What I learned as an esthetician
As an esthetician one of the most common skin imbalances I see is dehydration. This sounds like it would be an easy condition to correct, right? Drink more water, add more beneficial oils to diet, use more hydrosols and waters on the skin. But the reality is that every day there are a chain of events that take place between the body, the skin and our environment that lead to a multiplicity of dermal imbalances.
The skin can be considered the ‘axis mundi’ of the human body providing critical barrier protection, temperature regulation, water retention, and is the onsite manufacturer of the cells of immunity; while also interacting with organs of digestion, elimination, etc. The architecture of the skin is also where homeostasis comes into play, the body’s ability to restore balance. Being our external nervous system the skin’s nerve endings are able to sense touch, heat and cold, and adjust to correct these imbalances.
There is also a wondrous and diverse ecosystem of the skin that can be compared to the earth’s soil, with the human body being the ‘earth’ on which microorganisms exist. There are a number of diverse regional areas of the body that require communication between the gut, the skin and the brain.
The gut-brain-skin axis is essentially the “…activity between emotional states, depression, worry, and anxiety to altered gastrointestinal tract function, changes that cause alterations to the microbial flora, which is theorized, in turn promotes local and systemic inflammation.”
The skin is comprised of three major regions: moist, oily, and dry. The sebaceous skin includes the skin of our face and back. The skin of the forearm and legs can be compared to the dry ‘desert’ of the body; and the moist armpit to a ‘tropical forest’, the scalp to ‘cool woods’. Our skin is a rich ecosystem and the human body is constantly in a state of homeostasis, that is, adapting our ‘selves’ to our environment, which changes constantly.
I developed evanhealy based on the premise that the less you interfere with the skin’s own ability to achieve balance the better. As an experienced esthetician I had the opportunity to teach my clients to recognize their own unique skin condition.
Relying on holistic skin remedies during ever-changing circadian rhythms, environmental and seasonal changes, and recognizing the miraculous way in which our skin first intuits, then adapts to its individual inner terrain and its microbial-rich outer environment is the truth I learned.
And the truth heals.
xo, Evan