What Does it Mean to Have Beautiful Skin?
As skincare professionals, the BensiSkin team have spent countless hours speaking to patients, colleagues, and medical providers about the defining characteristics of beautiful skin. Our industry places a strong emphasis on external characteristics: blemishes, blotchy areas, dull skin, wrinkles, laxity, signs of aging, evenness of skin tone. However, while outward changes in the skin are easily seen—and therefor become the values by which we measure the success of our efforts—the scope of our endeavor as a skincare company, as well as the true model for beauty, is found somewhere much deeper than the surface of our patients’ complexions.
For some patients, skincare is purely a cosmetic issue. They want their skin to glow and look youthful. For others, especially those dealing with underlying health concerns, they want a clinical approach to improving the health and vitality of their skin. Either way, conversations with our patients inevitably boil down to the same talking point—as old as civilization itself—what constitutes beauty? What are the parameters we set, as a society, for attractive and desirable skin?
Some Things Bear Repeating
Healthy Skin is Beautiful Skin.
You have likely read this message a dozen times across a dozen websites, a dozen social media posts, a dozen retail signs. Admittedly, it is a bit cheesy. And it is absolutely overused. But it’s overused for a reason. “Healthy Skin is Beautiful Skin” is quite possibly the best and simplest representation of the driving force behind all effective skincare regimens: skin is made beautiful not by concealing our least favorite attributes or by masking our imperfections, but rather by promoting good, clean, and efficient methods towards improving our health.
Good health begets beauty. It doesn’t matter what age, ethnicity, or gender you are: by taking care of your skin, nourishing it with the proper topical ingredients, protecting it from prolonged sun exposure and environmental stress, and maintaining healthy lifestyle habits, your skin will become strong, less prone to disease and premature aging, and more vibrant.
Like all other parts of our bodies, our skin needs nourishment to thrive. When we feed it well, it shows. Our skin becomes more responsive. It becomes more adept at healing injury and clearing blemishes. It recovers more quickly from harm and becomes less likely to show signs of fines lines and wrinkles. Our skin becomes firmer, tighter, and smoother.
A Balanced Skin Diet
Let us equate the things we put on our skin with the things we put in our mouths. A skincare regimen high in antioxidants, hydroxy acids, and daily use of an SPF30+ sunscreen is like a diet rich in vegetables. Conversely, a skincare routine that employs products laden with fragrances, parabens, harsh detergents, and other harmful additives is akin to the consumption of foods high in sugar, unhealthy fats, and processed foods: convenient, outwardly appealing to the senses, but ultimately detrimental to our appearance, our energy, and our overall health.
Also, like the food and supplements we must ingest to stay healthy, we all have special requirements and needs for our skin. Although the basic health practices (minimize cake consumption and refrain from slathering ineffectual lotions on your skin) remain the same for us all, it is absolutely vital that we understand our specific needs in order to get the results we want and to keep our skin healthy throughout our lives.
Basic Skin Health vs. Every Patients’ Unique Approach to Better Skin
Certain things for true for all skin, like the importance of sun protection or the need to balance oil production. Other things, however, will vary depending on certain individual characteristics, such as medical history and skin type. While we all benefit from the application of barrier-enhancing moisturizers, cleansers, and antioxidant products, the delivery and potency of topical agents will differ based on our unique preferences.
For this reason, BensiSkin offers virtual consultations so our patients can connect one-on-one with a BensiSkin professional to discuss their concerns and desires, build a custom skincare regimen from scratch, and learn which products (and procedures) to avoid in the future.
Discover the Right Support System for Your Skin
BensiSkin is dedicated to providing only safe and efficient skincare products. To learn more about these products, ask questions about curating your own daily and nightly care regimen, or to discuss the fundamentals of healthy, beautiful skin, email info@bensiskin.com and make sure to sign up for our monthly newsletter by adding your email to the form on our home page.