Holistic skin health

The skin provides many functions crucial for health and wellbeing acting as a barrier, supporting detoxification, and revealing internal health issues that may be present. Conditions such as eczema, acne, psoriasis, and rashes often signal deeper imbalances within the body so rather than just treating the symptoms, it's important to address the root cause.

Common skin issues often stem from poor gut health, nutrient deficiencies, hormonal changes, stress, toxins and inadequate sleep. If you want to improve your skin health, you could consult a naturopath for more personalised guidance, but even implementing some simple changes can have a positive impact.

Below are my top five tips to guide you towards holistic skin health and some of my favourite blends to support can be found here.

1. Support your digestive system
Healthy skin often reflects a healthy gut.
Ensuring our gut flora is supported will in turn support healthy skin. The best way to do this is to bring a variety of wholesome, minimally processed and fermented foods into our diet regularly, which offer both pre and probiotic functions, such as kefir, miso, sauerkraut, tempeh, soy and yoghurt. These foods can improve gut health, reducing dysbiosis and help to regulate the microbiome. There are many foods, herbs and spices, which have traditionally been used to help heal the gut and in turn support skin health, such as slippery elm, lemon balm, ginger, fennel, peppermint and chamomile. You can find a number of these herbs in our Digestive tea.

2. Manage stress
Stress increases cortisol levels which can trigger inflammation and impact skin health. Often the stressor can’t be removed, but by implementing stress support systems, we can help manage the stress better. Meditation, yoga, regular exercise and mindfulness practices can be helpful rituals to bring into our routine. Herbs such as withania, passionflower, licorice root, lavender and chamomile have traditionally been used to help support a healthy stress response, the adrenals, and the nervous system. You can find many of these herbs in our Adaptogen tea, Calming tea and Sleep tea. We also created a short meditation which you can enjoy here.

3. Whole foods diet
Clean, wholesome, nourishing foods provide important nutrients to help support skin health. Fresh fruits and vegetables are rich in minerals and vitamins which support healthy skin including Vitamin A, C, D, E, and Zinc. Ensuring we identify any food allergies or intolerances is important to enable adequate absorption of the nutrients we ingest. Deficiency due to an intolerance can also play a role in poor skin health so the sooner any intolerances are identified and eliminated the better. By avoiding excess sugar, dairy, refined carbohydrates and processed foods, which can lead to inflammation and an increased toxic load, we ensure more space in our diet for wholesome nutritious foods and increased nutrients. Specific herbs such as calendula, red clover, and burdock have traditionally been used to support skin health and detoxification. You can find these herbs in our Skin glow tea.

4. Support natural detoxification
The skin is the largest organ of elimination, working alongside the liver, kidneys, gut and the lungs to eliminate toxins from the body. Sometimes our body needs support to ensure the adequate elimination of toxins. We can help support this natural process by eating cleansing whole foods, avoiding processed and refined foods, hydrating properly, eliminating harsh chemicals and by bringing in specific herbs to support detoxification. Some of these herbs include St. Marys thistle, dandelion root, schizandra, burdock root, and ginger which can be found in our Detox and Liver cleanse tea.

5. Holistic skin care routine
Beauty starts from within, but what we apply to our skin topically will also affect the health of our skin. We need to be mindful of harsh chemicals and seek out natural, nourishing skincare products. Two skin care brands doing a great job in the natural, clean, skin care space, are Ere Perez and Mukti organics. There are many other wonderful brands out there, but just be sure to carefully check the ingredients used in each product, from deodorants and moisturises to foundation and lipstick.

If you are looking to support your skin health, you don’t have to make a lot of big changes straight away. Perhaps starting small and implementing one improvement at a time will help you take control of your health and start working towards vibrant, healthy skin. By taking a considered and holistic approach, you can begin to let go of products, foods, and lifestyle factors which no longer serve you, and begin to implement
more natural, clean and nourishing support for your skin.

Wishing you health and wellness,
Emma x

Founder and Naturopath