The skin positivity movement has paved the way for a new era of skin neutrality, which believes skin is just skin, and shouldn’t be pressured to feel more beautiful. The key word being MORE! We already are beautiful.
While social media has done a lot to further the cause of the #skinpositivity movement, the ever present and over saturated use of filters and photo editing means the true concept of a healthy self-image is very distorted.
The movement really began when large media companies where shamed for their aggressive nature towards photoshopping imperfections, stretch marks, blemishes and curves away!. Whilst they still do this to some degree we have now seen a strong shift to "real" (dare we say it) women and men in our advertising world. The inclusion of coloured skins, skins with conditions rather than the "perfect" skin are now being represented all in an aim to target the "real women" but do we believe it? Do we connect with this and stop ourselves from having the high expectation that our skin must be perfect and imperfection free all day, every day, 52 weeks of the year.
Posting a makeup free (or a filter-free selfie) should not be a radical act, but it certainly feels that way. The more people embrace their real skin online, the sooner we can all accept the fact that every single person has ‘flaws’ such as spots, wrinkles, redness, hair, scars, texture, pigmentation…perfect skin does not exist. Healthy strong and happy skin does. In a bid to address the gaps, skincare activists are now preaching skin neutrality as a newer alternative to ease the journey to acceptance with the skin we’re born with.
If 'skin positivity' supports the message of loving your skin, embracing it and feeling beautiful with your perceived flaws, 'skin neutrality' says that skin is skin and instead, distances the importance of skin to look and feel a certain way. Skin neutrality takes a neutral approach by focusing less on the importance to feel beautiful. With the beauty industry growing exponentially, a lot of emphasis is placed on the desire to achieve perfect skin - a lot of pressure on yourself, the products you use and the facialist you might see. The question is are we able to live up to those standards or not?
The underlying crux of the skin positivity movement is to distance your worth from whether you’re able to achieve some sort of aesthetic goal in terms of skin. This can happen by realising that skin is skin, an outer layer that has a physiological purpose to protect us from outer threats, we all will age - many of us develop skin conditions along our journey of our lives, lets help support one another to encourage positive outcomes and an acceptance that is to achieve less than perfection - because in truth... its fake - a filter!
Scrolling through posts, you will be blown away by the amount of support that’s present. It’s more than just a hashtag, it’s a community. Social media allows you to connect with others going through a similar time with their skin, showing you the 'real skin', not to be shamed by the way it presents itself.
• accept that your skin is not perfect each and every day. There will be both internal and external contributors that will create things our of your control
• listen to the experts, they will help guide you to both appreciate your skin and educate you on how to best care for it
• realise that everyone has their own flaws and hang ups (we all have them) seek support from like minded people
• take care of your skin each and everyday doing the very best you can
• choose to see the glass half full rather than half empty, its a powerful mind change
• Remember SIMPLE is best with a complicated skin. Challenge the internet and the facialist out there and do the 'Less is More Routine'. Nurturing your skin a step at a time
As the season of skin peels begins to arrive we all get a bit excited about booking in a fabulous skin treatment.
Post summer skin is often a little congested from sunscreens and moisturiser, layered with heavy pigment filled cells and in need of a freshen up...Enter the world of professionally recommended skin peels from all your friendly skin facialists, like myself.
By changing the way you cleanse your skin, the micro organisms that create our barrier multiply to create a strong healthy surface, free of unwanted breakout, redness and irritation.
I help thousands of clients yearly to achieve their skin goals by simply editing their cleansing routine so that they can have clear, healthy problem free skin.
Consider your skin goal "CLEAN SKIN"
