What An Esthetician Can Do For You

What do you think of when you hear the word “esthetician”? Often people confuse the word esthetician with “anesthesiologist”. While we can both “knock you out”, we just have different ways of doing it! 

As a long time esthetician, I have become aware that clients don’t really understand exactly what we can do for them. Despite industry claims that consumers are savvy and looking for high tech treatments, my experience has been that clients rarely know about all the amazing treatments we can offer. Few understand that we can actually affect a change in the skin.

One of the ongoing perceptions of esthetics is that it’s just a feel good service. What we, on the clinical side, call a ‘fluff & buff” service, meaning the old school basic facial of cleanse, extract, massage, and done.

In the modern world skincare has advanced light years beyond this old school model. Today’s “facial” can actually make a change in your skin. And with proper home care products and protocols, an esthetician can teach you how to have the best skin of your life. If you only let her.

Let’s explore some of the modern services available from a trained clinical esthetician.

Products: An esthetician has advanced treatment products and in depth training on how to use those products. Modern skin treatment products have specialized delivery systems, specialized ingredients, specific protocols for use, and they can be biomimetic, meaning they are skin similar. It takes a trained esthetician to understand how these products work together to best benefit your skin and teach you how to use your home care to your best advantage.

Microcurrent: This extremely low level of electricity mirrors the body’s own natural electrical rhythms. It acts as an external source of energy that the body can use to accelerate healthier looking skin. Not only does it recharge your skin cells and promote hydration, it also helps to re-educate your facial muscles to tone and return them to their former firmness.

LED Light Therapy: This technology was originally developed by NASA and has been scientifically proven to re-regulate cellular function stimulating the body’s cells towards balance, resulting in cellular regeneration. LED Light Therapy is amazing for the treatment of acne, killing acne bacteria in the skin, and for the rejuvenation of aging skin, and lightning of pigmentation issues.

Collagen Induction Therapy: CIT is a holistic alternative to medical CO2 laser resurfacing treatments. Unlike laser treatment, CIT has little to no down time. CIT stimulates the body's own production of collagen within the dermis, resulting in firmer, smoother, more even toned skin.

Electrocoagulation: Also known as Diathermy, this is a method for removing small spider veins, telangiectasia, cherry spots, age spots, milia, and sebaceous hyperplasia via electro-dessication. No down time, minimal pain and near immediate results. It’s a great way to get rid of all those weird skin “things”.

Manual Lymphatic Drainage: This gentle, non-invasive manual technique has a relaxing and calming effect which reduces pain, while enhancing fluid movement in the skin, reducing puffiness and promoting detoxification. It assists in reducing inflammation, clearing acne, relieving migraines, and creating a deep sense of well being.

With all these amazing treatments available, there is so much more to a facial today than in days gone by. A well trained, clinical esthetician will be able to use a variety of these treatment methods to create a comprehensive and holistic program that will restore health and integrity to the skin allowing for a more youthful appearance. Gone are the days of only addressing symptoms, the future of skin care lies in looking at the underlying causes and developing a holistic and comprehensive treatment plan to ensure healthy skin for life.

Trust a trained esthetician for some amazing treatments, your skin will thank you! 

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH FISH OIL BURPS?

(enteric coated is not the answer) 

You don’t like to take fish oil because you get those nasty fish oil burps. So to combat that, someone recommended you take “enteric coated” fish oil capsules. No more fishy burps,right? Well, maybe. But guess what else there is “no more” of? Absorption of nutrients! That’s right! Enteric coated fish oil capsules provide zero nutritional value to your body.

Here’s how it works. You take the enteric coated fish oil capsules, and because of the coating, they don’t break down in the stomach, but move right on through to the far end of the small intestine where they finally break apart and continue through you. So no icky fish oil coming from your tummy. Well, by bypassing your stomach, you have kept many of the digestive triggers shut down. Your body doesn't know there is something there with nutrients it needs to absorb.

Fish oil is a fat,obviously. Fat requires a particular set of digestive triggers in order to be assimilated. When fat is in the stomach, fat digesting enzymes are triggered.As the fat moves from the stomach through to the small intestine it triggers bile from the gall bladder and more fat digesting enzymes from the pancreas.Fat itself must be present to trigger the fat digesting enzymes. No fat, no trigger, no absorption. If you have coated the fat with a man-made coating, it becomes invisible to the body and just passes through without triggering digestion. It might, however, provide you with gas and loose stools. (Way better than fish oil burps, right?) So that results in no absorption of the nutrients, which is the reason for taking the fish oil in the first place.

So, why do you get fish oil burps? Because it is not being properly emulsified in your stomach and it is becoming rancid. And yes, it can become rancid in a very short time. What causes rancidity to take place? A low-fat/no-fat diet. Once again, it is the lack of fats in your system to trigger the release of bile and fat digesting enzymes to emulsify the fish oil. Simply coating the capsules does absolutely nothing to help you. But eating a diet rich in natural fats will absolutely help you, in many ways.

Oh, and one last thing, enteric coatings can be made of waxes, shellacs, and plastics. Yuck. Instead of trying to muscle down giant, plastic coated, fish oil capsules, just try flavored liquid fish oil. It goes down easy, doesn’t taste bad, won’t give you burps and will more quickly trigger those fat digesting enzymes so you can more quickly get the benefits of those Omega 3s.

WWW.INTEGRITYSKINCARE.COM

Integrity's Rule About Gloves

Don't forget about your hands. They are always exposed to the environment and are abused by our actions. They are one of the first places aging is seen, along with the neck and décolletage (chest).

In the winter hand cream is a must, and so are gloves. Gloves are not just meant for warmth, but also for protection from the elements. You may not get cold hands when the temperature starts to drop, but your hands are still feeling the effects of the environment.

Dry winter air has lower levels of humidity and sucks the moisture from your skin. This is why it is critical to not only protect your face, but also protect your hands.

And if you work in an office and handle a lot of paper, that paper is going to absorb oils and moisture from your hands as well, as you probably already can tell. So couple that with winter weather and you have an aging disaster, LITERALLY on your hands!

So here is The Rule:

When the temperature drops below 50* it's time to start wearing gloves. These can be a lightweight glove such as leather or cotton.

When the temperature drops below 40* it's time to bring out the warm woolies! Heavier duty gloves are now required. These can be fleece-lined or heavier woolen gloves.

And it is important to use a good emollient hand cream before slipping into your gloves.

But in order for your hands to be able to fully absorb the hand cream, you need to give them a quick scrub.

Super simple home scrub:

Olive oil and sugar. Add a little of each to the palm of one hand. Enough to make a loose paste. Now massage all over your hands. Get the palms, the backs, the knuckles, even the cuticles. Rinse with warm water and pat dry. Now slather on your hand cream.

If you really want to be "natural" try using a few drops of olive oil, jojoba oil, vitamin e oil, or shea butter as your "hand cream".

To protect your hands from the elements you must wear gloves. It's the perfect way to indulge your inner glove fetishist and keep your hands looking young!

WWW.INTEGRITYSKINCARE.COM

Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids

Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids are the building blocks of our bodies’ fats and membranes. They were originally known as Vitamin F.

 Your body cannot manufacture EFA’s on its own so they must be gotten from your diet and/or from supplements. Good dietary sources of EFA’s are fresh wild salmon, sardines, leafy greens, olive oil and macadamia nuts. Eat them at least twice a week or more. Try adding chia seeds to your salads. Supplemental sources are krill oil, cod liver oil, salmon oil.

-EFA’s help reduce inflammation, improve eczema and psoriasis, ease depression and anxiety, keep us hydrated and supple, and make our skin youthful and glowing!
-They play an important role in supporting cell membrane elasticity and permeability.
-They promote cognitive health and brain function, reduce blood pressure, and have anti-tumor properties.

Lack of Essential Fatty Acids results in EFAD – Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency.
EFAD can cause several problems with your skin, most notably, excess keratinization or a build up of dead skin cells which causes your skin to look dull and flakey. Micro-comedones and hyperpigmentation can also result from EFAD. Lack of essential fatty acids in your skin increases the amount of water that evaporates from your skin (trans-epidermal water loss – TEWL). Increased TEWL results in less water in the skin which impairs the enzyme activity needed to desquamate or exfoliate dead skin cells. And impaired desquamation means more dead skin cells stuck to the outer epidermal layer (hyper-keratinization), as well as dead skin cells getting stuck in the pores and follicles causing micro-comedones.

Omega 3's contain DHA which is a building material, and EPA which is a messenger. DHA permits animals to think and see. The highest concentrations of DHA are found in the membranes of the cells of the brain, eyes, sperm and heart. EPA is a cell communicator allowing cells to effectively communicate with each other. A good example is our top layer of epidermal cells, called corneocytes, which need to communicate with the basal layers.


WWW.INTEGRITYSKINCARE.COM

Melanoma Animation

Cell Communication

The Story of Cell Communication and the Signaling Pathway

What's in a skin cell?