Author Archives: Nadia Danay

About Nadia Danay

The European Touch website has been around for 12 years to date, supplying our valued customers with upscale skin care and free related advice. We hope to help more people with this blog and invite our clients and visitors to post comments and ask questions. Over time we hope to build our special group of friends, with a common interest : good skin care, for now and always!

Sun Protection & You

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Sunlight is good for you. I know, there are many reasons why we must have sun protection, but, like many other things in life, moderation is the key.

We need sunshine for our bones, for the vitamin D and for light therapy. Lack of sunshine leads to seasonal affective disease (or SADD)

20 minutes of sunlight (without sunscreen)is all we need for the above reasons.

However, with longer exposure without protection, both UVA and UVB will do both temporary and long term damage. UVA ages the skin and UVB burns.

Pay attention to the label on sunscreen and look for Total Protection, which covers both UVA and UVB. If there’s only SPF, your sunscreen protects only against UVB.

Once you have established that, look for the protection factor which will be a combination of the protection from UVA and UVB.

European SPF numbers are lower than the US, so a European product with SPF8 is the equivalent of SPF12 in the US.

The amount applied makes a difference to the length of time you can stay in the sun. Most people use too little. Rule of thumb is 2 fingers per zone (head, each arm, chest, stomach, upper leg, lower leg – each is one zone)

You must apply sunscreen 30 minutes before going out and re-apply 30 minutes after, also after swimming.

Because our ozone layer is thinning, we need sunscreen even on cloudy days.

If you need one more reason to use sunscreen, you must know that 90% of squamous cell and basal cell carcinoma is due to sunlight exposure, while the deadly melanoma is 65% caused by UVB damage.

Yes, sunshine is great and we need it, but there is no reason why we should go without sunscreen.

by Nadia Danay

 

Does Skin Breathe?

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So much nonsense is being spouted on this topic that I can hardly know where to start!
Let’s just review the job of our skin, which, by the way, is our largest organ.
– Protection of internal organs is number one. This is why water, gases (oxygen is a gas, remember) and oils CANNOT penetrate the skin.
If they could, you’d swell like a whale after every shower.
There are very few, select substances, like essential oils, which can penetrate because their molecular structure is very small and similar to that of the skin.
Estrogen patches and nicotin patches are full of similar substances – small mollecular size which helps them penetrate the skin barrier.
– Elimination is another job for the skin. It eliminates sweat and produces oils that lubricate and protect.
The pores of the skin are just tiny openings, like the donut holes. Just like donut holes, the pores have no active role. They simply allow sweat and sebum (oil) to flow OUT.
When we apply make up and allow it to stay on for a long time (not remove it at the end of the day) it will mix with the sebum and sweat we produce and let pollutants adhere on top, creating a nasty soup that we can see as blackheads or just very dull skin.
This is why cleansing daily is most important and so is regular exfoliation.
But to get back to the topic, our skin does not breathe. That job is left to the lungs.
There are numerous claims on the market for products that “let skin breathe”.
BOGUS, all of them.
It is a good idea to avoid heavy make up and an even better one to cleanse your face daily. This will avoid occlusion of the pores (plugging), blackheads and creation of breeding grounds for the bacteria responsible for acne.
That is all. Next time you hear about “skin detoxifying”or “skin breathing” you’ll know it it for what it is : nonsense.
Have a Sunny Day

by Nadia Danay

Cosmetic Ingredients : “natural” vs.”synthetic”

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I recently read an interesting article on the different meanings the same words have for science and marketing. It was very illuminating in the context of skin care products and their marketing.

Let’s start with the ubiquitous term “natural”. To a scientist it means a group of molecules that are part of living nature, typically plants. These substances can be either isolated from  plants or synthesized.

“Naturally sourced” implies direct extraction from a plant or animal.

Biased marketing has conditioned a positive response to “naturally sourced” ingredients. Marketing people conveniently forget, however, that these sources may not be so appealing.

A good example is hyaluronic acid, used for anti-wrinkle purposes. The “natural source” for this molecule is roosters’ comb. The hyaluronic acid molecule synthesized in the lab is identical and does not imply using animals for its source.

Another problem with sourcing from nature is that in order to obtain a reasonable amount of any given ingredient, one needs to harvest massive amounts of plants. Not a very wise solution environmentally nor very economical from a business perspective.

Additionally, sourcing from plants runs the risk of inclusion of unwanted traces of toxins, pesticides and pollutants.

Synthetic molecules have exactly the identical qualities as their “natural” counterparts, without any of the above drawbacks.

Synthetic molecules are consistent in all their aspects, while “natural” derived molecules are subject to wild variations, depending on climate and harvest conditions, Their qualities are fluctuating and the quality of the end product is fluctuating as well.

Misinformation due to biased marketing is not new. Before deciding for or against an ingredient based just on its being “natural” or synthetic, please remember that some of the best,safe, efficient, consistent and advanced ingredients in today’s skin care are synthetic.

Les Nouvelles Esthetiques March 2013

 

 

Moisturizers – We All Need Them

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Our skin is a complicated structure, but today we’re only focusing on two basic components : oil and water.

Oil, otherwise known as “sebum” is produced by tiny sebaceous glands. The job of the sebum is to cover the skin like a protective wrap against outside harmful elements, like bacteria, dust, pollution.

Too little oil results in dry skin, while too much oil results in oily skin.

Water is necessary for most of the body functions and is a very large component of every cell. Even if we drink enough for our body, the first organ to lose water content is the skin. This is why we need to moisturize in addition to drinking.

Too little water results in dehydrated skin. This is skin that shows tiny scratches, almost like  they were made by a fine needle, going in all directions. Chronically dehydrated skin will develop wrinkles regardless of age.

OIly skin is very often dehydrated because of harsh, cheap cleansing products which strip the skin not only of too much oil, but also of precious water.

Moisturizers are formulated to respectively suit oily and dry skin and using the wrong moisturizer can result in break outs (oily skin) or diminished but still present dehydration (dry skin).

It is customary to use a moisturizer for day time because our various activities will invariably result in water loss. In addition to replacing water, moisturizers are also protecting the skin against water loss.

Many moisturizers contain SPF, which saves us the use of 2 products instead of just one. The problem here is that SPF needs to be re-applied during the day and no one I know is ready to take off their make up in mid-day, just to re-apply moisturizer!!

The solution is to use mineral powders with SPF and apply this several times a day.

I look forward to your comments and questions. Have a great week!

January Deep Freeze

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This is for all our friends on the East coast of Canada and US.

Skin Care Survival tips for extreme cold :

    • Use a milk cleanser and toner at night.
    • Put the exfoliants on the shelf till warmer weather.
    • Use a nourishing cream both at night and in the morning before braving the outdoors.
    • Save the foundation for after the cold snap. It will only smear on the scarf. Use mineral powder instead. It is lighter and gives sun protection as well.
    • Have fun in the snow, make some snow angels and remember…..
    • Spring is coming soon!!