This Professional Consultation Changed The Entire Way I Saw My Skin

I have an okay relationship with my skin. It’s definitely far from perfect, but for the most part, I am fine with it. I’ve had friends with cripplingly low self-esteem caused by skin problems, however. I know how damaging bad skin can be on mental health.

As the years roll by, wrinkles and pigmentation – the hallmarks of ageing – have become a huge priority for me. Not to mention my incessantly dry skin and dermatitis (hot!). I’m more inclined to stand in front of the mirror, analysing the ways in which my skin has changed – and wanting to do something about it all.

I decided to visit Rationale – they’re a cult favourite among beauty editors in Australia. The all-Aussie brand was founded by Richard Parker, who, after suffering from acne and pigmentation in his youth, developed the ‘Essential Six‘ with the help of some pioneering Australian dermatologists. These are six products that work synergistically to bring about the best skin of your life.

My initial intention was to find a skincare routine that would essentially act as a superhero for my skin, eradicating wrinkles and making me all plump and youthful. I was convinced a lack of collagen (the stuff that makes your skin look bouncy and dewy) and wrinkles were my issue. Boy, was I wrong.

See, Rationale don’t just dump products on you. They encourage you to have a Skin Consultation. It’s their method of determining how you start the Essential Six (most people start on four products until their skin is used to the actives), but it’s also a way of figuring out what your skin is actually doing – why it isn’t behaving, if you will.

First, my makeup is taken off. I’m left with squeaky-clean skin, and my therapist Ellie takes a look at my skin. She says it seems in good nick, but notes some dry patches and fine lines she says are likely to be dehydration, not wrinkles from ageing. She also notes some redness, which surprised me – I’ve never considered myself prone to redness, unless it was dermatitis.

Then the interesting part begins. Rationale uses a machine called VISIA, which basically analyses your skin beyond the surface level. It takes photos of the superficial (top) layer of your skin, as well as the deeper, dermal layers. It looks at four different things – UV spots, texture, wrinkles and redness.

Let’s start with redness. Here come a bunch of really unflattering pics of my face!

As Ellie pointed out to me, there’s a bunch of redness on my chin and across my cheeks and nose. Basically anywhere that’s a darker red is inflammation (it’s on my eyelids too, yay).

“Inflammation, alongside an impaired barrier can contribute to dehydration, dryness and impaired skin health. It’s important we reduce the inflammation and repair the barrier,” explained Ellie.

So basically, that inflammation is part of the reason my skin would feel so insanely dry when I woke up each morning.

Next? WRINKLES.

This pic looked at the surface of my skin. What it showed was that the majority of my fine lines were caused by dehydration, NOT ageing. As Ellie explained, the light green lines are just dehydrated skin, while the few dark green are actual wrinkles. Considering I’m 32, I felt like this was a decent result.

“Primarily we can see superficial, dehydration lines present below the eyes. This was apparent in your skin analysis. We want to rehydrate the skin by repairing the barrier and preventing water loss,” explained Ellie.

Frankly I was shocked to learn wrinkle-fighting wasn’t the go here, it was preventing moisture loss. Basically, once my skin barrier was working properly? I’d see a massive improvement on the fine lines under my eyes.

Next, it was texture.

Texture shows breakouts, congestion, and build-up of skin cells. Basically, all the stuff you usually try and combat with exfoliators.

My skin is pretty okay on the congestion front, but Ellie did point out that the sides of my nose and my cheekbones had a bit going on.

You’ll notice congestion present where we can see sun damage which can contribute to oxidation, causing textural concerns,” she explained.

Which leads to the last, and scariest, pic. SUN DAMAGE.

OKAY. Let’s start with this fact – I’ve got freckly skin, and sun damage has been a constant issue since I was a teenager. Basically, I’m prone to pigmentation, and I’ve noticed this more as I’ve gotten older.

But Jesus! This slide was terrifying! Although Ellie was quick to reassure me that many people have sun damage to this extent.

“The areas we want to focus on repairing are throughout the nose, cheeks and chin,” she explained.

So how were we going about all this repair and hydration and so on?

For the inflammation, Ellie prescribed Rationale’s #1 Immunologist Serum, a sunscreen (Beautiful Skin Superfluid SPF50), and the ProCeramide Cleanser, which is my hands-down favourite cleanser of all time now.

“A Vitamin B complex will work to reduce inflammation, strengthening the skin’s immunity. Ceramides and lipids work to repair the barrier and replenish essential lipids, and superfluid SPF protection assists in defence agains the harmful effects of solar exposure, including infra-red heat.”

The same products were going to help with dehydration and those pesky fine lines.

:Vitamin B, ceramides and lipids work to prevent water loss and repair the barrier, rehydrating the skin and reducing superficial lines. Vitamin A and C stimulate collagen production, assisting with deep-set lines”.

In terms of clearing clogged pores and dead skin cells, Ellie also introduced #3 PhotoDynamic Day Cream and #6 DNA Night Cream, with #5 Catalyst Serum and #2 Superantioxidant Serum being products I’d begin to use down the line, when my skin barrier was restored and strengthened and could take the stronger actives.

“Vitamin A and lactic acid assist in cell turnover, refining the skin’s texture. To assist with possible oxidation, we need antioxidants like vitamin c, e and glutathione to break down and fight free radical damage”.

And finally, that dreaded sun damage. The main fix for this? Sun protection.

“To protect us from solar exposure (UV, visible light and infra-red heat) we want to incorporate red and green tea extracts, zinc and an SPF superfluid of at least SPF50. DNA repair enzymes will identify, excise and correct damaged DNA which in turn will encourage quality DNA replication, reversing the damaging effects of solar exposure.”

It’s now been about a month and a half of me trialling these products, and so far so good. I’ve fluctuated a bit, but I’ve noticed a significant decrease in blackheads on my nose, an improvement in skin texture, and less inflammation around my cheeks.

But primarily I was impressed by this skin consultation because I learnt so much about my face. I thought I was dealing with ageing, but really I was dealing with an impaired skin barrier and inadequate sun protection.

It made me think about how we will splurge on the best skincare products, but rarely do we bother to sit down and have a professional actually TELL us what our skin is even going through.

My advice? Go get a skin consult – you don’t have to go to Rationale (although obviously I recommend it!) but see a dermatologist or a skin expert to really get a handle on what your skin is telling you. THEN go splurge, k?

The Rationale Skin Consult will cost you $75, and you can get all the info on where to go here.

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