Our Skin Care Expert Orla Becker on Aquafacial and her best beauty tips.
By Leila Cunningham, Head of Skin Care Products at CLN Company
Orla is a certified Physician's Assistant with extensive knowledge and experience in both surgical and non-surgical beauty focused treatments, including lasers, injectables, and overall skin care, she is a true expert in her field. Since 2005 she has been working with a renowned plastic surgeon where she isa practitioner and the director of his Beverly Hills office and Practice Manager of his high end medi spa.
Orla's expertise extends to treating all skin types as well as a wide-range of conditions and concerns. Her goal is to ensure that her patients achieve a natural, youthful appearance.
In this blog, Orla has generously shared her invaluable skin care tips with Clean Face Company. She highlighted key ingredients to look for and even shared her personal experience of seeing "immediate results" with Aquafacial.
What are the 3 most important steps in skin care?
1. Cleansing
Do not go to bed without washing your face. This is especially true if you wear makeup. Mixed with sebum and sweat, makeup residues create a moist environment that is a breeding ground for pathogenic agents. But even if you don't, pollution, sebum, and oils from the day can gunk up your pores. This may only sound like a problem for those with acne-prone or sensitive skin, but it is true for everyone. Introducing this habit will positively affect your skin long-term. If you are not sure what kind of cleanser is right for you, start with a product that is simple and clean.
2. Exfoliating
Your skin is constantly repairing and replacing itself. Because of this, you can be left with layers upon layers of dead skin (topmost skin layer) all over your body. Exfoliation is important because it helps to break down some of the top surface cells that contribute to skin dullness, and ‘aged skin’ appearance. Brown spots also improve because some of those ‘dead’ surface cells are what harbor some of the pigment. Exfoliation should happen at least once or twice per week. Other benefits of exfoliation are 1) brighter and smoother skin, 2) improves the appearance of wrinkles, 3) unclogs pores, 4) minimizes pore size, and 5) helps absorption or penetration of other skin care products like moisturizers, serums and toners.
3. Sun Protection
One of the most important things you can do to keep wrinkles away is to wear sunscreen every day. Even in the winter and on cloudy days, you should put sunscreen on.
It is the single greatest "treatment" to combat “anti-aging” because it stops the damage from happening to begin with. UV rays account for up to 80% of visible signs of aging, which include fine lines, dark spots, texture changes, and sagging. Not to mention, UV damage can lead to much worse.
How important is skin cleansing?
Cleansing is the backbone of any skin care routine. After all, fresh, clean skin is absolutely necessary for all that follows—even the most potent products cannot penetrate pores filled with makeup, sunscreen, and overall grime. What is a good serum or moisturizer worth if your barrier is compromised?
What are the top 4 ingredients you recommend using in skincare?
Vitamin C
Vitamin C can be used every day, layered under a different product, and can be used in mix with different ingredients.
It produces great benefits like 1) helps fade dark spots and hyperpigmentation, 2) helps skin appear brighter and overall, more radiant looking, 3) helps firm and promote the production of collagen and elastin, and 4) prevents free radical damage.
The use of Vitamin C can even help make your sunscreen more effective.
Retinol
Retinol is a vitamin A derivative that’s considered to be the “gold standard” of aging ingredients as it’s one of the most studied for its effects on the skin. Not only does it protect against collagen loss, but it can help enhance production as well by regulating collagen producing genes. Additionally, Retinol helps promote skin cell turnover which in turn will help unclog pores and lead to less blemishes and reduce pore size. It will also help product penetrate the skin better. It is important to remember to use sunscreen while using any sort of Retinol.
SPF
I highly recommend using a minimum SPF of 30 to ensure optimal sun protection. Always remember to reapply every 2 hours especially with any sort of active sun exposure (including things like driving a car). I prefer sunscreens which contain zinc and titanium dioxide as these are physical blockers of UV rays. Personally, I have very sensitive skin and find that these also don’t "sting" my skin as I do find more often with a chemical-based sunscreen.
Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic Acid is a "natural moisturizer" that is suitable for different skin types, and climates. It helps to bind water to collagen, trapping it in the skin, resulting in skin that can appear plumper, dewier, and more hydrated. It is an effective "anti-aging" agent that promotes collagen production. In addition to forming a breathable film on the surface of the skin, and locking in skin moisture, it protects the skin from dust and UV rays.
What do your daily (morning and evening) skin care routines look like?
AM – First I cleanse my skin with a light cleanser. Second, I apply serum. The final step is always to apply sunscreen.
PM – As I mentioned previously, it is so important to wash/cleanse my face from makeup, oils and daily stressors. After that I use complexion renewal pads with AHA, retinol, and moisturizer. A few days per week I add vitamin C, and hyaluronic acid.
Extra steps: I recommend using Aquafacial once per week and Clean Face Company Revitalizing Serum three times per week for deep cleaning, exfoliation and extra hydration!
What is your favorite thing about Aquafacial?
The fact that Aquafacial is an at home device that does chemical and physical deep cleaning and exfoliation is amazing! The silicon tips are gentle enough to perform a deep brush to remove dead skin cells (stratum cornea), oils and impurities, all while hydrating (hyaluronic acid) and exfoliating with (glycolic acid) using Aquafacial Cleansing Serum to regenerate skin. At the same time it removes these dead skin cells, it suctions them immediately. Aquafacial is safe for all skin types and easy to use at home. To me, the suctioning feels like facial massage – this process increases blood circulation in the face, which also helps to stimulate collagen production. Additionally, skin care products penetrate much better after Aquafacial treatment and I see immediate results.
Traditionally the face gets all the attention regarding skin care, but no less important is the neck and chest. These two areas tend to show aging first, and fortunately you can use Aquafacial on both.
Any last advice?
The skin is the body’s largest organ, made of water, protein, fats and minerals. Proper skin care is essential to maintaining the health and vitality of this protective organ. Taking care of yourself as of your skin should be a priority.
When you take care of yourself it lowers cortisol levels. And if you decrease cortisol, you lower your stress. It's good for your overall health.
Always remember to use a sunscreen while using vitamin C, glycolic acid, and retinol because these are all photosensitive products which in turn will make you more sensitive to the sun.
