BEAUTY TO BASICS

October 2013

Bit about me.....
I've been in the health and beauty industry for nearly ten yours now!! A scary number for me! Where does the time go? I decided to do BTEC Beauty sciences back in 2002 and haven't looked back since. Although I'm moving away from carrying out treatments I am still passionate about skincare. Not only the pretty beauty side of it but the actual science behind it all. If I could turn back time I would do a medical degree and qualify as a dermatologist! I hope to increase my knowledge to that level even without the qualification behind it! I've worked in a salon, complementary health clinic, field sales in skincare and opened my own salon. What next? Well watch this space..... I'd like to start my own skincare line but the legality and costs behind it are phenomenal. So maybe that has to wait unless I win the lottery or find an investor....if you happen to be the next Alan Sugar reading this please contact me!  Well never say never......

Being off sick from work has made me realise that with my experience in the beauty industry it's about time I started sharing some of my knowledge.
With so many beauty blogs out there starting off is always a little daunting. However, reading through some of the other blogs has made me think - well what happened to the basics? Why is it our mums and grans have fantastic skin and yet they use a soap bar and most of the time don't even bother moisturising? Have we gone too far?

Do we even know what we are buying? Or do we just read something in a magazine with a gorgeous model with flawless photoshopped skin and think that's what I want so I'll buy it! There's no harm in buying what's advertised - it's not all lies! But understanding our skin and what it's needs are along with what's in our product is important. Otherwise it would be like taking a pill which you have no idea about the effects or what's it's meant to do - but you take it just because it said so on a piece of paper!


So my blogs hopefully are going to be about what's in our products and how it will work on our skin. I will pick out an ingredient which is maybe popular at the time and we can take a look at the science behind it and whether it's actually going to work. There are many products out there by big brands which claim to do miracles for your skin yet if you look at the science behind it - it's not quite true! I will be sure to mention these without naming brands.

So as this is my first post I want to start by explaining how the skin works. I'm not going to bore you; it's not an anatomy physiology post but just the basics of the skin so that you can understand how things work on our skin.

So...

The skin has three layers:

Epidermis
Dermis
Subcutaneous

The subcutaneous layer is the fatty layer deep inside so you need not to worry unless you are having some form of surgery! The dermis is the live layer where all the blood supply is including nerves, hair follicles, sweat glands and also where the skin gets it's elasticity. Some products do claim to penetrate into this layer however, it's probably the more advanced skincare maybe even the more medical type skincare and of course any form of injectables etc!
The main layer you need to learn about is the epidermis as this is the top layer, the layer we can touch and feel (well not all of it) it has 5 layers, I won't go into it but the top layer of the five is the one we can see and touch. This layer is completely dead and as you go down to the fifth layer each layer becomes a little bit more alive -Which is than attached to the dermis. That's the easiest way to put it. So basically the fifth layer down is where the cells divide to make new cells and push the old cells upwards and by the time they reach the top they are completely dead - dead skins cells which we can scrub off. The bottom layer aka basale layer also contains the melanocytes which is responsible for the colour in our skin -the more you have the darker your skin colour!

So the products we use on our skin are usually penetrated or some just create a barrier on/into the epidermis.
The skin is very complex and very intelligent! It protects the inside of our body so it won't just let anything penetrate it. The second layer in the epidermis is actually a waterproof barrier so anything that goes into our skin is first tested and our body makes sure it's okay before it allows it to enter - however some things can still seep through depending on what it is and how it works. I mean I'm not saying that if you dropped acid on your skin it will stop and test it first... obviously not! What I'm saying is when we put skincare ingredients onto our skin, it's take time for them to penetrate into our skin and take effect.
Have you ever experienced a stinging feeling on your skin after applying a product? Maybe after shaving or after you've been out in the sun? Well that's because the barrier in your skin is broken down and the product you have applied is going into the skin too quickly so the body's response is to sting like mad because it doesn't know what the hell you just put onto it. The below picture will explain it better I hope:

So now that I've bored you with how the skin works I will go onto talking about skincare ingredients. So watch out for my next posts! I will try and keep them regular and shorter. If you want me to answer any particular questions or look into a particular product or ingredient please email me. I'd be happy to get back to you and after all you guys are reading my blogs so I want to write what you want to read!

So before I end this post here's a few other facts about the skin:

· The skin is the largest organ of the body

· You have around 19,000,000 skin cells on every square inch of your body.

· The skin can penetrate harmful sun rays on not only a hot day, but on foggy misty days too!

· The epidermis of your skin is constantly growing upwards to form new skin on the surface while the dead skin is shed. This process takes around 52-75 days. Except in some cases of skin diseases such as psoriasis.

· The skin reflects your health and behaviour. Working on your health from within will show in your skin.

· Pollution attacks the vitamin E in our skin, which can result in damaged skin. This is why we must care for our skin more now than say 10 years ago.



....and always remember what you put in your body shows on your skin, so love your insides for lovely skin!!