If you are anything like me, following a plan that was developed without any consideration to my personal preferences and concerns isn’t likely to be something I’m going to follow for long – or at all! I’m looking at you “whole 30 diet”.
While I may be a stubborn rebel who’s always quick to dismiss conventional ways of doing things, there is an important lesson I’ve learned over the years. That lesson is:
Figure out the rules of the game (the boundaries that you will bump up against), then figure out how to play within those rules if, and only if, those rules/reasons/boundaries make sense for you.
And while that may sound selfish, taking this approach in all aspects of my life has made me a happier, healthier person. When I’m happy and healthy, that positivity spills over into my relationships (with myself and others), into my work, and into the broader world (though philanthropic endeavours).
When it comes to skincare, there’s a lot of different approaches. A lot of different rules. A lot of different (and sometimes misguided) reasons, and there are defiantly a lot of boundaries.
You’ve probably heard it said before that you know you best – or in our context, you know your skin best.
Of course, that is true but we also need to know more than our subjective observations to…
- really know what’s going on (why we do what we do – or what our skin does what it does),
- so we can develop self-compassion (understanding the “whys” always makes me more compassionate with myself),
- develop insight as we start to connect the dots, and should we choose to, develop habits or routines that support balanced skin, a “skin-positive” mindset (body positivity), and long term health for our biggest organ (the skin).
In the next few posts on the blog, I will lay out a “framework” (the “rules of the game”) for what helps keep our skin healthy over the long haul when it comes to topical approaches. I won’t be going into internal considerations (yet) as that’s a much broader topic (though we will be diving into this topic with special guests on the Ground Sage Podcast over the next little while).
The framework I’ll share covers 4 pillars that, if worked into your beauty/skincare regiment (in a way that works for you), will give you the peace of mind that you’re supporting your skin in a way that works (without needing to keep up on trends, fads, or anyone else’s notion of what’s healthy for your skin).
The beauty of taking this approach is that while there is a framework, each component of the framework works like an umbrella that encompasses so many different ingredients and products that can satisfy each requirement of supportive, healthy skincare. In other words, once you know the pillars, you’ll be able to pick and choose products and ingredients that work best for your preferences, concerns, and unique combination of external and environmental factors that your skin faces.
The pillars we’ll cover (starting next week) are:
- Sun protection (don’t discount this one even if you feel like you’ve heard “be sun safe” a thousand times)
- Topical multi-vitamins
- Lipid barrier support
- Cell turn over
Learning about each of these pillars will give you a baseline for how to keep your skin healthy on the most basic (yet nourishing) level. We’ll touch a bit on special considerations for different skin concerns (outside of healthy maintenance), but for a complete approach that covers your biggest skin concern, looks at the products you’re already using (and gives honest feedback about the ingredients), and covers supporting the health of your skin over the long haul, check out my “Piece Together Your Skincare Puzzle” workshop.
Until our next installment,
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