My Skin Care Journey (what I’ve learned at 59)

At age 14, I started modeling in Portland, Oregon, and at 16 I moved to New York to work with Elite Models. However; I didn’t start seriously thinking about skin care until my mid-thirties when I noticed things beginning to droop and change. As a pro makeup artist in television, many people have asked me about skin care, but without really digging in and researching products, diet, and topical treatments, I had little to offer. Fast forward to today, and I am a 59 year old licensed esthetician and pro-aging advocate who doesn’t use Botox, fillers, or plastic surgery. I have always felt that by taking care of our bodies, spirits, and thoughts, we can age not only gracefully, but exceptionally. 

In my long career in the beauty industry, I have witnessed first hand the prejudice against women aging and it pissed me off, so I decided to take a stand. I now create content that focuses on sending a positive message to women and also offering strategies so that together we can shift society’s toxic view of aging. 

Today, I wanted to share three lessons I have learned in my skin care journey, and my current love affair with an at-home micro-needling kit that I have seen some solid results from. 

#1: The Moisturizer Dilemma

I started getting facials with peels + micro-dermabrasion in my late 40’s, and within probably 8 months my skin looked 100% better; I saw a huge transformation. This launched me into topical treatments and devices that I could do at home and save money. More on devices in the next point, I want to head into moisturizer and topical skin care first. During this time, I started my blog and began research into ingredients and why things like my moisturizer didn’t do anything besides soften my skin for a short time. I know many of you have experienced this. 

Active Ingredients are the KEY

What I learned is that most so-called moisturizers are just skin softeners, and do not contain what’s called ACTIVE ingredients. Here is a list of active ingredients: vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, AHA’s + BHA’s, retinol or vitamin A, ceramides, vitamin E, and panthenol or vitamin B5. 

That’s it. 

Those are the ingredients that actually benefit your skin. If you read through most ingredient decks, you will find something like 50 ingredients that are not active and do not help your skin at all, they just make your skin feel nice, smell nice, etc. 

My advice is to toss those wasters and get products that use active ingredients. 

My Current Skin Care

I now focus on shopping for a good vitamin C serum, hyaluronic acid, AHA’s, and retinol. It might shock you to learn that in my day-to-day skin care, I use a C serum, and retinol about 3 times a week, and that’s about it. Now a few of you are going yell at me because I didn’t mention double cleansing, sun screen, and layering 5 products at night. In my experience, you can save money by getting a good cleanser from an organic store, and a simple makeup remover as needed, and of course use sunscreen when in direct sunlight. But where I see the biggest transformation is actually in using skin care devices that help with cell turnover. 

Which is my next point. 

#2: Damage Your Skin

One of my biggest lessons is that the only way to promote cell turnover, (and thus minimizing wrinkles, acne scars, age spots, and more) is by damaging the top layer of your skin. There are many different methods to do this: 

1. Micro-dermabrasion 
2. Micro-needling
3. Chemical peels
4. Laser treatments 

Interestingly, using injectables like Botox and fillers do nothing for skin health. Injectables are expensive, short term, and once they wear off, your skin could look worse than it did at the beginning. 

Pick One, and Stick with it

All of the topical skin treatments mentioned above will have benefits for you, and my advice is to pick one you like and stick with it. Consistency is crucial, so be sure your chosen device has an affordable way to replace the rough heads that most use. I’ve covered micro-dermabrasion at-home machines in previous content, so today I want to talk about my current love affair with at-home micro-needling and the immediate results I’ve found from that. 

My At-Home Micro-Needling Plan

Twice a week I use an at-home micro-needling device and I’d say within 2-4 weeks I noticed that my age spot and acne scars started to break up, my skin looked brighter, and my lines softened. I had been using my micro-dermabrasion machine for probably the past 5 years on a monthly basis, along with a monthly peel treatment. I’m licensed so I have access to professional products, but you can buy AHA’s and use them daily for similar results as a pro-peel. 

Here is a video I did where I explained in depth why micro-needling is so effective, but in simple terms, the needles go beneath the skin and damage it slightly, causing the cells to turnover and your skin to look brighter. This is why when you use a device like this; your skin looks red and irritated for a day and then within a few days you see improvement in problem areas. The important issue is to have different lengths of needles in order to get deep enough to cause change. 

You Are Beautiful

This is why I like the Banish Starter kit 3.0, because you get 3 different lengths of heads; you get 2, 0.5mm, a 1.0, and a 2.5 head. Then to replace the heads, it boils down to about $10 a month which is a lot cheaper than having it done in-office, which can run anywhere between $400-1000 for a series of treatments. You can use each head about 3-4 times before needing to replace it. It doesn’t scar, as the needles are gold-plated and very thin, 

The kit also comes with vitamin C serum, vitamin C cream, pumpkin enzyme mask, and aloe vera to calm the skin down after treatment. You also get a $30 gift certificate so gotta love that. 

#3: The Healing is the Thing

Another big lesson for me was that skin care is much the same as working out. You damage your muscles and as they heal, you begin to feel and look better, but you have to go through the process or short term pain in order to see changes. To promote healing, I recommend using vitamin C serum and cream if you can, sun screen if you go in the sun as your skin will be a bit more sensitive after using it, and then rest. 

A Note on Sensitive Skin

If you have sensitive skin, you will probably have more redness but the cell turnover will strengthen sensitive skin. As a side note, skin sensitivities mostly stem from gut health, so if you have sensitive skin, I encourage you to take a probiotic and avoid irritating foods like fried or processed foods, caffeine, etc. If you’re up for it, an elimination diet will sort out pretty fast what’s causing the problem. In fact, rosacea is a gut health issue as well. Most topical treatments for these problems are minimally effective, and by treating your gut you will save a lot of money in dermatologist visits. 

Love Your Body, Ageing is Incredible

I hope this is helpful, I have seen the most improvements in my skin in the past few months of doing at home micro-needling than with any other home treatment device. Remember, I do A LOT to my skin, so every treatment loses its effectiveness after a while, so constantly upping your game is important. This is why different lengths of heads are important too, as your skin will get used to a treatment and you’ll need to use a longer needle. 

What has helped your skin the most? Have you tried microneedling in the office and what were the results? Please let me know in the comment section and I send love and light to all you wonderful Shamanettes! 

(Take $5 your order from Banish with code THEBEAUTYSHAMAN)