Our skin is the largest organ in our body, and without even realising it, your skin is constantly working tirelessly to maintain balance and do its job. Maintaining skin health is important not only for how it makes you feel when your skin looks good, but more importantly because your skin performs so many vital essential tasks for your body.

When your skin health is lacking, some main functions can start to become affected due to the skin cells not being fed enough nutrients to maintain good skin health – such as pigmentation, infections, becoming deficient in vitamins/minerals and heightened skin sensitivity. Your skin needs to be constantly replenished to continually promote healthy skin, and unfortunately water in your tea/coffee and an orange daily just isn’t going to be enough!

To achieve ultimate skin health, you’ll need to find out what your skin is lacking in and treat your skin both topically and internally, sandwiching all those layers together to create a strong, healthy and resilient skin. Even though everyone’s skin is different, we all need the same core ingredients for our skin to thrive and I am about to share with you my top ingredients that are the key to success when it comes to skin health.

 1. Vitamin A – The holy grail of vitamins and the core ingredient for skin health. When your skin is deficient in Vitamin A, it creates imbalances and causes skin concerns such as pigmentation, impaired skin barrier, acne, dryness and ageing. Although our skin makes Vitamin A, this gets depleted every day from the environment and our general lifestyle, so we need to replenish Vitamin A daily to normalise our skin.

2. Vitamin C – Vitamin A’s best friend. The two go hand in hand to improve the structural integrity of the skin, with Vitamin C stimulating your collagen to strengthen and plump the skin. It also is a natural antioxidant, reduces redness/inflammation, lightens and brightens our skin (fighting pigmentation), increases hydration and accelerates healing. Unlike Vitamin A our skin does not make Vitamin C, so we need to replenish this through diet, skincare, and supplementation.

3. Vitamin D – A.K.A the ‘sunshine vitamin’, Vitamin D plays an integral role in skin protection and rejuvenation. Vitamin D contributes to skin cell growth, repair, and metabolism. It enhances the skin’s immune system and helps to destroy free radicals that can cause premature ageing. Even though UV rays are damaging, our bodies thrive from Vitamin D when we’re exposed to UV rays for 20 minutes – anything longer than 20 minutes is damaging so please be careful and apply SPF!

4. Antioxidants – Having an army of antioxidants is super important for improving skin health as they help protect the skin’s surface from oxidative damage caused by free radicals and environmental aggressors like UV and pollution. Antioxidants, such as Vitamin E, are often found in skincare because of their powerful anti-ageing and protection benefits. The most common sources of Vitamin E are in our food such as vegetable oils, nuts and leafy greens – so make sure you eat your greens!

5. Probiotics – Think of probiotics as your skin cleanser. Your gut and skin work hand in hand with each other, helping to detoxify and cleanse your skin. When your gut is imbalanced, this shows in your skin. Adding probiotics to your routine will not only help any other supplements you’re taking work more effectively, but it will also improve your gut flora and improve your skin. Happy gut, happy skin!

6. Hyaluronic Acid – Weighing up to 1000 times its own weight in water, Hyaluronic Acid is incredible for plumping and hydrating the skin. As you age, your skin creates less Hyaluronic Acid, which can leave your skin looking more dry, sallow, dull, saggy and lack. It also increases skin elasticity, accelerates wound healing, reduces fine lines/wrinkles, moisturises, and ensures that water doesn’t escape from the surface of the skin – A must-have for our skin care routines!

7. Peptides – Peptides are amino acids that make up certain proteins needed by the skin. More specifically, collagen is made up by peptides, so adding peptides can stimulate your skin to make collagen – leading to firmer, younger-looking skin. They also strengthen your skin barrier, reduce fine lines/wrinkles, improve elasticity, and ease inflammation. These can also be taken via supplementation to turbo-charge your skin. Another go-to ingredient for anti-ageing!

8. Minerals – Minerals are part of every living cell of the body and they work together to build and regulate a multitude of bodily functions- they are basically the spark plugs that keep our engines running! Minerals such as Zinc, Copper, Selenium, Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium and Silica all provide different benefits for the skin; from controlling oil and stimulating collagen and elastin to strengthening your connective tissues, bones, teeth and hair. These minerals are usually found in your diet, but if you know you lack a certain mineral its always recommended to make up the remainder through supplementation.

Blog written by HI Therapies Assistant Manager, Charlee. Want to know more? Book in for a consultation with Charlee for an in-depth discussion about your skin here.