Skincare at Home: Where to Start?

By: Lindsey Sharp

The skin: the body’s largest organ, an incredible indicator of age, and worth the investment to protect.

We spoke with Kari Dietrich, an RN and Aesthetic Skincare Specialist with ENT Aesthetics, and Amy Ramos, a licensed esthetician with Belle Sante Med Spa, to gather a few ways to up your skincare game at home.

1. Use SPF every day no exceptions.

It’s easy to remember sunscreen when you’re hitting the beach but making sure to slather up with an SPF 30+ sunscreen every day rain, shine, or snow isn’t as easy, but it’s vital.

“UV rays are always present and damaging to skin,” Ramos said. “Plus the blue light from your devices also ages your skin. Applying sunscreen as the last step of your AM routine is the best thing you can do for your skin, no matter how light or dark your skin is! And reapply every 90 minutes if you’re outside.”

2. Cleanse your skin thoroughly.

“If you had to strip it down to the most important essentials, get a good cleanser that is suited to your skin type and includes effective yet gentle chemical exfoliants, like glycolic and/or salicylic acid,” Ramos said.

“Here is why using a toner is so important…toners remove oil, dirt, make-up, residue, and impurities your cleanser may leave behind, creating the optimal canvas to help more effectively deliver key ingredients from the rest of your skincare,” Dietrich said.

3. Stay away from toxins.

“Products are applied directly to the skin, where ingredients can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream,” Dietrich said. “This can be a scary thought when we now know that some of the ingredients in beauty products are chemicals, including carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive toxins, and hormone disruptors… A list of these toxic ingredients can be found by looking up ‘The Dirty Dozen’ of cosmetics or ‘The Toxic Twelve’.”

4. Drink water & eat well.

“Your skin is a window or reflection of what is going on with your overall health,” Dietrich said. “We need to understand that skincare should be approached holistically. A healthy diet, hydration, proper sleep, controlled or low stress, skincare, and the state of your mental health ALL play a crucial role in the overall health of your skin.”

“Water benefits skin by carrying nutrients and oxygen to cells and helping to regulate body temperature, which is also an important job the skin performs, as well,” Ramos said. “A well- balanced diet that is high in brightly colored natural fruits and vegetables, fish, and lean meat also keeps the body healthy.”

5. Don’t jump on every bandwagon.

“Don’t try social media trends such as rubbing jalapeno on your lips to try and plump them bad idea!” Dietrich said. “Just because you see an influencer attempt to microneedle their own face or body doesn’t mean this is a good idea. There are a multitude of things that can go wrong when a medical aesthetic treatment is performed in untrained hands including permanent scarring and infection.”

Invest in yourself. Invest in your skin. From head to toe, your skin tells the story of your health and of your life protect your largest organ in every way you can!

There are many professional services that can supplement your at-home skincare routine. Check out our local friends at the resources below to learn more about how they can help your skin look and feel its best! a

Resources:

Belle Sante Med Spa, Fort Wayne, 260.436.6900, bellesantemedspa.com

ENT Aesthetics, Fort Wayne, 260.497.550, entaesthetics.com