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Have you noticed that 12-step skincare routines are being marketed to younger and younger age groups? Nine year olds are flocking to Sephora to get their fix. How necessary or unnecessary is this? Is there some merit to adopting a skincare routine so young?

This is just one of the many questions we’re answering today with holistic esthetician, Jamie Burkhalter. We’re going beyond the consumerism of skincare and reframing it from a routine to a ritual. So whether you’ve got a teenager at home dealing with acne for the first time or you’re wondering how to maintain elasticity as you age, this episode is for you.

We’re also having an important conversation about the expectations that are put on us by social media. Personally, I’ve given up filters completely in hopes that I don’t pass down insecurities to my children. The truth is, none of us are immune to aging and we should stop touting “anti-aging” products as the holy grail.

And finally, we’ll be covering evanhealy, the skincare brand committed to regenerative sourcing and environmental sustainability. Jamie provides a deep dive into the ethos behind their nutrient-rich, plant-based products and the philosophy that prioritizes personal health and the health of our planet.

In this episode, we’re chatting about: 

• What does it mean to take a holistic approach to skincare? 
• Embracing natural beauty and aging
• The role of regenerative sourcing in skincare
• Skincare best practices for every age group 

Skincare Routine vs. Ritual

Conventional skincare has a method behind it. A lot of times, it’s the means to try to stop aging or to turn back the clock. In reality, that’s not possible. 

Holistic skincare is leaning into a ritual. It’s leaning into taking care of yourself as a whole body, as a whole person, and knowing that, from a holistic approach, our skin is a messenger. It’s giving intel into what’s going on on the inside. 

Your skin is an external representation of what’s going on inside. That could be something to do with your gut, emotions, stress, lack of sleep, or lack of vitamins. All of those things show up on your skin. Taking a holistic approach on how we use our skin as a messenger to have overall wellness is the difference between conventional and holistic skincare. It’s much more attuned to the rhythms of our whole body and knowing that your skin is dynamic and it has a rhythm. It changes with seasons, age, and our cycle. It’s always changing and it’s always dynamic.  

Being attuned to that and not just going with a prescription of certain skincare steps helps you take stock of where you’re at today. How do I feel today? How does my skin feel today? Does it feel dry? Does it feel good? Maybe you don’t need to do a whole lot today because it feels great. Let it do what it knows how to do best, and that’s try to maintain balance.

Cleanser vs. Oil Cleansing

A traditional cleanser strips everything from your skip, which you don’t want. The goal is to gently clean your skin by taking off dirt and oil but leaving the rest. That way, it leaves your acid mantle still intact. 

You want a gentle cleanser. You’re just trying to remove contaminants and pollutants like dirt and oil and gently sweep it away. The idea behind an oil cleanser is that it dissolves. When you put an oil on your skin, it goes in and helps emulsify and clean out those dermal passages. This is great for people who have chronically dry, dehydrated, or sensitive skin. 

Oil cleansing sounds really scary because we still come from the generation that oil is bad when in reality it’s literally the best. It won’t disrupt the acid mantle – save your acid mantle at all costs! That’s what Jamie always says about cleansing. 

I never cleanse my face in the morning. I just grab a very warm washcloth and wipe my face. 

What Does Your Skin Actually Need?

Your skin needs you to recognize that it is dynamic, a living organism, your largest organ, and responsible for so much more than just being a pretty face. Your skin needs you to love it. It is your first line of defense. Just like you get a flush to the skin when you get embarrassed or you get goosebumps when you’re nervous or excited, your skin is conveying that to you. 

The idea of having constantly smooth skin with no pigmentation has become a marker of beauty, that the skin with no lines or pigmentation is beautiful. I hope we can change the conversation and say that aging is a privilege and being able to age is beautiful. Not everyone gets that privilege to age and grow old. 

Your skin doesn’t need a whole lot. What it needs is nutrients, antioxidants, and nourishment for the skin. Instead of constantly trying to take things away, we need to give into your skin. You need a massage – use your hands to work the muscles and skin on your face. 

You need to get into a ritual and nourish your skin. Allow it to thrive on its own because your skin is always trying to maintain balance. That’s what it wants to do. That’s when it’s happiest. The more often we’re throwing it out of balance with the newest and greatest skincare products on the market, it has to work harder to get back to balance. It’s always going to try to get back there, no matter what you do to it. The more we do to it, the more it has to recover, and that leads to an overall thinning of the skin long term. In reality, the less we do, the better your skin is because it’s balanced and you have that lit from within glow, that vitality that your skin knows how to do on its own. Your skin knows how to do it on its own.

This was such an insightful episode with Jamie about holistic skincare; I hope to have her on the podcast again soon! If you have any questions about holistic skincare, send me a message on Instagram and I’d be happy to chat with you.

Evanhealy Products

Shop the products mentioned in the episode and use code WENDY15 to save on all evanhealy products:

• Tea Tree Cleanser
• Hyrdosols (Lemon Thyme / Frankincense / Lavender are my faves)
• Frankincense Neroli Body Oil
• Wild Carrot Eye Balm

If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please:

• Leave a positive review or rating wherever you listen
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• Want to ask me a question to get answered on the podcast? Leave me a voice message here.

Related Episodes:

Episode 61: Behind the Scenes of Farm Fresh Skin Care with Sara from Willow Moon Farm

Episode 83: Can We Trust All-Natural Labels? Exposing Synthetic Preservatives in Skincare