They say Beauty is only skin deep; but that’s only one interpretation and from a naturopathic point of view not true at all. So let’s deep dive into what we can do from the inside-out to maintain and improve our appearance.
Modern life presents many challenges to our health in general which invariably impact our skin, hair and bodies overall: Poor or compromised air quality, especially in population dense areas where there is pollution from real estate development, air sea and land vehicular traffic, electro smog or EMFs (electromagnetic fields) which produce positive ions that can impact tissue moisture and even damage or age DNA and cellular health (think of how your skin, eyes, and other parts of your body feel after extended periods of cell phone or computer use), not to mention the many and varied stresses in our lives and the wear and tear of the day to day.
Fortunately nature and by extension natural products and strategies can offer protection and repair from such offenders.
Vitamin C helps detoxify all tissues and promotes collagen production and repair which contributes to skin and muscle tone beneath the skin, scalp and rest of the body to counteract gravity’s and aging’s sagging effects on these tissues.
Red clover is a traditional herb used to purify the blood and more specifically the skin. It is also rich in silica, a mineral that gives hair, skin and nails their sheen and bones their flexible structure. Red clover is the star ingredient in many detoxifying and skin formulas along with other herbs with similar actions like burdock and yellow dock.
Add to this liver cleansing formulas and probiotics which address the main elimination and detoxification pathways of the gut and liver for acne and rosacea.
Chlorophyll is getting plentiful if long overdue press for its detox-DNA repair-anti-aging properties. The benefits can be amplified by using greens powders with super macro and micro nutrient dense multiple green sources such as wheat grass, barley grass, chlorella, and spirulina.
Vitamin A and other antioxidants show up in food sources such as vegetables and peaches and apricots as well as supplements that are cod liver derived or microbially synthesized and are used topically as are most other antioxidants for their external skin nourishing benefits. Most of the hair, skin, nails and beauty supplements we carry contain a combination of the ingredients and nutrients combined with herbs like foti or ho shou wu; a traditional Chinese medical herb renowned as a rejuvenate that has been used to successfully reverse or prevent gray hair.
Amino acids such as proline and lysine that make up some of the dermal matrix can be supplemented., to more easily provide what can be a bit more difficult to come by in food source at a therapeutic level.
Last but not least of the internal supplements is Collagen. It does many things in the area of bodily repair; digestively, cartilage and the musculoskeletal-skeletal system and of course the integumentary system; including all skin and connective tissue. Because of its’ peptide content as well as hyaluronic acid it is beneficial to the plumping of the skin and its moisture levels, and for promoting muscle mass and resiliency. Collagen even has benefits to the eyes as its native hyaluronic acid content helps keep them stay lubricated and its other constituents can help the strength of the eye muscles as well as the aqueous matter in the eye balls.
On the external side of this equation are healthy oils and topicals for moisturizing and revitalizing the skin. Purchasing these in cleaner often organically sourced products from Basic Foods whose inventory is based primarily on natural ingredients is fairly evidently safer, sustainably more effective and benign, unlike the many chemically based preparations more commercially available. One that is my go-to after a skin, eye and nervous system irritating computer work is rosehip seed oil which soothes my weary integument back to line smoothing, orb calming comfort and healthy glow.
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