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Probiotic,
superfood facials
Small batch, using "ugly" produce
Made fresh and flash-frozen
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
– Hippocrates, 3rd century
People in industrialized nations steadily report increases in acne and eczema year after year. Dryness, rosacea, and general sensitivity are also on the rise. Medical schools can’t churn out enough dermatologists to cope with demand. This while we have access to all these supposedly wonderful products that claim to treat and prevent such ailments.
Either were not using them or they’re not working. Since the global market for personal care products is in the trillions of dollars, it’s safe to assume that what we’re being sold isn’t performing as advertised. Even worse, rather than being simply ineffective, many are aggravating conditions like acne and dryness and kneecapping your skin’s ability to function normally.
Here is what’s going on: when we overuse soap, shampoo, exfoliators, and other cleansers, we remove precisely what our skin needs to protect itself from everything the environment throws at it. Then we try to mitigate the damage by dousing ourselves in often expensive and irritating products that we wouldn’t have needed in the first place if we’d just left our skin alone to do its thing.
The damage done has a cumulative effect; irritating and striping the skin little by little until one day you have full-blow problems: acne, signs of premature aging, redness, irritation, etc.
At Lumanitas, our principal goal is stopping this madness. We advocate a very different approach to obtaining youthful, resilient skin.
People in industrialized nations steadily report increases in acne and eczema year after year. Dryness, rosacea, and general sensitivity are also on the rise. Medical schools can’t churn out enough dermatologists to cope with demand. This while we have access to all these supposedly wonderful products that claim to treat and prevent such ailments.
Either were not using them or they’re not working. Since the global market for personal care products is in the trillions of dollars, it’s safe to assume that what we’re being sold isn’t performing as advertised. Even worse, rather than being simply ineffective, many are aggravating conditions like acne and dryness and kneecapping your skin’s ability to function normally.
Here is what’s going on: when we overuse soap, shampoo, exfoliators, and other cleansers, we remove precisely what our skin needs to protect itself from everything the environment throws at it. Then we try to mitigate the damage by dousing ourselves in often expensive and irritating products that we wouldn’t have needed in the first place if we’d just left our skin alone to do its thing.
The damage done has a cumulative effect; irritating and striping the skin little by little until one day you have full-blow problems: acne, signs of premature aging, redness, irritation, etc.
At Lumanitas, our principal goal is stopping this madness. We advocate a very different approach to obtaining youthful, resilient skin.
But this isn’t what’s happening.
For most of human history, daily washing was not the norm. When bathing became widespread (ancient Romans were known for their communal baths and meticulous personal hygiene practices) soap typically wasn’t used – eschewed for plain water or oil that they would “scrape” off after soaking.
Of course, we need to gently remove substances like makeup, sunscreen, and deodorant, particularly before going to bed. But over-washing and the use of harsher-than-necessary cleansers compromises the skin’s barrier function, disrupting the skin microbiome and inhibiting its ability to function the way it should.
And that is what we are here for – what it all comes down to: the incredible milieu of organisms our skin calls home; our microbiome.
This wonderful, sophisticated membrane that is our skin has evolved alongside the natural environment over millennia. Only recently have humans decided to intervene aggressively in this process, and the results have been detrimental to the health and beauty of our body’s largest organ.
Your skin is covered in an outer layer of precious lipids, natural fats and microbiota that you strip away every time you use soap to wash. That tight feeling you get isn’t cleanliness – it’s an indication that the protective layer that guards against pollution, outside invaders and even some UV rays has been compromised and is less able to do its job. Moisture is now able to escape (a cause of premature aging), and skin is more vulnerable to irritants, pollution, and potentially harmful pathogens that look to penetrate the skin.
Over time, this assault on our skin’s acidic, protective barrier can lead to all kinds of maladies, especially dryness, cracking, acne, and a depleted skin microbiome.
All you have to do is look at the hands of someone who washes them frequently to see the toll all that cleansing takes.
Our modern lifestyle and diet, feverish obsession with cleanliness, and the recent phenomenon of regarding all bacteria as bad has left our skin stripped and reactive.
When your skin freaks out under this regimen, it is often protesting this abuse!
When you encounter skin issues, be they acne, dryness or irritation, there is an army of products lining store shelves promising to fix things, when the best thing to do is stop applying all foreign substances to your reactive skin and allow it to reset to its natural state.
Your skin is covered in an outer layer of precious lipids, natural fats and microbiota that you strip away every time you use soap to wash. That tight feeling you get isn’t cleanliness – it’s an indication that the protective layer that guards against pollution, outside invaders and even some UV rays has been compromised and is less able to do its job. Moisture is now able to escape (a cause of premature aging), and skin is more vulnerable to irritants, pollution, and potentially harmful pathogens that look to penetrate the skin.
Over time, this assault on our skin’s acidic, protective barrier can lead to all kinds of maladies, especially dryness, cracking, acne, and a depleted skin microbiome.
All you have to do is look at the hands of someone who washes them frequently to see the toll all that cleansing takes.
Our modern lifestyle and diet, feverish obsession with cleanliness, and the recent phenomenon of regarding all bacteria as bad has left our skin stripped and reactive.
When your skin freaks out under this regimen, it is often protesting this abuse!
When you encounter skin issues, be they acne, dryness or irritation, there is an army of products lining store shelves promising to fix things, when the best thing to do is stop applying all foreign substances to your reactive skin and allow it to reset to its natural state.
Over-washing
The first step in taking back control of your beautiful skin currently being obscured by these products is incredibly simple: put down the soaps, cleansers and body washes and make friends with the effective, gentle (and almost free) cleanser that comes out of your shower head – pure water.
I know – it sounds too easy. But there is a ton of science behind this one simple step.
Unless you are washing a stubborn foreign substance off your skin (such as makeup) all you likely need and should use to wash your skin gentle is warm water. Here are the facts:
When you use products with a high pH (i.e., pH above 7), it can strip away the natural oils and moisture from your skin, leading to dryness, irritation, and even inflammation. Additionally, a high pH can increase the growth of harmful bacteria on the skin, which can lead to acne, infections, and other skin problems.
When you need to remove stubborn, synthetic substances such as makeup from the skin, find an ultra-gentle cleanser with as few ingredients as possible. Try to find a cleanser that doesn’t contain any:
The healing, nurturing properties of a diverse, cultivated microbiome have an extraordinary effect on the health and beauty of our skin. Replenishing it is the chief mission of every Lumanitas Facial.
Our skin is the result of millions of years of evolution. It has evolved alongside the trillions of flora and fauna that inhabit it. Just as the forces of nature have shaped the landscape of earth, evolution has shaped the way our skin functions in wonderous ways.
It has its own curative properties and is almost entirely self-maintaining, provided we feed it what it needs.
Our skin has an inherent wisdom – a knowledge of itself that has been cultivated over time. All we need to do to preserve the protective elements of our skin is be the keepers of that wisdom.
Practices that help protect us from infectious disease are hardwired into our brains. Washing after we touch dirty things, avoiding people that are sick and being grossed out by foul smells are all instinctual responses.
But in the last century or so, we’ve started to confuse what it means to be hygienic and healthy and what it means to be clean. Cleanliness has come to mean the complete absence of dirt and a general feeling of freshness. Smelling good and other socially rewarded behaviors such as shaving also get lumped into the practice of being clean.
The skincare industry has played a large role in this confusion. The widespread use of soap all over the body began in the early 1900’s when the soap industry began aggressively pushing the practice. The advertising that followed preyed on people’s insecurity, often implying that those not using soap were “dirty” or even uncivilized. Similar as today, they often used medicalese and science-sounding language Empty marketing jargon, pseudoscience, and bald-faced lies (the molecule size of collagen, keratin, elastin, and stem cells and are far to large to penetrate the skin, making them useless) are just some of the tactics effectively deployed to convince us to buy new products that our skin likely won’t benefit from.
For example, some of the latest “it” ingredients are collagen, plant stem cells, keratin, and elastin. In theory, these ingredients should be beneficial in skincare products because they are found in healthy skin or plant tissues. The problem: their molecule size is far too large to penetrate the skin, rendering them useless.
Formulating with buzzworthy ingredients are just some of the tactics effectively deployed by skincare brands. Many of these companies, large and small, depend on an environment of consumer confusion regarding what ingredients work, what claims are based on the results of well-constructed studies, and what’s supported by scientific literature.
Their goal is for us to keep buying more products with innovative-sounding ingredients. This is making them rich and doing nothing for the health, beauty, and resiliency of our skin.
A good all-over sunscreen blocking both UVA and UVB rays of at least SPF 35. Practice safe sun every day, no matter what the season or what your daily activities may be. If you’re getting direct exposure, getting wet or sweating, reapply every hour. Don’t forget protective clothing, a hat, sunglasses and shade as well. These steps will take years off your skin as you age.
Supporting a thriving microbiome and preventing moisture loss will make skin glow now and keep it looking healthy and youthful into the future. Lumanitas facials were formulated with the primary goal
of recolonizing skin’s surface with health microbiota and nourishing it with ingredients to help it thrive.
If you don’t over-wash or have dry or mature skin, you may not need a moisturizer at all.
If you use one, choose daily moisturizer containing a combination of proven effective ingredients such as:
Avoid allergens and irritants such as:
Products containing preservatives and ingredients that can serve as endocrine disruptors:
According to chemtrust.org, the best way to minimize exposure to harmful chemicals absorbed through the skin is reduce the number of cosmetic products you use.
Side note: no one needs a separate eye cream. If the moisturizer you use on your face, hands and body isn’t gentle enough for you to use around your eyes, you shouldn’t use it anywhere else either. Toss it and find something gentler.
Eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, whole grains and lean protein. Avoid processed foods, high glycemic index foods (potatoes, corn, anything fried), sugar, the unhealthy “white” foods (white flour, bread, rice, pasta, etc.), and alcohol. Protect skin from the sun’s damaging rays. Never smoke. Exercise regularly. Do what you can to prevent exposure to air pollution and pesticides (rinse your fruits and veggies well.)
Lumanitas facials are designed using ingredients that have been shown effective at combating oxidative damage when applied topically. Turmeric, mango, matcha, dragon fruit, spirulina, ebony carrot, espresso bean, ginger are just a few of the powerhouse ingredients we use with efficacy supported by peer-reviewed literature.
Much of what prevents oxidative damage to the skin also promotes collagen production, diet likely being the most important. Stress, sun exposure, lack of exercise, insufficient sleep and smoking also contribute.
You can also revive collagen production from the outside, and many of the most potent, natural ways to do this are through foods in Lumanitas facials. Aloe, colloidal oatmeal, cucumber, and lemon are some of the main ingredients in our facials that have all been shown to boost collagen production when applied topically.
Note: vitamin A – present in all Lumanitas facials – metabolizes into retinoic acid, which binds to receptors on the skin and spurs collagen production from the outside in. If you’re over 30, consider using a prescription-strength retinoid as often as your skin tolerates it. And remember, collagen molecules are much too large to be absorbed through the skin, so no need to spend $$ on products containing collagen.
This is best done at the end of the day when your skin has collected dirt, pollution, makeup and excess oil and sebum, ideally right before bed. No product will do this more effectively, gently, and luxuriously as a Lumanitas facial. On other days, use a very gentle cleaner free of fragrances, dyes, irritators such as botanicals and physical exfoliants, For the rest of your body, keep in mind that water itself is an excellent solvent. A little gentle cleanser in the folds of your skin is all you ever need to be refreshingly clean without stripping your skin’s precious lipid barrier and disrupting its microbiome.
This is the one exception to leaving your skin alone: apply a retinoid. And if you can, have a dermatologist or your regular provider prescribe one for you – they are more potent than over-the-counter products and much less likely to have unnecessary additives.
Retinoids have been extensively studied over decades for their efficacy and safety. They are the closest thing to a “miracle” skincare product that exists, and benefit skin in a host of ways:
Stimulates collagen production
As we age, collagen production in the skin naturally declines, leading to wrinkles, fine lines, and sagging skin. Retinoids (particularly prescription-strength) can help stimulate collagen synthesis, a crucial protein that gives the skin its structure and elasticity. Increased collagen production can reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and improve skin elasticity, leading to smoother, firmer skin.
Reduce hyperpigmentation
Maturing skin is more prone to develop hyperpigmentation, resulting in age spots or sunspots. Retinoids can help regulate melanin production, leading to a more even skin tone and fading of dark spots over time.
Increase cell turnover
Prescription retinoids promote a faster rate of skin cell turnover. This means that dead skin cells are shed more quickly, revealing fresher, younger-looking skin underneath. Prescription-strength retinoids, such as tretinoin, accelerates the rate at which skin cells are shed and replaced by new ones. This process can lead to a fresher, more youthful complexion by uncovering newer skin cells and improving overall skin texture.
Reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
Retinoid’s ability to stimulate collagen production and improve cell turnover can lead to a visible reduction in fine lines and wrinkles.
Unclog pores and treat acne
By speeding up skin cell turnover, retinoids can help prevent clogged pores, reducing the likelihood of acne breakouts. Retinoids are also shown to reduce inflammation, leading to a decrease in acne breakouts and the improvement of existing acne lesions.
Improve skin texture
Regular use of retinoids can lead to smoother, more refined skin texture, diminishing the appearance of rough patches or irregularities.
Prevents future signs of aging
By promoting healthy skin cell turnover and collagen production, retinoids can help prevent future signs of aging, keeping the skin looking youthful and healthy.
Evens skin tone
Retinoids can help regulate melanin production, which can lead to a reduction in hyperpigmentation, such as dark spots, age spots, and sunspots. This results in a more even skin tone and a reduction in discoloration.
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