BUTTERANDBEAUTY: Stress and your skin. part 1

Stress. It is defined as the following:

I think that we can all agree with the fact that stress affects you not only emotionally, but physically.
That is your body itself, the way it functions throughout the day, your skins appearance and how your body converses food to energy to stay alive.

Whether it be working or studying full time (or both), looking after little children (or big!), getting up early to fit in your workout for the day, juggling several different jobs, having family or friendship drama's, planning a wedding or dealing with your car issues at the mechanics...stress can creep up anywhere at any time. To many of us are letting it consume to much of our time, thus leading us to upset, anxiety and at worse, depression.

I too suffer from stress, and have in the past. The following are ways my body lets me know its too stressed and needs to stop and deal with whatever is making me feel a certain way.

- I get a headache or worse...migraine
- I have no appetite
- I lose my concentration
- I bite my nails
- I cry... a lot
- I get very bad anxiety
- I lose motivation to carry on throughout the day
- My skin completely suffers

I'm sure a lot of you can relate to feeling like this, and its because there is so many people suffering from stress, that we have numerous different way's to deal with the feeling.

Understand that, stress is a feeling NOT an emotion. Therefor, we are CHOOSING to feel stress.

It took me a very long time to understand that I am choosing to let a situation make me feel uncomfortable and anxious, and because of this, I am choosing to feel stress.

Below is a few things that have/do help me get through rather difficult times, and quickly change my perspective. If you feel as if stress is overtaking your life and making it difficult to carry on with simple task or work/study, then I suggest speaking to a professional. It's not a dirty word, it's what smart people do. They talk to someone who has accurate and simple answers to the difficult questions you may be building up inside your head. See below.

- Read.
I am currently reading "Chance your thinking" by Sarah Edelman.
I feel as so this is particularly a good thing to do if you are not yet ready to speak to someone about your problems. The key is 'cognitive thinking' which put simply is the physiological approach to providing practical strategies, over-coming negative thinking and situations, and taking control of your emotions.

- Google.
I do not mean google your so called 'issues', I mean google websites which promote health and happiness. A few I read on the regular are:

www.jessicasepel.com
www.elliegonsalves.blogspot.com.au
www.sporteluxe.com
www.yourzenlife.com.au

- Affirmations.
Some people will just not agree with this, but I honestly think that by saying positive affirmations such as "I am safe. I trust the process of life. I am at peace" and, "I am calm. My body loves me. I love my body", you can put a positive tone on your mind. If you know me, you know I respect and love Louise L Hay's books because they are quite simply, life changing. Affirming your current situation in a positive way, can trick your mind into thinking that well, everything IS OKAY.

- Realistic.
Have you ever noticed that if you're having a rough day and you see or hear something that touches your heart, you suddenly realise your 'problem' isn't that much of a problem after all? Thats because feeling grateful for things we do have in our life, eases our hearts. Okay, so you didn't wake up in time for your bus, or you've skipped a gym session, or you couldn't reach your deadline at work.... is this going to matter in five years time? Is this going to change your financial state? Is this going to lessen your happiness/money/friendships if you do not do something that you said you would?
If we just understand that we are so lucky for what we have, we shift our negative thinking and become more at peace with ourself. What are you grateful for?

- Invest.
Your health is the most important thing in the world. And yes, it comes before your mums/brothers/boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/auntie/best-friend's, because YOU are the most important person in YOUR life. Its time you start investing in yourself. I do this by exercising, having a pedicure, and going out for dinner with my love.

This brings me to my next subject. Yourself.
When we neglect what is going on inside us, we are accepting the fact that our body is going to neglect us. Below is a photo of my skin last week.

Can you guess what's going on with my skin? Yes. You you're right- stress.

As you can see, there is a dramatic difference in the last picture from the first.

With the help of the tips previously mentioned above, as well as healthy eating and morning cardio, I managed to get my skin back on track. Oh, and there was something else. Something that I only recently discovered, realising that it has had such a positive effect on my skins appearance.

And that is microdermabrasion.
I'm sure few of you are unsure as to what this actually does for your skin, and I was just as in the dark about it- I never would of thought that I would see significant improvement almost instantly.

The beautiful and knowledgable Jessica Nash, who owns Lady Luxe Beauty in Sydney's West, introduced me to this procedure last week, explaining that this procedure in particular will help to decrease fine lines, scaring and congestion in the skin. In other words, help to get that glow back!

In her words:

"This is the process of when micro crystals are pushed out of a little pin-like head, then sucked back up through the surrounding nozzle. Hitting the skin at a fast rate, it removes any dead skin, in turn, revealing the fresh live new tissue whilst pealing away and unblocking open pores, fine lines, scarring and increasing the skins microcirculation. if this treatment is done one over the top of the other (in a package) the skin doesn’t have a chance to completely heal and then every week you penetrate deeper into the fresh tissue meaning the skin is kick-started into healing and regenerating itself."

You can imagine how excited I was when she explained all this to me, especially because my skin was feeling (and looking) sluggish, bumpy and lifeless.

Jessica has an incredibly high amount of knowledge on the subject of skin, and made me feel very comfortable. The one thing I want to express to people (and I'm sure Jess would agree) is that you do not have to be ashamed of how your skin is reacting at this point in time. Whether it be because of stress, hormones or genetics, you need to do things in life that make you happy, and make you shine from the inside out. For me, looking after my appearance by having facials, massages and doing yoga, really helps me to get in-touch with myself.

I will be going back for a couple of treatments, and will take you on a skin journey, updating with images and more healthy tips.

If you are experiencing congested, inflamed or rough skin, than I recommend having a look at the treatments Lady Luxe has to offer.

Everything Jess uses on your skin is natural and Australian made and manufactured. The brand is Vigor and it is amazing. I only discovered this brand (ironic as I work in the beauty industry) when I went to see Jess, and I am so glad I did.

"CONTAINS NO man made colours, fragrances, sodium laureth sulphate or other harsh detergents, parabens, petro-chemicals, formaldehyde or its derivatives, mineral oils, lanolin and other harsh additives that literally hinder the health of your skin and you." http://www.vigorskintherapy.com.au/about-vigor

You're in your skin forever, so you should take the time to care and look after it as much as you can.
I am all about natural and organic, especially when it comes to what I am putting on my face, so that is why I am so confident with sharing this brand with you all.

If you are in Sydney, and you would like to see Jessica about a consultation, have a chat about your skin or book in for an appointment to see what is going to work for you, then please contact her on 0411 357 162.

As you can see by the images below, Jess's salon is just as beautiful as she is, and expresses positivity, wellbeing and happiness.