By Gabby Neal
@gabbyneal__
For a model, the key to a successful career is upkeep and relevance. From your overall health, presentation and existence on social media, it all comes into play. As when you get down to it, the only reason you became a model in the first place, was based on your looks. Someone somewhere clearly thinks you’ve got what it takes to compete in the world of glitz and glamour.
Which means in order to sustain work, you’re going to need maintenance – and lots of it. Therefore, in doing so you’re going to need to a bit of research and understand what it is exactly, your body needs.
Starting with your skin – the primary layer of protection and the first (materialistic) thing anyone sees.
Made up of three layers, the epidermis; outermost layer which makes up your skin pigmentation. The dermis; your middle layer held together by the protein collagen and elastin (responsible for wrinkles overall appearance). And the hypodermis; the deepest fatty layer responsible for protecting your organs.
Stereotypically, a model requires their skin to look soft but firm, youthful and glowing, with little (if ever) blemishes, redness or scarring. All of which unfortunately doesn’t happen overnight and takes a little work. Of course, there are a few things which you can do surgically, but the easiest and most cost effective(slash most ethical) way is to go back to the basics and start from scratch.
Look at your diet and lifestyle – you can’t use products alone.
Speaking with Face Plus Medispa, Advanced Dermal and Laser Therapist Natasha Hunt, she went on to explain (before recommending anything else might I add), that ‘when planning good skin maintenance, you must first and foremost consider your lifestyle’ confirming that ‘sleep and diet actually contribute quite a lot to the complexion and over all appearance of skin’.
Things like drinking enough water, eating the right foods, exercising regularly and cutting out the crap all do their part just as well. However, it might be worth nothing that the amount of sun exposure, although not immediately visible, has a huge impact later down the track. So the use of sun cream now is incredibly important. Natasha even suggested replacing your morning moisturiser altogether with a recommended sun cream. As it will have a higher concentrate of SPF as well as all the properties of a facial moisturiser.
In saying that however, Natasha’s number one piece of advice for someone looking to achieve clear and pimple-free skin, is hydration – and lots of it. Recommending that the best way to achieve this is through all things B – Vitamin B and BB cream.
“Think of it this way – B is for bandaid. Iit’s amazing, especially if you’re on the go.. It plumps, refines and aids in inflammation. One fabulous ingredient to look out for when choosing any B serum is Nicotinamide, a derivate of Vitamin B3. It improves the ability of the epidermis, to retain moisture which leads to softer and suppler skin – and it also aids in the reduction of fine lines which is a bonus!”
Of course when hormones and stress come into play, there are some things which are just unavoidable facts of life. Usually when someone breakouts, it indicates some form of internal stress, so keeping up that little bit of exercise, perhaps yoga – will definitely help too!
Specifically, for a model though, the rather obvious stressor relates to the amount of chemicals interacting with your skin on a day-to-day basis.
So as to minimize any chance of congestion Natasha said ‘you should be removing make up at the end of every day – yes you need it for work, but you don’t need it for sleep.’ Explaining ‘that as most make up contains agents which clog pores (acting like glad wrap) it actually prevents your skin from breathing and ultimately its ability to repair itself’, in turn producing annoying little pimples in hard to get too places. And we don’t want that!
So what we’re taking away, it that it’s best to double cleanse (just to be safe) when you get home each night, exfoliate to get rid of those unnecessary skin cells and moisturise like crazy. Even adding in a few cheeky facials (see Natasha’s list on offer here) and let the professionals take care of you if you can too.
