Well, skin is something that people look at very casually. Many times, when people want to take care of their skin, it is deemed vain. Thank God times are changing now, and people are looking at good or healthy skin as essential for their wellbeing.

I’d like you to dive a little deeper and understand that skin, hair and nails are only a diagnostic tool for your entire body. So basically, when you have glowing, hydrated, even-toned, healthy-looking skin, your hormones are in balance, your nutrition is meeting your body’s needs, and all your organs are performing well, including your inflammatory system.

Yes! This is an indication for us.

For example,

If you have acne, there could be chances of hormonal imbalance.

If you have pigmentation on your body folds, there could be issues with your insulin sensitivity...You could be pre-diabetic!

If you have issues with your nails, it could tell us that either your kidneys or your liver may not be functioning at their optimum, or may be an indicator of some nutrition deficiency.

If you have issues with excessive hair fall, maybe it’s the beginning sign of thyroid;

So on and so forth.

Let us now explore some aspects that we can change or be mindful of in our daily lives to be able to nip issues at the bud and then inculcate good habits, where needed, to enjoy great skin and hair which reflects wellbeing.

First things first-lifestyle

Circadian rhythm, the physiological clock in your body maintains your hormones and, therefore, kickstarts the functioning of many organs in your body. When I say circadian rhythm, it simply means that your sleeping time and your waking time has to be consistent.

You need to wake up when the sun comes out because the light falling on your retina is what gives the wake-up signal to your brain and then the pituitary starts producing its hormones. From there starts a cycle or a cascade of hormones. So, if you wake up at different times or wake up much later in the day your entire cycle gets deranged. There are chances of your hormones also getting deranged and manifesting into a whole lot of ailments.

Needless to say, good food and timely food, as well as making sure all major food groups are included in your diet, such as protein, fat and carbohydrate is very important. Never get on to a diet that eliminates food groups totally, not even carbs and fats. Every one of them have their specific roles in nourishment. We try to get as many micronutrients as possible from whole foods. Sometimes it is not feasible; therefore, a set of supplements is always very important.

I would advise everyone to include supplements in their daily routine of wellbeing, such as a multivitamin, a multimineral like calcium, magnesium and zinc, an antioxidant like glutathione or alpha-lipoic acid, and an anti-inflammatory, my favourite being RA Bright and RA Defence. These essential supplements should definitely be on everybody’s plate. This should suffice if no other deficits are detected by your doctor through signs, symptoms or blood work. If you do, then you need to meet your doctor to get specific ones by prescription.

Factoring in exercise and a skin care routine as a discipline into your daily life might make a very big difference. Here’s a starter's guide to skincare and the three essential categories that one must invest in:

Cleanse, protect and nourish

cleanse

Simply using a facewash, or then adding a cleanser when there is a lot of pollution and oil buildup on your skin is hygiene. Exfoliation once in a week is good enough; make sure it is gentle on your skin. Depending on your skin type, you can choose the ingredients of your cleanser.

Protect

Protection is not just against the sun but also wind and pollution.

So, an antioxidant and a good sunscreen that protects one not just from UVA and UVB, but also from visible, blue and infrared light is very important. All this can be identified on your sunscreen box or case with either the SPF as a number and PA as a number of pluses, and it would also say whether it protects you from blue rays and infrared rays. Then, depending on your skin type, you can choose the texture of your sunscreen, which is very important. If it is not right one tends to not use regularly.

Further, to add extra protection, a good moisturiser and antioxidant would serve the purpose of negating excessive oxidative stress and dehydration.

nourish

Night is always a good time to nourish and replenish.

A nourishing moisturiser is a good start. Further, depending on your skin needs and type, you can choose an active ingredient in them. An anti-aging ingredient if your goal is to make your skin look more youthful and if you are at that stage and age of your life. If what bothers you is an uneven skin tone, you can look for a skin-lightening or brightening product in them. If you have excessively dry skin, you may look at creams and butters, whereas if you have oily skin, you can go for serums and water-based creams.

All of this you will choose depending on your skin goal. If you do have specific issues like sensitive skin, eczema, or acne, then you may have to meet your dermatologist for corrective products. Then the doctor will give you more specific information.

So, in a nutshell, this is about skin and its good health. Do not forget to take care of your nails and hair and do not forget to take care of your skin all over the body, not just the face. Enjoy your skincare.

If you have more questions, please DM us on our Instagram handle, @drrashmishettyra, or you could also look us up on our website, www.drrashmishetty.com to understand more.

To understand supplementation for regular, healthy skin, you could look us up on solskincorp.com and follow our Instagram handle, solskincorp.