Having a beautiful skin can give you confidence

I’ve been in business now for 31 years, starting in 1989 with a mobile business, moving into a room in my home, a studio next to my home and now, along with our absolutely fantastic team in our beautiful clinic, which has now been open for nearly 5 years. Our vision is simple………..We want you to Rebalance, Repair and Restore your skin so you look and feel amazing.

DID YOU KNOW THAT?

From 2014- 2016 there were around 16,000 new melanoma skin cancer cases in the UK every year? That’s 44 every day

Melanoma skin cancer is the 5th most common cancer in the UK in both males and females.

Since the early 1990’s, melanoma skin cancer incidence rates have more than doubled in the UK with the rate increasing faster in men.

Hard hitting facts hey?

It’s even more hard hitting when 80% of these melanoma skin cancers are considered preventable.

So I would like to tell you about my journey in the industry, why we have rebranded and how to keep your skin healthy so you can protect your skin from cancer and to give you the confidence that we all deserve.

I want to start by talking about confidence.  Confidence was a big issue for me growing up.  I went away to boarding school from the age of 7.  I actually (on the whole) loved it at that age, it was like a big adventure, something out of Enid Blyton and as my older brother and sister had already left to be at boarding school themselves, the family unit wasn’t there.  School became my family.

Things changed when I moved into secondary school.  The security I had disappeared and friendships changed.  All at a time when we were hitting puberty as well so had that to also deal with.  I lost my confidence, which affected my mental health and I felt that no-one liked me.

Eventually, I recognised that the problem lay with me and I literally gave myself a good talking to.  One school holiday I remember well, I decided that I was going to go back with a much more positive mindset and basically “fake it until I make it”.  It’s easier said than done, but I did get through the rest of my school life and although I can’t describe them as my happiest time it was ok.

It was in my early teens that I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in beauty and skin. Being decisive in my career choice gave me something to strive towards and stability that I craved, and it was a career that worked on how people felt about themselves.

A question I want to put to you…….How does wearing a new item of clothing make you feel?  I guess it depends on the item of clothing and each item has its own meaning.  That special dress that you wore to the party that makes you feel sexy, those jeans that you feel so comfortable in, the blouse that makes you feel business like.  Different clothes for different occasions and they can be changed and disposed of easily in this throw away world.   How would it make you feel if your skin was damaged, you suffered with acne or had excess hair growing in places you don’t want it to?  I have literally had people in tears when they tell me about how these conditions affect them mentally and how when we have transformed them, they leave the clinic with the biggest smile.

 Your skin is your one biggest accessory that you can’t strip off and try and new one to suit your mood.  It is with you everyday and is the first thing that people see when they meet you.  You, of course, can change your makeup to suit your mood, which can enhance your skin, but that’s what it should do, enhance a beautiful skin.

When I discovered Environ as a brand about 15 years ago I resonated with the brand straight away. My sister had been afflicted with malignant melanoma in her late 20’s.  Luckily it was removed successfully but I was looking for a brand that could protect against this. Here were products that could achieve results in skin in a far more powerful way than I had been able to until now.   The reason that they could provide results is that they contain potent active ingredients that work to repair the skin. Being in my 30’s my skin was generally good, but it was dry and no amount of moisturiser seemed to fix the problem in a permanent way.  I started using Environ products myself before I decided to take it on as a brand and offer it to my clients.

The transformation in my skin was incredible.  My skin was typically really dry, but after a few months of using the products my own Natural Moisturising Factor had kicked in, that meant the active ingredients were actually working on repairing the skin that I had rather abused.  Yes, I had slapped myself with baby oil and literally cooked myself in the sun as a teenager, until I was so bright red that I was in pain and my skin peeled.   I know other people who have told me that they have literally lain down on silver foil in the hope to tan. Since when have we wanted to be a cooked chicken? Smoking hadn’t helped either.

As the years have gone on, I have to admit to adding new products, skin supplements and treatments into my skincare regime to ensure that I get stronger results. Skin changes, especially as we age and we need to adapt.  I was sticking on a maintenance programme, which was great and was maintaining it.  However, to get even better results I needed more serums in my regime and to take more skin specific supplements. The results that I achieved over the period of a year was amazing, the pigmentation and sun damage really reduced. It’s like someone took an eraser to my skin.  I now fit some treatments into my schedule and can honestly say that I love my skin.  Yes, I go out and buy clothes that make me feel great too, but I don’t get it when people don’t want to spend any money on their skin.  We can’t throw it away, it’s the only one we have and we often don’t take care of it.  It’s susceptible to wear and tear and we need to feed it what it needs to keep it healthy and glowing.  How many of you pick up a cheap moisturiser in the supermarket believing all products are the same and at least you are doing something with it?  Or choose the cream based on whether we like the smell?

Vitamin A is THE magic ingredient for our skin.  It’s what we all need to create healthy, young skin.   Here are the main benefits:

Vitamin A has a vital role in skin health as it has a direct effect on our cell DNA to ensure that only healthy cells are produced.  There isn’t any alternative.  It has been known for decades that Vitamin A is vital for healthy skin.  Wise and Sulzberger suggested in 1938 that the reason that sun exposed skin is wrinkled whereas sun-protected skin is not, is that the Vitamin A in the sun exposed skin had been damaged by sunlight.  Basically, leading to a chronic vitamin deficiency.  It couldn’t be proved at the time, but later research did go on to prove it.

Women also have an added disadvantage because blood levels of vitamin A drop when they menstruate, leading to more vulnerability to photodamage during this part of the cycle.

A scary fact for you: It has been estimated that if you spend a day at the beach and get a good tan, then you have probably destroyed more than 90% of the vitamin A in your skin.

To replenish this naturally you would have to stay in a dark room for about 5 – 7 days.

However, you can speed things up by applying the vitamin A directly to the skin.

Vitamin A is only part of the story for protecting the skin from the sun.  What do you think is the other? A good SPF.  This needs to be used all year round to ensure protection against the damaging rays of UVA which actually penetrate our skin much deeper than UVB and also cause cancer.  UVA penetrates our windows and is in our lights and computer screens.  Google the truck driver whose face has been affected by UVA.  It’s real and do important that act on this.

We have lots of treatments that can make dramatic skin changes for many different skin conditions. This is the results of someone we are treating for pigmentation with a treatment called Cosmelan and this is the results after only 6 days and this will get better still.