CAN GREAT SKIN BE CREATED

Can great skin be created? This question was first asked by Vogue Beauty editor, Carol Phillips in the August 15th, 1967 issue of Vogue Magazine. The beauty editor interviewed a New York City based dermatologist for the story, Dr. Norman Orentreich, who was pioneering a three-step skin care method for his patients – cleanse, exfoliate and moisturise. Now, You may think whats great about such a fundamental method. Mind you this was in 1967 when women were literally quite illiterate on skincare routine (though no fault of theirs). Until then companies had only been product oriented and never thought of consumer on what they might want or moreever need.

Carol Phillips was the first one to seek answers for us women. The idea of cleansing, exfoliating and moisturising was quite a revolutionary idea back then. At the end, the moral of the article was you are not stuck with your skin problems and great skin can be created. In my opinion, the article was a work of a pure legend and was very influential at the time.

 So lets look at what makes skin great and how it can be created.

 The single most important aspect of any skincare routine is dedication as the article by Carol Phillips rightly addressed. You need to commit yourself to cleanse and moisturise your skin twice, daily. Nonstop. One need to understand that looking after the health of our skin is very similar to looking after the health of our body. For instance, when you see a women with a tone muscled body, you know she has dedicated months if not years of exercise to reach there. Our facial skin is same. When you see a women with a glowing healthy skin, please know that it is not because of one miracle cream but rather her dedication to her commitment to look after her skin. There is literally no miracle formula for this. Its very simple and anyone can do that and afford it as well. The best part, it is never too late to start.

I get lot of questions on the best skincare routine. Although lot of companies sell and created different products for different skin types, I certainly did not take that approach with Okana. It’s like saying carrots are good for certain people and not others. A good skincare product should be suitable for all skin types - be it sensitive, oily, dry, young or mature skin. By focusing on only the healthy ingredients, I can confidently say our products are suitable for everyone from pre-teens to pregnant women. Below I have briefly outlined the best way to look after your skin. Follow this routine and I promise you will certainly start to see results within a week. This routine is for all skin types.

Day

1. Apple foaming cleanser - for gentle cleansing. Stay away from cleansers that give you a squeaky clean feeling. Use cleansers that are gentle and do not strip away your skins natural oils.
2. Cucumber toner - refresh and balance skin pH level. An optimal skin ph should be around 5 and a good toner helps to balance this out.
3. Vegetable day moisturiser - the job of a moisturiser is to lock moisture in your skin. So a good trick is to use moisturiser within 10 seconds of washing or using toner while your skin has got plenty of water. This helps to lock in good amount of water and keeps skin hydrated longer.

Night

1. Mango sorbet cleanser - removes makeup and daily impurities. regulates skin oil-production (beneficial for both dry and oily skin). Best used at night.
2. Apple foaming cleanser (for double cleansing). Using combination of oil and water based cleanse has proven to be the most effective method to cleanse till date. You may want to read my previous blog on double cleansing
3. Bamboo face scrub - removes dead skin and help renew new skin cells. Really beneficial in prepping skin for toner and moisturisers as well.
4. Cucumber toner
5. Berry night moisturiser

In my opinion, night is the most important time for skincare as your skin heals and regenerates best while resting. So spend a little extra time doing this routine. Morning should be simple and light. You may even wash your face with just water at this time.

Now as we have got commitment underway, lets talk about the other most important aspect. The product itself. If you are to dedicate time on looking after your skin, make sure you are doing this with the right product as well. This is where the original article by Carol Phillips failed to address.

Fast forward to 2019, the same cleansing method still applies but lot has changed since then. Lot more skincare routines have been added, new ingredients have been invented each promising to reverse signs of aging. Women are lot more educated now on skincare and know what they want or not want in their product.

But the daunting question still remains unanswered - how do we know which product is right for us? The common perception is that the more we pay the better the product should be. NOT quite so. Mind you, lot of times you are mostly paying for the experience. The glitzy shop, personal shop assistant, packaging, and exhorbant marketing cost to put that product infront of you. All that cost is going to be covered by you and only you. I understand a positive experience is important to form an emotional bond with a particular brand. Without that experience there is not much to differenciate between different brands and their product. And this is where you can be more savy. When purchasing, for few seconds take the experience out of the equation and look at the back of the jar and read the ingredients. This is the only way you can know for sure if this product is right for your skin. Natural Vs sythetic is a different debate all together and something I would love to talk about in coming blogs. But for now, the simple formuala is, if you do not understand most of the ingredients or worse can’t even pronounce them, then don’t commit to it until you have researched it well. Let me ask you, will you buy and eat something of the shelf with some serious questionable ingredients in it. Your skin is the largest organ of your body and absorbs most of the ingredients you put on it and those ingredients goes straight into your blood stream. Looking at the ingredients is important. You need to know the nutrient value and how safe it is to use on your skin. Because believe it or not, there is no governing body or law used on these skincare products. Unlike food and medicine, skincare is not a regulated area and here the onus is sadly on consumer to educate themselves.

That’s why at Okana, we believe in simple, fresh, naturally derived edible ingredients. Natural because they are most biocompatiable with your skin.  Simple because they are better understandable and most trusted for their nutrients and safety. Our products are made fresh in small batches, keeping them unprocessed without adding any thickners, stablizers, perfumes or unnecessary chemicals to enhance the sensory feel. This way we only use the ingredients that your skin will benefit from and nothing else.

Lastly, the most ignored aspect is food we eat and our lifestyle. Its not enough what we put on our skin but also what we put inside our body. Eating as much fresh, unprocessed food in its most raw form is the key. The better nutrients and vitamins your body receives the more it will show on your skin aswell.

It was this aspect of healthy food that conceptualised Okana. By integrating fresh, healthy edible ingredients into our skincare, we provide the most effective nutrients to your skin in safest form. No chemicals or synthetics whatsoever. An unprocessed fresh approach was the best we found.

So what happened to Carol Phillips after that article. Well she and the named dermatologist were hired by Estee Lauder to create a new brand, named Clinique. It was from here the three step cleansing method that is so fundamental today was first pionered.