
PRO: Extra water = quicker & deeper hydration, lighter, less greasy application
CON: Short shelf-life or chemical additives
WATER implies hydration, (comes from greek ‘húdra’) meaning there is some water content in the product.
Water is extremely beneficial for quick & intense hydration. Some substances, like humectants or emollients are designed to attract more moisture to the skin or penetrate the tissue cells deeper, in order to deliver the active ingredients & nutrients to the skin.
Unfortunately, water-based hydrating moisturizers need additional formulation to stabilize the ingredients, as oil and water do not naturally mix.
The presence of water also necessitates the use of some type of preservative, otherwise the formula would quickly deteriorate, house bacteria and rot. Preservatives are not inherently bad, but some are serious irritants if not out right carcinogenic. It is important to do our own research when it comes to these ingredients to be able to make the right decision for our own personal circumstances. These products include body lotions, gels, some types of creams like sunscreen and so on.
Moisturizing
Recommended for:
Dry skin
(lacking oil = flaky, patchy, red),
Sensitive skin
(easily irritated, allergic, itchy)
Oil cleansing methods
Pros: “Clean” aka no preservatives and less irritants, long shelf-life, longer protection
Cons: No added hydration, thicker, greasier application
WATERLESS moisturizers contain only fats, oils, wax & butters (plant based like shea and cocoa or animal based like tallow and beeswax).
They provide no EXTRA water (hydration) but they form a protective barrier on the surface of the skin. This type of moisturizer stays on much longer than water-based lotions, assisting the lipid barrier in its natural recovery processes and discouraging the evaporation of moisture already present in the skin. This is wonderful for applying after baths/showers or after using water-based creams first. For the purposes of heavy-duty healing & skin protection, waterless moisturizers work better than water-based ones. They have a longer shelf life, can be used in much smaller quantities and do not require any other necessary additives. These characteristics also make it great for people who experience allergic reactions to the chemicals present in conventional lotions. However, they are much thicker & greasier in the application, and stay on the skin much longer. All bath & body butters, body oils and salves are waterless moisturizers.
NOTE
I wanted to address the subject of facial oils & serums. Traditionally, a facial oil differed from a facial serum the same way a body lotion differed from a body butter. The oil lacks water, while the serum does not. Today, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably by the industry but they are not the same.
Going further, the best way to expand on this topic would be to dwell into the subject of the various chemicals used in skincare. Products are easy to understand as long as they are oil and butter based, but it all changes when water is added to the formulation. At that point we are stepping into the world of chemistry.
