Things you can do today for your skin microbiome
March 22, 2021 2022-03-09 20:43Things you can do today for your skin microbiome
Things you can do today for your skin microbiome
The desire for permanently radiant skin is common among many of us. And luckily, with a holistic skincare approach, we can have glowing and supple skin without special skincare treatments. More and more people are shifting away from pharmacy-based skin regimes, and coming back to basics. We will share the main points of a holistic skincare approach and reveal the secret behind all this new ‘old’ skincare era.
HOLISTIC SKINCARE AND SKIN HEALTH
Holistic skincare is an ancient practice that involves treating the skin in a whole way, considering your body, mind and your soul. It looks at the much bigger picture and goes beyond external skin symptoms and conditions. To understand the root cause of the imbalances, meaning it is much more than all those exfoliation and moisturizing. Skin is our largest organ that communicates with all our internal processes and needs to maintain a balance to stay fully functional. Holistic skincare approach is mindful and takes good care of formulations to engage in daily rituals to support the skin, body, mind and soul to restore and maintain its natural radiance.
WHAT IS THE SKIN MICROBIOME?
To put it simply, it is an invisible shield that protects our skin from the harms of the outside world. The microbiome (also called skin microbiota) is an ecosystem of all bacteria, fungi & viruses on the skin’s surface (“good” and the “bad”). It exists to protect us against pathogens that could affect our skin and by extension, our overall health. The harsh physical landscape of skin, particularly the desiccated, nutrient-poor, acidic environment, also contributes to the adversity that pathogens face when colonizing human skin. When your microbiome is balanced, your skin looks and feels healthy. Unfortunately, it is easy for it to become unbalanced when there are more harmful bacteria than helpful bacteria, leading to issues like dryness and itching.
3 MOST IMPORTANT ROLES OF OUR MICROBIOME
- Protection against infection – healthy microbiome inhibits the growth of pathogens
- Tempers inflammation – it “talks” to the skin immune system to dampen inflammation
- Protection from environmental aggressors – it accelerates wound healing, limits exposure to allergens and can even help protect us against harmful UV sunlight
Nourishing your skin microbiome the right way is the foundation for radiant skin. The skin microbiome has a vital role in our skin appearance and its general health. Everyday stressors such as pollution and stressful modern life negatively affect our microbiome and that is why we need to nourish and protect it. While trying to protect it, we must forget about the obsession with harsh cleansers that strip of natural lipids and oils of our skin. We need to be cautious with our skincare strategy, if you are addicted to “clean”, you could damage the gentle balance of your skin.
Holistic skincare is utilizing the best Mother Earth gave us, the finest clays, wild herbs, plants, and oils which minimizes the chances of any irritation. By choosing nourishing ingredients we strengthen our skin microbiome and afterward repair the skin barrier and prevent imbalances like rosacea, acne, eczema and others.
When having a skin condition as listed, we often rely on products that help with the issue temporarily, damaging the already unbalanced microbiome’s functions. That is why we get only short-term improvement and usually, the skin goes to an even worse state as we stop using the product.
HOW TO MANTAIN YOUR SKINCARE MICROBIOME?
Holistic skincare is about fixing the issue long term, from inside-out and you can do it in a few steps.
The most important is to stop with aggressive, over-exfoliating skincare products. The holistic way is to integrate skincare in your rituals and not by doing skincare routines. Limit it to mild cleansers if necessary and to potent moisturizers. It is important to check the ingredients and stay away from chemicals like harsh surfactants, synthetic silicones and petroleum derivatives.
Search for the potent, waterless formulations, wild botanicals and organic ingredients that will balance and support the microbiome.
But most important, remember to nourish your body from the inside with the real unprocessed food, eat your plants, worship the sun, embrace nature, feel the ground, remember to slow down and observe.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY?
We have all been there, it’s not easy to implement a new habit. When it comes to things you can do, they are pretty straightforward and come down to implementing a couple of new habits to our everyday regime.
In short, it comes down to a couple of logical changes:
- Reduce the amount of excessive cleaning with complex products that contain a lot of the above-mentioned chemicals. Opt-out for a natural soap bar, produced with cold-process method which helps natural oils to preserve their beneficial properties
- Don’t overdue with skin care in general. Keep it simple, you don’t need 10+ creams applied in specific order to feel the effect. Most dermatologists and experts are united in the view that applying too many skincare products has the potential to damage the skin barrier and throw the bio out of balance.
- Go outdoor, its good not only for your physical and mental health but also for your microbiome. People are increasingly living in urban environments, and tend to be indoors for most of their days. There is a scientific study that emphasizes the importance of being exposed to greenery. Even if it’s just in urban spaces, like parks, “exposure to green spaces can increase skin and nasal microbial diversity and alter human microbiota composition”. If you work somewhere near a park, why wouldn’t you use your brake to take a walk?
- Working out leads to better skin health overall, plus working out and sweating a couple of times a week will fortify the microbiome. Also, when exercising, blood flow to the skin will be increased, nourishing the skin with vital nutrients and oxygen.
- Keep stress levels in check. Pretty straightforward, but very important, since elevated stress levels can affect the natural balance of your body and skin. There is more than one way how to achieve mind and body balance, like meditation, yoga, long walks in nature, etc., you just need to find what is right for you.
CONCLUSION
When it comes to a healthy microbiome, most likely it will take you some time to achieve it. At the beginning of your journey it can be overwhelming to implement all these habits at once, so go slow, but be persistent. Trust me, it’s worth it, your skin will be grateful to you!
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