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#skinthusiast: the podcast
SOLO Q&A: Layering Your Skincare, Fixing Damaged Ends, Up-Level Your Pre-Wedding Skin & More
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Amy Coberling
Both Adapalene and Tretinoin have great data for the treatment of acne. Adapalene is a third generation retinoid, so it actually is a different molecule than the other retinoids. However, it works in a similar manner and both are honestly mainstay treatments for acne. Like I can tell you that in my practice on a daily basis I use them pretty evenly in the amount of times I'm prescribing them for the treatment for acne. I do tend to like have my favorites. I love Adapalene combined with benzoyl peroxide for certain types of acne. I love tretinoin and a lotion formula for certain types of acne. But in general I know that if my patient is on either tretinoin or adapt, they're going to get really good results when it comes to their acne. Welcome to Skin. Thus the podcast a place for listeners to hear from the experts and so can tangible tips to get that glow from the inside out. I'm Amy, a skincare educator, practicing dermatology, PA and beauty creator who bridges the gap between the consumer and the industry. Listening to the industry's top experts on everything from the best way to spot treat a pimple to the Holy Grail hair products you didn't know you needed to the drugstore finds that are better than luxury price tags. We cover it all here. Dermatologists, beauty and wellness experts, brand founders and thought leaders share their tips and tricks for all things beauty, skincare and wellness. Think of hashtag Skusiasts like the coffee chat with the beauty gurus whose brains you've always wanted to pick. You won't get this kind of insight anywhere else. Hello and welcome to another episode of skusiest. The podcast today is our monthly solo Q and A episode. You guys love these episodes. If you're not familiar over on my Instagram, every single Sunday I take a flood of your questions. I answer as many as I can on stories during my 10 minute LED mask treatment and the rest go into a bank. And I pull from that bank for these monthly Q and A podcast episodes. So this is a way where I can really connect with you. I can really delve deep into some of the more specific questions that you guys have. One question I always get in my DMs is do I do virtual consultations? And at this time I don't. I still practice out of an in person office here in Miami. So if you're local or if you're traveling to Miami, you can go to derm.net and you can book an appointment with me to evaluate your skin concerns, go over your goals for skin. We can come up with a full routine. But if you're someone who is not in the South Florida area or is not planning to travel here, my best advice is to go to skenthusiast.com shop there I have a comprehensive skincare guide and this was really thoughtfully put together in a way that I use information with my patients. So in a similar fashion, you can kind of step by step create your own efficacious routine. And we actually recently just launched the same thing for hair. So something that a lot of people don't know is I do give my patients a lot of hair guidance because in the field of dermatology, we don't only study the science of hair and nails. So hair care is something I'm very passionate about. And we do have a full hair care guide now on the shop as well that walks you through understanding your specific hair type and how to best care for it. Depends on the level of damage that you have, depending on the type of hair that you have, really formulating an efficacious hair care routine. So both of those are available on skynthusiast.com shop and maybe one day we'll offer virtual consultations. I'm not so sure right now. The schedule is just so packed with everything else that I have going on. But for now, these Q and A episodes really help to kind of fill in that gap for specific questions. So let's get right into it. First audience question is how to use hydration serums in a routine with retinoids. I find that this question is the most confusing for people. Not necessarily hydration and retinoid specifically, but just like how to formulate a routine based on the ingredients that you're using, based on the products that you're using, how to layer. And one thing that seems very rudimentary and that we've all heard a million times, but honestly applies very well is the thinnest to thickest method. In this method, you apply your products or serums from thinnest or more clear to thicker or more opaque. And the reason this works so well is because in general that means you're applying your more water heavy serums and products first and going into the the thicker, more emollient, more lipid based products, which is exactly how you want to layer your skincare. When all else fails, just go back to that simple tip. I promise it will steer you in the right direction 99 of the time. And in General, if I'm using a hydration serum with a retinoid, what I like to do is cleanse. So retinoids are usually used in your nighttime routine. So this is going to be a nighttime routine. So you would cleanse, usually double cleanse. Because we want to make sure we're getting off all the sunscreen even if you're not wearing makeup. So a cleansing balm or a micellar water followed by your water based face cleanser. It's usually the most, the easiest and and most enjoyable way to double cleanse. Then you would go in with your hydration serum. So a couple that I really love, I love the one from pca. It's their hyaluronic acid boosting serum. I love the new A5 from Skin Medica. Some more budget friendly options. I love Mantle Skincare. And then of course Naturium always does such great budget friendly options. So there are definitely options when it comes to your hydration serum. Then after that you have to kind of understand the a little bit about your retinoid and a little bit about your skin type. So if you're someone who's very used to your retinoid, you could use your retinoid and then your moisturizer. But if you're someone who's just starting on your retinoid journey, I usually recommend actually swapping that order. Especially if you're using a higher strength retinoid like a higher strength retinol or an Adapalene or even a prescription strength tretinoin or something like that. Moisturizer first really helps to not only seal in the moisture and the hydration from the hydration serum, but also act as a little bit of buffer. So there's not as much irritation associated with that retinoid. But again, if you're using the same retinoid you've used for years, or if it's a very gentle formulation, you can go right in with your retinoid after your hydration serum and then your moisturizer last. And this is like not a hard and fast rule. You can play around with it, see how your skin does and adjust from there. I also have patients who during the winter months they swap the order of their retinoid and their moisturizer, but during the summer months they can apply it directly on the skin. So you know your skin best, you know the changes that you're seeing. If you start to notice an increase in dryness and flaking, try swapping that order. But in general, almost always your hydration serum is going to go before your retinoid and in general there's no reason you can't use them in the same routine. What is a good hydration serum that will keep moisture in? So this is a common misconception about hydrations. Hydration and moisture are two different things. And it's important that we understand that when it comes to layering our skin. Skincare and when you're looking for a hydration serum, you Most of the hydration serums on the market are truly meant to hydrate. They are not meant to moisturize or lock in moisture. That's the job of a moisturizer. So think of your hydration serum as a completely different step. This is specifically to hydrate your skin. So any of the ones that I recommended in the last question and then you want to lock in with them with a moisturizer. So the moisturizer's job is to keep moisture in, not necessarily the hydration serum. So then you're going to go in with your favorite lipid rich moisturizer, something like Skinfix if you have dry skin. The Alpine Beauty Ghost Berry is such a lovely moisturizer. It's my favorite for my dry skin in the summer months. In the winter months I find I need something a little bit heavier. But it's also a really good option if you have oily skin in the winter months because it's a little bit lighter than the skin. Fix the Zarify barrier repair is such a fantastic barrier repair moisturizer. Cetaphil makes a really great heavier cream if you're somebody with really dry skin. And it's a great budget friendly option. So that is what you're going to use to lock in the moisture from your hydration serum or I should say lock in the hydration from your hydration serum. And then if you find that even that isn't enough, what you could do is go in with a little bit of Vaseline on top, especially during the winter months. This is called slugging. I'm sure you've probably heard of it if you're a listener to this podcast. But this is a really good way to really lock in not only the hydration from the hydration serum, but also the moisture from the emollients in the moisturizer. And then you can just kind of add that. Just a pea sized amount is all you need. Apply it all over the face and it really, truly locks everything in. It's a great way to wake up feeling hydrated, moisturized and dewy. If you feel like your moisturizer or even your hydration serum and your moisturizer just aren't cutting it. Next question, vitamin C. For acne prone skin, this can be really tough and it's a common mistake I see amongst my patients. So if you are someone who's actively breaking out, I generally don't recommend using a vitamin C serum for a few reasons. One of them and the most common reason being many of the most common vitamin C serums on the market use something called L ascorbic acid which needs a lower PH formulation to to be efficacious. So that's why it can sometimes be irritating for certain skin types. And I often find that those who are acne prone can break out with vitamin C. So if I have a patient who's come in, who comes in, who's actively breaking out, this is one of the first products I take away. It doesn't mean we can't add it back in. Vitamin C is such an efficacious ingredient that we want in our routine long term, but not while we're actively breaking out. Now if you're acne prone but your skin is under good control, like you don't have a ton of breakouts at the moment, there are a couple of options for you. One of them being D Ascorbate which does not require a low PH formulation because it's a lipid soluble derivative of vitamin C so it penetrates the skin without the need of that low ph. So these are things like the revision C plus correcting which is a little bit more on the expensive side. And Vanicream also makes a THD Ascorbate serum for those who are in the market for a drugstore vitamin C. But I find that my acne patients do really well with this. Again as long as they're already under good control. This tends to not cause any additional irritation. But there's also a really amazing derivative, sodium ascorbyl phosphate which actually has anti acne benefits along with the benefits of vitamin C. So this can be found in the Bubble Daydream serum. This serum also has brightening ingredients in it. So it's one of my favorites for people who are acne prone because oftentimes those of us who are, who are acne prone have little leftover marks from previous blemishes. So the vitamin C and those bright brightening ingredients help to really brighten up the area. The Inkey List also has one called Sifu which I have not personally tried but found in my research of sodium ascorbyl phosphate and it Looks like it's probably better for oilier types because it also has salicylic acid in it, which is something I tend to avoid in drier skin types. So if you're someone who's acne prone, definitely check out sodium ascorbyl phosphate. I think it's really promising ingredient. We also chat a little bit more about this ingredient, sodium ascorbyl phosphate in my talk with with Chemist Confessions. And this is in episode 32 of the podcast if you want to go back and listen to that. There's some really good pearls there on ingredients in general, but specifically vitamin C and sodium ascorbyl phosphate. Next question. Tretinoin versus Adapalene for Acne and anti Aging this is like an age old question. It's always in my DMs and I think this stems from the fact that so many people are using Adapalene and it's working so well for their acne. Their acne is under control so they don't want to stop it for that reason. But they're also affected afraid that they're missing out of on the anti aging benefits of tretinoin or another retinoid. So I am here to ease your worries a little bit if you're on adaptoline. So both adaptoline and tretinoin have great data for the treatment of acne. Adaptoline is a third generation retinoid, so it actually is a different molecule than the other retinoids. However it works in a similar manner and both are honestly mainstay treatments for acne. Like I can can tell you that in my practice on a daily basis I use them pretty evenly in the amount of times I'm prescribing them for the treatment of for acne. I do tend to like have my favorites. I love Adapalene combined with benzoyl peroxide for certain types of acne. I love tretinoin and a lotion formula for certain types of acne. But in general I know that if my patient is on either tretinoin or adaptoline, they're going to get really good results. Adults when it comes to their acne. Now Adapalene, the benefit of that is that it's available over the counter. It's the strongest retinoid that you can get over the counter in the form of differin. And I also think that that's another reason why there's a lot of concern around if it's anti aging. Because a lot of times people will obviously pick the Adapalene because it saves them A trip to the dermatologist. They don't need to go in and get a prescription for tretinoin, which is only available by prescription in the United States. States. So when it comes to anti aging specifically, tretinoin undoubtedly has more robust anti aging data. So there is data back decades on the benefits of tretinoin for anti aging. There's one study that I always reference, it was for a 0.05% topical tretinoin. It was 26 months. And there was a case report in that study of before and after of a woman who, honestly, it's shocking the results that she got from using her.05% tretinoin. She looks like she had multiple ablative lasers on a facelift. So whenever I share the photo, people honestly think it's photoshopped. And I kind of understand why, because the improvement that this woman saw is insane. So there is absolutely no arguing that tretinoin is such an incredible anti aging ingredient. I think aside from sunscreen, it is the most. Retinoids in general are the most important ingredient when it comes to anti aging. And when we say anti aging, what we mean is reducing fine lines and wrinkles, helping with signs of photo aging, which in addition to wrinkles are things like sunspots, uneven skin tone, uneven skin texture, all of those things. Adapt, on the other hand, does not have as much data around it nearly as much as tretinoin when it comes to anti aging. However, people assume, of course, that it's going to have similar benefits because it's also a retinoid. So it's actually a study that compared the efficacy of adapling 0.3% gel to a tretinoin 0.05% cream for treatment of cutaneous photo aging. So again, that's going to be things like wrinkles, that's going to be things like brown spots, anything that you associate it with photo aging, which is aging that comes from the sun, which is about 80% of the signs of aging that we see. And this study showed that the two did not differ significantly in global cutaneous photo aging. So they measured periorbital wrinkles, which are wrinkles around the eyes. They measured forehead wrinkles. They even measured something called actinic keratosis, which are little pre cancers that we find on the skin and people with sun damage. And there was no significant difference in how much these two ingredients helped. So what that tells us, it really confirms our suspicions that adaptoline is also very effective for the treatment of photo aging and for anti aging. So that being said, if you're on adaptoline, and it's working amazing for your acne. There is absolutely no reason to switch if you're looking for a prescription strength retinoid, but you don't want to go to your dermatologist and you do something like an adaptoline over the counter that is going to give you anti aging benefits. So what's most important is consistency. These are ingredients that you want to use for years, even decades, to really reap the benefits when it comes to, quote, unquote, anti aging. I also always feel like I need to give a caveat in these conversations, because there's absolutely nothing wrong with aging, right? Aging is a privilege. We are all going to see changes in our skin. We're all going to see fine lines and wrinkles and sunspots and things like that. It's just, just part of being humans on planet Earth. However, I don't think that there's anything wrong with us wanting to delay those signs as much as we can. I think when we get obsessive about it, it's a problem. But that goes for just about anything. I think we need to have a healthy relationship with our skin, healthy relationship with the aging process. And I think that skin care is a really. It's a way that we can do that. It's a way that we can care for our skin, love our skin at every stage of life, while still just wanting it to look its most vibrant. And I don't think that there's anything wrong with that. Next question, how to recover from micro needling. So micro needling is a procedure that we do in the office. It's often called the vampire facial. It's usually, at least in my practice, I always pair it with prp, where we take a little bit of your blood, we split it down, spin it down, we take out your platelets, which is where all the good stuff is, right? Where all the growth factors are. And we apply that to the skin and then use a micro needling pen, which has a. A bunch of little needles in it that kind of go in and out of the skin at various steps, depending on the settings that the provider chooses, and make little controlled injuries and micro channels in the skin. And depending on the depth of these little micro injuries, we can improve things like fine lines, we can improve things like skin texture, pore size, even. And the goal really is to increase collagen production. So three to four treatments can give us about a. A 400 increase in collagen, which is really incredible number for something that's Very minimally invasive. And when I talk about micro needling and the way it works and the controlled injury and the, the multiple needles, it can sound a little bit scary. But I always tell my patients it's probably the least scary of the procedures we do in the office. It's very well tolerated. It's not painful. We still numb your skin when you come in. We take your blood so you're numbing during that process. And then we start, we just apply the peel therapy topically unless there's certain areas we want to inject it, but what the recovery process looks like. So you'll usually leave the office, at least in my practice, with the dried blood still on your face from the procedure. The end point that we're looking for with this procedure is something called pinpoint bleeding. So that's where there's a little tiny bit of blood that comes to the surface of the skin. And that's why it's often called the vampire facial, because when you leave the office, you'll look like you have a little mask of blood on, which sounds a lot scarier than it is, I promise. But then the next day when you wash your face, you will just look like you have a sunburn, really for a few days. So it's really one to three days of, you know, you can cover it with a de mineral sunscreen if you want by the next day. But one to three days of a little bit of downtime. For most of my patients, they, they go right back to work. There's no need to, like, stay home or anything like that for most people, especially with a nice hit sunscreen the next day. But how do you recover? So most, most, most important, zero sun exposure. And this goes for just about any procedure. And honestly, skin health in general, you do not want sun exposure on the skin, specifically the face. If you're treating anything, there's just. It's going to negate everything you're doing. And when it comes to post procedure, specifically when your skin is at a more vulnerable state, that sun exposure can increase the risk of complications, namely post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. And if you have ever dealt with this after a laser or after microneedling, it can make things worse than before you did the procedure in the first place. Place. So number one most important is no sun exposure, I would say for two weeks. But really, if you're investing in this in your face, you should have no sun exposure on your face forever. Next thing I would do is a very simple and supportive skincare routine. This is something that you have to discuss with your own provider. For my patients, I have a list of what they're going to use for the next five days after the procedure. And for us, it's usually a very, very simple cleanser. So a lot of my patients are on the Zarify creamy cleanser in our clinic. So it would be that would be their gentle cleanser that they would use. Some others are the Cetaphil gentle cleanser that you can get at the drugstore. I also really love the Skin Fix Ectoin cleanser. That's nice, gentle and can be used post procedure. Again, anything that's super gentle, supportive. Its goal is to gently cleanse away without stripping. The skin doesn't have any active ingredients in it. This is not the time for your salicylic acid or your glycolic acid acid cleanser, your benzoyl peroxide cleanser, not the time to be using those. When your skin is in a more vulnerable state, then you're going to use something like a barrier repair moisturizer. Again, the Zara Fight brand. We love the skin fix brand. I love Cetaphil. Great option. Anything that's nice and gentle, barrier supportive. We want lipids, we want ceramides, things like that to help support that skin barrier. Post procedure. And then during the day you want to be using a sunscreen. I prefer a mineral sunscreen and a tinted sunscreen during this time because again, skin's a little bit more vulnerable, it can be a little bit more sensitive. I like a more gentle, supportive sunscreen. So anything, you probably already have one in your routine. So this could be like your Ulta tinted mineral, your past year tint, your isden, anything that's tinted and mineral based. And then you'll do that for three to five days post procedure. Again, this is something you need to discuss with your own provider. And then you can go on back to your active ingredients and start incorporating those. What you don't want to do during this time. When it comes to ingredients, no physical scrubs. You guys know I'm not a fan of physical scrubs or any physical exfoliation on the face in general, but certainly not during this time. No chemical exfoliants. So not the time for your peel pads, not the time for your acid cleansers, not the time for your essences and toners. Next, no retinoids during this time. So stop the retinol, stop the tretinoin, stop the Adapalene. Again, have this conversation with your provider. But these aren't ingredients that we want to be using in the post procedure phase. Most people are back to normal in three to five days and have no problem reincorporating those active ingredients. If you want to reincorporate things like your retinoids slowly, you can. But for most people they can go back into whatever routine they were doing previously. It's such a short break, it's not going to make a big difference in your tolerance of these ingredients and you're going to be getting that collagen building benefit of the procedure. So oftentimes people are afraid of stopping their actives for a period of time for a procedure, but usually you're doing said procedure because you want the anti aging benefit, namely the collagen induction. So you're getting more benefit from that procedure than you would for the five days of missing you know your retinoid. This episode is brought to you by skenthusiast.com and our brand new comprehensive hair guide. If you're struggling with dry, damaged hair or you're just looking for how to up level your hair game to get your best hair yet, this guide is what you've been missing. Within the guide itself you'll find a quiz to determine your own hair and scalp type and then be wide walk through how to create the exact regimen you need. You'll have options for a more minimalist routine, all the way up to a routine maximized for optimal hair health and growth. We show you how to schedule your hair routine so you know what to do on which days, what a wash day looks like, and even give you troubleshooting advice for what might not be working for you. Whether you want a simple routine that nourishes your locs or you're ready to completely change your hair, this guide is for you. Go to skinthusiast.comshop to get yours now and you can use code podcast for a discount for a limited time. Next Pregnancy Safe Anti Aging so I want to make a little note on Pregnancy Safe and if you want more information on this in general. A couple of weeks ago I posted a little mini episode on Pregnancy Safe Skincare that I recorded with Brooke Devard for her community Naked Beauty. That answers a lot of the most common questions. And I also have a guide on the website at skinthusiast.com forward/pregnancy that answers a lot of the most common questions. So so if you're in this stage of life or if you know someone who is, this is a really great resource. You can head over to the website and get that. What what does pregnancy Safe really mean. So in this country and in most countries, we do not do clinical testing on pregnant women for obvious ethical reasons. Right. It wouldn't be ethical to to test on a woman who is carrying another human being who can't consent and all of those things. So pregnancy safe is an assumption that we make based on the knowledge we have about certain ingredients. So of course we know that retinoids are not considered pregnancy safe, hydroquinone is not considered pregnancy safe. But in general, many of the other ingredients, especially in concentrations that you can find at big box beauty retailers or drugstores, are safe. Again, it doesn't mean that they've necessarily been tested directly on pregnancy or you know, on a developing fetus. It means that we presume that they're safe based on how we know the ingredients work. So I scientifically. So what can we use to promote anti aging while we're pregnant? Exfoliation can be a really great way to get the benefits of anti aging. And when I say exfoliation, what I mean is a gentle chemical exfoliation. So these can be your more gentle chemical peel pads, your more gentle chemical exfoliating toners. And when I say gentle, I mean we want lower concentrations. So I really love the Dr. Dennis Gross peel pad. Specifically I love the blue version for pregnancy because oftentimes our skin can be a little bit more sensitive during pregnancy as well. This is a great time to include your glycolic acid cleansers or your salicylic acid cleansers. Also a great option if you are someone who's dealing with breakouts in pregnancy. I love like a Glycel combo cleanser like the alpha beta cleanser from Dr. Dennis Gross or just a salicylic acid based cleanser if you're on the oilier side. So these ingredients do have anti aging benefits because they do increase cellular turnover. So, so you're still getting a little bit of that anti aging among just like the more brightening the evening of the skin tone and the skin texture which also are issues when we're pregnant. Next up, you can still use your vitamin C serum during pregnancy. So this is going to be a great ingredient when it comes to anti aging. We know that aside from sunscreen and retinoids, vitamin C is one of the best, most efficacious anti ingredients, anti aging ingredients that you can use. So don't stop your vitamin C serum, please, please. And if you're not on one, it might be a good time to start because not only are you going to get the Anti aging benefit, but it's also going to help with fighting free radicals. It can help a little bit with dispigmentation. That's often associated with pregnancy as well. Next one are things like peptides. Again they have not been directly studied on pregnant women and there's a large variety of peptides, but I love incorporating like a peptide moisturizer or peptide serum. I love the Ptiox. I don't know how they pronounce it, but it's a new peptide serum from SkinCeuticals that is meant to basically obviously not rival Botox. Nothing rivals Botox, but act as kind of that step in your routine. So I love that option. There's also great peptide moisturizers. Naturia makes a great peptide serum and peptide moisturizer. So peptides are great addition. They can increase hydration. They have anti aging benefits. There's a large so many different peptides that could be a whole episode in itself. But in general a lot of the peptides used on the market, the goal is anti aging, aging and then finally, and the most important anti aging product that you can use in pregnancy and all the time is sunscreen. And I know that that sounds a little bit kind of dated, like dated advice, ridiculous. Everyone knows that. But I just want to emphasize how important it is for anti aging because we know that the signs of aging that we see on the skin, 80% of that. So 80% of the wrinkles that you see, let's say, let's take the average 75 year old world, 80% of her wrinkles, 80% of her brown spots, 80% of her skin texture is due to the sun exposure she's received in her Life. And about 20% is due to the natural aging process, theoretically based on what we understand about how the skin ages. So you can see why protecting your skin from UV exposure is so, so, so important. What if you could prevent that? 80%, like that's a huge number that is going to dramatically change the way your skin looks and in 20, 30, 50 years from now. So using your sunscreen every single day, with no exception in pregnancy is really important. I personally really like the Isten sunscreen because it also has sun damage reversal properties. So I feel like I'm getting a little bit extra. It's a T. I like the tinted formulation, it's 100 mineral formulation. So there are absolutely great sunscreens that you can use during pregnancy and you absolutely should be using them. I also like a tinted sunscreen in pregnancy because it's helps to prevent worsening of a condition called melasma, which is often called the mask of pregnancy because it is so strongly associated with pregnancy and pregnancy hormones. If you've ever been pregnant, you've probably experienced it. So it's a really great option. Just a basic tinted sunscreen. In fact, if you do nothing else, if you're someone who's like, you know what, I'm taking this time giving my skin a break, or I'm not comfortable using products on my skin while I'm pregnant, just use a mic mineral tinted sunscreen every single day and you're going to be better off by far than someone who is using even all the right ingredients but not using a regular sunscreen. Next question. I use a very minimal routine and I want to prevent aging. I'm getting married in six months. What should I try? First of all, kudos to you for using a minimal routine. When I hear minimal routine, I think one of two things. Either you're just cleansing and moisturizing and sunscreen, which is fine, or you've got like the basics of anti aging down, which is of course a sunscreen and then also a retinoid and a vitamin. Vitamin C. So if you're not already using a retinoid and vitamin C and you're getting married at any point in the near future, Absolutely. Time to start incorporating those. If you go on my shop, my I have vitamin C, a vitamin C shelf and a retinoid shelf forever. That's broken down by skin type and budget. So if you're like, I don't know what vitamin C to use, I don't know what retinoid to use on my shop. My it's broken down by my favorites by skin type and by budget. And then if you've already got that down, of course, sunscreen being the most important, you already have that simple regimen down. You might want to think about adding in a weekly exfoliation on a night that you're not using your retinoid. So my favorite way to incorporate something like this, as you guys know, is something like a peel pad. I love the ones from Bare Face. I love the ones from Neostrada. I love the ones from Dr. Dennis Gross. These really help to brighten the skin, increase cellular turnover. They help with skin tone, skin texture, they can help with blemishes. Really nice addition to a routine if you're someone who keeps it simple but you're looking to amp things up. Next, things I would add in when you are starting to invest a little bit more, like you have A big event coming up like a wedding red light mask. So red light mask is a really great way to amp up your skincare routine at home. So my favorites are the ones from Omnilux. I can link them below. I also have a code to save a little bit of money. They are an investment. But again if you're somebody who's looking to invest in your skin because of a big event like a wedding, these are a great addition. You start three to five nights a week week. And they can help with increasing collagen production, decreasing inflammation. They're just a really nice at home treatment that we have at home option. Next thing, I'm a kid center. Adding in is something like a microcurrent. I have been religiously using microcurrent for years now. It is such an important part of my routine. It helps to give you an immediate lifting benefit. But there also are long term lifting benefits associated with using microcurrent devices. So these are things like the new face, the zit dip, the fore aubear. I actually am thinking about doing a full breakdown on like the three most popular, the advantages and disadvantages to all of them. Kind of comparing them for you because it's a, it's a question I get regularly. I actually have, I own all three and use all three just because it's obviously my job to try new things. You don't need all three? Absolutely not. But microcurrent in general is such a great addition to your routine. I like to use it in the morning again because I get that immediate benefit. So. So red light and microcurrent are two at home devices I would absolutely consider adding into your routine. Again, I'm going to look and see if I have any codes for any of the ones I mentioned and I'll link them in the show notes. If I do, then the next addition, which is something I personally take whenever I have something coming up, is the Hyacara ritual vitamin. So there's a couple of vitamins. I hate the word vitamin, but supplements, nutraceutical, whatever you want to call them on the market that actually do have clinically validated benefits for skin health. There's a ton that don't. So please be careful when you're shopping for specifically skin and hair vitamins because the market is just a little wild and there's a lot of products out there that do nothing. However, Hyacra does have a double blind placebo controlled clinical trial that showed that it improved the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It increased skin smoothness and hydration. So this is a really fantastic option to add in if you are having a big event, getting married. Anything you want to kind of like amp up your skin. And then another thing that I, I want to also mention is if you're having any sort of skin issues, definitely make sure that you're addressing those early on. Like, as soon as you know that you want to address them. So as soon as you know you're getting married, go see your provider so we can kind of get things under control. I really like the Nutrafol acne supplement, also clinically validated to help with breakouts. If you're someone who doesn't necessarily want to try something like a spironolactone in the office, that's absolutely an option. It's going to be a little bit pricier because it's not covered by insurance, but there, there are options for things we can do at home to really amp up our skin. I have been like, for years, meaning to make like a whole bridal guide for you guys on, like, how to amp up your skin if you're planning to get married in the next six months to a year. So if that's something you'd like, definitely leave a review on this podcast and let me know. And if it's something you guys would actually enjoy and be interested in, I'll absolutely make that for you. And congratulations on your wedding, by the way. Final question, how to treat damage on the ends of the hair. So I actually have a whole episode coming out on my entire hair routine. If you're not familiar, I used to bleach my hair. My hair was short and blonde for a long time. I was able to get it from short and blonde and damaged to long back to my natural color. Really, really healthy and luminous and bright. And I think it's one of the reasons I'm so comfortable cutting my hair now, because I know that my hair is in such a good state that, number one, with everything I do to it, it grows really, really fast. Like, it's actually kind of annoying when I want, want when I want short hair because I have to go back so often. But I'm. I'm super confident making major changes with my hair because I know that my hair is healthy and it grows quickly. And so I've kind of had this whole hair transformation. I've learned so much over the years, not only from my own personal trial and error, but also, of course, as a being a practicing dermatology PA and guiding my patients on their hair Health. So I actually just did a whole podcast episode on this and I have a whole hair guide on the website. It's confusing.com forward/shop top. So if you're somebody who is dealing with hair damage, you're not sure how to make a hair routine. Whether it's a minimal routine you need or something more extensive because you've got extensive damage, it literally walks you through how to understand which products are best for your specific hair type so that you're not just kind of like looking at some influencer's hair routine and trying to fit it into your own. When you maybe don't have the same hair type, you maybe don't have the same level of hair damage. Etc. But this question specifically how to treat damage on the ends of the hair, there's a few tips. Tips. Some of them involve new products, some of them don't. So definitely you can cherry pick and choose. Even just incorporating a few of them should help with the damage on the ends of your hair. The first one being pre shampoo oiling. So I like to use an oil like a coconut oil or an argan oil on the ends of my hair before I shampoo. Now, it sounds a little counterintuitive, but this is the purpose. It coats the cuticle of the hair so that when you're shampooing your roots, which you should mainly only be shampooing the roots, not the ends. And unless obviously something your hair got soiled or there's something in your hair that you need to get out. But on a normal day you're only shampooing your roots. The oil coats that cuticle so that as the sulfates and the cleansing agents in the shampoo rinse through your hair, they're not stripping away the natural oil that are on the ends that we so need, especially when we have damaged ends. Again, only shampoo the roots. That's going to help a lot as well with any damage on the ends of the hair. A product that I really cannot. We can't discuss hair damage without talking about K18 because it's truly a transformative product in the market. It knocks every other bond builder off its off its place. I mean, it's so incredibly effective at repairing damage multiple levels of the hair. So if you have the budget to add that into your routine, that's going to be a game changer for the ends of the hair. It can be a little bit difficult to get the hang of. It's called a mask. You don't really use it like a mask mask. You don't use conditioner before. How much you use matters because if you use too much, it can actually make your hair feel more brittle. What you do to your hair before using it matters. There's a lot of little nuances with this product. So I actually did a whole YouTube video on it. So if you go to my YouTube channel, it's at Amy Coberling, there's a whole video on how to use a K18 mask. Because I just. I've interviewed the R D team. I've met with their, their team many times. I've. I've seen a lot of the science that came out of this brand and why they chose knows every ingredient. So I've been, I've been given the opportunity to ask a lot of the common questions and troubleshoot a lot of the common concerns with this product. So a lot of that information is in that video. So I also have an episode that actually came out December 5th of 2023 with one of the lead chemists behind K18. So that's a really fantastic listen. If you're somebody who has damaged hair and you want to learn more about how to fix it. I also had an episode, episode number 26 with Abby Young. If you have any damage hair, she's such a great follow and we talk a lot about. She's a trichologist, we talk a lot about damaged hair. So really good options if you're dealing with hair damage. But the K18 episode specifically will go into more detail about that mask. Next thing is conditioning masks. So you won't use the K18 every wash, at least not forever. So using conditioning masks does help because it gives your hair some temporary protection from, from snagging and things like that. Which brings me to my next point. When you're detangling your hair, I always like to detangle with my conditioner in place. So I either. I actually keep a wide tooth comb in the shower and I comb out my hair in the shower when my conditioner's in my hair, or the K18 mask, if that's what I'm using that day. I never brush wet hair other than a wide tooth comb with conditioner. If I'm brushing my hair when it's already dry, like waking up in the morning and brushing my hair hair, I brush very gently and I start from the bottom to the top. So you really want to baby your hair, especially when it's in a damaged state. Like act like as if just touching it could break it. So like really, really baby it. And the last thing I'll mention on treating damaged ends of hair is sleeping on silk to avoid friction. So the Silk pillowcase Silk Hair Turbine Using silk hair ties can really prevent any friction that can break off the hair when it's in a damaged and fragile state. Also avoiding tight hairstyles, avoiding that really tight pony. Avoid the tight bun where you're twisting your hair really tightly and then moving it around. Those things when your hair is fragile and damaged can snap the ends right off. So those are just a few of the tips that you can incorporate. Again, if you want my full hair guide, it's@skinthusiast.com shop it is invaluable. We really took a long time to go through. There's product recommendations for every hair type type. We walk you through like a wash day routine. Like what wash day one would look like, what wash day two would look like because you're not going to use the same products every single time you wash your hair. So that's a really good resource. And hopefully just even just taking some of the tips from this episode will help to help with any damage that you have on the ends of your hair. So we covered a lot today. A lot of hair, a lot of skin, a lot of ways to up level. I will try to leave links to everything we talked about in the show notes today and again check out that other hair episode that I did if you are really interested in kind of up leveling your hair game. And be sure to tune in every Sunday when I take your questions for these exact episodes. I would love to hear what questions you need. If you are enjoying this podcast, please share it on your stories and tag me. Every week I pick a few people to just send a box of goodies. I go through any story shares and I also go through reviews. So if you leave a review you are entered to win a box of skincare and hair care goodies. Just as a way for me to show my appreciation for you guys listening to this podcast. It's been a labor of love. We actually just hit our one year mark. I didn't do any sort of celebration episode because honestly it snuck up on me. But I am so grateful for you guys listening along. This past year it's been so fun to just kind of broaden the skin and hair care education and the wellness education. If there are any specific guests you want to see, please also put that in your review or DM me over on Instagram because is I'm always looking for guests to bring on that are valuable to you all. So I will talk to you next week, Skinthusia. Bye.