Skin Nerd Jennifer Rock shares tips for winter skincare; she talks about building up the skin's natural defence and knowing the difference between beauty trends and sound advice. Listen back above.
During the colder months, it’s hard to avoid the swift transition from icy winter winds to the dry heat of our homes and workplaces. These sudden changes in temperature are bad for your skin, as Jennifer Rock, skincare expert and founder of The Skin Nerd® tells Ray D’Arcy.
She favours supporting our skin’s natural defences from the inside out, as well as avoiding baking hot showers, using cream cleansers and getting your skin advice from reliable sources.
Freezing winter winds take a toll on your skin, but escaping them can also be a problem, as Jennifer explains:
"What you’re dealing with is dry heat in the home, dry heat in the office or wherever you might be out and about; and it’s the lack of humidity that has the impact on the skin. Elements of the wind and lack of humidity."
Jennifer says she knows it will be an unpopular idea, but taking long hot showers at the end of the day could make things worse for your skin:
"Nobody will like me for this, Ray. I know at the end of a long day, you want a really hot shower, but the hot shower will actually dry the skin out further."
Our skin is built to tackle the elements and we need to do our best to support it, the Skin Nerd explains;
"If you think about what the skin is; the skin is a barrier – it’s there to defend. Ultimately it’s not at its healthiest when the barrier is compromised."
If we minimise the stress on our skin, it can do its job properly, Jennifer says. We can’t help the weather, but we can decide what to put on our skin and what to avoid. Body washes that are based on surfactants can diminish your skin's natural defence, she says:
"It can psychologically feel really lovely on the skin, because you feel really clean and squeaky once you get out; those can often have ingredients in it that are stripping that natural layer of protection."
If you don't strip out all the good stuff, you won't have to add so much back in, Jennifer says. Our skin generates oils on the surface and has what's called NMS or Natural Moisturising Factor.
She says that creams are generally less drying than gels - they work with the skin rather than against it:
"A lot of our clients would say to me; 'I love a wash, I love that sensation of a wash’. But actually encouraging you to look at cream-based cleansers can be far more advantageous. They really respect the skin. They don’t take too much away from the skin. Which then, in turn means you have to use as many products thereafter."
Extreme exfoliation is not necessary, the Skin Nerd says. The EU have now banned cosmetics containing the plastic microbeads that were a staple ingredient of exfoliants in the past. Jennifer says this is a good thing:
"Thankfully the EU have now banned them. From a sustainability perspective."
When choosing skincare, how do we know when we're backing a winner? How do we know if the latest skincare trend will do us harm or damage the environment? Jennifer says you need to know where your information is coming from. Ask yourself a few questions before following the advice of beauty influencers.
What are their qualifications? Are they giving an opinion or providing reliable information? Are you following them for entertainment or do you need medical advice? As Jennifer puts it:
"Am I getting my information from a credible source? That’s question one. Are they qualified or is is opinion based? And is it based on aesthetics or perhaps more the health side?
Jennifer says we should look for a few key skincare ingredients that most experts agree on. These are often substances that occur naturally in the skin, like ceramides, she says:
"Ceramides, they’re a lipid, they’re a fatty acid. They’re found naturally within the skin and they are responsible for keeping the moisture within your skin and they are key to consider if you are getting a moisturiser or a serum."
Other naturally occurring ingredients include hyaluronic acid, beta carotene and Vitamin A. Ray asked about finding these ingredients in food, and Jennifer says that building up your skin health from the inside is essential:
"Skincare is inside out. It’s almost immoral or unethical to say, ‘this eye cream will the youthful elixir you’ve always waited for’. But it is the inside out. Even back to winter skin as we started; essential fatty acids are key; so getting your Omegas into the skin, whether you’re plant-based or not. Your nuts, your seeds, your fish, your oils – they really do have an impact on the skin. They are like an internal body moisturiser."
Find out more on Jennifer’s views about beauty influencers in the full interview – listen back above, and information on The Skin Nerd can be found here.
Listen back here to Deep Cleanse, an RTÉ Podcast with The Skin Nerd.
For a lively mix of interviews with celebs, writers, musicians, comedians and listeners' stories; listen back to The Ray D’Arcy Show here.
