The Naked Truth About Skincare

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The following is for informational purposes only. For medical advice, please see a medical professional.

SPEAKER_04 0:18

Welcome to Staying Alive with Margaret and Susie. Today we're tackling an interesting topic. We are talking about the body's largest organ. Do you know what it is? It's a quiz. It's the skin. And so we're talking about skin care. So as science-based people who are very interested in our physical bodies, we can't talk about our overall health and skip the skin. Yet I kept um delaying this episode because I said to Susie, gosh, if we talk about skincare, people are going to want tips and you know what products do we use. And that's not what we're doing. And what what I finally realized, Margaret, it's just going to be the same as all your episodes. Science-based, what you know about the science of it, and what your personal experiences are. And in this particular topic, it turns out I have a lot more personal experience with this one. So you're going to be hearing a lot from me on this and Susie as well. And when we get to talking about our skincare routines, because we have sort of opposite ends of the spectrum on skin, you're going to probably hear like two different routines.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Well, we have some similarities too, which we'll talk about.

SPEAKER_04 1:43

Yeah. So um, so we're talking about the skin. And so I'm just going to start with the science. I decided I'm just going to read a direct quote from the NIH. What it says about skin is it's the primary protective barrier against environmental threats like UV light, pathogens, and physical injury. It regulates body temperature via sweat and blood flow, enables sensation, touch, pain, heat, prevents dehydration, and synthesizes vitamin D. So it's a really important organ.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

And yet, I mean, if you think about it, even in the the aisles at the at the drugstore, it's like skin gets lumped in with hair care. Skin and hair care. Skin and hair care. Well, and beauty, beauty, beauty. And beauty, beauty, and and yet it's the biggest organ in our body. And it does so much. And and yet, you know, it's also the organ that we see. I can't think. Is there any other organ that you can see on the outside of your body?

SPEAKER_03 2:55

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

So there might be things going on with our other organs.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Maybe are your eyes considered an organ? No.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

No, out of sight, out of mind on the other organs. Yeah, we can see our skin. And so it it becomes sometimes a source of vanity for some people. It's like how our skin looks. And so I think you can see with me, I don't dye my hair, I don't wear makeup. So you'll see some women our age on these podcasts. They've got lipstick on, they're all done up, they get their hair done before they come on camera. And I I've intentionally not done that. It's like this is what Margaret at 72 looks like. I might put, you know, put a little bit of something on if I'm going out for my anniversary or something, but not normally. And my husband doesn't even really like me to wear makeup. So so this is how my skin looks. And it turns out that it's been a source of difficulty in in my life, and you're gonna hear about that in a minute. And I mean, this is my personal opinion. It's sort of a a pat peeve that um the cosmetic industry is such a big money-making venture, it's such a big part of capitalism, and the the things that they're recommending to us, they don't in most cases at all cure what's going on with our skin, they just cover it up, and so we're paying for cover-up and we know some of it's detrimental too.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

Some of it's detrimental. In fact, I'll talk in a minute about how you can screen some of those things.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

Yes. And you know, I don't put chemicals in my body, so why would I put chemicals on my body just to make it look different and and and not show you guys the fact that okay, Margaret's out obviously not use sunscreen as a kid, and there's a lot of damage there. I mean, the thing is like the of course you could you could get plastic surgery if you want to go all the way. You could use certain products that really do um.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

Oh, you can have a face peel. You can have a face peel. Yeah, people do that. I mean, you know, it's it's like, you know, it's and and and it lightens right everything going on.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

But what Susie and I know is all it's doing is masking, right? It doesn't at all determine whether you're gonna get some skin cancer on your skin later in life. That was determined at the time you damaged your skin 60 years ago. And so um bathing your out in the sun, yeah. Yeah, and and so um we're not gonna be making recommendations about cosmetics, but we are gonna talk about our skin. Mostly I'm gonna talk about my skin and share my personal experiences about that. So yeah, you know, it's so yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

It's so important, and your skin changes as you age too. I mean, we can talk about that. I mean, the skin that I had when I was younger is of course way different as I've aged. You know, you have to be careful too. I mean, because sometimes skin infections can happen without you even realizing it. You know, you can get a crack in your dry skin and it can cause you can get an infection or something. Yes. So you do you have to be careful.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

Yes, I mean, you know, as as I read earlier, it's it's the it's the barrier to pathogens entering your body.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 6:48

I mean, a crack in your skin can allow stabs inside your body.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

But let's face it, there are certain chemicals that even if you get them on your skin, you know, it's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:00

Well, that's a good segue that I'm gonna go right into my skin condition. So as Susie said, your skin changes when you age. And the the thing we've talked about in past episodes is inflammatory conditions continue to increase as we age and get more pronounced. And my aging inflammatory condition is chronic inflammatory skin. And so, you know, I I think of it as like good news, bad news. Bad news is you can see it, like you can see, okay, this is allergy season, or Margaret's really overheated, or oh, she just got over a cold. Like all those things are true. So the way my skin looks, it's not because I've had sun exposure. This is my inflammatory condition, which is activated right now. And as we're speaking, it's early April, and I live in a place where we're at the height of bloom, and it's allergy season, and and I'm just getting over a cold virus. And so all those things triggers my inflammatory uh skin condition, which comes and goes throughout the year and is very sensitive to any pathogen entering the body. And so it's um it's what I deal with, and I'll I'll talk about that more because I I want to talk about the anti-inflammatory diet a a little bit later. Just be aware that inflammatory conditions do get worse as we age, and so and and this is mine, this is mine, and it's interesting, I also have a little bit of osteoarthritis, which is another inflammatory condition. Of course, like there are lots of gut issues that are inflammatory conditions, so we have our different genetic predispositions, and mine is is the skin, and so in a way I see it as a good thing. It's like, okay, I know what's going on, and yes, I do have a bit of arthritis as well, but it's interesting, the anti-inflammatory lifestyle I lead completely takes care of any arthritic pains, um, aches and pains, but it doesn't deal with this. Like for me to be completely free of this chronic skin condition, I would need to stay indoors in a completely climate-controlled environment, never take a bath for the rest of my life, never let my body get overheated, never let the sun touch it. And even though I have really good sunscreen, just warming the skin still triggers the inflammatory state, I would I would have to do so many things. Like I couldn't be out in nature, and and I choose not to do that. I choose that sounds awful. This this is me. This is me, and I'm doing the best I can here, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:17

So so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_04 10:20

Anything you want to say yet, Susan? Well, you know, I can go on and on on this.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

You know, I have to say I've also developed a little bit of rosacea as I've aged. And my when I was young, I have very oily skin and I had skin problems like acne. I think it was brought on hormonally and with stress and you know, just being young. The advantage though, also I have really oily skin. So the advantage to that is now my skin isn't aging as fast.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

You know, what's interesting when I have the worst time with my skin is in the fall. Oh. And it's, I think it's that transition from being, I'm I can be out in the sun, I get a little bit of tan, I do wear sunscreen, but I get, you know, and I try to not do too much sun anymore. But in the fall, my skin just gets really horrible. And it's like flaky and and oily, and it's it's weird. Then I have to really watch what I use on it. I have certain only certain soaps that I can use on my face. Yeah. Be really careful. Um, and you know, and I use coconut oil on my face. You know, I just buy the kind you cook with and put it on my face. And sometimes I use a little bit of a sunscre, uh tinned moisturizer that's got sunscreen in it. But um, yeah, my skin is more sensitive as I've aged. And the advantage of having oily skin again is you don't wrinkle as much. I'm starting to get a few crows' feet, you know, but I don't wrinkle as much. But I think that everyone is different too. Yeah. You know, like I've got oily skin, my sister has dry skin, my husband has dry skin, uh, my daughter has dry skin. Yeah, it's it's kind of like everybody's got a different kind of sensitivity on their skin.

unknown 12:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

I mean, some people can be out in the sun their whole dumb lives and not get skin cancer, you know, whereas other people, um, my husband's had a few uh skin cancers, not not um, they're not melanomas, you know, but skin damage removed from his face. You know, I worry about that, that it's going to become something worse. But he isn't hasn't always been careful about being in the sun. He wears a hat now, but he's not as careful as he should be.

SPEAKER_04 12:35

Let's let's talk in detail now, since you've started the discussion on our skincare routines. And then the other question I wanted to ask you is do you have a dermatologist and how often do you see them?

SPEAKER_03 12:51

I and also I have been to a dermatologist and I haven't seen them in a few years, to be honest with you. I I went and had a complete once-over where they look at all your skin, but it's been a while, to be honest with you. And I probably should go again.

SPEAKER_04 13:06

You maybe haven't had a reason to. I mean, it's like not every aging person needs to have a dermatologist that they see every year, just like not every aging person needs a cardiologist.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

Well, the problem with that is that I see dermatologist. Well, the problem with that that I see though is if you live alone and no one else gets to look at your skin, you may have something on your back or you know, that you can't see. And it is sometimes I think people as they age, who if they're living alone, probably should have somebody look at their skin. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:42

Yeah. But um some people just like have say to their primary care when they go in, hey, could you look at this? And then that that they'll determine whether you need to the dermatologist. Do you want to start or should I? What is your daily skincare routine?

SPEAKER_03 14:00

I don't, you know, I just sometimes now I don't wash my face with soap all the time. I use just a warm washcloth at night. And then if I shower, I use soap, uh special soap, you know, and then I put um some coconut on my face. But really, I don't have to do a lot to my skin. I'm pretty lucky that way. I'd like to find a good scrub, but I'm but so many of them irritate my skin now. But I'm careful about what I put on my skin. That's all there's to it. I just don't have to do much.

SPEAKER_04 14:31

You no, you don't. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, like anything and everything can irritate my skin. I can't even use warm water on my skin. I need to, I mean, I do when I shower, but I kind of keep my face out of it. And so I I need to use cool water. So my my daily routine is well, starting at night, um, I use just a really mild cleanser, totally hyperallergetic, no fragrances, because that will bother my skin. And then I use a really good moisturizer because they say um when you sleep at night, that's when you want to get the moisture back in your skin, which my skin needs. And then um in the morning, and and the moisturizer helps with the inflammation too. Um, and then in the morning, I just splash cool water on my face. My face is still clean from um the night before, and uh I just splash cool water on, and then I have like a really good moisturizer with sunscreen that I put on right away because sometimes I'm outside within 30 minutes of getting up, so I or an hour, so I want the sunscreen on right away, and then I just keep reapplying that every four hours because that's how long my sunscreen lasts, and I know how long it lasts. And um, because uh I can't even wear a hat or it can cut my skin. Like that's how sensitive that is how sensitive my skin is.

SPEAKER_03 16:13

Yeah, I do use sunscreen in the summertime, you know, and I I have some facial scum sunscreen that I got. Um and I do try to put it on when I especially if I go south where it's more sunny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

And then it's interesting on the dermatologist, I was going regularly early on when I first got the rosacea diagnosis, but then I kind of realized, well, even that, it's just treating the symptoms, and there's nothing really they can do. I've got the diagnosis, so I know what to do to just kind of live with it. And so then uh when I went more than a year, I couldn't get back in. It's like dermatology in where I live, it's the it's the most utilized practically of all the different specialties.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Because you live in California, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:07

So now I I schedule every year, every year. And perhaps if my dermatologist is looking at something that they're watching, they might have me come in more frequently, but not not generally. And so uh I have I have my next appointment next week, and I'm thinking they might be cutting some things off. So I thought to myself, should I be doing this episode afterwards? Okay, so they cut this, you know, no, like well, you know, the I'm glad that you have that opportunity to get in to see somebody.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

It's hard to get in to see a dermatologist here, too. Yeah, it takes a while. But you know, the interesting thing is too, there are some there are some apps that you can get that will help you screen cut skin things like cosmetics. There's one through the environmental working group that you just go to their app and they'll kind of give you a list of products that they recommend or don't recommend in terms of environmental impact, like may have more chemicals in them. Um, there's also an app that I don't have that's called Yucca, which is Y-U-K-A. And you my sister uses it. And what you can do with it is if you have it on your phone, you can scan products in the store before you purchase them.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

And it tells what what the toxins are in the product.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Yeah, you can do it on shampoos, lotions, cream, and food, actually. You can use it for food, and um, she does it all the time for for cosmetic things. Yeah, it's kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

Check it out. I think they might have a website too, because I do I think I feel like I went there and looked some things up before the scanning option.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Yeah, it's Y-U-K-A. But I noticed that I'm I joined the environmental working group because we talked about that before. They're the ones that put out the dirty dozen and the clean 15 list for produce. Um, they also have uh resources for cosmetics.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

So so we basically have addressed skin cancer, which is what uh people would probably be most concerned about with the skin. Yeah. And then I've talked about my inflammatory condition, but keep in mind that the conditions of the skin can be related to a whole variety of diseases.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Yeah, that's very true.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Um we now know that there's a form of psoriasis, which is autoimmune, right?

SPEAKER_03 19:34

That starts on your skin but then goes into an arthritic condition. My sister has it and started on her skin, just one spot and then went internal. So be always very careful with that.

SPEAKER_04 19:46

So be sure, and when you see your doctor for a regular checkup, show them anything going on with your skin, even if you know it's not cancer. It's like, oh, this is just a rash, who cares?

SPEAKER_03 19:58

Right, but a rash can be a lot of things. Yeah. Show them, show them, show them.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

Yeah, for sure. And then your primary will decide whether this is something they're equipped to diagnose or whether they want you to go on to a dermatologist or some other type of doctor. With the skin conditions, I wanted people to be sure to understand that the science is that it's an indicator that our body's immune system is activated and working over time.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

And some inflammatory states go elsewhere in the body, like Susie just mentioned, regardless of what what we're doing to care for it, like the all the things I do to keep my skin cool and such. The anti-inflammatory lifestyle that we've mentioned in the past episodes are still useful uh to have in your toolkit. And right, right. And so uh I don't know if you want to say anything about that now, but I I will just say be sure and refute refer back to our past episode.

SPEAKER_03 21:03

Yeah, there was, I think it was episode five where we talked about uh fats. There was a lot in there about the anti-inflammatory lifestyle, especially when you look at the types of fats that you're eating, like omega-3 fatty acids. It's basically a Mediterranean diet, you know, the anti-inflammatory diet is lots of produce, whole grains, lean proteins, healthy things like olive oil and walnuts. The more things that you incorporate into your diet like that, the less processed foods that you have to consume. You know, and I think it can be very helpful for so many things, you know, for your heart, for um your skin, for your joints, everything. Yeah. Yeah. And oh and the other thing is hydration.

SPEAKER_04 21:50

Yeah. So that that's what covers uh so go look, go to our fats episode to cover the dietary components. And then we have individual episodes. On other things that are anti-inflammatory lifestyle. Our basic catalog, almost everything's in anti-inflammatory lifestyle issue. Hydration.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Hydration is so important for your skin.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

Alcohol use.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:15

I mean, just think of sleep, our exercise, all those things.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

I always think of real malnutrition shows up on your skin. I mean, most people in this country are not real malnourished. You know what I mean? I'm talking severe malnourishment, but it shows up on your skin for that reason. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:35

Yeah. And I Susie worked with the elderly. Don't forget their skin inside your body too. And if you're malnourished, it's hard to do an operation because they can't they can't I I know.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Or if you're dehydrated, for instance, sometimes they can't even get an IV in. You know, if you have to have a procedure. Yeah, no, it's it's a very serious thing.

SPEAKER_04 22:57

So consider the entire anti-inflammatory lifestyle. Look back at our other uh episodes. If you're if you're dealing with something like I'm dealing with a chronic condition, keep in mind also stress management and like constant moisturizing. When when you have like little rashes appear or something, keeping your skin super moist all the time and safe from sun exposure in addition to the hydration, extremely important. Because I mean, when my inflammatory condition gets triggered, in a certain way I just have to wait for allergy season to be over, or I have to wait for the uh virus to leave my body. But I mean, yes, I could take I could take an allergy pill, but I know that those allergy pills are dangerous on other organs in my body, and all they're doing is masking a symptom. So I'm not I'm better to deal with this. I'm not gonna do it deal with that. I'm not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

Well, that's that's great um information. You know, I hadn't thought about allergy season in the skin, so that that's really important. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:16

Sometimes I have to come home and just quickly rinse my face with cool water because even just like getting pollen on my skin, I'm like, oh my skin is sometimes like mad.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

Sometimes it even gets in your eyes. Yeah, and your eyes get and some years are worse for pollen than others. Um here we've had so much rain that I don't think the pollen's as bad quite yet, but yes, and here not so that's all great information.

SPEAKER_04 24:47

I that's pretty much what I wanted to cover today. Is there anything else you want to say to you?

SPEAKER_03 24:53

I don't think so. I think we're we're kind of running out of time, so I think that's good.

SPEAKER_04 24:57

Well, I'm just gonna leave with the three takeaways. I wrote three takeaways. Don't ignore your skin, talk to your doctor about your skin as part of your regular visits and treat your skin like every other organ in your body.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

Yeah, treat your skin well. It needs to be treated well. So, do you want to say anything about subscribe or um Yes, please be subscribe to our podcast, look at our website, which is um staying alive with Margaret and Susie. That's suy.com. And um like us. We like to be liked.

SPEAKER_04 25:36

And we like you. And so in until next time, we are staying alive.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

You've been listening to Staying Alive with Margaret and Susie. This show is hosted by Margaret Cooley and Susie Hymas. To subscribe to our show, leave a comment, or ask a question, please visit staying alive with margaretandsuzy.com. Our podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. If you've enjoyed our program, please feel free to leave us a five star review. Thanks for listening.