Now more than ever, cleanliness should be front and center in our minds. Cleanliness is not only important for reducing the spread of germs, it’s also beneficial for managing breakouts and simply having peace of mind in your environment. Cleanliness-related matters come easier to some, so follow these tips to keep yourself, your face, and your home squeaky clean!

1. Disinfect. It’s a no-brainer to disinfect high-touch surfaces as much as possible. Your favorite surface-appropriate cleanser will do. Here’s a list of things to disinfect regularly that might get forgotten about: phones/devices and keyboards/mice, doorknobs, light switches, refrigerator handles, faucet handles, mailbox handles, home exercise equipment, remotes, keys, banisters, musical instruments, writing utensils, gaming consoles. It’s also a good idea to wash bedding frequently. Phew, that’s a lot. ?

2. Wash Hands. Good hand hygiene is SO important! Without it, you lose a lot of progress from all that disinfecting you just did.  Not only is it important to wash your hands frequently, you should also focus on getting a good lather and washing for a full 20 seconds (which is way longer than it seems). To help you get the time right, we’ve created helpful, song-based hand-washing charts for fans of The Office, Friends, Parks and Recreation, and Seinfeld. Or you can make your own here!

3. Don’t Touch Your Face. We get it – it’s a nervous habit. However, your fingers and hands are crawling with germs, bacteria, dirt, and oils. Trust us, you really don’t want those nasties anywhere near your face – or pores! Breaking this habit can be very difficult, but it’s worth the effort. By not touching your face, you can reduce the chances of catching an illness AND reduce breakouts. Win-win!

4. Isolate. It’s a mad, mad world out there. Sometimes it’s best to just hunker down and keep your distance from others. That means extra time for movies, that book you’ve been wanting to read, arts & crafts, and of course home facials! Follow this super easy step-by-step guide to your best at-home facial: 

Tanning. In case you’re new here, we’re not big fans of it (see this). There are heaps -and heaps- of studies outlining the dangers of UV exposure, particularly that of artificial tanning beds, but here’s one more piece of compelling evidence. 

Researchers in this study compiled data to estimate what would happen if the U.S., Canada, and Europe banned indoor tanning altogether. Their data is staggering. Here’s what they predict would happen if the U.S. and Canada banned the practice:

What’s more, the ban would save 428,781 life-years and $3.5 billion in medical and other related expenses. They also estimate that productivity would increase, resulting in gains of $27.5 billion. 

They argue that while many states in the U.S. have banned indoor tanning for minors, it’s not enough. The risks of tanning bed exposure are a hazard to all skin, including people in their 20s and 30s, who are certainly not strangers to social pressure of having an ideal body image.

The numbers from this study clearly demonstrate that skin cancer risk can be seriously mitigated by simply avoiding indoor tanning.

We think your skin color is perfect just the way it is, but if you must have a sun-kissed glow, we recommend seeking sunless tanning lotion instead of harmful UV rays. However, be very wary that many sunless tanning lotions contain toxic chemicals that can disrupt hormones. We recommend using the Think Dirty app to find a safe sunless tanner. NKD SKN brand sunless tanning products consistently have a 0 rating (safest) from Think Dirty.

What’s the best part of any movie-going experience? Everyone knows it’s the popcorn; that buttery, salty, delectable snack seems to transform a movie into a full-blown event. But your skin (and body) will pay the price. Why?

Sodium. Most people in the US should get less than 1,500 mg of sodium per day. Compare the recommended intake with average actual intake of 3,466 mg of sodium, and you can see there’s no shortage of salty foods.

A diet with excess sodium has the following negative effects:

• Increased Blood Pressure. This leads to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.
   
• Bloat & Puffy Eyes. Excess sodium causes the body to retain water, causing bloating around the stomach and puffy eyes. 
   
• Dehydrated, Dull Skin. Too much sodium can interfere with the homeostasis of the body by pulling water in and out of skin cells. This worsens dehydration, making skin dull and lackluster. 

To maintain a healthy body and healthy skin, limit your sodium intake by avoiding processed & prepared foods (like takeout, lunch meat, frozen meals, etc.), and instead focus on eating whole, natural foods. ?

The word ‘humidity’ is usually reserved for daily weather forecasts and has little do with skincare. Today we’re going to explain how they’re more linked than you’d imagine at first glance. Researchers from AmorePacific and the Chung-Ang University College of Medicine conducted a study to determine how relative humidity (RH) during sleep affects our skin. 

Turns out, humidity levels during sleep are pretty powerful. The researchers studied 11 women in their 20s and 30s and how their skin reacted to 7 or 8 hours of sleep at 30% relative humidity during the first night and 70% relative humidity during the second night. They measured skin hydration, sebum secretion, and trans‐epidermal water loss (TEWL) at these 3 instances:

1. Before sleep (after washing)
2. After 7 hours of sleep in the morning
3. After washing again

Their results were quite impressive:

These results are not entirely surprising and somewhat intuitive when we consider how our skin responds to our environment:

• It can burn in the sun.
• It can get goose bumps (AKA cutis anserina) in the cold.
• Fingertips can turn into prunes after a good swim.
• Skin can even show signs of premature aging in pollution-laden environments.

It would only make sense that a dry sleeping environment would impact moisture levels in the skin. This study also shows the important link between dry skin and excess sebum production (compensation for dry skin).

Tips for keeping skin in tip-top shape while catching ZZZ’s:

1. Humidify. Invest in a humidifier to increase the relative humidity in your room at night. There are many different kinds (warm/cool mist, evaporative mist, steam vaporizer) so find the one that’s right for you. 
    
2. Discover your green thumb. Plants add humidity to a room while also purifying the air. Win-win! 
    
3. Vitamize. Apply a Vitamin A serum to your skin before bed. Vitamin A is known to regulate sebum production. Choose a serum that also has hydrating hyaluronic acid, which increases your skin’s natural moisturizing factor over time, allowing your skin to produce its own natural moisture. Thankfully, RESET: Rebooting Night Serum has both Vitamin A and hyaluronic acid (plus: Vitamin C, probiotics, and anti-oxidants … but who’s counting?)
    
4. Use Calibrated Cleansing. Instead of using a cleanser that is drying and strips your skin of natural moisture, look to a low-pH cleanser that will cleanse your skin gently and intelligently. 
    
5. Seal. No, not the cute little pups – or that guy married to Heidi. We’re talking about sealing moisture in your skin while you sleep. Look for oils high in linoleic acid (like hemp seed oil, grape seed oil, and argan oil) to lock in moisture without clogging pores. These oils strengthen your skin’s barrier function over time, thus preventing trans-epidermal water loss. Apply this super sealer overtop of your super serum and sleep soundly. 

We call it beauty rest for a reason, so stay on top of your game and don’t let low humidity get you down!

Patience is a virtue. We’ve heard that a thousand times, but in order to see results from a new skincare product, just how patient do we have to be? 

To see results from most products, you will need to wait roughly 3 to 4 skin cycles. The length of a skin cycle varies depending on the person: a skin cycle might be about 28 days for young, healthy skin, but could be 50+ days for more mature skin. Sun exposure, pollution, and aging all slow down skin cycles.

Interested in speeding up your skin cycle? Help shorten your skin cycle with gentle exfoliation (using alpha hydroxy acids/fruit acids) and Vitamin A. 

The Science Behind It

3 to 4 skin cycles may seem arbitrary, but it’s not. When trying out a new product, that product starts making changes in the deepest, basal layer of your epidermis. That layer slowly rises up to the top layer of your epidermis, one layer at a time. Invest now – reap the benefits later. 

Different Types of Results

Those seeking skincare solutions for conditions related to the surface of the skin (like clogged pores) will see faster results, typically around 6 weeks or 1 skin cycle. 

However, improvements related to skin texture, pigmentation, wrinkles, scarring, acne, and sebum production all happen at the deepest, basal layer of the skin. Thus, improvements are usually not seen until 3-4 skin cycles (4-5 months). 

Tips for Results

1. Do not give up! This goes without saying, but routine and consistency are instrumental in making big changes in your skin. If you try something for 2 weeks and give up because you haven’t seen any changes yet, you’re not giving your basal skin cells enough time to show what they can do. 
    
2. Take pictures! It can be very difficult to see subtle changes in skin over long periods of time. Taking pictures along the way can help you see the improvements you seek. 

Making improvements in your skin takes time, dedication, and consistency – just like exercising. One workout will not give you the results you’re looking for. It’s important to make fitness (and good skincare!) a priority in your life for good.

As we kick off a new year and a new decade, we want to reflect on kindness. What does it mean to be truly kind? We generally think of kindness as simply being nice to others. However, true kindness is so much more than the “keep your hands to yourself” we were taught in preschool. Of course kindness includes that, but kindness also encompasses:

1. The Golden Rule. Treat others as you would have them treat you. Not only is this generally good karmic energy, but recent studies show that acts of kindness increase happiness and overall well-being in the person doing the kind acts.

This golden rule also applies to the environment. No one wants a house full of trash, exhaust, and toxic waste; neither does the Earth. Be kind to others, including our planet. 

2. Self-Love. Be kind to yourself in your thoughts, emotions, and actions. Think of it as The Other Golden Rule:Treat yourself as your best friend would treat you. Be kind to your body by eating a balanced diet and exercising for a healthy heart. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck in negative patterns of thought that only serve to keep you down. Be your own cheerleader; be kind to yourself always, and good things will follow. 

3. SKIN Love. Do not be harsh, abrasive, impatient, or inconsistent with your skin. Just as you treat others with kindness, treat your skin with kindness. This may sound silly, but your skin is your body’s first defender, so a strong skin barrier equals a healthier body all around. 

• Use a gentle cleanser that does not strip the skin’s natural, protective oils. A great cleanser does not dry out your skin because dry skin leads to flaking, inflammation, and breakouts.
  
• Don’t just moisturize – nourish the skin with Vital Vitamins (A, B, C, & E) and anti-oxidants. Vitamin A normalizes sebum production, helps repair DNA damage, regulates cellular turnover, and reduces hyperpigmentation. Vitamin C helps produce natural collagen, strengthen capillaries, and reduce hyperpigmentation. Anti-oxidants fight harmful free radicals and reduce inflammation. 
  
• Protect your skin with sunscreen, the ultimate display of affection towards your skin. Light from the sun and digital screens has long-lasting effects including DNA damage, hyperpigmentation, and pre-mature aging.

In this new decade, set an intention to act in kindness – to others, to yourself, and to your skin. 

What does it mean for your skin to have a hangover? It means that your skin, as the largest organ in the body, is feeling the effects from the toxins in alcohol, not unlike how your stomach, head, and brain feel the next day. 

• Alcohol dehydrates the skin; this accentuates dryness, fine lines, and wrinkles.
   
• Alcohol is inflammatory and causes the release of histamines which can lead to flushing, redness, puffiness, and broken capillaries. Hello red nose. ?
   
• Alcohol disrupts the microbiome of the stomach. A healthy microbiome helps to regulate our immune system, which is important in managing inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema.
   
• Sugar in alcohol triggers the insulin response which can have a negative effect on hormones, which will affect the skin in the form of breakouts, dryness, and dullness.

How to prep your skin before a night of responsible drinking:

• Hydrate your skin with a cream rich in hyaluronic acid, omega 3 fatty acids, Vitamins A & C, and anti-oxidants to protect it from the effects of alcohol.
   
• Drink plenty of water. Also feel free to opt for coconut water or other electrolyte drink. 
   
• Remember if you are drinking outdoors, nothing is more important than sunscreen. It protects from the outside and reduces the risk of broken capillaries that cause a red nose and cheek effect.

How to rehab your skin after a night of responsible drinking:

1. First, rehydrate your body and your skin. Drink 2 liters of water throughout the day, and fuel up with coconut water or other electrolyte drink. Products that replenish moisture and contain hyaluronic acid, omega 3 essential fatty acids, and ceramides will help support the dehydrated barrier function of the skin and restore some moisture and plumpness to the skin. We recommend RESET or BOOST. Or both. 
    
2. Support the blood capillaries that risk breaking due to flushing with a product high in Vitamin C. Vitamin C also helps prevent collagen breakdown. We recommend HYDRATE as your go-to Vitamin C serum.
    
3. Restore brightness to the skin with Vitamin A, which helps increase cell turnover and gets rid of dead skin cells on the surface. Vitamin A also help undo the fundamental damage to cells by the toxins in alcohol. Turn to RESET for a healthy dose of Vitamin A.
    
4. The day after, do a very gentle cleanse, mild exfoliation, and follow up with that hydrating hyaluronic acid, omega 3, Vitamin A, C & anti-oxidant cream to reduce the effects of inflammation, dehydration, and collagen breakdown from the alcohol.

We hope you enjoy these tips for keeping your skin in tip-top shape in the midst of responsible drinking. Cheers!

Winter is coming at us fast, and while we love the festivities of the season, we don’t love what it does to our skin. Sure, holiday stress may be the cause of that stress breakout on your chin, but you can thank the cold air for those annoying flaky bits of skin you just can’t seem to get rid of. A healthy, strong barrier function of the skin is crucial to overall skin health, and this time of year is arguably the harshest for the skin’s barrier function.

Here are the many ways in which this season comprises your skin’s barrier function:

• Winter’s cold, dry air alone is enough to contribute to dry, flaky skin. 
   
• Most indoor heating systems make dry skin worse by zapping even more moisture out of the air.
   
• Add a diet of increased sugar (see the warning below) and your skin can become inflamed and its barrier function diminished, thus allowing transepidermal water loss (which is just a sciencey way of saying “dehydration because water is leaving the body through the skin”).
   
• People also tend to take longer, hotter showers in the winter (it just feels so good) but once again, this habit is sure to zap moisture right out of your skin.
   
• As if that isn’t enough, people tend to drink less water in the winter because they think they don’t need to hydrate as much as they do in the summer. While this may be true to a small extent, feel free to trade in that eggnog for a glass of water every once in a while. 

Don’t worry; it’s not all bad news. There are plenty of ways to strengthen and maintain your skin’s barrier function and also reduce threats of dry skin.

Follow these tips all winter long to keep your skin happy and healthy:

1. Choose the right moisturizer. True moisturizers give the skin structural fats (like ceramides, sphingomyelin, and phospholipids) which support & strengthen the barrier function of the skin and prevent transepidermal water loss. This enhances the skin’s natural moisturizing factor (NMF), which allows your skin to build up its own natural moisturizing abilities over time. A great moisturizer will also act as a vehicle to deliver key ingredients (Vitamins A, C, & E and anti-oxidants, to name a few) in a fat soluble form that will allow that healthy good stuff to get where it needs to go: the deeper layers of the skin. 
    
2. Use a humidifier. By replacing this lost moisture back into the air with a humidifier, you can start to breathe easy again (literally and figuratively) because not only will your sinuses feel soothed and hydrated, but your skin will start to glow with dewy hydration too. Phew!
    
3. Diet: Pt 1. Cut back on sugar and processed foods. High sugar intake often leads to inflammation of the skin (and the rest of your organs). While it’s important to enjoy the holiday season and its plethora of candy canes and cookies, enjoy it in moderation. Your skin will thank you in the long run. Alcohol should also be limited or avoided (depending on the individual) as alcohol is a diuretic and therefore dehydrating. 
    
4. Diet: The Sequel. We’re not here to only talk about what to avoid; we also want to encourage the eating of good things! It is so important to incorporate lots of healthy fats into your diet; this increases the strength of the fatty bonds in your skin cells. Chow down on salmon, avocado, nuts, and grass-fed beef. It’s also important to add simple hydration to your diet; fruits like strawberries, cucumbers, pineapple, and watermelon are a few of the top contenders when it comes to water content, but we agree that you may prefer a warmer alternative. Butternut squash, green tea, and homemade vegetable soups can give you hydration, warmth, and nourishment.

With a little dedication, your skin can stay supple and hydrated all year round by working to strengthen and maintain your skin’s barrier function.

Futurologists and economists all predict future trends. Trends imply a movement in a changing direction but does not stipulate the duration of that trend. We are currently in the CBD/natural/organic/sustainable trend, but we are also in the million dollar indie beauty trend where brands compete on speed to market, with little thought to efficacy of product. The trend is a glutton of small marketing companies pushing for the limelight and the big buyout.

We predict the current trend to be that of a more educated, involved, and conscientious consumer. Call us naive, but we believe in the next generation who really do want to save the planet. Does that mean they will stop using products? Absolutely not, but they will be more cognitive in their choices and will be selective of criteria that have to be met. Long gone are bathroom shelves lined with several dozen throwaway products.

Enter the multi-use product, that is sustainable sourced, environmentally friendly and above all, effective. The idea is not a one-product-fits-all concept, but more a one-product-has-many-uses-for-different-skin-types. Facial oil products are a great example, only being used previously by dry, mature, and dehydrated skin. Oils are in fact a great multi-use product encompassing these uses:

• Cleanser for both oily and dry skin (same effect but different mechanism)
• Make-up remover
• Moisturizer for dry skin
• Treatment for dehydrated, acneic skin
• Beard softener
• Shaving aid
• Hair/scalp treatment 
• Cuticle softener
• Pre-swim barrier to prevent dry skin

Brands should be moving away from an unending line of complicated products and more towards a small number of focused products catering to multiple skin needs.

Vitamin A: The miracle vitamin for skincare enthusiasts everywhere. But what about Vitamin A during pregnancy? For years it has been said that too much Vitamin A during pregnancy can lead to fetal abnormalities, so pregnant women should avoid it. But we’re here to set the record straight.

Method Matters

It’s important to understand the difference between oral intake of Vitamin A and topical application of Vitamin A.

While oral intake of excessive Vitamin A has been linked to fetal abnormalities, we must recognize that there is no enzyme in the skin that will absorb topical Vitamin A into the blood stream. There is only one enzyme mechanism that binds retinol onto carrier lipoproteins, and that enzyme exists in the liver, not the skin. Unless you are eating heaps and gobs of topical Vitamin A products, the Vitamin A will remain trapped in the skin (right where you want it). 

In fact, in a study of 679 pregnant women, 235 were exposed to a variety of retinoids applied to their skin from early pregnancy, while 444 were not. There were no differences between the two groups in rates of birth abnormalities. Not a single child displayed features of retinoid embryopathy (birth defects caused by Vitamin A). 

The only exception in topical applications would be Retin A and other retinoic acid derivatives, which are prescription only and therefore much stronger.

Balance Matters

During pregnancy, a Vitamin A deficiency can cause fetal abnormalities; that’s why doctors recommend a healthy, well-rounded diet that includes whole foods like carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, and broccoli. However, excessive oral Vitamin A intake can also cause problems; this has been seen in cases of pregnant women taking Accutane, which is usually around 300,000 i.u. of oral Vitamin A.

Because Vitamin A serums are usually only applied to a small surface area of the body (face & neck), a typical application of a topical Vitamin A product would deliver approximately 35-350 i.u. of Vitamin A only. As we learned above, only trace amounts, if any, would be absorbed into the body. For comparison, an egg contains 260 i.u. of Vitamin A. Even if your body absorbed all the Vitamin A applied topically (which it doesn’t!), you would take in the same amount of Vitamin A as you would get from eating an egg. 

What to Avoid

To be clear: Supplemental, oral intake of Vitamin A (in drugs like Accutane, for example) should not be taken by pregnant women. Pregnant women are also advised to avoid prescription Retin A and other other retinoic acid derivatives.

Final Thoughts

Proper levels of Vitamin A are necessary for a healthy pregnancy – not too much, not too little (think Goldilocks). Topical application of Vitamin A is not metabolized into the bloodstream, so feel free to use topical, non-prescription Vitamin A products without fear, and be sure to maintain a healthy, balanced diet full of whole foods and natural vitamins & minerals. As always, talk to your doctor to find out what’s best for you.