Dry Skin Remedies That Work Every Time

Sad, sluggish skin getting on your nerves? Then it’s time to hit the refresh button.

When your skin looks kinda cruddy, it’s often your lifestyle habits that are to blame. Hungover skin? Never pretty. Stressed skin? Ditto.

The truth is, booze, sugar, smoking and stress all play their part in below par skin. For starters, sugar-laden booze and sweet edible treats expose your body to way too much glucose than it really needs. And this does nothing for your skin’s precious levels of collagen and elastin, creating advanced glycation end products (AGEs) which kill your radiant, youthful complexion and leave you with dull, dry skin that ages you up faster than you can say ‘pass the Rocky Road’.

Stress is a similar complexion killer, causing unnecessary spikes in cortisol, the stress hormone (which says it all, right?). An overload of cortisol in your system leads to all manner of skin issues including inflammation, excessively oily skin, blocked pores and hey presto, acne breakouts.

And don’t even get us started on smoking which, after baking in the sun all day, is probably one of the worse things you can do for your skin, depriving it of oxygen and nutrients, and literally suffocating your skin with over 7,000 collagen-destroying chemicals. Eesh!

Of course, reducing the amount of sugar you eat, cutting down on alcohol, not smoking and minimizing your exposure to stressful situations are all great ways to get your skin back on track. But they’re not always easy – especially the stress part! So, if you want to give your complexion a simpler and slightly more speedy detox it’s worth looking at your skincare routine.

Full disclosure: it’s not medically possible to get rid of your body’s toxins through your skin. However, keeping your skin clean and well moisturized will go a long way to ridding its surface of pollutants, impurities and dead skin cells. And this is vital in order to create a brighter, calmer and more hydrated, aka healthy, complexion.

Here are a few things you can do to help detoxify your skin for the new year...

1. Double Cleanse Before Bed

We don’t believe double cleansing is necessary on a regular basis, but when your skin looks like it needs an extra nudge in the right direction, it can be a very effective way to purge every last scrap of makeup, dirt, oil, sweat and debris. Plus, deep cleaning your skin helps create the ideal base on which to apply the rest of your skincare formulations so they’re able to function at a much higher level. Win-win.

To set yourself up for double cleansing success, you’re going to need two different formulations. The first should be an oil-based makeup remover to cut through makeup, sunscreen, sebum and anything else that’s, well, oily. Then you’ll need a water-based gel, cream or foam cleanser to wash away all the pollutants you can’t see, while helping to address any particular concerns you may have.

The cleansers you choose will obviously depend on your skin type but our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is awesome for deep cleaning and detoxifying your skin. Use this after removing your makeup and you won’t regret it.

2. Steam Clean Skin Once A Week

In ‘ye olden days’, regularly steaming your skin was a given. And frankly, we should all start embracing mom’s favorite skin detox trick. Although, scratch the ‘all’. If you suffer with dryness or sensitivities like eczema or rosacea you might want to give this a miss because super-hot temperatures cause the blood vessels in your skin to dilate which can lead to further redness and flushing. Probably not what you were in the market for...

For the rest of you, however, steaming is a great way to boost blood flow, soften rough skin and deep clean your pores by loosening trapped oil and dirt. Hello clearer, brighter skin.

To nail the perfect steam clean, fill your sink or a large bowl with hot (although not boiling) water. Then cover your head with a clean towel and hover your face about 12 inches above the water for 10 minutes. You could even add some fresh herbs or essential oils like chamomile, lavender or rosemary to the water to decongest or soothe your skin.

After the 10 minutes is up, gently pat your face dry with the towel, then spritz Rose Water Refreshing Facial Toner all over to cool, calm and whisk away those loosened impurities.

3. Don’t Forget To Regularly Exfoliate

Who doesn’t love to exfoliate their skin every now and again? Exfoliating helps boost sluggish cell turnover to encourage dead skin cells to hop it, rather than sticking around at the surface where they clog up your pores and make your skin look dull and pimply.

Exfoliation is pretty important all-year long, especially as you get older when your natural rate of cell turnover slows down. But if your skin is feeling more yucksville than normal, it’s more important than ever.

Chemical exfoliation is probably the most skin-friendly way to exfoliate as it reduces any friction caused from scrubbing away at your skin. Look for glycolic acid and salicylic acid which are two of the best chemical exfoliators found in skincare. Our new AHA/BHA/PHA Liquid Exfoliant contains this dynamite blend, along with skin-brightening vitamin C and gluconolactone, a super-soothing exfoliating acid that also helps hydrate sad-looking skin. 

4. Try Skin Cycling

One of the latest beauty trends to storm TikTok is skin cycling. And while we generally steer clear of faddish skincare whims, this one has real legs – especially for skin that needs a bit of a kick up the butt.

The brainchild of New York dermatologist, Dr. Whitney Bowe, skin cycling is a great way to enhance your night time routine without overloading your skin with too much, all at once. The basic concept is that you exfoliate one night, apply retinol the next, then give your skin two days off by applying moisturizer only. Then you repeat the whole process. Of course, you cleanse and tone as normal every night, but by spacing out your exfoliation and retinol application you reduce irritation or flare-ups. And by giving your skin two ‘recovery’ days you also allow your skin’s super-important barrier function time to heal and rebuild itself.

It's pretty smart when you think about it. Plus, it's a great way to decongest blocked pores while boosting skin turnover and helping to rebuild valuable collagen and elastin.

5. Hydrate, Hydrate & Hydrate Some More

Chronic dehydration is one of the most common side-effects of stressed out, over-indulged skin which makes rehydration imperative. Of course, drinking plenty of sugar-free fluids like water and caffeine-free tea is a great way to go, but your skin will actually benefit way more from topical hydration.

Ensure your skincare routine is literally overflowing with hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycerin and aloe vera. These are all humectants which act like water magnets, drawing in moisture like little skincare sponges. Your best bet is to layer up a hydrating serum with a kick-ass moisturizer for the ultimate hydration. We love the combination of Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum and Vitamin C Brightening Moisturizer which gives you the added skin-loving benefits of vitamins C and E plus green tea and jojoba oil.

Been hearing a bit about the gut-skin axis recently and not sure what it’s all about? Then allow us to elaborate…

When searching for the solution to monthly acne breakouts, eczema flare-ups or bouts of rosacea few people think about what’s going on inside their bodies. But rather than stock up on months of prescription medication to deal with your skin issues, word is that taking a look at your gut health could be far more beneficial.

It’s all about the gut-skin axis, you see. The gut-skin, erm, what? Ha, don’t worry, the gut-skin axis is a relatively simple concept to grasp.

Your gut is home to a complex microbiome in which gazillions of microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses live. We know this doesn’t sound pleasant, but your microbiome plays an extremely important role in keeping bad bacteria at bay and therefore keeping your immune system in check. And all this is vital for helping to maintain balance and harmony throughout the entire body.

If this microbiome becomes unbalanced due to things like a poor diet, emotional stress, or food sensitivities, however, this can cause major disruptions in your body. And we’re not just talking about digestive issues like bloating or gastrointestinal diseases, because wherever there is gut inflammation, skin inflammation often follows.

Why is your skin affected by your gut, you might be wondering? Well, just like your gut, your skin has its own microbiome and the two are in constant communication with each other via a clever little pathway called the gut-skin axis. This means that when your gut is off kilter, your skin will, more often than not, reflect this, becoming inflamed, irritated or congested. Eating dairy, for example, is often linked to chronic skin issues like eczema. Wheat is another one that’s known to cause sensitivities and congestion, thereby triggering acne.

Reckon your gut could do with a little self-refinement right now? Here’s how to help improve the health of your gut… and consequently, your skin.

1. Get An Allergy Test

The most effective way to figure out what’s upsetting your gut and skin is to get an allergy test. Sure, you can do this at home by keeping a food diary while eliminating some of the main offenders (here’s looking at you dairy, wheat, gluten and spicy foods), but, jeez, do you really have the time, energy and patience? Thought not.

A better option is to visit a specialist to get a food allergy test. There are many ways to go about this but the most common are skin prick tests and blood tests. Both of these are very useful ways to pinpoint what’s causing you grief. Then you can avoid the culprits. Simple.

2. Cut Down On Sugar

While we would never suggest you remove things like dairy and wheat from your diet without consulting a doctor or allergist first, one thing you should be extremely wary of is sugar. With zero nutritional value, sugar is dastardly for your gut and even worse for your skin, triggering everything from acne and eczema to rosacea and psoriasis. In fact, sugar is probably the most inflammatory thing you could put into your body. Eek.

Furthermore, studies show that overloading your body with sugar produces advanced glycation end products (AGEs) – harmful compounds that break down collagen and elastin and ruin your radiant, youthful complexion.

Sugar is officially bad news, whichever way you look at it.

3. Eat Plenty Of The Good Stuff

A healthy diet is everything, so once you’ve eliminated anything that’s causing your gut grief, it’s time to indulge in all the good stuff. Fresh fruit, veggies, nuts, beans, healthy fats and lean protein are all awesome ways to support the wall of your gut.

And then there are those extra special foods that help promote good bacteria in your gut, and of course your skin as a consequence. These are called biotics – namely prebiotics and probiotics.

Biotics help balance your microbiome by literally flooding it with good bacteria. Prebiotics help encourage the growth of healthy bacteria that’s already present in your gut and can be found in things like asparagus, artichokes, garlic, leeks, bananas and oats. Meanwhile, probiotics are microorganisms in their own right and are found in cultured and fermented food like kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir, miso and live yogurt.

4. Minimize Stress

When you’re stressed out your brain goes into fight or flight mode and triggers your nervous system to release a whole bunch of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline into the bloodstream. This causes your heart to pump faster, your breath to quicken and your muscles to tense and get ready for action.

Of course, this is pretty useful when your body needs to react quickly to something, but the problems arise when stress hormones go into constant overdrive and your body gets no time to relax or go back to normal. This plays havoc with your gut (among other things!), compromising the balance of its microbiome, ‘feeding’ the bad bacteria and causing major problems with your digestion and immune system.

All this will reflect very poorly on the look, feel and health of your skin so try to cut down on stress wherever you can. This may be easier said than done, but there are many ways to reduce or manage your levels of stress. Some people find that yoga or exercise works. Others keep a stress journal to figure out what’s causing their stress in order to avoid their triggers and help them work on controlling their reactions. The most important thing, according to HelpGuide, is to experiment with different stress management tips to find what works for you.

Once your gut is in a more healthy working order, trust us, your skin will start to follow suit.

And in the meantime, ensure you’re doing everything you can to keep it clean, strong, protected and moisturized with your TruSkin favorites! Here’s how to build a successful skincare regime, right here.

Menopausal skin can be anything from slightly tricky to downright terrible. But wayward hormones needn’t get the better off you. You just need to know what to expect and get ahead of the game.

How times have changed. Rewind ten, maybe just five years ago and the ‘m’ word was never spoken about. This important life-changing period of time that happens to every single woman alive, literally brushed under the carpet as if it were some dirty secret. Total madness.

Thankfully, we live in different times and the menopause (there, we said it!) is now a topic we can openly talk about without feeling ashamed or, heaven’s forbid, old. Because it’s an important time and can bring a lot of unsettling uncertainties to any woman going through this perfectly natural stage of life. Hot flashes, weight gain, mood swings, zero energy, they can all go hand in hand with the menopause.

And then there’s your skin which also has its own challenges to contend with.

How The Menopause Affects Your Skin

The menopause can be split into three stages. Perimenopause begins first, usually in a woman’s 40s (although it can start as early as your 30s and as late as your 50s). This period of your life refers to the time in which your body starts to transition out of your reproductive years and into the menopause. Your body’s production of hormones (mainly estrogen and progesterone, but also testosterone to a certain degree) starts to decline, your periods become irregular and a few of the classic side effects may come to fruition. Fun times!

Then you obviously get the menopause which is when your body’s hormones cause you to completely stop menstruating (which can take many years) and all those fabulous (said with a side of irony) side-effects get stronger and more frequent. More fun times. Once menopause is over and you’ve stopped ovulating for a year you’re then said to be in the postmenopause and will be forever more.

As you progress through these different stages, your hormones are all over the place which is never great news for the health of your skin. You see, hormone fluctuations can affect your levels of sebum (cue dryness). Not only that but they upset your collagen production which is already declining as part of the natural aging process (cue wrinkles and sagging skin). Estrogen is also important for helping your skin to retain water so when these levels decrease your skin can’t hydrate itself as efficiently (cue dehydration).

Of course, changes in your skin depend on your skin type but, no matter what, you can inevitably look forward to some kind of ‘unpredictability’ during the menopausal years of your life.

5 Ways To Care For Menopausal Skin

If you’ve started to notice that your skin is misbehaving a little more than it used to, chances are you’re in the stage of your life in which your hormones have become, shall we say, less reliable. Read on for a few effective ways to help keep your skin in check as your hormones are very much not!

1. Be Kind

The most important thing to remember? Don’t panic. Freaking out and overcompensating for dry skin, dehydration, breakouts or wrinkles that were never before is a sure-fire way to irritate your skin. Instead, be gentle with your skin, cleansing, toning and treating it with kindness and respect. Most importantly, avoid ingredients like synthetic fragrances and harsh alcohols that will strip your skin and generate further problems you didn’t sign up for.

A great way to do this? Switch out your regular cleanser for Soothing Cleansing Milk which is perfect for menopausal skin, nurturing and calming your barrier function while bringing vital hydration and even a little exfoliation to the table.

2. Moisturize To The Max

Research shows that the most common skin complaint during the menopause is dry, irritated, and often itchy skin. This is all thanks to lowering levels of estrogen (an important skin hydrator) as well as reduced sebum. Without both of these important moisturizing tools, water is able to escape more easily from the surface of your skin which leads to dryness, dehydration and everything that comes with it.

To help get ahead of this, you’re going to want to introduce a hydrating serum as well as a really good moisturizer into your daily regime. Try the kick-ass combo of our Multi-Vitamin Facial Serum and Renewing Longevity Moisturizing Cream every morning, and Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream before bed.

3. Use Smart Skincare Ingredients To Control Breakouts

Cell turnover becomes super sluggish during this time in your life which gives dead skin cells a free ticket to hang around at the surface of your skin and make your complexion look kind of dull. When it’s combined with wayward hormones it’s also asking for acne breakouts to do a real number on your skin. For most people these are mild and easily managed with healing, anti-inflammatory skincare ingredients like salicylic acid, niacinamide and tea tree oil – well, hello there Tea Tree Face Wash and Tea Tree Super Serum+.

If you feel like yours are more serious and out of control, however, seek help from a dermatologist.

4. Look After Your Collagen

It’s thought that skin loses a massive 30 percent of its natural collagen levels during the first five years of the menopause. Sound like a lot, right? Yeah, that’s because it is. And collagen is extremely important for the strength, firmness and elasticity of your skin so you’ve got to do everything you can to keep it healthy and plentiful.

How to do this? With a healthy diet, good sleep, marginal stress (preferably none at all, but it’s OK, we’re all human) and some smart skincare choices. Namely retinol at night (is there anything retinol isn’t good for?!), alongside our fabulous Collagen range which includes Smoothing Collagen Serum, Firming Collagen Day Lotion and our Collagen Boosting Skin Supplement which contains vegetarian collagen (none of that animal stuff for us, thanks) alongside skin-strengthening vitamins, biotin and acai.

5. Apply SPF Like Your Skin Depends On It

Because, heads up, it actually does. Dark spots are likely to get darker, bigger and more prevalent during your menopausal years as decades of sun exposure combine with wild hormones, causing your melanin to lose control of itself. Your fine lines and wrinkles are equally likely to suffer thanks to a lack of collagen helping to reinforce the strength and plumpness of your skin. Sigh.

Our advice? Don’t leave the house without applying SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C to your face and neck. It’s packed with sun-protective zinc oxide as well as aloe vera to hydrate and nourish your skin and a TruSkin favorite, brightening vitamin C. It’s basically a skincare must. Every. Day. Of. The Year.

Menopausal skin can be anything from slightly tricky to downright terrible. But wayward hormones needn’t get the better off you. You just need to know what to expect and get ahead of the game.

How times have changed. Rewind ten, maybe just five years ago and the ‘m’ word was never spoken about. This important life-changing period of time that happens to every single woman alive, literally brushed under the carpet as if it were some dirty secret. Total madness.

Thankfully, we live in different times and the menopause (there, we said it!) is now a topic we can openly talk about without feeling ashamed or, heaven’s forbid, old. Because it’s an important time and can bring a lot of unsettling uncertainties to any woman going through this perfectly natural stage of life. Hot flashes, weight gain, mood swings, zero energy, they can all go hand in hand with the menopause.

And then there’s your skin which also has its own challenges to contend with.

How The Menopause Affects Your Skin

The menopause can be split into three stages. Perimenopause begins first, usually in a woman’s 40s (although it can start as early as your 30s and as late as your 50s). This period of your life refers to the time in which your body starts to transition out of your reproductive years and into the menopause. Your body’s production of hormones (mainly estrogen and progesterone, but also testosterone to a certain degree) starts to decline, your periods become irregular and a few of the classic side effects may come to fruition. Fun times!

Then you obviously get the menopause which is when your body’s hormones cause you to completely stop menstruating (which can take many years) and all those fabulous (said with a side of irony) side-effects get stronger and more frequent. More fun times. Once menopause is over and you’ve stopped ovulating for a year you’re then said to be in the postmenopause and will be forever more.

As you progress through these different stages, your hormones are all over the place which is never great news for the health of your skin. You see, hormone fluctuations can affect your levels of sebum (cue dryness). Not only that but they upset your collagen production which is already declining as part of the natural aging process (cue wrinkles and sagging skin). Estrogen is also important for helping your skin to retain water so when these levels decrease your skin can’t hydrate itself as efficiently (cue dehydration).

Of course, changes in your skin depend on your skin type but, no matter what, you can inevitably look forward to some kind of ‘unpredictability’ during the menopausal years of your life.

5 Ways To Care For Menopausal Skin

If you’ve started to notice that your skin is misbehaving a little more than it used to, chances are you’re in the stage of your life in which your hormones have become, shall we say, less reliable. Read on for a few effective ways to help keep your skin in check as your hormones are very much not!

1. Be Kind

The most important thing to remember? Don’t panic. Freaking out and overcompensating for dry skin, dehydration, breakouts or wrinkles that were never before is a sure-fire way to irritate your skin. Instead, be gentle with your skin, cleansing, toning and treating it with kindness and respect. Most importantly, avoid ingredients like synthetic fragrances and harsh alcohols that will strip your skin and generate further problems you didn’t sign up for.

A great way to do this? Switch out your regular cleanser for Soothing Cleansing Milk which is perfect for menopausal skin, nurturing and calming your barrier function while bringing vital hydration and even a little exfoliation to the table.

2. Moisturize To The Max

Research shows that the most common skin complaint during the menopause is dry, irritated, and often itchy skin. This is all thanks to lowering levels of estrogen (an important skin hydrator) as well as reduced sebum. Without both of these important moisturizing tools, water is able to escape more easily from the surface of your skin which leads to dryness, dehydration and everything that comes with it.

To help get ahead of this, you’re going to want to introduce a hydrating serum as well as a really good moisturizer into your daily regime. Try the kick-ass combo of our Multi-Vitamin Facial Serum and Renewing Longevity Moisturizing Cream every morning, and Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream before bed.

3. Use Smart Skincare Ingredients To Control Breakouts

Cell turnover becomes super sluggish during this time in your life which gives dead skin cells a free ticket to hang around at the surface of your skin and make your complexion look kind of dull. When it’s combined with wayward hormones it’s also asking for acne breakouts to do a real number on your skin. For most people these are mild and easily managed with healing, anti-inflammatory skincare ingredients like salicylic acid, niacinamide and tea tree oil – well, hello there Tea Tree Face Wash and Tea Tree Super Serum+.

If you feel like yours are more serious and out of control, however, seek help from a dermatologist.

4. Look After Your Collagen

It’s thought that skin loses a massive 30 percent of its natural collagen levels during the first five years of the menopause. Sound like a lot, right? Yeah, that’s because it is. And collagen is extremely important for the strength, firmness and elasticity of your skin so you’ve got to do everything you can to keep it healthy and plentiful.

How to do this? With a healthy diet, good sleep, marginal stress (preferably none at all, but it’s OK, we’re all human) and some smart skincare choices. Namely retinol at night (is there anything retinol isn’t good for?!), alongside our fabulous Collagen range which includes Smoothing Collagen Serum, Firming Collagen Day Lotion and our Collagen Boosting Skin Supplement which contains vegetarian collagen (none of that animal stuff for us, thanks) alongside skin-strengthening vitamins, biotin and acai.

5. Apply SPF Like Your Skin Depends On It

Because, heads up, it actually does. Dark spots are likely to get darker, bigger and more prevalent during your menopausal years as decades of sun exposure combine with wild hormones, causing your melanin to lose control of itself. Your fine lines and wrinkles are equally likely to suffer thanks to a lack of collagen helping to reinforce the strength and plumpness of your skin. Sigh.

Our advice? Don’t leave the house without applying SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C to your face and neck. It’s packed with sun-protective zinc oxide as well as aloe vera to hydrate and nourish your skin and a TruSkin favorite, brightening vitamin C. It’s basically a skincare must. Every. Day. Of. The Year.