Your Ramadan Skin

Skin, the integumentary system, is the largest organ in the human body, at approximately a total area of 20 square feet! Skin acts as a protection barrier against the elements, including bacteria and harmful rays as well as regulating our body’s temperature.

Our skin is made up of three distinctive layers; the outermost is the epidermis, which acts as a waterproof barrier and gives us our skin tone. The middle layer is the dermis, beneath the epidermis, made up of connective tissue, hair follicles and sweat glands. The deepest layer is the subcutaneous tissue also known as the hypodermis and it is mainly made up of fat and connective tissue.

As Ramadan has just started, it is essential to understand how to look after your skin during this period, especially when we must fast for approximately 16 hours. What happens to our skin when we fast? Fasting has many benefits for the human body including detoxifying. However, it also causes dehydration particularly obvious on the skin; facial skin to be exact. It is also during this time that the skin can start playing up, especially with increasing temperature. Some may find their skin getting oilier and presence of pimples and zits whilst other may find patchy dry skin and loss of skin turgor. The skin lustre may also fade, making you look pale and less radiant and fresh.

Hydration is key to the skin. Applying copious amounts of creams, serums and oil may help but it is also important to think about the molecular size of the particles in the topical cream, serum or oil you are applying, if it will actually really hydrate the skin and passes the membrane or will it hydrate just the very outer layer of the dead epithelial cells we all have on our skin, which will give a temporary result but does nothing for long term.

So, how do we get hydration to the right layers of the skin? Water is the answer but of course we are talking Ramadan skin here when we are fasting for 16 hours. Things you can do include drinking less caffeine during your non-fasting hours, drinking as much water as you can (actual water, not juice or tea or coffee) and eating the right food containing collagen to help with your moisture level, skin tone and laxity. Avoiding refined sugar and carbohydrates are also key to keeping the skin happy and supple.

A good bone broth for me is essential. As a foodie, I care a lot about what I eat, not only must it be of good quality and nourishing but it must taste and look good too. I much prefer to make my own bone broth, so I know exactly what is in it. When you make your own from good quality bone, your broth will contain great nourishing minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, collagen, glucosamine, chondroitin, amino acids and many more. Chicken, egg whites, fish and seafoods including shellfish are great sources of collagen too.

As you can probably guess, Vitamin C is essential to make collagen in the body, therefore eating more citrus fruits and berries are great. Tomatoes and bell pepper are also a great source of Vitamin C. Tomatoes especially contain lycopene; a great anti-oxidant for the skin! Bell peppers contain capsaicin; an anti-inflammatory compound that is great for the skin and can help with anti-ageing! Garlic is another essential in my cooking. I cannot think of any home-cooked food I don’t use garlic in. Garlic contains a trace mineral called sulfur and that is essential in preventing the breakdown of collagen as well as in collagen synthesis in the human body. Leafy greens are a great source of chlorophyll, which has anti-oxidant properties. Beans and nuts are also great source of amino acids, the essential building blocks in the human body.

Why is it so important to make more collagen and preserve the collagen we have? Sadly, from the age of approximately 25 years old, our body stops producing collagen. Yes, indeed, a sad fact. Which is probably why you start seeing early wrinkle formation from your late twenties or early thirties. What else can we do to stimulate collagen production and prevent the further breakdown of the collagen we have?

LED technology is the answer. Using Near Infra Red wavelength and Red wavelength, these LED lights stimulates the mitochondria in the cells which leads to increase production of ATP1 (energy), regulates reactive oxygen groups and induces transcription factors, which subsequently leads to increased cell proliferation and migration (creating new cells), regulation of cytokines, growth factors, inflammatory mediators and increasing tissue oxygenation. The improved blood flow will increase cellular level changes through microcirculation and thus resulting in cell and tissue repair, regeneration and rejuvenation.

This technology was led by NASA – yes indeed, from space when NASA was experimenting with growing crops in space for lengthy missions, they used LED light to promote growth, but also found that the wavelength of the light was great at speeding up wound healing. This was what kick started my business venture into LED tech in the health and beauty industry. After much research, we found that CELLRETURN from South Korea is the true LED leader in the global market and their devices do exactly what they claim. Best of all, their team of researchers is relentlessly reinventing to give us the best, and they hold a patent for each of their astounding technologies. They are also the original manufacturer of the Phantom Opera mask which was made and sold to Opera LeBody for distribution.

The red mode on the device, with Red and Near Infra Red wavelengths is the main one to use for collagen stimulation, anti-ageing and rejuvenation. The blue mode is proven to work for acne and pimples with its zapping powers against P. Acne. The pink mode which is a combination of the red and blue is great for sensitive skin and conditions like Rosacea.

So on this Ramadan, if you are thinking of a long term “skinvestment”, I do suggest you have a look at the CELLRETURN Platinum LED Face Mask. I use mine daily for 20 minutes and as I am approaching mid-forties soon, this is one of my non-negotiables in my daily routine, for that everyday glow and the long-term skin advantages. Yes, we can grow old gracefully with CELLRETURN.

Wishing you and yours a Ramadan Kareem.

Acknowledgement:

I am the co-founder of CELLRETURN UK and ME.