What is Skintution? Skin Intuition! With so many ingredients, products and treatments to choose from in the cosmetic and dermatology industry, being able to ascertain what your skin needs and when it needs it, is so important. The problem is; no-one ever really explains or teaches you how to do this. Tuning into how your skin feels, looks and acts on a daily basis can take a little time. In this blog we will cover some fundamentals and key traits to look out for with your skin.
Key things to monitor
- BARRIER FUNCTION
Barrier impairment is one of the most common problems we come across when treating skin. If your skins barrier is impaired, it can lead to a multitude of problems that may range from excessive dryness, all the way through to heavy breakouts and increased oil flow.
Signs of barrier impairment:
- Excessive flushing or redness
- Sensitivity to products
- Becoming oily throughout the day
- Dehydration*
*Dehydration is a lack of water in the skin, not a lack of oil. It is a condition of the skin and as such can affect any skin type!
- TEXTURE
Getting familiar with how your skin feels physically to touch, is an easy way to monitor and adjust your product use accordingly. The ‘ideal texture’ we work towards is to feel smooth and soft however please remember it’s a spectrum and will vary person to person.
Things to help with texture & refinement:
- Rough or ‘sand-papery!’ - 2 x weekly use of a physical exfoliant to buff off that dead surface layer. Our recommendations are the Aspect Illuminating polish or Dr Aspect Lanazyme peel
- Under the skin ‘lumps & bumps!’ - a chemical exfoliating serum such as Rationale #5 The Serum or Alpharet Clearing Serum. It is also highly recommended to book in for an Extraction treatment as some of these can be extremely stubborn.
- Large and open pores - sometimes described as having an ‘orange peel’ appearance, regular use of vitamin A can help to reduce the look of this alongside a course of Skin Needling treatments.
- SENSITIVITY & PRODUCT OVER USE
This is the big one guys! One of the most important things for you to monitor with your skin; in between your clinical treatments, is increased sensitivity or reactivity often caused from over complicated skincare routines. Skin LOVES routine however being aware of over using your products is paramount.
The following are 4 skincare items that every single person can use in their routine no matter their skin type, skin condition or concern. These are FUNDAMENTALS, so when it doubt reduce everything down to these core 4!
Things EVERYONE can use EVERYDAY
- Cleanser (2 x daily, no excuses)
- Vitamin B
- SPF moisturiser for the daytime
- Moisturiser for nighttime
(If you’re unsure of exactly which products to get to cover these 4, we highly recommend booking in for a Cosmetic Consultation and speaking to your Skin Specialist)
If any of the following apply to you, it may be a good indication you are over using skincare or the products aren’t right for your skin type:
- You have more than 10 products in a skin cycling routine
- Skin starts to breakout (even after an initial 4-week adjustment period for a new product)
- Tightness/dryness after cleansing
- Stinging (not tingling) or excessive redness after applying a product
Once your skin is happy, healthy and functioning to its optimum level you can start to introduce targeted active products; such as vitamin A’s, AHA/BHA, Vitamin C etc. The best analogy here; don’t run, before you can walk!
