natural beauty Fasting A GUIDE TO INTERMITTENT SKINCARE

By Mary Parker

The concept of "skincare fasts" is trending. The idea is to take periodic breaks from certain skin care products to allow the skin to heal and reset itself. Many people are puzzled by this concept. Aren't skincare products supposed to improve the health of the skin? In fact, many skincare products are designed to damage and irritate the skin to stimulate it to regrow and look fresh and young. Daily applications of these products can impair the skin's integrity.

Signs your skin wants a skincare fast

There are many subtle and not-sosubtle signs that your skin could benefit from skincare fasting:

Tight, shiny skin

A rough texture to the skin

An uneven skin tone

Redness

Dryness

Flaking

Oily skin

Acne breakouts

Rashes

During a skincare fast, do not abstain from using gentle cleansers, moisturizers and natural sunscreens. If you use an acne control agent regularly, talk to a skincare professional about whether you should include it in skincare fasts; the goal of a skincare fast is to make your skin healthier. Massive breakouts of blackheads and pimples are not part of the plan. You will have to carefully read the ingredients of your skincare products to identify the ones that can damage and irritate the skin. Products to include in your skincare fast include:

• Physical exfoliating agents, such as microbeads and crushed apricot shells.

• Chemical exfoliating agents, such as salicylic acid, glycolic acid, citric acid, malic acid and fruit enzymes (papain and bromelain). Sometimes these acids will be listed as AHA (alpha hydroxy acids) or BHA (beta hydroxy acids).

• Retinoids and retinoic acid products.

• Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid. Although hyaluronic acid has the word "acid" in its name, it does not irritate or damage the skin; it just helps moisturize the skin from within and can and should be used daily.

Once you have isolated all of your potentially skin-irritating skincare products, the next step is to start out with a reset period. On average, it takes about a month for the skin to renew itself, so plan on a complete fast from any irritating skincare products for one month.

After resetting, you will reintroduce your skin-irritating skincare products on an intermittent use schedule. You may have to engage in some trial and error to see what plan works best for your skin type, but most people find that following the four-day cycle first proposed by Dr. Bowe produces the best-looking skin:

 DAY ONE: clean, exfoliate, apply a vitamin C product and then moisturize

 DAY TWO: clean, apply a retinoid product and then moisturize

 DAYS THREE AND FOUR: abstain from all potentially skin-irritating skin products, but do clean and moisturize This schedule usually produces a glowing, luminous complexion.

Many people have discovered that allowing the skin time to recover after applying certain skincare products produces much better results than daily use of these products.