To Serve and Protect

Sixth and Final Step: PROTECTION

The final step to any skin care regiment is to apply a layer of protection from the sun. Skin that has been deep pore cleansed and exfoliated is succeptible to damage from the sun; not just direct contact with sunlight, but the sun's reflection. It can also be harmful.

Skin that has been revitalized and refreshed can only stay that way if we take the proper provisions to protect it.

The sun not only hardens and knits collagen and elastin cells, forming wrinkles, but also activates melanin which can lead to hyper and hypopigmentation. Dehyration also occurs from sun and heat exposure. Healthy skin must be protected.

So, the billion dollar question... what is an SPF rating? How does it work?

SPF, or Sun Protection Factor, is essentially the base of an equation for the level of protection provided by a product or ingredient.

S x B = X... or Level of SPF (S) times the amount of time you can be in the sun before burning (B) equals how long you can now stay in the sun before burning (X).

If you can be in the sun for ten minutes before you begin to burn, and you apply an SPF of 30, that would mean that you can stay in the sun 30 time longer. You would now be able to stay in the sun for 300 minutes before you begin to burn.

That's 5 hours, folks! 4 hours and fifty minutes longer than without any sun protection.

So, when you're told that anything over an SPF of 45 is just a marketing ploy, the truth is that for even the most sensitive skin, there is hardly ever a time that you would need to be in the sun for 7 hours!

There are two types of SPF:

1) Physical

2) Chemical

Physical protectants include minerals like Titanium Dioxide, which reflect the sun off the surface fo the skin. Chemical protectants include compounds like Parcol 1789, which absorb UV rays. Some products contain only one or the other types of SPF, but the most successful protectants contain both, and provide what is called "full spectrum" protection.

Full-spectrum protectants manage to deflect and/or absorb UVA (aging), UVB (burning) and UVC (cancer) rays.

If you are concerned with tanning, and a person who is hoping to increase their face value is not, then you can apply an SPF of 15 to your body and SPF 30 to your face. You can still tan with SPF, it just takes longer. Which brings us to the next million dollar question... are tanning beds really that bad?

And the answer is: ABSOLUTLEY!

If the sun is bad enough on its own, what do you think putting youself inside a plastic tube with lamps radiating UV rays over ten times as powerful is doing to your skin... and in particular, your face?

For a healthy tan, there are definitely alternatives... sprays, cremes and gels... and times have changed. They no longer turn you orange. Powder bronzers give you wonderful layers of colors, too. There are alternatives to tanning.

However, before we get into bronzers and cosmetics, let's wrap up the skin care regiment. When you have finished the process of cleansing, exfoliating, balancing, treating, and moisturing your skin, take the final step and apply an SPF of 30. It's that simple. These six steps... a full skin care regiment... can do wonders for your face value.

Make the investment and start here. The results... younger looking skin... being mistaken for thirty-five when you're forty-three... is well worth it!

As Fresh As the Morning Dew

Let's chat moisture, folks.

There are a lot of misconceptions about moisturizers. Some people believe that without oil content, a moisturizer can't possibly work. Other think the opposite. What is the truth to this question?

Moisturizer... moisture... has to do with water content. Oil has nothing to do with hydration, but does meet a need in terms of lubrication and moisture retention, and to function properly, your skin needs both!

In order to clean deep within the pores, to break down the dirt and debris trapped in those tiny pockets of oil, we have to strip the skin of its oil content during cleansing. For someone with dry skin, they lack oil production and therefore also lack moisture retention. So, their skin readily accepts any moisture from the products used on it after cleansing, although without products that contain some oil, their skin will never hold onto that moisture.

For someone with oily skin, once their skin has been cleansed, their skin immediately begins to produce oil again. In this case, moisturizing is key. If the skin is trying to overproduce oil to protect the moisture balance, without applying moisturizer can lead to what can effectively be referred to as a grease slick!

The skin produces oil to keep the dry, flattened protein cells that make up our outer most layer of epidermis, called the corneum, pliable. This oil on the surface of the skin also helps to keep moisture from evaporating, and thus protects the skins moisture balance. If we don't drink enough water or spend a lot of time in a hot, dry climate, even oily skin can become dehydrated. The reproduction of skin cells and cell health does not require oil, but water.

So, how do you choose the perfect mositurizer?

If you have dry skin, meaning that you have very little oil production, you want to use a rich emollient. A heavy-weight creme that contains both oil and water. The skin will absorb the water, while the epidermis will stay lubricated and soft as it keeps this new dose of moisture from evaporating.

For somone with oily skinm stay away from heavy cremes and choose lighter moisturizers that are oil-free. You produce enough oil. What your skin needs is moisture, and this dose of moisture will keep your skin from overproducing oil to make up for a lack of water.

People with combination skin should choose a moisturizer that meets the need of the majority of thier skin. Combination types often lean more towards oily or dry rather than being an even split. So, combination skin types tending toward oily skin should use the oil-free moisturizer... the lighter cream. The combination type tending toward dry should use the heavier creme... the emollient.

Remember that healthy skin is well moisturized and lubricated. There has to be a balance of both oil and water for proper skin function!

We're almost to the last step: SPF!

Treat Yourself Right

Eye gels and creams, serums, complexes and masques are all treatment products. They contain active ingredients that further enrich or nourish your skin beyond just keeping it clean. These products can brighten skin pigments, even out tones, promote collagen and elastin production, decrease line and wrinkle depth and so much more.

Again, applying a treatment product to moist skin will ensure a deeper penetration. Massaging your face lightly with tapotement/percussion of your fingers to stimulate the skin will also allow for deeper penetration. Treatment products should never be smeared or rubbed into the skin, but pressed or tapped into the desired areas.

In some instances, a professional will use a form of direct current (and there are some at-home versions) to carry active ingredients on a current of electricity into the lower layers of the epidermis, and into the dermis itself. While home-care versions are hand-held, professional electrotherapy machines often consist of a grounding rod which is held by the "patient" and an active electrode that is rolled or smoothed across the skin. As the current travels from the active electrode to the grounding rod, it carried the positively charged active ingredients deep into the skin.

Common ingredients used in treatment products include botanicals and minerals, antioxidants and peptides. Vitamin C is very popular due to its versatility. It promotes collagen and elastin production, which leads to firmer skin, brightens pigmentation and evens skin tone, and fights free radicals! Vitamins A and E are also very popular. While E strengthens cell walls, A promotes cell turnover, which in essence keeps your skin active and youthful.

Peptides are strings of proteins that have the benefit of repairing damage on a cellular level, which can decrease, stop and reverse the signs of aging. Pairing two or more peptides forms complexes, and now through modern technology, ingredients like Pepsyn allow for a stable blending of peptides and botanicals for more powerful, natural treatment products.

While not a necessary part of the skin care regiment, treating your skin can do much in the way of increasing your face value.

Next up: Moisturizing.

A Healthy Balance

The third step in a skin care regiment is usually to tone the skin.

Toner and astringent are two very different things. While toner is used to remove excess residue from exfolients and cleansers, and to rebalance the pH of your skin, an astringent is used to clear away oil and cause a "flash" constriction of the pores. Astringent does not assist in rebalancing the pH levels of your skin.

A healthy pH balance must be maintained in order for skin to function properly. Water by itself is alkaline and can strip the skin of it's oil and moisture balance. Some cleansers can be too alkaline, while others are too acidic. That is why is so important to use cleansers that are pH balanced and developed specifically for skin care.

Toners can contain any number of ingredients, but most contain a humectant, which locks moisture into the skin without being occlusive. Some contain witch hazel or horse chestnut to act as anti-inflammatories and antiseptics. In nany case, they all serve the same purposes:

1. To maintain the pH balance of the skin;
2. To help with the absorption of treatment products.

Even if you don't use a treatment product, just a moisturizer, it is important to remember that moist skin absorbs. Applying moisture or treatment ingredients to skin that is already absorbing moisture ensures a deeper penetration of those ingredients.

Following toner, is the application of treatment products!

Revitalizing for Radiance

Step Two: EXFOLIATION

Exfoliation is an important step in a skin care regiment, although not a step that should be included on a daily basis. Even with the oiliest of skin types, three times a week is more than enough.

Exfoliation is the process of sloughing or buffing off the excess dead skin cells from the surface of the skin, revealing the fresher, younger cells beneath. While some cleansers contain acids that also affect cellular turn-over, a manual scrub can be used to finish the job. As the plump cells that are formed in the basal layer make their way to the surface, losing moisture and flattening out before finally setting on the surface, they can get caught up in excess oil, and need to be cleared away so that younger cells can take their place, and new cells can be formed.

As we age, the production of fresh cells slows, and exfoliation is the key to keeping the skin working!

Even for someone with dry skin, using a manual exfoliant once every few weeks will help to stimulate cell production and turn-over, leading to stronger, firmer, less sensitive skin.

Be careful not to use products that contain materials that are too sharp, like apricot kernels or walnut shells. While ideal for your feet, these may be too abrasive for your skin, causing microscopic tears in the skin. Instead, look for a scrub that uses jojoba beads, silica crystals or physician's grade microdermabrasian crystals to help buff away excess skin cells.

If you use an exfoliant that is too harsh or use it too often, your skin will be dry, irritated and red, and will not function properly. As nice as your skin feels after an exfoliation, too much of a good thing is definitely bad in this instance.

Next up, Step Three: Toning.

The Steps of Skin Care

There are six steps to a skin care regiment. They are not difficult, and not every step occurs each time you step up to the sink, but together, these basic steps will help you increase your face value!

1. Cleanse


2. Exfoliate


3. Tone


4. Treat


5. Moisturize


6. Protect

Starting at the beginning, let's discuss Step One: CLEANSING.

The purpose of cleansing your skin is to remove excess oil, dirt, debris and cosmetics from the surface of the skin. The goal is not to remove all of the oil on the skin, because remember, some oil is needed for skin to perform well. So, a tight sensation after cleansing may be a warning that your cleanser is too harsh and has stripped too much oil from your skin.

Never use soap or harsh detergents to cleanse your face. Always look for products that have been formulated specifically for facial use, and that have been pH balanced. Failure to do so could lead to a breach of the skin's Barrier Function. Remember that skin that has been stripped of its of oil, will take moisture to compensate, and causing the skin to over produce oil to compensate.

We choose our cleanser based on skin type, which maybe oily, normal/combination (tending either towards oily or dry), and dry/sensitive skin. While ethnic profiling is rude and uncalled for in most civilized settings, in a treatment room or in your bathroom, it's the easiest way to narrow down skin type!

Think of the globe, at the center lies the equator, and the people of this region have a thicker epidermis, darker melanin, and oilier skin. Just north and south of this imaginary line falls the sub-tropics, and we find the epidermis thinning, the melanin becoming slightly lighter, and their skin tends to be slightly less oily. Continuing north and south of the sub-tropics, we find the temperate zones with an even thinner epidermis, some melanin production, and the oil is balanced in their skin. Continuing again to the north and south, we find the thinnest epidermis, very little melanin production in the skin, and a lack of oil.

At a glance, a person's ethnic background can give you the most clues to their skin type, and aid in the selection of the proper products.

Pore size can also help to decipher the product code. Larger pores all over the face means more oil, and smaller, finer pores mean less oil. Seeing larger pores only in the t-zone and finer pores throughout defines normal/combination skin, and an increase or decrease in larger and smaller pores defines whether normal/combination skin will tend toward oily or dry.

People with oily skin face specific skin care challenges, such as skin that doesn't shed dead skin cells as easily, and oil holding other debris in the pores, which can lead to breakouts. Their skin requires a more aggressive cleanser that can cut through the oil and penetrate the pores for a deeper cleanse. Ingredients like lactic acid, glycolic acid, and salicylic acid are commonly used in tandom to loosen the dead skins from the surface of the skin, penetrate the skin to promote cellular turnover, and soothe the skin from such powerful ingredients. Some of these cleansers may also contain "beads" to buff and slough off the dead skin cells.

Those with dry skin also have specific skin care challenges. With less oil production, they tend to lose skin cells more quickly, sometimes too quickly, which leads to dry, cracked, red, irritated skin. The ideal cleansers for people with dry skin would contain citrus oils, aloe, and extracts that provide anti-oxidant protection. The goal of these cleansers is to keep the skin lubricated and soothed.

The fortunate few are those with normal/combination skin. They can use a wide variety of products, but may choose products for oily or dry skin, depending on the direction in whcih their skin has a tendency. Most cleanses in the market, especially those made available on the retail market are developed for normal/combination skin.

Remember, your skin shouldn't feel tight or irritated after cleansing. If it does, your product is too harsh, or there may be an allergic reaction taking place. Redness and irritation are not good, and should not be seen as "normal" or "regular" effects of a cleanser. It's a sign to discontinue use and find something else!

Next... Step Two: EXFOLIATION!

A world without skin care...

...would be a world of ugly people!

It's the question that the majority of Americans ask every time they hear about skin care: What's the big deal?

Your skin is the largest organ of the human body. Its purpose is to protect the musculature and systems underneath from the sun, from airborne pathogens, and dehydration. Taking a vitamin supplement or detox concoctions may fortify and enhance the performance of our internal organs, but what about the skin? It is abused far worse than any other organ on a daily basis.

Skin health, endurance and longevity are somewhat genetic, with people from warmer climates and darker skin tones getting the better genes. Heredity, though, is not a fail-safe for younger looking skin. External factors, like environmental pollutants and lifestyle, affect face value as well.

Environmental:

The sun has a great deal to do with the decrease in face value. Spending time, unprotected in the sun, depreciates your skin the same way that driving a classic car in a smash-up derby depreciates its value. UVA (aging), UVB (burning) and UVC (cancer) radiation are all bombarding our skin each day. While they may lead to a darkening of the melanin in our skin, leading to a beautiful tan, which is actually a safety protocol to keep the radiation from reaching our internal organs, other effects are also taking place.

Collagen production decreases, elastin proteins knit together creating wrinkles on the skin's surface, and melanin production can become irratic, leading to hyperpigmentation (sun spots) or Hypopigmentation (when melanin is no longer produced leaving pale white splotches on the skin, which cannot be corrected). All of these lead to skin that looks older than it is... and a decreased face value.

Environmental pollutants can also cause skin damage, like burning and cancers.

Lifestyle:

Medications, legal and otherwise, can cause skin damage by dehydration, hormonal imbalances and severe breakout. Alcoholic beverages don't just leave you with a dry mouth in the morning, but can severely dehydrate your skin as well. When the body is lacking moisture, it will take it where it can... even reallocating it from one organ to another.

Your skin requires a healthy balance of oil (lubrication) and water (hydration) to function properly.

Tanning and cosmetic procedures can also lead to skin damage. If the sun causes the most damage to the skin, imagine the damage that is being done when you increase the exposure to UV radiation to 3x the amount of the sun in order to tan faster. The perfect analogy for vising a tanning booth is placing a grape in a food dehydrator. This does nothing to increase your face value.

Some products that are found in the current skin care market are developed for the ideal skin type: normal/combination, tending toward oily in the T-zone. However, these ingredients are not strong enough to treat oily skin types, and are too astringent for drier, sensitive skin types. Other treatments, which may be marketed to solve acne and the like, may dry up the blemishes, but also strip your skin of oil and moisture, which leads to dry, sensitive skin, and in some cases even more oil production.

If redness or irritation that last longer than 5 minutes occurs after the use of any product, discontinue use immediately! In a professional setting, with an esthetician or dermatologist, therein lies the exception, although they too should be providing treatment maintenance products that would reduce the redness, irritation and swelling caused by the treatment.

The Big Deal...

Skin care is important to our overall health, because skin that cannot or does not function can lead to serious illness. It is one of the keystones to living a better, healthier life. Proper skin care fortifies the barrier function of the skin, which allows the skin to accept moisture, but keeps moisture from evaporating, and assists in the healing of breaches in the skin. It also provides avenues for the enrichment of the skin with topically applied vitamins and minerals to calm, soothe, and promote more efficient organ function. Skin care also provides the opportunity to add moisture to the skin, and to apply additional SPF protection.

Proper skin care is the most powerful ally in increasing your face value!

What Is Your Face Value?

Okay, to begin, this is not a scientific method. It's a concept that I've been working on to help inspire my clients to take better care of their skin. Face Value refers to the balance between your age and how old you look.

For instance: if you are 40 years old, but you look 30, then you have a higher face value than someone who is 40, but looks 45. The older you are, and the younger you look, the greater your face value. The goal of most clients is to look younger than their age, thus they are investing in a program of skin care to increase their face value.

Skin care is an investment. It has nothing to do with money, although some skin care lines can definitely break the bank, which isn't an issue if the product works, but proper skin care treatments and at-home maintenance require an investment of time and a commitment to being consistant. Just visiting a skin care therapist for a monthly facial isn't going to increase your face value. You have to maintain the health of your skin between visits, and take precautions to curb any future damage to your skin.

Increasing your face value is a time commitment, a financial commitment, and well worth all of it! Looking younger, being mistaken for twenty when you've just turned thrity-one is a huge ego boost. Not only will your skin be in better condition, but you will feel so much better about yourself.

What's your face value? Are you ready to make an investement...?