Health & Wellbeing: A Haven for your skin
It’s intriguing how there’s so much emphasis on beauty and the offspring of beauty products targeted towards keeping women looking forever youthful. Sure, traditionally women have been pressured by the world's ideals and images of what beauty should look like, but skin is skin, regardless of gender. Just because us gents are meant to be the rougher, more masculine, rugged of the two genders, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be allowed the freedom and comfort to take care of ourselves, particularly when it comes to our skin. Us guys should feel secure and even be applauded for looking out for our biggest organ called skin. It doesn't make you less of a man, it makes you a smarter man. And I think it would be safe to say it's an attractive quality when someone takes care of their skin. Agree?
For a newbie like me I needed some guidance to get to grips with skin and its demands. Thanks to my friends at Haven they invited me to experience what caring for your skin can do for that pretty face of yours and you can read up on part 1 here too. Haven is exactly as it sounds. A haven in amongst the busy hustle and bustle of life. As soon as you enter you’re graced by a calm serenity and it sets you right up for some pampering. I’ve done full body massages before, but I’ve never had a facial, the closest has been a mud mask. Shit there's a story about this one time actually....Basically, I threw on a mud mask one morning, forgot I had on and drove out to the local mall only to find out in horror it was still on my face thanks to a retail salesman who kindly pointed out the mud on my face. I quickly responded that it was simply face paint from a kids’ party I'd just been too. Don’t think he bought that though, as it was a poorly spread out black matter. Not exactly bright party colours. Laughs all round really.
In the initial consultation at Haven, you cover off your current skin regimen, the products you typically use and any supplements you take which all paint a picture of your current skin health. As it turns out typically Kiwis’ skin is very dry and dehydrated. That’s a result of the environmental conditions, but also due to the fact we’re not drinking enough liquid to keep our bodies hydrated.
But what’s more fascinating is that your gut health determines much of your entire body’s ability to keep functioning effectively. This is a whole other big topic I'm going to cover soon, but the key outtake is - what’s happening on the inside is massively affecting the outside. While treatments, products, and regimes can and will definitely help, you have to be doing good things for your insides too. Kinda obvious right, we all know this? But we're consistently marketed quick fixes that result in us believing we don't have to make hard choices or sacrifices. We can still eat shit, and simply slap on a cream or take a pill, and she'll be right. Right?
Thanks to a few of the important women in my life, I’ve been lucky enough to get a sneak peek at what a decent skin regimen looks like so I’ve had a very beginner guide to a simple & semi-regular routine centred around cleansing and hydrating with moisturiser. Going to Haven however, has taken my skin game to the next level.
Here's a quick snapshot of the treatment I'm getting once a month and the amazing benefits my skin are getting thanks to my friends at Haven.
Microdermabrasion - this is all about getting rid of excess dead skin to allow fresh regeneration of your younger skin layers. I found out during this process we have 5 layers of skin, whaaaaaat?!
Cleansing - once you've lightly sanded your outer layer of skin, it's time to cleanse. It's like washing your hands, so wiping away any grime, sweat and oil. As part of the process it can take away some of the moisture in your skin.
Vitamin A serum hydration - you've cleansed your skin, so now it's about rehydrating the cells with some nutrients and Vitamin A serum infuses nutrients deep into the skin.
After this noninvasive and extremely smoothing process you can feel it's done some good without even looking in the mirror. For the remainder of the day my skin felt so soft, plump and dewy in appearance. Dewy is actually the perfect word for it and it's what my girlfriend described when she saw me fresh from my appointment. You feel revitalised and come out wondering why you hadn’t taken the time to invest in your skin like this before.
It's important to realise that getting a treatment isn't a quick fix you get every so often, you'll need to adopt a daily routine and it's not hard. Nikita above, is stepping me through the easy-to-follow morning and night skin care steps with the family of Ultraceuticals products which are all clearly numbered so you don't screw up the right order. The basics you need to remember is every day you need to cleanse your skin, wipe away the grease & grime from the day and rehydrate the skin cells with a moisturiser.
It's peak Summer time here in New Zealand and we've got an extremely harsh sun that can damage skin quickly. There's a good solution to being prepared for the day in the sun and that's getting a daily hydrating cream with an SPF factor. I'd been told how important this is for your skin regardless of season, so I picked up a bottle of Ultraceuticals hydrating cream with built-in SPF 50 so as I'm applying the cream after my shower in the morning I've got a solid level of protection for a few hours before the sunblock is required.
Haven offers a full range of day spa and beauty salon services, with a focus on specialist skin care, treatment and advice. I urge you to make an appointment if you're hungry to learn more about skin health, how your skin is surviving and what you can do to help it be the best it can. And if you do go, I'd be super stoked to hear how it goes.
Make your skin a priority this year. You'll thank yourself for it when you do.
jb
This post was made in collaboration with my friends at Haven. Skin health is something I'm learning a vast amount about so am enjoying getting to know how important it is to look after it. All words, opinions and views are my own and are a reflection of my experience. Big shout out to Haven for inviting me to see what caring for your skin can do.
Imagery captured by my very talented friend behind the lens Tori Hayley