Benjamin Knife Fuchs (0:00)

Calling all forward thinking estheticians, it's time to redefine the art of skincare and embrace a revolutionary approach that begins with your clients. Skin Cell Health. I'm pharmacist Benjamin Knife Fuchs welcoming you to Truth Treatment Systems where beauty begins. At the cell, we believe you're not just a beauty professional, you are a healthcare professional. You want to make a positive difference and you want to make a good living and we will help you do both. We're here to support your out of the box thinking and empower you to question traditional products, outdated formulations and old school ingredients. Imagine a world where solutions to the skin's enigmatic conditions lie just beyond the horizon. At Truth, we're not just a skincare brand. We're a movement that encourages you to explore better solutions and find that aha moment that changes the game. You are an artist and a healer of the skin and we're here to provide the canvas and the tools for you to create tailored protocols leaving generic ones in the past. Sign up now at truthtreatmentspro.com and receive two complimentary mineral rich electrolyte sheet masks. That's truthtreatmentspro.com where healthy skin is beautiful skin.

Maggie Stasik (1:12)

Hello and welcome to ASCP. I'm the Rogue pharmacist with Benjamin Knight Fuchs. In each episode we'll explore how internal and external factors can impact the skin. I'm Maggie Stasik, ASCP's program director and and joining me is Ben Fuchs, skincare formulator and pharmacist. Hey Ben.

Benjamin Knife Fuchs (1:27)

Hello Maggie.

Maggie Stasik (1:28)

Allergies and skin sensitivities can be tricky to navigate. Ben, can you help us understand the differences between sensitive, reactive and allergic skin and how to identify common triggers?

Benjamin Knife Fuchs (1:40)

Yes, skin. The most important thing I can tell you is skin should never be sensitive. Human skin is designed to be a barrier, it's designed to be protective. So if you have problems in terms of sensitivity in the skin, there's an issue. That issue involves an activated immune system. Skin is a. The immune system is your defense system and it's located at the barriers, particularly in the internal barrier. The intestine is like the headquarters of the immune system, but the skin is also represents a major barrier and there's a large concentration of immunity in the skin. The immune system operates as a system. So when the immune system is activated in the intestine, it'll be activated everywhere. It'll be activated in the lungs, it'll be activated in the skin, which are the most important parts of the immune system. And there's other parts of the body as well where the immune system will kick in when there's an attack in the intestine. So intestinal. And by attack, I mean an activation of the immune system, the defense system. So the most important cause of dry skin is activation of the immune system. The most important cause of activation in the immune system is intestinal. In fact, any immune problem, whether it's asthma or autoimmune disease or psoriasis or eczema or sensitive skin sensitivities, rashes, et cetera, should always be backtracked to the intestine, which means food. And given the way we all eat, and I'm not doing any knocking people personally, we've completely changed our food supply in the last 150 years. There's not a single, think about this, there's not a single thing in the supermarket that existed 150 years ago. And if you think meat and eggs and produce are the same, no, they're not. They're completely different. There's nothing in the modern supermarket that existed 150 years ago. Add to that the fact that most of us are not eating, you know, the eggs and the, the veggies, we're eating what's called ultra processed food, which is completely distorted food. So of course we're going to have a food problem. And if you have a food problem because the food hits the intestine, you're going to guaranteed to have an intestinal problem, which means you're gonna have a skin problem. So it's not like a knock on individuals. It's our culture. So obviously we're going to have issues with the immune system. And of course we do. Not just on the skin. But all our health challenges are immune. What's the one word you hear that's associated with all health challenges? You hear this word all the time. And nobody even begins to dissect it or understand it, but we throw it around like, you know, without even thinking about it glibly. Inflammation. Inflammation equals immunity. Inflammation is the manifestation of immunity. Immunity is defense. So all of our health challenges. And remember, the skin is just part of the body, even though it doesn't look like it, and we don't treat it that way. It's part of the body. All our health challenges on every single level. Every single level. Cancer, heart disease, Parkinson's disease, autoimmunity. Skin problems are immune related. That means we're attacking our bodies because the immune system is the defense system. So anytime you have an issue with sensitive skin, you want to Think about a defensive response. That's what sensitive skin is. It's a defensive response. It's the way the skin is attempting to protect itself. The signs of a sensitive skin, the vasodilation, the redness. And by the way, anytime you see redness, you're looking at a defensive response. Anytime you see kind of a rashiness and redness, the itchiness, the rashiness, these are all manifestations of a defensive response. If you have a defensive response, what's the one thing you want to do or think about? If you want to end the defensive response, what's the offending agent? And the offending agent is always going to be food related, talking about the skin. But this is true about any other defensive response that is immune response. All immune responses have to be backtracked to food in the digestive system. Always. Whether it's asthma, whether it's psoriasis, whether it's lupus, whether it's type 1 diabetes, whatever. If it's an immune response, which means inflammatory, which is everything, backtrack to the intestine and it sounds. Sometimes I feel like I'm just like a one trick pony. I'm just saying intestine, intestine, intestine, food. But it is, it's everything, you know, and it's not because I'm Mr. Eat Right Guy and eat organic and eat veggies. If you're a serious healthcare professional and estheticians have to consider themselves to be serious healthcare professionals if they really want to be effective, you've gotta understand how the things we put inside the body manifests on the skin and in other everywhere in the body. You can't have a system that is interfered with without having some kind of response. And food represents the most important interference any food does, even good food represents an interference. And the body has to vet everything. So sensitive skin, which by the way is the same as you asked, the difference between sensitive skin and reactive skin and allergy skin, same thing. These are all immune responses, these are all inflammatory responses. Backtrack to the digestive system, always, always, always. Now, there are some topical products that will exacerbate the problem. So it may appear like the topical product is the cause, but this is only secondary to a destabilized immune system. So once food gets in the wrong stuff, I won't say food, but the wrong stuff gets into the blood. You eat a food, it goes into your stomach, your esophagus stomach goes into the intestine at the point of the intestine, anything you eat has to be vetted before it gets into the blood. So the intestine is a tube, and on the other side's the blood. And just like when you come to go to Canada from the United States, you don't just walk into Canada or you don't walk into Australia or Mexico. You get vetted. There's a customs agent, an immigration department. You, they ask you questions, what are you doing here? Who do you know? Where's your, you know, how long are you going to be here? What's your purpose, et cetera. You get vetted. The intestine is the same way. It has to vet things. And that vetting process only allows the appropriate or correct things to get into the blood. The blood is the sacred space. Nothing is supposed to get into the blood unless it's been vetted. When we think of the blood, you think of, like, this red fluid, right? It's just red stuff. No, the blood is so complex. The blood has got all kinds of stuff in it, and it's gotta be kept at just the right ph and just the right hydration level, has just the right amount of proteins in it, just the right temperature. Everything has to be just so. But if you have an issue at the level of the intestine, they call this leaky gut or intestinal permeability issues. The wrong stuff gets into the blood, and now you got a problem, because this very tightly regulated and controlled system has now got stuff in it that doesn't belong in it. Now, fortunately, nature's perfect, and so there's a system in place for protecting the blood from the stuff that's getting in. And these are different cells, immune cells, and these immune cells will surround the bad guy, if you will, that has gotten into the blood, and that blood will then circulate, but it will be protected somewhat from the bad guys because the immune system will have these cells protecting against the toxin or whatever the substance that got in the blood was. Eventually, the blood will dump that toxin out in the various tissues of the body. It takes those toxins. And by the way, this. These immune cells that are surrounding this toxin, they call them circulating immune complexes. CICs. They'll take these cics and it'll dump them out in the tissues. It dumps them out in the connective tissue, for example. It'll dump them out in the various soft tissues, the glands and such. This is where autoimmune disease begins, by the way, too. The body will then perceive the thyroid or the glands or. Or the connective tissue or wherever the toxins got Dumped off is the enemy. So this is the how, the etiology, the cause, or the beginnings of autoimmunity. But it can also happen in the skin. And when these toxins get dumped off on the skin, the skin becomes destabilized. There's immune activity in the skin, because now you got a bad guy and you got these circulating immune complexes in the skin, literally. And then you put a product on the skin and you say, oh, that product gave me a rash. That product caused my skin to break out, whatever it was. That's why you hear people say, sometimes, oh, everything I put on my skin makes me red, makes me sensitive. It's because they've got this constant stream of toxicity from the blood. To make matters worse, when you have this condition called leaky gut, you activate immune cells, particularly some cells called mast cells. I don't know if you ever heard of this condition. Mast cells, right. And these mast cells release various immune molecules and they become activated as the toxicity enters into the bloodstream or the intestine becomes damaged. And even worse, there's a molecule called histamine, which I'm sure you've heard of, right? And that can get leaked into the blood. On top of that, there's foods that contain histamine, good foods, and there's foods that activate a histamine response. So between histamine, the mast cells, the toxicity that's entering into the bloodstream through the digestive system, that's your. That's your cause of sensitive skin. It is not, for the most part, a topical issue. When I say sensitive skin, I'm not just talking about putting product on your skin, by the way. There are people who can't go out in the sun because the sun will cause them to break out. There are people who can't take a hot shower because a hot shower will cause them to break out. There are people who. Whose bra strap or underwear waist in their underwear will make them sensitive. That's. And this is not uncommon. And it's all secondary to the toxicity that's entering to the bloodstream through the gut, through the leaky gut, in combination with histamine and these mast cell ingredients. And I forgot to mention also particles of bacteria can also be a problem. It's not for the most part. Occasionally it'll be a topical problem. But if you have sensitive skin, like with all skin conditions, listen to your skin. Your skin's talking to you. It's telling you there's something going on inside the body that needs to be corrected. And why is this important? Yeah, you don't want to have sensitive skin. You don't want to have itchy skin. It's a bummer, right? It's uncomfortable, it's unattractive sometimes. But really, it's telling you that you have an immune problem that could be leading to further issues down the road. And if you don't listen to your skin and correct the problem at the internal level, you're running high risk for all kinds of internal diseases and ultimately for a shorter life. So your sensitive skin, like any skin problem, is your best friend because it's telling you something. Especially, by the way, if you have a history of food problems. And I always tell people of sensitive skin, do a food diary, write down the foods that you're eating and associate it with your breakouts and your rashes and your sensitivity. Last thing I want to say is rosacea, which is another very common skin problem, is another example, classic example of an immune problem that manifests as vasodilation redness. Rosacea, of course, means redness. That is not a skin problem and that needs to be corrected at the level of food and the level of digestion. Don't blame products, blame the inside of the body. Not say blame, but approach the inside of the body. Because not only when you do that correctly, not only will you help you eliminate your sensitive skin, but you also add years to your life and reduce your risks of further internal complications down the road. And this means, as estheticians and as skincare professionals, we have such a valuable role to play in the health of our clients. Not only will addressing the inside causes of skin diseases help you with your clients and make your clients lives better, they'll make you better as a healthcare professional. And if you want to be mundane and crude about it, they'll make your business better because people understand that you know what you're doing. You'll become a resource. And we really want to appreciate ourselves as a health resource for our clients that use the skin as a way of understanding what's happening inside the body. And to me, that's the most valuable gift that an esthetician or a skincare professional can provide their consumers with.