Going at top speed leads to Holiday Stressed Skin.
You're extremely busy around the holidays. So busy that your valuable skincare routine may be put on the back burner. This can be especially true when it comes to dedicating time to doing an at-home weekly facial. Especially at a time when you could really benefit from its skin brightening, clarifying and exceptionally skin drenching hydrating results. Because of your busy schedule you might even forget to do your regular nightly exfoliation or use your hydrating serums. These are especially important around the holidays when including exfoliating skincare (retinols and AHAs) smooth out your skin's texture, revealing fresher more hydrated cells. When you forget to use your rejuvenating repair serums (peptides, cell energizers, growth factors, calming botanicals, vitamins and hydrators) stressed skin starts to look tired and dull. This is the time of year you want to show off that radiant glow. The hardened surface cells that haven't been exfoliated interfere with your moisturizers ability to supply skin protecting emollients and super hydrating humectants to the deeper layers within the skin as well. This keratinized layer needs to be sloughed away. Without exfoliation makeup doesn’t go on smoothly and your skin begins to look rough and tired. An occasional use of a smooth surfaced scrub as an adjunct to your exfoliating retinols and acids helps to freshen up and retexturize tired skin. A hydrating mask will give your skin a nice luminescent holiday glow.
Skin Tip: If life is too hectic to get to the spa try an at-home facial kit. An At-Home Facial Kit offers specialty products including a mask and a more rigorous exfoliation routine that addresses your skin's most urgent needs and ensures you achieve that holiday glow!
Stress compromises skin’s protective barrier.
The stress brought on by the holidays can have a tremendous impact on your skin, causing breakouts and excess oil to dehydration and inflamation. Stressed skin often looks pale and sallow. For some though, it increases inflamation, redness and irritation. Stressed skin often feels tight and uncomfortable. When under stress the hormone cortisol thins out your skin. This makes skin more vulnerable to react from the arid environment around you. This assault on your skin is exacerbated by cold weather outside and dry air inside from your heating system. Chronic negative stress can also disrupt the skin’s natural barrier, which are the lipids (cholesterol, cerimides and fatty acids) that guard between the cells of the stratum corneum against irritating substances from the environment from penetrating into your skin. A healthy barrier means there are lipids between these surface cells that perform as a barricade, preventing moisture from escaping. A comprimised barrier means irritated and dehydrated skin which also increases the look of fine lines and wrinkles. Deep dehydration also leads to wrinkles and a loss of tone in the skin.
Skin Tip: The best way to help skin defend itself is by strengthening your skin’s barrier. If you feel like you have a comprimised barrier lacking in those three lipids mentioned above, I recommend QUELL a barrier repair serum which combines barrier lipids with barrier repair accelerators and niacinamide, a B Vitamin which helps encourage both lipid and keratin production that is required for an effective barrier. Quell works especially well when layered over water based serums to seal in a moisture layer that rehydrates your skin. Water loving, humectants can be found in these water based serums - Hydraessence, Sunrise Solution and C & E Antioxidant Serum.
Forgetting to remove your makeup at night.
During the holidays people often come home late at night from parties and they either forget to take off their makeup or are just too tired to do so. Forgetting to remove makeup before you hit the sack can clog your pores and make your skin a breeding ground for bacteria. Ensuing breakouts will eventually follow. As skin becomes more dehydrated overnight it also looses it's glow. Often the effect of leaving makeup on the skin over night is the formation of milia, little white bumps that never seem to go away until they are extracted. On a personal note there have been times where I fall into bed thinking, "I just can't get up and do my nightly routine." But after a few minutes of lying there thinking about all the damage it's doing to my skin I drag myself out of bed and get the thing done. I always feel better afterwards, which allows me to finally fall asleep.
Skin Tip: This requires a little discipline on your part. But, if you occasionally skip part of your night time routine because you feel too exhausted try sticking to the all important basic steps that follow. This includes: cleansing, A double cleanse if you're wearing makeup. Choose a gentle, non-foaming milky cleanser to avoid dehydrating your skin. Toning is an important step to complete the cleansing process. Don't skip this step. A good toner increases hydration at a time when you really need it, after late nights of over indulging on alcohol and sugary foods. A good emollient moisturizer is the third essential step when keeping to the minimum. It insures your skin will stay soft and hydrated. It'll seal in the moisture layer you just provided from your toner. While retinols, exfoliants and repair serums are so important for the long term skin health of your skin, sometimes they just might have to wait for another night.
Alcoholic drinks cause damage to your skin.
The effects of alcohol on your skin can be substantial. Alcohol is very dehydrating as it causes capillaries to dialate, creating a more permeable skin where moisture escapes too easily, leaving it feeling dry, tight and irritated. It also causes flushing due to the accumulation of acetaldehyde in the blood. Acetaldehyde stimulates the release of histamine which makes skin more prone to reactions. Acetaldehyde also produces harmful free radicals that damage DNA in cells. This leads to the breakdown of collagen fibers, skin inflammation, hyperpigmentation and the eventual formation of wrinkles. DNA damage to cells is the leading cause of premature skin aging. The highest producers of DNA damage to the skin are the sun, smoking and alcohol consumption.
Skin Tip: A nice alternative to alcoholic drinks is to switch to sparkling water with lemon or lime or add just a splash of red wine if you must. Red wine spritzers are a great way to satisfy a craving without overdoing it. Red wine may not be well tolorated by some but the antioxidants it contains and can actually be great for your skin. If you want to drink limit yourself to just a couple of glasses. The following morning try boosting your skin's antioxidant levels with an antioxidant rich serum like our Sunrise Solution. This very calming and nurishing serum that is well tolerated even by those with sensitive skin.
Sugary treats accelerate skin aging.
You might think the best part about the holidays is all the delicious foods available. But, indulging too much on sugary foods leads to glycation. Glycation is when sugar binds to other molecules in your body such as proteins and lipids. When sugar binds to a protien molecule (like those that make up collagen and elastin fibers) those fibers become rigid and imobile. These stiffened fibers lead to a mechanical dent in the skin known as a wrinkle. AGEs (advanced glycation end products) also interfere with cell functioning. They create free radicals, which can further damage your cells via increased inflammation.
Skin Tip: First of all become sugar aware. Just don't go willy nilly grabbing every delectible sugary treat in sight just because it's the holidays. Make a plan to limit sweets, for the sake of your skin. Try including a next-generation repair serum at night. These are targeted specifically to reverse the impacted of glycation on your skin. May I suggest AGELESS Longevity Serum. This serum contains a red algae that provides protection against advanced glycation end products. This type of serum boosts skin longevity by providing protection against premature aging, due to an over consumption of carbohydrates.
Lack of sleep deprives skin the chance to repair itself.
Getting a good night’s sleep around the holidays can be quite the challenge. One way sleep helps your skin is that sleep turns on our lymphatic system that flushes out toxins. While we sleep our brains produce skin repairing hormones such as growth hormones, which are necessary for tissue repair and cell regeneration. Constantly depriving yourself of sleep also causes an elevation of cortisol, putting your body in a constant state of stress. Beauty sleep is essential. You need seven to eight hours of sleep to take advantage of the skin repairing benefits that keep your skin looking fresh and youthful.
Skin Tip: This is s why we choose to apply those important repair serums at night. You want to supply your skin with the necessary nutrients and performance ingredients (growth factors, peptides, energy boosters and the like) to give your skin what it needs at a time when skin repair function is turned on. You might also consider a magnesium supplement to help you relax your mind and body for better sleep.
Be aware that becoming stressed during the holiday season might be inevitable for some, but that doesn't mean you can't find ways to mitigate the stress. Pace yourself and be good to yourself. Self care is the best gift you can give yourself during this gift giving season.
Elizabeth believes in "Longevity Skincare", the idea that beautiful skin can endure throughout one's lifetime when utilizing the best that science and nature has to offer. LONGEVITY is a science-based skincare line that appreciates skin of all ages. LONGEVITY by Elizabeth Renee provides hydration, nutrition and protection from environmental aging. Your skin will receive high performance ingredients to help energize and repair its cells, resulting in a healthy skin with an enduring, vital glow.