Excuse me for stating the obvious, but why is skin the most essential part of skincare?
It seems like a silly statement: obviously, skin is an essential part of skincare. AYA Natural Skincare is all about natural skincare; as our label clearly states, it's about natural beauty products and the extensive benefits of natural skincare. Most importantly, it is about skin in its absolute form, and our primary focus is on what it needs. We believe skincare to be a personal journey, and steeping yourself into natural skincare and exploring natural beauty products is both nourishing and impactful as you embrace the benefits of natural skincare.
We aim to connect with a deeper understanding of what skincare actually means so you, in turn, can decide for yourself what it means to you. A basic understanding of the role our skin plays and how it functions is primarily a means of understanding what your skin needs so that you, dear reader, are empowered in your skincare choices.
When you look around at the continual barrage of advertising on all the different platforms, from in-store advertising campaigns, billboards, and media to inescapable social media, it is always about what skincare products can do and how they can do it. They talk about how skincare products can create perfection and beauty. There is a clear implication of what it is that you, who is on the receiving end of this advertising, can and should improve. Images presented are of impossible beauty ideals, completely unobtainable for many reasons, primarily because of tech advancement. Photoshop was first released in the late 1980s and quickly became the norm for enhancing and transforming digital images. While tech advancement is a wondrous feat, the use of it for these purposes doesn't fit well with the principles and essence of natural skincare, were natural beauty enhancers, and the choice of formulating with revitalizing natural ingredients is the focus.
There is justifiable constant criticism of skincare advertising in this industry because of the unrealistic beauty images they use in their marketing campaigns and advertising material. Think about what is involved in creating a professional photo shoot and, in the aftermath, the editing for the flawless, airbrushed skin with no identifiable real-life challenge on the skin. Skin tells a story; it tells the story of your life, and no life is perfect. Our goal at AYA Natural Skin, is to bring the benefits of natural skincare of natural beauty products to the forefront so we can all embrace our skin where it is at as we explore the vast offerings of natural skincare.
Another element of skincare advertising that is deplorable is the fear-mongering tactics. These marketing ploys mostly fall under the anti-ageing banner, where our fear and insecurities of ageing, which are quite simply a fact of life, are manipulated and exploited to sell skincare promising the secret fountain of all youthfulness. I watched with happiness and admiration as Pamela Anderson went to the 2023 Paris Fashion Show without makeup or staging. She looked so beautiful embracing her age, completely defying the need or marketing discourse for anti-ageing. Choosing to embrace natural skincare is about embracing and rejoicing where you and your skin are currently. That's not to say that the benefits of natural skincare don't support and enhance your skin at every stage; they just allow you to embrace every stage your skin is at with natural beauty products.
Now, to get back to the skin in skincare. There are seventy-eight organs in the body, give or take a few, depending on which medical source you look at. Why this is debatable is beyond me, but I am not part of any medical fraternity. According to some sources, the number changes if you add each bone and tooth separately, versus the number increasing even more if you count each ligament and tendon. The only thing that grabs me is that seventy-eight organs are in the body, and the skin is the largest. While it is not up there with the five vital organs (the brain, heart, liver, kidney and lungs), living with unhappy skin can be incredibly challenging. With the skin being the largest organ, choosing to embrace a holistic beauty approach using nature's skin nourishers creates space for a radiant skin naturally.
The skin is an organ of the body. The word organ comes from the Latin word “organum”, an instrument or tool (excuse my nerdy phonetics fascination). An organ is a collection of tissues forming a functional unit with specialised bodily functions. The skin has multiple functions: it is a protective barrier, prevents moisture loss, a sensory organ, a temperature regulator, and an immune organ able to detect infections. Water, protein, fats and minerals make up the skin.
The skin of an average-sized adult weighs up to four kilos (approximately nine pounds) and covers 2 square meters (about 21 square feet), accounting for about fifteen per cent of body weight. The skin holds us together, giving us the essential boundary between our beings and the universe. The skin is part of the integumentary system, meaning a tough outer protective layer. This system comprises the skin, hair, nails and the exocrine glands. The skin keeps the contents of the body together as it covers most of our bodies and is the main barrier and form of protection between a person and the surrounding elements. This incredible and complex body organ was created to be in harmony with nature, and when choosing natural beauty products filled with nature's skin nourishers, balancing skincare with nature and creating mindful skincare practice within a holistic skincare regime, you allow your skin to glow naturally.
The skin has three main layers: the epidermis (top layer), the dermis (middle layer), and the hypodermis (bottom or fatty layer, also called subcutaneous tissue). Each layer has a specific structure and function.
The epidermis is the top layer, which in turn is made up of seven layers. The primary function of the epidermis is as a protective layer, preventing harmful bacteria and germs from entering your body and subsequent bloodstream. This layer is also responsible for making new skin cells. Our body sheds forty thousand skin cells every day; just the sound of it is a vast amount. The process is that we shed our old skin cells. Our skin then renews with new skin cells. It's just the time frame of the cycle that changes; in our 20’s, it's between 20-28 days; during our 30’s, it’s between 28 -35 days; during our 40’s, it’s between 30-45 days; and from 50 onwards it’s between 45-60 days. When you see the role and function of the epidermis, the choice to embrace nurturing natural skincare with the many benefits natural skincare offers is simple. It allows you to experience radiant skin naturally.
The dermis, the middle layer, makes up the most significant part of the skin’s thickness. The blood vessels in this layer provide nutrients to the epidermis, keeping the layers of the skin healthy. Here is where we find collagen and elastin. Collagen allows the skin cells to be strong and resilient, and the elastin keeps it flexible. This layer is where the nerve receptors are situated, which tell us when something is too hot, cold, pleasant or not. It also produces oil, allowing the skin to stay soft and smooth. Choosing natural skincare filled with natural beauty enhancers and revitalising natural ingredients balances out the different needs of your skin layers.
The hypodermis, the skin's bottom layer, and the fatty layer protect muscles and bones. The fatty layer connects the skin's layers to the muscles and bones and contains nerves and blood vessels necessary to keep the skin's layers healthy. This layer also regulates body temperature.
Ultimately, the skin is not separate from us, nor are we separated from the skin; we are both beautiful and inextricably combined and connected. So whatever we experience in our lives, our skin does, too. If we are stressed, so is our skin, and it shows. Ultimately, there are different factors which play into the state of our skin, such as how we choose to live our lives and, on the flip side, how we have no choice in the way we live our lives, what we decide to eat and what is available for us to eat. We go through many life stages, as does our skin; our skin is very different today than when we were fresh-eyed and dewy in our early twenties. Finding natural skincare where balancing skincare with nature combined with mindful skincare practice can nourish and balance the skin, creating radiant skin naturally.
Whenever you engage with skincare today, there is much discussion around skin types, and the number and definitions are not static. I have read there are five skin types, seven skin types and sixteen skin types. When you look at the skin and begin to get a minuscule sense of the magnitude of what it does and is capable of, don’t you get a sense that categorising it into clear-cut types is a massive disservice to us and our skins? For me, three main points refute the need for skin types. Firstly, there are so many different people in the world, and by simply understanding this, it's clear there are so many kinds of skin. Secondly, the reality of the many varied stages in life that we go through and that we have absolutely no control over, a teenager vs a menopausal woman, are just realities we will experience. And finally, there is the challenging reality that so many different skin conditions just don’t fit into a clear-cut category.
When I want to get a sense of what my skin needs, I start at the beginning by simply asking myself how I feel in my skin today. I take a complete moment with this to answer the questions for myself. I usually close my eyes and allow my senses to tell me what I want to know. I touch it, gently always (your skin has very little to do with the kitchen floor that needs scrubbing) and assess if it is feeling dry, tight and uncomfortable more than it typically feels, or is it feeling more oily than it usually does, is my skin feeling flushed and hot or is it feeling fresh and calm. Once I can sense how my skin feels, I open my eyes and take a long, hopefully loving look at my skin. Noticing any changes, checking to see how it looks and just assessing my skin. If it felt dry, did it look dry? Are there any blemishes? Does my skin look tired (maybe because I am tired and overwrought)? I simply take my time to understand how my skin is feeling. To assess what my skin needs. What I am looking to answer for my skin is what condition it is in and what it needs. Moreover, our needs differ depending on our experiences that day, where we are physically, the season we are living in, and most importantly, what stage of this precious life we are in. Your skin is a living, breathing organ whose condition and needs will change, so labelling us all according to fixed skin types doesn’t begin to address our actual skin needs. A holistic skincare using nurturing natural ingredients is a comprehensive approach to your skin’s well-being, focusing on treating the skin as a whole rather than just addressing specific concerns.
The skin is about each individual's relationship with themselves, their body, their being, and their essence. It’s the boundary containing our being and the boundary separating and protecting us. The only option is to fall deeply and irrevocably in love with your skin while falling in love with yourself.
The next time you need to buy skincare products or you are out, and about, a product catches your eye with its beautifully manipulated words and images. Take a moment to get in touch with your skin, feel it, sense it and experience it. Be clear about what your skin needs, and then make the choice that suits your skin today best in that moment. Choosing a holistic skincare approach with AYA Natural Skin and finding mindful skincare practices that suit you are essential for your skincare regime.