The Skin Blog
Welcome, again, to this blog. This is a place where I get to learn and educate and share my thoughts relating to esthetics and skincare. The amount of information and misinformation out there in the world is simply annoying. So I will be detailing and capturing as much information based on scientific research here in this blog.
In case this is your first time reading this blog, my name is Maria and I’m a licensed esthetician. One of my passions in life is helping others in any way I can, and this is the best I’ve got right now. My main focus is to help others understand the complexities behind skin, skincare, products, and how to best manage their own skincare routines.
This blog is for anyone who wishes to learn more about skin in general, how it operates and what it does, how different skins react to different products or ingredients, and all the other fun attributes it displays.
I will preface this first by saying: I AM NOT A MEDICAL DOCTOR.
I am an esthetician. There is a very stark difference between those two things. I say this because some people will assume certain things about you when you talk about certain things. It’s how misinformation gets spread around and I don’t want to be a part of that.
I’m here to share my professional opinion based on 9+ years of experience, acquired knowledge, and common sense. I have worked closely with dermatologists in the past, but that doesn’t mean I can diagnose anyone with anything. It means I have a different set of skills and a slightly broader range of knowledge than the average esthetician. This also doesn’t mean I know everything about skin or skincare or anything else for that matter. Although I’m very well versed in all those categories, learning is something I’m always doing. And you can learn from anyone!
Speaking of learning, let’s start with skin.
First off, skin is the largest organ of the human body. It serves to protect you from germs and external factors, regulate your body’s temperature, and allow you to have sensations like touch. Think of skin as a banana peel. If the peel is cracked or sliced, it allows for bacteria and bugs to get in. The peel keeps the “meat?” of the banana nice and sweet.
(what’s the actual inside part of a banana called? pulp?)
Anyways, this is the main thing skin does and why we have it.
That’s the basic knowledge on skin. Like, the first thing they teach you at esthetics school. Skin is an organ and it’s there to protect you. Which is why I try and help my clients see that, just like you eat to keep your body going, you need to take care of your skin so it can keep doing what it needs to do.
“Wait. Skin is like a banana peel?” I mean, kind of? I’m sure banana peels have different structures than human skin, but they have some similarities. If you think about it, when bananas receive some form of physical trauma, they do end up browning. Kind of like human skin. Which is… weird but also pretty cool. I’ll get into the browning effect of skin in another post.
So skin’s job is to protect you. Why should you do anything about it? It’s been working just fine all these years!
Except, it… hasn’t? I mean, not entirely. This is where skin gets complex because sometimes, for some odd reason, skin doesn’t do what it’s meant to do correctly. There are a lot of things we don’t know. We know how it works and we know what it’s supposed to do, but we don’t really know why some things happen or why it happens to some people only.
Let’s take psoriasis* for example. We know how psoriasis works and what it does and how to treat it, but we’re not 100% sure yet of why it affects certain people only. Researchers believe that some people are genetically predisposed to it, but environmental factors can cause it too. Still, they can’t pinpoint with certainty that any one person will or will not develop it at some point. As of right now, anyone can develop it.
*Psoriasis is thought to be an immune system problem that causes skin cells to grow faster than usual. In the most common type of psoriasis, known as plaque psoriasis, this rapid turnover of cells results in dry, scaly patches.
The cause of psoriasis isn't fully understood. It's thought to be an immune system problem where infection-fighting cells attack healthy skin cells by mistake. Researchers believe that both genetics and environmental factors play a role. The condition is not contagious.
In short, while skin is there to protect you, you should take care of it to ensure it does its job as best as it can. Because skin is weird sometimes and you may think doing nothing is fine, but trust me when I say, you’ll thank me later.
In my next post I’ll dive into the ins and outs of skin, how it works, and how it responds to both external and internal factors. Thank you so much for reading! If there’s any specific topic you want me to write about, feel free to leave a comment.
