Lifestyle Choices

The Living Skin

Beneath the epidermis, in the dermis, or true skin (which unlike the epidermis is entirely a living thing), are found the nerves. They register pleasure and pain, touch, heat and cold. Here, too, is a rich supply of blood vessels and lymphatics plus all the various skin appendages: the hair follicles, with their sebaceous glands, and the sweat glands. Also important in the dermis is an elaborate network of fibers made by special cells called fibroblasts. These fibers look like the warp and woof of fine cloth. They are collectively known as connective tissues and are made up mostly of protein called collagen together with about 2 percent elastin. This network gives your skin its form and resilience. So long as it remains smooth and ordered, your skin stays young-looking and firm. When its fibers start to bunch up and harden or to cross-link and become disorganized, your skin rapidly begins to sag, to wrinkle, and to age. This aging process has many causes. It can occur as a result of exposure to the sun, internal wear and tear from illness, or an insufficiency of certain vitamins and minerals (particularly vitamin C and the trace element zinc), or exposure to cigarette smoke and pollution. It also appears to be part of your genetic programming.

Much of the beauty and health of your skin depends on the dermal layer. The things it needs to stay strong and healthy come more from the inside than from what you apply to skin. This internal aspect of skin care is what is most ignored. Few women even consider it, and yet without ensuring that the dermis gets all it needs through optimum nutrition and regular exercise (not only for the face but also for the body as a whole), there is no way you can prevent or correct the disorganization of connective tissue, its consequent loss of tone, and the resulting deep line formation on the face.

The Subskin

Underneath the dermis, in the subcutaneous tissue, are layers of muscle and fatty tissue which act as insulation to the body and which also give young female skin its characteristic (and very attractive) padding. When this padding starts to go, either because of hormonal changes that come with age or because of simple neglect, your skin loses tone and firmness. Looking after this deepest layer of skin is a whole body challenge. Particularly important to it is the health of your endocrine system, in which constant regular exercise plays a vital part.

Truly effective skin care has to ensure the continuous health and proper functioning of all three layers, to preserve beauty. This means treatment and protection from the outside of the epidermis. It also means treatment of the dermis through first-rate nutrition, vitamins and minerals, rest and exercise, and perhaps, too, the application of specific substances such as essential oils which can be absorbed through the skin’s outer layers into the dermis to stimulate cell metabolism, encourage waste elimination from cells, and help protect and preserve the collagen and elastin fibers. Finally, the subcutaneous layer has to be kept intact by maintaining a firm and well-used, healthy body. In other words, really good skin care for lasting beauty has to tackle the challenge simultaneously from within and without. And there are no shortcuts.

Let’s Begin at the Inside

It should go without saying (yet this is the most consistently ignored truth about skin care) that first-rate nutrition is a must. All the nutrients your body needs for optimum health, your skin needs to keep it young and beautiful, including the vitamins, minerals, protein, essential fatty acids, trace elements, and unrefined carbohydrates. So many specific problems such as brown patches or early wrinkling are mostly the result of internal neglect, and no amount of expensive stuff rubbed on the outside will stop their formation.

Next time you are in the supermarket, take a look at the skin of the woman in front of you and note what she has in her shopping basket. Almost invariably, you’ll find that people with beautiful skins are buying lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, while the others have their carts chock-full of refined foods: white flour, sugar, and other industrially prepared goodies.

Proper elimination is essential for skin health and beauty. You need a diet high in natural fiber, or roughage, from raw vegetables and/or whole grains. If ever you find yourself constipated, take a couple of teaspoons of bran each morning, with plenty of liquid, either sprinkled on cereals or in yogurt or mixed into a glass of juice (the liquid is vital in providing the bulk necessary for the bran to do its work).

Finally, don’t forget to drink plenty of water, an essential nutrient you may never have thought of. It helps detoxify skin, dissolving hard debris that interferes with proper circulation and removal of wastes and which can cause cellulite. If your diet is more than 50 percent raw fruits and vegetables, you don’t need to be concerned with drinking too much extra water, for fresh foods themselves contain large quantities of water. If it is not, you should get at least six to eight glasses a day for the sake of your skin.

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