I wanted to share with you all something I have tried recently in the journey of improving skin appearance and texture. I met with Ashley Mattos, owner of Bolder Image and Laser. We were introduced by a mutual client that … Continue reading
Thinking about getting a peel or want to know more about the process. Here is all you need to know about the Peel Series with Ronna:
How does the Series Work and Why was it Created?
Ronna’s peel series consists of six peels. The first sessions start at a lower percentage glycolic, working into higher percentage glycolic sessions. This is approximately a 6-8 week process. The first 5 can be done weekly, and that is ideal. However, should one need to miss a week or two, it will not jeopardize results.
Often clients assume I have perfect skin. This is far from the truth. In my early twenties I had very large cystic acne. I visited a doctor and they wanted to put me on a strong antibiotic, that had awful side affects. I elected not to go on the antibiotic, and treat my skin with facials and diet. After the acne had subsided, I was left with numerous scars from where the blemishes had been. I sought help from an esthetician to remove the scars. It took a few peels, but there was very little resemblance left.
Over the years different peels and percentages have come out, and I found that increasing them made it more effective.
What is the Purpose?
The purpose of the Glycolic is to remove dead skin from the surface layers of the skin. The peel treatments are able to focus on the more damaged areas of the skin including scars and aging spots and target them first, on a much deeper level.
What is Glycolic acid? While being an acid your body naturally produces, glycolic acid (or hydroxyacetic acid) is the smallest α-hydroxy acid (AHA). This colorless, odorless, and hygroscopic crystalline solid is highly soluble in water. It is used in various skin-care products. Glycolic acid is also found in some sugar-crops.
Jessner’s peel solution, formerly known as the Coombe’s formula, was pioneered by Dr Max Jessner, a German-American dermatologist. Dr Jessner combined 14% salicylic acid, lactic acid, and resorcinol in an ethanol base. It is thought to break intracellular bridges between keratinocytes. It is very difficult to “over-peel” the skin due to the mild percentages associated with the acid combination. The Jessner’s Peel:
The process begins the same as the glycolic, with a cleanse and prep for the process. A scalp massage and hand/arm massage are also included. There is a small hand held fan to cool the face and accelerate the drying time of the layers of the peel. This peel has the ability to penetrate all the way to the dermis layer of skin. After being applied, a client will leave the peel on for 8 hours. The peel will automatically neutralize itself. The peel can be left on longer should one be asleep or not able to wash their face, because again, the peel will stop itself.
When is a good time to do the Series?
I do not recommend that people do the series when their sun exposure is going to be high. Your skin is a bit thinner and can be sensitive to sun. I prefer clients to do them during Fall or Spring. With Fall approaching, please look at timing, late September is best, so that peeling is done prior to holiday activities. Spring is best beginning in late February or early March.
What to Expect During and After a Peel Treatment:
The procedure is simple. The skin will be cleansed and prepped, then the acid will be applied to face and neck. We can also apply to the chest for an additional cost. The peel will be left on for a duration of 5-11 minutes, depending on the skin’s reaction and client’s tolerance. A cool masque, custom designed to calm and sooth the skin, will follow, along with light massage. The masque will be removed and a moisturizing protectant will be applied. During the peel process, a scalp massage is also given to reduce tension, as well as a hand and arm massage.
The down time with each peel varies. Usually the first session you are just generally pleased with skin and occasionally you may have a few dry spots that lightly peel, however, nothing overly significant occurs.
With each session we increase the level, so session 2 and 3 (usually one of them is worse than the other, 50% of clients react to one, where the other half react to the opposite) you can expect some flaking and possibly some bubbling of the skin. This usually only lasts 2-3 days maximum. Session 4 usually reacts quickly, so just a day or two of irritation is common.
Session 5 is our first Jessners peel. Many don’t react a lot the first day after, but the day after that is tough. Many of my clients elect to do this on a Thursday. Peeling can take anywhere from 3-9 days. The entire face will not take 9 days, however you could have certain areas that take that long. Although, eventually the entire face will peel.
Because the peels are able to focus on the more damaged areas and target them first on a much deeper level, the results are softer, younger looking skin. Minimized sun spots/age spots, as well as wrinkles. The texture of the skin is also improved and the ability to absorb moisturizing products is dramatically increased.
Follow up recommendations to maintain optimum results is to visit monthly. A different procedure will be applied at each visit, whether it be a facial, microdermabrasion or touch up peel. They will maintain the results and avoid future need of repeating peel process.
After the peel process is completed and the follow up facial is scheduled for a month out, the client will also be given the Signature facial a $95 value for the European facial price of $65.
Please do not hesitate to ask questions.
Before & After Photos from a Ronnaskin Client:
BEFORE
AFTER
Image Source From: http://grapplergourmet.com/review-of-hummus/
Article From Yahoo: https://www.yahoo.com/health/11-diet-foods-that-make-you-fat-91955213282.html
By Lesley Rotchford
There’s a gleaming high-rise building in Manhattan that’s home to some of the richest and most beautiful people in New York City. It’s also home to a health-food market, where you’ll often see women in the aisles wearing Lululemon, sampling chia-seed juice out of tiny paper cups, and cradling tubs of quinoa salad and bags of kale chips. Some of them will eventually find that, despite their irreproachable grocery lists, their jeans start to pinch at the waist. And they’ll be incredulous: But I eat organic! I’m gluten-free! I drink coconut water!There is a great dieting irony that’s becoming more and more apparent in our current health-obsessed culture: Foods that pack nutritional benefits may also pack on the pounds. “There’s a health halo surrounding this stuff, so people don’t pay attention to the calories—they eat and eat and think the calories will just disappear,” says Lisa Young, an adjunct professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University. These foods may also be loaded with sugar (green juice, for example), or carbohydrates (whole grains), or fat (nuts). “If you add something to your diet, even if it’s something healthy, you have to take something out to make up for it, or you’re going to gain weight,” she points out. So put down that bag of tamari almonds and read on.
Hummus
“If I open a container of hummus, I finish it,” says Molly Calhoun, 36, a writer who is a vegetarian. “Sometimes I don’t even bother with baby carrots or crackers; I just eat it with a spoon like it’s yogurt.” Hummus is so high in calories, in fact, that it’s often one of the first things Stephen Gullo, a New York City health psychologist, eliminates from his patients’ diets. “But it has protein!” they protest. The chickpea spread also has 70 calories in two tablespoons—but who stops there?—and that’s not even counting the vehicle you choose to dip with. “If you’re a person who, based on your history, can have just one or two tablespoons of hummus and leave it at that, then it works for you,” says Gullo. “But if you know you’re going to eat a cup of it, you’re going to end up wearing it on your waist.” Try one of Walden Farms’ zero-calorie vegetable dips instead.
Grapes
The calories here aren’t a problem, but these little pellets of sweetness aren’t innocuous. A cup of grapes has 15 grams of sugar. To put that into perspective, three Oreo cookies have 14 grams. Plus, “it’s hard to feel satisfied until you’ve inhaled an entire bunch of grapes,” says Cena Jackson, 36, a public relations director for Hermès. For the record, that’s around 310 calories and 75 grams of sugar. One way Jackson averts disaster is by freezing grapes before she snacks; the frozen ones take longer to chew, so she naturally eats fewer of them.
An ounce of almonds or peanuts (that’s roughly the size of a shot glass) has 14 grams of fat and more than 160 calories, and if you’re plucking them out of a silver bowl at the bar of the Four Seasons Hotel, expect to blow through double that amount. “I am not an overeater by nature, but for some reason I have zero willpower in the presence of raw cashews,” says Susan Kelly, 38, a trader at a New York City bank. Integrative-medicine expert Frank Lipman, who is based in New York City, is not surprised: “Nuts tend to be a trigger food, and it’s very hard to practice any kind of portion control with them.”
To get the nutritional benefits of cashews, almonds, and walnuts— such as vitamin E, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids—without going overboard, Lipman suggests sprinkling them on salads. That will limit how many you eat, since you aren’t likely to excuse yourself from the table to pour on more. You can also count out 20 nuts and hide the rest of the container. Gullo sequesters his beloved cashews behind a steam pipe on the landing of his building (next to his neighbor’s emergency pack of cigarettes) to avoid temptation. Registered dietitian Lauren Slayton, the author of The Little Book of Thin (Perigee), arms her clients with an Altoids-size nut case to prevent them from “overnutting,” as she calls it.
Green Juice
Juicing used to mean a bodybuilder on ‘roids. Now it more commonly refers to a woman with a Breville. Here’s the problem: In order to make healthy vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard palatable, dieters blend in a lot of sugary fruit. “There are six teaspoons of sugar in the average green juice, which is almost as much sugar as there is in a can of soda,” says Slayton. And those trendy juice fasts that dictate you consume nothing solid for days? “You miss out on protein and other essential nutrients and get too much sugar. Finally, you dump the fast and put the weight back on,” says Janis Jibrin, a nutritionist in Washington, D.C., and the author of The Pescetarian Plan (Ballantine Books).
Dried Fruit
Dehydrated fruit may be even worse than liquefied fruit. “I gained five pounds in three months after I started snacking on dried apricots,” says Jessica Bailey, 35, a director of Connecticut’s clean-energy financing authority. “I figured it’s fruit—how bad can it be?” Well, pretty bad. Dried fruit naturally contains a lot of sugar and calories (a half cup of dried apricots has about 25 grams of sugar and 107 calories), and manufacturers often add sugar to tart fruits like cranberries and cherries. “It’s basically just like eating candy,” says Gullo. Choose fresh fruit instead, but limit especially sugary ones, like bananas, grapes, and mangoes.
Coconut Water
The refreshing juice of young coconuts is another superfood with weight-gain potential. Dubbed “nature’s Gatorade” by athletes, it contains electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, which can aid in exercise recovery. But a small carton has 45 calories—low by sports-drink standards but not insignificant—and some brands add sugar or fruit puree. What’s more, you don’t need extra electrolytes unless you are running for more than an hour, says David Nieman, a professor of health and exercise science at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. “Drink plain water,” he says.
Agave
Since natural-food eaters are generally horrified by the idea of artificial sweeteners, many choose to flavor their food and drinks with agave. Bad move. Made from the key ingredient in tequila, the syrupy sweetener has more calories than sugar—20 per teaspoon to sugar’s 15—although it’s a bit sweeter, so you use less. While it doesn’t make blood sugar spike as dramatically as table sugar (which explains its spot on the bottom half of the glycemic index), agave can sabotage in other ways. It’s primarily fructose, and research has shown that too much of that raises the level of triglycerides linked to diabetes and heart disease. “Use Truvia instead, which has zero calories,” says Gullo.
Going gluten-free is what you do when you have celiac disease or, like millions of Americans, you are sensitive to the wheat protein found in baked goods, pasta, and soy sauce. Many people also avoid gluten in an effort to lose weight, which was a reasonable strategy until food companies rolled out cookies, crackers, cereals, and pizzas that are free of gluten yet high in sugar and fat. “When I first went gluten-free, I ate only whole foods, nothing processed, and lost weight,” says Roxanne Ierino, 28, a publicist. “Then I started eating gluten-free baked goods and haven’t lost a pound since.” Lipman advises reading the nutritional information on packaging to make sure portions don’t exceed 4 grams of sugar.
Supergrains
Quinoa, farro, and freekeh are no slouches in the nutrition department: Quinoa is high in protein, amino acids, fiber, and potassium; nutty farro has compounds that can bolster your immune system and lower cholesterol; and freekeh, a grain from the Middle East and the latest to go viral, has about four times as much fiber as brown rice. But in the weight-loss world, a carbohydrate is a carbohydrate, and these are fairly high in calories. Nicole Avena, a neuroscientist at the New York Obesity Research Center at Columbia University and the author of Why Diets Fail (Ten Speed Press), says patients can gain weight from eating mounds of the trendy grains. “The fiber makes you feel fuller longer, but like other carbohydrates, they can activate the brain’s reward system, which may lead some people to overconsume.” That’s a concern, considering a cup can have between 200 and 260 calories. The key here is portion control: Slayton reminds clients that a serving should be the size of your fist.
Kale
Kale is barely edible until it’s sprinkled with raisins and drizzled with salad dressing. (There’s a reason Caesar had to wear a toga, says Gullo.) “On its own, kale is extremely helpful for weight loss, but we don’t always eat it that way,” says Jibrin. Her favorite preparation is kale pureed with almond milk, potatoes, onions, and nutmeg, served as a satiating 48-calorie-per-cup soup.
Raw foods
When you eliminate cooked foods from your diet, the pickings get slim, but you may not. Lots of raw foods, like cabbage, carrots, and celery, are unimpeachable, but those on raw-food diets tend to turn to high-calorie nut butters, fruit purees, and dehydrated starches to form the basis of a filling meal. And stopping at a juice bar for a raw snack after Spin class can be trouble: A slice of key lime pie from one popular chain (made of coconut, lime, avocado, buckwheat, and sunflower seeds) has 880 calories, and the taco salad (with avocado, walnuts, and olive oil) from another chain of juice bars has 410 calories. As with veganism, a closely related diet, eating only fruits and vegetables has definite benefits. But as Mark Hyman, a prominent diet doctor in Lenox, Massachusetts, recently told The New York Times, ”I know a lot of fat vegans.”
To Read Article from Yahoo Click HERE
Women routinely ask us if getting a facial is worth their time and money. Facials are a confusing issue, primarily because of the endless misinformation about exactly what they can do for your skin. In fact, more often than not, women who have gotten facials give us mixed feedback: Some tell us they love how their skin looks, others see no change in their skin, and still others report that they’ve ended up with more problems than they had before they got a facial.
Aside from the hype and nonsense you read in fashion magazines and the pictures you see of women serenely wrapped in a towel with a mask on their face and cucumber slices over their eyes (cucumbers do nothing for the eye area), the reality is facials can be hurtful or helpful, depending on the person who performs your facial, what exactly they are using, and what they are doing to your skin.
Without question, facials are not mandatory for you to have beautiful, healthy skin, but for some skin types, and when done right, facials can be a beautiful addition to your skin-care routine. On the flipside, when done wrong, they are a waste of time and can even damage your skin.
Many women who’ve had facials report that they get them because it’s a relaxing experience. But, ideally, a facial should be about skin care, not just relaxation. If the relaxing experience is the sole reason you get facials (meaning you don’t see much of a difference in your skin from the experience), then you’re better off getting a full body massage instead. That’s far more relaxing and it doesn’t put your skin at risk. Here is what a great facial can provide over and above a relaxing experience:
In addition to the above-mentioned benefits, a skilled aesthetician will not let you leave without applying a well-formulated sunscreen. The sunscreen should contain only titanium dioxide or zinc oxide as active ingredients to eliminate any risk of irritation, especially given that most women’s skin is more sensitive right after having a facial.
It’s important to keep in mind that what you do daily to take care of your skin is more important than what you do occasionally, but the combination of a great facial and a great skin-care routine can have impressive results.
For most skin types a great facial should include gentle exfoliation with a properly formulated alpha hydroxy acid (AHA, active ingredient is glycolic or lactic acid) or beta hydroxy acid (BHA, active ingredient is salicylic acid) product. These are truly anti-aging, as they effectively reveal younger skin, even out skin tone, and build collagen. (Learn why exfoliation is so important and which method is best for you.) A facial also should include an antioxidant treatment, along with information on why antioxidants are so important for healthy skin. They not only repair damaged skin cells, but also help prevent further damage to the skin.
Your aesthetician also should be able to recommend the appropriate skin-care products for you to use at home, and not hesitate to recommend brands or products the spa doesn’t sell. Of course, if healthy, younger-looking skin is your concern, your aesthetician should, above all else, recommend daily use of a sunscreen rated SPF 15 or greater! Learn about finding the right sunscreen for your skin type.
The latest skin-care fad is the HydraFacial, which is essentially a milder form of microdermabrasion (a topical scrub procedure), combined with cleansing in a single process. The HydraFacial also claims to “infuse” serums and exfoliant ingredients like AHAs into skin and vacuum substances (“impurities”) from skin.
Compared to a standard microdermabrasion treatment (which can be rough on skin if not done with great care), the level of abrasiveness from Hydrafacials is low. Although that may sound better, it means that the unimpressive results from microdermabrasion are going to be even less impressive with the HydraFacial! At best, microdermabrasion makes skin smoother and the inflammation swells skin so wrinkles and large pores are temporarily less visible.
Back to the “infusion” of serums and AHA/BHA exfoliants—few spas (none that we could find) were willing to disclose the ingredients used in this procedure. Given what we know of how such ingredients work, the whole process doesn’t make sense. AHA/BHA exfoliants at professional peel strength must be applied with caution and rinsed from skin. Since skin isn’t rinsed during the HydraFacial process, we suspect at best you’re getting a fancy application of a mild AHA or BHA exfoliant (that may or may not be at the correct pH to work properly).
The “serum” stage couldn’t possibly be more beneficial than simply applying your own serum. Besides, you need some ingredients to remain on skin’s surface to repair its barrier, strengthen its environmental defenses, and help mitigate the free-radical damage we get from being in an oxygen-rich environment or being exposed to pollutants. If everything penetrated past the surface, nothing would be left to protect skin’s first line of defense! Bottom line: Hydrafacials aren’t really worth your time or money. You’d get more bang for your buck investing in a cleansing brush such as the Clarisonic!
Collagen has no benefit when applied topically beyond moisturizing—even if you could force collagen into the deeper layers of skin, your body wouldn’t know what to do with it. Unfortunately, the only collagen that matters where anti-aging is concerned is what’s produced by your own body.
Many people look to facials to address a range of skin-care concerns, from acne to wrinkles. A skilled aesthetician, using superior techniques and products, can help you address most of these issues to some extent, but facials are not cure-alls, and they absolutely do not replace what you use at home on a daily basis. Here is what a facial cannot do:
A good aesthetician (and there are many) will know how to help repair and maintain a healthy skin surface. This is important for all skin types, but especially if you have reddened skin, rosacea, eczema, acne, or sensitive skin.
A well-trained aesthetician also should ask you detailed questions about your skin, including what you do to take care of it and whether or not you’re using any topical or oral prescription medications. All of these impact how the aesthetician will treat your skin, including what type of products he or she will use. Above all else, a good aesthetician will take every precaution to avoid causing needless irritation to your skin. He or she should know that irritation can cause a host of problems, such as the following:
Unless you are having extractions performed, a good facial should include a relaxing face massage and/or hand and arm massage. Learning how to perform such massages generally is included in the training curriculum at state-accredited aesthetician schools (often with a European influence). However, you should not get a facial massage if you have broken capillaries, rosacea, or sensitive skin. And, if you do get one, it should never involve pulling or tugging at the skin because the pulling and tugging can increase sagging by breaking down the elastin in skin.
Many facials include the use of hand-held devices or “machines” claiming to do everything from improving wrinkles, dark circles, and puffy eyes to dealing with acne, blackheads, and on and on. As intriguing as these options sound (and you will be tempted), for the most part they are either a complete waste of time and money or, depending on how often they’re done, actually have negative consequences for your skin.
The most typical treatment machines you are likely to encounter when getting a facial include oxygen-infusing machines, peeling devices, product-infusing devices, and microdermabrasion systems. Here is what you need to know about these devices and their use.
Peeling devices (not including microdermabrasion machines) are hand-held tools with a hard metal edge the aesthetician scrapes across the surface of the skin, much like you might scrape a layer of frost off your car’s windshield. Sometimes these peeling tools are combined with another type of treatment in one machine, such as a device that uses the peeling step along with an oxygen-infusing option.
Product-infusing devices can be separate machines or can be combined with a peeling device for an all-in-one treatment. Product-infusing devices typically use either electrical currents or ultrasonic waves. Supposedly, the currents or waves open pathways between skin cells so the ingredients in the skin-care products can go deeper into the skin to perform all sorts of miracles, such as lifting, firming, and reducing wrinkles. The sales pitch usually mentions that the more often you have these treatments the longer these pathways will remain open. As it turns out, there’s no substantiated research proving these machines work as claimed.
Even if these machines could “infuse” ingredients deeper into your skin, what happens if those ingredients go right past where they can do your skin the most good? Plus, there’s the potential risk of getting unwanted ingredients (like preservatives or problematic plant extracts) deeper into the skin, where their negative effects may be worse. Even beneficial ingredients like vitamin C or retinol might be more sensitizing if they are “pushed” deeper into the skin, rather than being allowed to penetrate the uppermost layers on their own.
Negative ion pore-clearing therapy (often administered by a peeling device or product-infusing device) doesn’t have any impact on skin, whether for opening pores or removing toxins or anything else having to do with skin. Negative ions cannot “resonate” or move through skin, whether they are in the air or generated by a machine, so they can’t affect the pore. It may be a surprise to you, but skin has no ability to excrete toxins.
Toxins cannot leave your body through the pores or through your skin. Real detoxification of foreign substances takes place in the liver. The liver changes a toxin’s chemical structure so it can be excreted by the kidneys, which filter it safely from the blood into the urine. Skin can’t modify toxins in any way, so the toxins can’t exit through the skin via sweat or other means. People often think sweating eliminates toxins, but sweat’s chief function is to cool the body, not eliminate toxins. Sweat can eliminate some by-products, such as urea, but these by-products aren’t the kind of toxins spa personnel are referring to. They usually are referring to chemicals in skin-care products, processed foods, or air pollution.
Microdermabrasion, also called the Lunchtime Peel, Italian Peel, or Paris Peel (among other names), is a non-surgical skin-resurfacing procedure. A machine with a small vacuum-like tip shoots a jet of small, abrasive crystals (usually aluminum or magnesium oxide) onto the skin, and then vacuums them off the skin. Depending on the pressure and intensity settings (which are controlled by the technician), you get different depths of exfoliation. The stronger the setting, the deeper the effects, but that also means more risk to your skin. Despite the “peel” names microdermabrasion also goes by, technically, it is not a peel (like an alpha hydroxy acid peel), but rather a machine-calibrated way to scrub and polish skin.
Oxygen-infusion machines apply a concentrated amount of topical oxygen to facial skin via a small tube hooked up to an oxygen machine. Your face is covered with a special domed mask to keep the oxygen from escaping. Before the oxygen is turned on, your face is prepped with a product-infused cloth or a facial mask. Once the dome mask is secured and the machine is turned on, it’s left running for about 20 minutes. Depending on the spa and the aesthetician, a special tool that delivers concentrated bursts of oxygen to key areas may be used during the treatment.
After considering the information above, the bottom line is this: A good facial can make you look and feel better than when you arrived for your appointment, but whether done once or routinely, facials cannot perform miracles, and they have their limits. Now that you have the facts, you will get the best results possible from a facial, not waste money, and feel great!
**Article was written Paula Begoun who is the best-selling author of 20 books on skin care and makeup. She is known worldwide as the Cosmetics Cop and creator of Paula’s Choice. Paula’s expertise has led to hundreds of appearances on national and international television.**
Website Source: Paula’s Choice Skincare: http://www.paulaschoice.com/expert-advice/skin-care-basics/_/should-you-get-a-facial. Retrieved on June 2nd, 2014.
The article below references hairstylists, but it is for all salon/spa personnel:
“You may ask yourself why hairstylists “charge so much” for doing your hair… They don’t get paid vacation, they don’t get paid sick days, they don’t get bonuses for outstanding performances nor for Christmas. They don’t have insurance plans nor do they qualify for unemployment. They sacrifice their family on special days so that they can bring happiness to others. Illness or personal affairs are not excuses for a bad haircut/color. Next time you ask, remember that hairdressers are hairdressers because of the love of doing hair, but that love doesn’t pay debts.” -Author Unkown
Skin is your body’s coat. It protects you. It helps you stay warm when it’s cold, and cool when it’s hot. Your skin keeps all your insides in, from your heart and lungs to your blood and muscles. And unless it’s cut or damaged, it keeps stuff out, including germs and water. You also feel things through the nerves in your skin.
What’s the big deal about skin? Every gust of wind, cough and blast from an exhaust pipe hits our skin first. Biologically, our skin is our first line of defense. Culturally, skin defines much of our standard for beauty. Bright, youthful skin signals healthy and vitality. And, like every part of our bodies, skin responds to care and attention. Proper treatment can revitalize skin and slow the aging process, keeping skin healthier, longer.
When I went to school over 15 years ago, these topics were not really being talked about. Even so much as 2010, I had someone say to me when I told them their skin was their largest organ, she said in a monotonous tone, “I know you have said that before.”
It is becoming more and more apparent though that internal nutrition plays the biggest role in the skin looking good. I try to remind my clients that if your skin is looking poorly, imagine what your other organs that the skin is protecting are doing inside.
Throughout the T-zone on your face, you have more oil glands there than anywhere else on the human body, other than the underarms. (Which is why the underarms secrete sweat and grow hair to protect it)
There are a few factors I feel are most important.
1) First and foremost, WATER, your bodies are made of 75% water, drink it, replenish it, just do it! It not only helps all functions, but helps your oil glands function properly. When you don’t drink enough water, and live in a dry climate like Colorado, your skin becomes dehydrated. When the skin becomes dehydrated, the oil glands begin over compensating to give the face its proper moisture. They are not supposed to do this function, so they are doing it in a “survival mode” and therefore, not producing it evenly. This can cause dirt and oil to get stuck in the skin, in the form of blackheads and hardened sebum. Both are painful to remove. While there is no way to 100% avoid black heads, and clogged pores, unless you live in a bubble, water and proper nutrition can help prevent a lot. It will also aid in the removal of them when seeking professional treatment.
I recommend starting your morning off with two large glasses of water. It will enliven the body and being its craving process, as well as detoxify the body first thing in the morning.
2) Second thing that I think is most important which I am torn on, are your B vitamins. C is also as important. B vitamins give us energy and B 6 controls our hormones, which is a large source of acne. Something to remember, your body can not absorb any of the B vitamins, unless you are taking them all. Vitamin C is the best nutrient at helping you produce collagen. Need I say more?
3) Collagen helps keeps us looking younger and firmer. It also acts as a natural internal sunscreen. It also externally protects the skin from free radicals (pollution etc.) causing damage to the skin. I like people to get 2,000-3,000,mg a day. Remember the body can only absorb 1000 per hour. When you are getting sick, take 1000 an hour to help the protection process. Also good when flying at high altitudes.
4) Omegas, we all need the oils to have our internal moisture balanced. Beyond just water, oils and water are both necessary. Often people ask me about the dark circles under their eyes. Please do not let anyone sell you an eye cream that will fix this, they will not. This is a total omega deficiency and needs to be addressed internally.
Some of the most harmful things I see happening to skin are the following:
These are some of the basic principles and issues I have noticed in my 15 years of practice. There are many more and we are discovering more and more as time goes on.
Having a regular facial on a monthly basis can aid in the skin being able to recover. Despite what advertising tell you on television and other media outlets, what my license entitles me to buy, can exfoliate at a higher level than anything that can be purchased over the counter. With my on going training and education, I combine ingredients to help the skin function at optimized levels. When it is not functioning with extra dead dry layers containing dry skin, bacteria etc, it can function properly. Therefore, also showing a healthier glow, and looking and staying younger, free from damage.
Some clients time-wise or financially can’t afford the ideal facial once a month, so then I suggest every other month. This gives the skin less time to build up impurities.
If that is still out of the budget, time-wise or financially, then I suggest, seasonally. Our hair, sinuses, everything adjusts with the season, so our skin is no different. I say, get the winter off your skin, clean the sunscreen out of your pores. This usually conveys what we are all doing.
For internal nutrition I carry a reputable line called Orenda, please visit www.orendainternational.com . For me, the products are extremely high quality and take a lot of the guess work out of internal nutrition. The ultimate pack is just that, Ultimate!
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
-Ronna @ www.ronnaskin.com
Welcome to Ronna’s blog. You will find essential skincare information, product information and awesome tips coming straight from Ronna and other professionals who she works closely with to bring you top knowledge in your skincare needs!
Ronnaskin Blog 