The Ten Commandments of skin care! (aka, How to not ruin your skin)

Hello again, everyone. Today we're going to
talk about the ten commandments of skin care. And, just before I get started, this is not
any sort of religious commentary - I just thought this was a good vehicle to deliver
these tips to you. So, don't take it too seriously, but listen to the information and take from
it what you will.

So, the ten commandments of skin care. These are the hardcore rules
about how not to ruin your skin and how to keep it healthy and how not to damage it and
how to slow down the aging process and to just have awesome skin. Commandment number
one: thou shalt not touch your face. Now, obviously, I'm not talking about washing your
face and applying your products, I'm talking about picking at your skin, I'm talking about
scratching, I'm talking about self-extraction.

Any sort of extraneous touching of the face
is something you don't want to do. First of all, the temptation to pick at the irregular
surfaces and textures on your skin is totally normal; you feel something unusual and your
natural impulse is just to try and get it off or to mess with it. The problem here is
that you have a lot of dirt and bacteria under your nails and on your fingertips and when
you're scratching at the skin you can create little tiny wounds in the skin through which
the bacteria and dirt and oil and all of the gross stuff on your hands can enter. And if
you're picking at something like a blemish, you're just going to make the problem worse.
That's a very good way to give yourself a scar.

If you're picking at a little bump on
your skin or a little pimple, it might have healed perfectly fine on its own, but by you
picking at it and scratching at it and messing with it, you're making it that much harder
for your skin to heal itself. Now, a tip to help you stop touching your face. First of
all, keep your nails short. If you have long nails and you're scratching your face, this
should be a no brainer.

Keep your nails as short as possible and also keep them manicured
because when you put polish on the nails you kind of dull the edge, so you don't have this
sharp edge and it's much harder to actually scratch your skin with polished nails. So
that's a tip that I recommend everyone and that's actually something that helps me, because
I used to have this problem. I am a kind of compulsive person and I, you know, if I feel
a bump, I'm like gonna -- Aaah! I'm gonna freak out on it. I get it.

I totally understand.
But, don't do it. Commandment number two: thou shalt exfoliate gently. This is something
I see a lot of as well, people who use scrubs at home who are very overzealous with them
and push really hard when they're trying to exfoliate, will often get really tiny broken
capillaries all over their face. It's unfortunate because you're really not accomplishing that
much with a scrub to justify the amount of damage that you're doing.

Scrubs are not that
great at exfoliating, they're good at getting off like little flaky surface bits and that's
why you think that they're doing a really great job. And for younger people, that's
fine, you know, you can use a scrub to even out your skin texture and that's totally cool.
However, be very gentle about it. There's no benefit to really grinding a scrub into
your skin. You're just damaging your skin.

Scrubs, like I said, are not that effective,
so there's no benefit to going really really harsh with them. You can use a scrub with
a washcloth, with a clarisonic, with any kind of face brush, just do it very very gently.
And it's not really not good for your skin to exfoliate that aggressively, you're going
to be more prone to sun damage, dehydration which means more prone to skin infection and
it just doesn't look very good if you're constantly peeling, so I would recommend doing a low-strength
AHA, if you're going to use AHAs, use a low-strength, if you're using BHAs, use a low-strength,
start as low as you can and work up. You need to start low, otherwise your skin is going
to slough too fast and it's going to get irritated. And irritation is the enemy of skin, you want
to avoid irritation at all costs, that includes exfoliating.

So, if you over-exfoliate your
skin, it can get irritated, it can get hyperpigmentation, more sun damage, dehydration, premature wrinkling,
you can lose elasticity. Irritation is absolutely the worse thing for your skin so avoid it
at all costs. Now, word on retinol, use it in cycles, do not use retinol continuously.
I've seen some people who do this because they like the very dramatic results that retinols
can give and they end up with this very shiny, translucent, waxy-looking skin. And that's
not healthy.

Your skin may be smooth as a waxed baby's bottom, but I'm telling you,
it's not healthy. When your skin gets into this state, it's really like on the verge
of being extraordinarily irritated and any tiny thing can set it off. It may be irritated
like just up to the point where you're going to see an extreme reaction and then any tiny
little thing can set it off and you can get like horrible redness, rosacea-type acne,
like this sort of like cracking, awful appearance and it's painful. And I've seen this and I've
had it happen on small areas of my face before.

It's really really unpleasant and, given everything
I've just said about irritation, you want to avoid it at all costs. Number three: thou
shalt not wax while exfoliating. Basically, what this means is if you are applying like
and AHA or a BHA or a retinol or, most importantly, if you're using acutane, do not get waxed.
Acutane, you can't get waxed anywhere on your body, but if you're applying your AHA's to
your face, don't get waxed anywhere on your face. I've been using a 5% AHA and with my
skin texture I know for a fact that if I tried to wax, it would lift my epidermis.

This is
what people refer to as a "burn" when they get waxed and it's not a burn, that's not
at all what it is, what it is is your epidermis lifting off. And that sounds super scary and
it kind of is, but when you think about the anatomy of the skin, it makes perfect sense.
The epidermis is like a dry layer of hard keratin cells that are stacked in like a brick
wall type formation, and when it's not prepared properly or when it's in a sort of "loose"
state, if you will, from exfoliation, the whole thing can lift right off. You can lift
off the epidermis and expose the new skin below which is very sensitive and it will
basically scab over and can create scars. So, don't do it.

As a professional, I always
ask every single client every single time: "Are you using any exfoliating products, Retin-A,
any type of retinols, Acutane?" I ask them this everytime, not just the first time, I
ask everytime. Because not everybody knows to say: "Oh yeah, by the way, I've just added
this new glycolic." And it's not everything, like a glycolic face wash is not the same
as a glycolic leave-on treatment. But if you're using a topical exfoliating treatment regularly
or if you've just recently had a chemical peel or microdermabrasion or something like
dermaplaning, any sort of, you know, good exfoliation or if you're using a retinol -- retinols,
you've got to be very very careful, you can't use them anywhere near the application. So,
if you've applied retinol for two weeks, you've got to wait a month.

You've got to let more
cells turn over before you go in to get waxed. Also, if you are getting waxed on the same
day that you have a facial, do the waxing first. Your operator should know this, but,
just in case, you always want to do the waxing first, then do the facial. This does not really
apply to body waxing, unless you are applying a lot of exfoliants to your body or if you're
using Acutane.

If you use Acutane, and I don't recommend Acutane to anybody, but if you do
use Acutane, do not get waxed ever. Commandment number four: thou shalt not sleep in your
make-up. And, this is pretty self-explanatory, just don't do it. I usually will allow myself
to pass out without washing my face once a year.

This has gotten even less as I've gotten
older, but back in the days when I used to, you know, go out partying, if I was so tired,
if it was so late and I just wanted to pass out, I would let myself do it once a year.
And I would always pay for it. My skin would be hell for a couple of days afterward, but
just don't do it unless you absolutely have to. And don't make excuses about it, don't,
you know, don't say, "Ah, but I'm so tired." It doesn't matter, it really doesn't matter,
take five minutes, wash your face, remove your make-up and if you are so tired, so often
that this is a problem for you, that you are frequently sleeping in your make-up then you
need to look at your lifestyle and see what you can do to change your nightly routine,
to make a priority of removing your make-up so that your skin stays healthy. And it's
not just about removing your make-up, you need to wash your face.

You need to introduce
water into your face and then put on something to hold that water into your skin for it to
be healthy. Commandment number five: thou shalt not put dirty things on your face. This
applies to: make-up brushes, fingers, phones, make-up sponges, make-up, any sort of dirty
old make-up. If you have a compact with a sponge in it, that sponge is meant to be temporary,
that is not supposed to be a permanent tool for you to use indefinitely, until you use
another product.

That's a very good way to ruin your products and also ruin your skin.
You can buy replacement sponges for pretty much any type of compact at the drugstore,
at the beauty supply store, just swap them out, you know, five days at most, if you're
using it everyday during a work week, you know, even that, if you are really good about
swaping this stuff out, you can do it every other day, everyday. Every day is not necessary,
in my opinion, but every other day, if you are really really good at this stuff, otherwise,
try to do it at least once a week. For brushes, do a spot clean every time you use them, deep
clean them, you know, once a month or so and you'll be good. For phones, try not to ever
talk on your phone this way unless you absolutely have to.

Try to use a headset, try to use
alcohol as often as possible to clean the surface of your phone. They're introducing
all the bacteria from your hands and from whatever else they've been touching. Try as
much as you can to either use a speaker phone or to use a headset. Commandment number six:
thou shalt avoid fragrance.

And I've been talking about this a lot lately and for a
good reason. Fragrance is the enemy of skin. There is no benefit at all to using fragrance
other than to amuse you. And companies have been doing this for a very long time and it's
a very outdated concept.

There is no reason to have perfume in skin care or in make-up.
Some people like it, most people are like: "Oh and it has a smell, I don't mind it so
much" or "I hate the smell but I'll use it anyway." But companies still use this party
line of: "Well, women want perfume in their cosmetics." It's really not true, I don't
think they've actually asked anybody and they certainly haven't asked anybody who knows
better. A lot of women don't know how harmful it is to put this stuff on your face. This
goes back to the whole "Irritation is the worst possible thing for your skin." Fragrance
is the number one irritant in all products. There is nothing worse for your skin.

Except,
you know, maybe pouring alcohol on it. But as far as, like, daily use goes, fragrance
is the worst thing in all of your products. Forget parabens. Parabens have not been scientifically
proven to be harmful, and I will speak about this later.

But fragrance -- fragrance is
something that we absolutely know, one hundred percent, for a fact, is harmful to the skin.
So make that your priority. Make that the priority in your skin care. Eliminating products
with fragrance 'cause that's the worst thing. And also, just so you know, fragrant plant
oils, like lavender oil or eucalyptus or peppermint or, you know, any of those kinds of oils -- those
are fragrance too.

There is no benefit to putting these natural products in your face.
There's no -- there's no great reason to do it in nature. I don't think that our cavemen
ancestors were putting these types of things on their face. It's just not something that
happened. Just because it's natural doesn't mean that it belongs on your face.

Commandment
number seven: thou shalt not use tanning beds. Ever. Don't do it. Commandment eight: thou
shalt eat less sugar and drink less alcohol.

Now sugar has a very strong connection with
premature aging. This is something that's only really making its way into the mainstream
now. But sugar is connected to something called glycation. I'm not going to get too far into
what that is because it's going to be really long.

But just know that sugar leads to glycation,
glycation leads to the breakdown of the structures in your skin that keep it firm and taut and
young-looking. So, it's something you really want to cut down as much as possible. And
alcohol is a particularly vile form of sugar. It's also very dehydrating.

It's toxic to
the system, in addition to introducing sugars into your bloodstream. So, whenever possible,
try to reduce sugar from your diet. If you put two teaspoons of sugar in your coffee,
put one teaspoon in your coffee. Cut down a half a teaspoon.

Try using stevia. Stevia
is a natural sweetener. I don't recommend any artificial sweeteners for any reason,
ever. But stevia is a natural sweetener that is no calories and is a good substitute.

I
find it to be a little off-putting if you use a lot of it, so I mix it with just like
a tiny bit of agave syrup or something like that. You can use honey, if you tolerate honey.
But mixing it with a tiny bit, not a lot, of a natural sugar kind of cuts the odd taste
of it but for the most part you don't really taste the difference. If you're accustomed
to artificial sweeteners you're really not going to notice that much a difference if
you start using stevia except that stevia doesn't taste like chemicals. Now with alcohol
I'm not saying to stop drinking alcohol.

I. Like to drink alcohol. I can't right now so
I have to kind of live vicariously through other people's enjoyment of it. However, when
you go out, try having one drink instead of two.

If you're going to have two, drink a
big glass of water. Don't drink five. Don't have five drinks. Just don't do it.

There's
no reason to do it. Drink your drinks slowly. If people are pressuring you into drinking
more, just say: "Ah well, I can't, I'm driving." And if they try to give you crap about that,
then they're being assholes. If you don't drive just say: "Ah well I have an early day
tomorrow." You know, whatever.

Just, whatever. Give them some excuse. There's no reason why
you should be pressured into poisoning your body by your "friends" -- people who are trying
to get you drunk so that they don't feel alone. It's really just something that you have control
over.

Only you are in control of this. Another thing that you should avoid, for the sake
of your skin, is drinking and driving. Death is not very cute. It's not going to make your
skin look very good.

And nobody ever looks good in a mugshot. Commandment number nine:
thou shalt not smoke. Duh. Just don't do it.

Next to sun damage, smoking is absolutely
the worst thing that you can do for your skin, so find a way to quit. Make it a priority.
There's so many reasons to quit. And I'm a former smoker, I know how it goes. I was a,
you know, young rebellious club goer.

I totally get it. But you need to eventually say: "Ok,
this is stupid, there's no reason to be doing this. I'm just paying tons of money to a terrible
corporate machine, when I could be spending this money on good quality skin care." Or,
you know, save up for a vacation, use it for anything. But smoking is expensive, it's disgusting
and it's terrible terrible for your the skin.

Smoking actually destroys vitamin C which
is a natural antioxidant made by the skin that helps protect from sun damage. So, not
only is the smoking itself terrible for the skin, but it's also going to speed up the
sun damage that you're getting while you're probably outside smoking. And last, but not
least, we have commandment number ten: thou shalt take action. It is no one else's responsibility
but your own to take care of your skin, just like it's no one else's responsibility to
take care of your body.

You are in charge of your life. Even if you are a young person
with parents who are telling you what to do, you can still make decisions for yourself.
They're not watching you twenty-four hours a day. You have a say. So, start good habits
now.

Do research. Learn about ingredients. Start reading your labels. Make decisions
for yourself.

Don't be told what to do. Even as I'm telling you what to do now, question
me. Question my thought process, question my credentials, question everything. Make
decisions for yourself.

Learn everything you can. Take the time to learn about ingredients.
Don't just get your information from marketing machines. Really learn about ingredients -- individual
ingredients and what they do. And finally, please just don't believe everything that
you hear or read or see on youtube.

Nobody knows everything and a lot of the people who
are giving you advice or who are trying to share information - they're not getting it
from a good source. And a lot of times it's heard secondhand or it's heard from someone,
someone's friend of a friend's of their cousin who is a dermatologist or whatever. Or it's
like these e-mails which get forwarded which is how the whole paraben hysteria got started.
Just don't believe everything that you're exposed to because not everyone is getting
their information from a good source. A lot of these sources have sort of dubious intentions.
And you just really should familiarize yourself with skin care ingredients, with the climate
of the skin care industry and the cosmetic industry to be able to make informed decisions
for yourself.

If you get nothing else from my videos that I'm going to be making, that
I've been making lately it's that you really need to educate yourself, take responsibility
for yourself and your own skin. Be in charge. All I'm saying really is take in all the information
that you are getting and use your brain. Make up your own mind and make your own decisions.
So I hope you guys got something from that.

I really don't mean to be lecturing you so
harshly. I get passionate about this stuff. If you have any questions, let me know. And
if you have any questions for me to answer in a future video, please leave me a message
below or send me a message through the youtube messaging system.

They have made it damn near
impossible to do that so go to my channel page and underneath my channel description
there will be a little triangular box next to my username. That's how you send messages
now - it's such a pain in the ass. But if you want to ask me a direct question that's
the best way to do it because then I don't have the comment restriction -- I don't have
that character restriction to answer your questions. Thank you guys very much for watching.
If you like this, video please give me a thumbs up and subscribe if you haven't and I will
see you again very soon.

Bye..