3 Ways to Create Vibrant Skin In the New Year!

This may be the year that you look into the mirror everyday and see the aging process slow down to a very slow crawl or miraculously travel back in time as your body produces a younger appearance.  What do I mean?  I mean making a New Year's Resolution to implement proper facial hygiene along with providing the body foods that will produce amazing vibrant skin.  Always remember the skin is a reflection of internal body health.

This entry will discuss what you can do externally to keep your skin young and supple.  Even if you are in your 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's the recommendations here will help slow your skin aging process.  In a future entry I will discuss what you can do internally to create a healthy vibrant body.

3 IMPORTANT DAILY PROCEDURE

It is extremely important that you perform all 3 procedures on a daily basis to give your face a young vibrant look.  So many people overlook 1 or 2 of these daily acts due to time constraints.  You look into the mirror every single day whether brushing your teeth or your hair and while staring at your face you wonder why you are looking so old.  It's time to stop wondering why you look so old and do something about it!

That face in the mirror seems to be looking more haggard everyday.  So what have we been taught and what do we do to make it look better?  We paint it!  Yes, paint it.  We use all of those cosmetic products that remove the dark circles, hide the blemishes, brown spots and spider blood vessels, fill the wrinkles and add color to the discolored lackluster surface.  

The cosmetic industry is a multi billion dollar industry world wide.  Why is this so?  Because human nature is to look as good as possible no matter the cost.  The cosmetic industry has trained all of us to reach for makeup, eye liner, concealer or blush to create a more healthy vibrant look to our skin.  It is the industries belief that the only way you can look vivacious is through painting on their products.

I'm telling you that the only reason you need these products is to hide skin that isn't healthy.  So the question is, "Can my skin be healthy enough to not have to wear makeup?"  The answer is emphatically, "YES!!!!"  How?  First one must perform a facial hygiene regimen on a daily basis that cleans, removes dead skin and provides nutrients to fortify all skin cells.  The three steps that MUST be performed daily are as follows:

1. Cleanse your face using a product that promotes healing.
2. Exfoliate your face to remove the dead cells in the upper layer of the epidermis.
3. Moisturize your face to provide fortification to each skin cell.

BUT I'M DOING AT LEAST ONE OF THESE, MY FACE IS STILL HAGGARD LOOKING

Many of you have most likely been doing one or two of these steps on a daily basis, however; the products you've been using may be causing your skin to age.  "WHAT?  That CAN'T be true.  The salesperson at the counter said this was the HIGHEST QUALITY PRODUCT MADE.  It was the best for my skin type.  I've spent a lot of money on my cosmetic cleansing it better be the best."  These may be some of your thoughts.  Well, regardless of what THEY told you or how much YOU SPENT most products are detrimental to the health of your skin and often times increase the aging process.

How can I say this?  Simple.  I encourage you to get your product and read the ingredients label.  Some will be so small you will need an electron microscope to read it and believe it or not many 'skin care' cosmetics don't have ingredient information.  So how do you find out what ingredients your product contains?  You go to the manufacturers website and do a search for your particular products ingredients.  Often if the product contains essential oils or herbs those will be identified in the ingredients however, the list may not include all the chemicals used to produce the product.  If this is the case I encourage you to call the manufacturers 800 number and ask for a full list of ingredients.

So will they send you a full list?  Most of the time they will NOT!  Why?  Because it is a proprietary secret and they don't want other cosmetic companies stealing their recipe.  Is this legal?  Yes according to the FDA they are doing nothing illegal.  So how do I find out the full list?  You DON'T.

If you get the run around from a company representative understand that there are ingredients that the company DOES NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT.  If you knew about it you would not use the product.  I further recommend you RUN not walk away from those products.  Can you make an intelligent decision based on a small amount of information?  You can't.  Complete disclosure of all ingredients in a product will yield an intelligent decision as to whether you should use the product or not.  We listen to commercials, counter sales people, friends and family and choose to use our current products based on these individuals opinions.  However, none of them provided you with a list of ingredients just testimonials.

'Oh you have to try this!  This stuff makes my face feel so smooth.  It's amazing my face looks so much younger.  See?'  As they bring you closer to their painted face covering the entire skin surface.  You can't tell whether the product helped them or not.  But they spent so much money on it they are bound and determined to tell everyone how wonderful the product is.

Now if a company actually supplies you with a full list your next step is to Google or Wikipedia the ingredients.  Both of these sources will give you an idea or direct you to a website that will have information pertaining to human use.  Usually external and internal use and the effects from using the chemical or chemical compound.  I can't emphasize how important it is to DO THIS RESEARCH!  Many people have used the same cosmetic cleansers for years without knowing that the same cleansers that are supposed to make you look younger are actually contributing to your aged looks.  A perfect example of this is a soap company who totes its bar soap as 99 44/100% PURE.  Pure what?  These are the ingredients of this soap: The Ivory soap bar (classic) had contained: sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, water, sodium chloride, sodium silicate, magnesium sulfate, and fragrance. (This was taken from Wikipedia under Ivory (soap)).  (New varieties of Ivory soap contain altered ingredients, such as in "Simply Ivory" (or "simplement ivory"): sodium tallowate and/or sodium palmate, water, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, glycerin, sodium chloride, fragrance, one or more of the following: coconut acid,palm kernel acid, tallow acid or palm acid, and tetrasodium EDTA.)  Side note:  PLEASE, click on the EDTA especially and look under Toxicity and Environmental Considerations.  Very eye opening!  One other point I'd like to make: If a product has Fragrance it is most likely a synthetic chemical creating that particular smell.  If the product doesn't specify what the Fragrance is it is best not to use it.

CREATING VIBRANT SKIN THAT YOU WILL BE PROUD OF UNPAINTED!

Now let me explain each of the 3 ways to create vibrant skin.  First it is important to cleanse your face with a product that will remove dirt, grime, and makeup.  The cleanser does not have to foam in order for it to work.  In fact the agent that is used to make the product foam is a chemical that negatively reacts with your skin.  Remember the skin is your largest organ and it absorbs by natural design.  The foaming agent is a toxic chemical that does get absorbed so the cleanser should include ingredients that are not harmful if swallowed.  Most products CAN'T make this claim.  Secondly, a cleanser should not contain any chemical that requires HAZMAT suits in order to handle it.  You will be able to find this information through Wikipedia or Google.

A cleanser must help the health of the skin and never hinder it.  The best cleansers will have essential oils and herbs that are either organic or 100% natural.  100% natural can be misleading in some cases since a plant can have toxic pesticides used on it before harvest to create the oils or herbs in the cleanser.  I personally use MeiZen Japonica Toner.  It easily pulls any dirt, grime or paint (makeup) from the skin and pores while providing some nutritional support via absorption.  

Side Note:  All MeiZen products are artisan crafted.  What does this mean?  It means that the products are not made in large batches.  Each batch is carefully mixed according to the properties of the herbs and essential oils.  It is usually one or two people mixing and packaging the product.  

Next on the list is an exfoliant.  The purpose of an exfoliant is to remove the dead cells of the upper layer of the epidermis.  The body automatically sloughs skin cells every single hour of every single day.  By exfoliating the dead skin, cells are removed to unveil a smoother layer of healthy skin cells.  I use the analogy of very old wall paper where pieces of the wall paper are ripped and falling off the wall yet a portion of the piece is still strongly attached to the wall.  In order to remove that piece of wall paper it either has to be ripped away or a tool that scrapes it off must be used.  Exfoliating your skin is much like using the wall paper tool to remove the pieces falling off the wall.  When you exfoliate you smooth out your skin by removing the dead cells that are just hanging there.  Exfoliation can also increase blood flow to the surface of the skin creating healthier cells decreasing the rate of death to the cells as the blood provides increase oxygen and nutrients for the cells.  If the cell is provided with proper nutrition and toxic removal it will live longer.  I personally use MeiZen's Frankincense Bamboo Scrub for my exfoliant.

Finally moisturizing will give your skin many things.  Fortification of the cell can be obtained with essential oils and herbs.  By ensuring proper nutrition for a cell, it stays plump and healthy.  Most cells contain mostly water.  If a cell is toxic or is deficient in nutrients or water it will die faster than a healthy cell.  Absorption takes place when the skin senses nutrient rich essential oils and herbs.  The absorbed herbs and oils will make their way into the cell itself and provide nutrition for optimal health of the cell.  I personally use MeiZen Skin Revitalizing Serum for my moisturizer.

In colder climates where most air is very dry this last step of moisturizing is extremely important.  There are many moisturizers available but most are petroleum derived.  Once again it is so important to read labels and know the ingredients.  Petroleum based products are TOXIC.  Further petroleum based products are estrogenic.  What does this mean?  It means that people who use these products provide the body with more and more estrogen as they use it.  It is the type of estrogen that has been known to cause cancer.  Unfortunately most cosmetic products on the market are petroleum based or have chemicals from the petroleum industry.  Either way these products are not only horrible for your skin but they are also horrible for your organs.  

Women especially are at high risk of breast cancer by using these products.  The xeno estrogen, which is a by product of petroleum based cosmetics, gets sequestered in the fat cells of the breasts.  The extra estrogen can and does cause breast cancer.  So why are the cosmetic companies allowed to do this?  This is an issue to be discussed in a future entry.  I highly recommend everyone stay as far away from petroleum based products as humanly possible.

So a recap.  It's important to do all 3 Ways to Create Vibrant Skin.  Using only one will help the skin but it won't keep the skin at its optimal health and glowing vibrancy.  To ensure that the products you are using or thinking about using do not have petroleum based ingredients or chemicals that are harmful if ingested REMEMBER research can be done either with Google or Wikipedia.  If you have any further questions about the regimen above or the MeiZen Products that I use please don't hesitate to leave your questions below.

Dr. Richard Betts