What Actually Ages Your Skin — and the One Daily Habit That Protects It

If you've started wondering what actually ages your skin — the dryness that wasn't there a year ago, a little sag along the jaw, lines that seem to have arrived overnight — this episode is the calm, clear answer. Registered nurse Joanne Wismeyer spent years in emergency and clinical care before building Stella, a platform that tracks your skin over time and lines it up against your sleep, stress, cycle and lifestyle. She's seen, up close, what's really driving the changes women notice in their late 30s, 40s and 50s.

Here's the part most people miss. So often it isn't that your skincare stopped working — it's that the biology underneath has changed. Your skin has oestrogen receptors, so as your hormones shift, collagen, elasticity and the skin's ability to hold water shift with them. Jo's reframe is the thread running through the whole conversation: your skin isn't the problem, it's the messenger — for your sleep, your stress, your hormones and what's on your plate. Treat it in isolation and you miss the real clues.

Jo and Kelly cut through the noise — the “skinfluencer” trends, the miracle serums, the 12-step routines — and land on what actually has evidence behind it. And then, as always, one thing to do this week.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Wellness Simplified. I'm Kelly Nicholas, and this show is for busy people who care deeply about their health, but for drowning and conflicting advice and don't know where to focus. Every episode, we simplify one area of health. One habit, one simple experiment, one clear next step that will actually fit into your life. Together, let's optimize our health. One simple step at a time. Have you noticed signs of skin aging due to the dryness that wasn't there a year ago? A bit of a sag along the jaw, lines that seem to have turned up overnight. And skincare you've trusted for years. Suddenly it's just not doing so much. So what do you do? You buy something new, and something else, you scroll, you panic, you spend. But here's what today's guest told me. Your skin isn't the problem. It's the messenger. What's showing up on your face has a lot more to do with what's going on underneath your sleep and your stress, your hormones, and whatever's in a jar. Joanne Weismeyer is a registered nurse nurse and she looks down and add the track what's actually happening with your skin over time and lines it up against your sleep, your stress, your cycle so you can see what's genuinely moving the needle. In today's episode, we'll talk we talk about the habits that most affect your uh skin and what you can do both from the inside and the outside to promote long-term growing healthy skin. Let's get started today's episode of the Wellness Simplified Podcast. Thank you so much for joining us at Wellness Simplified. This should be a really awesome episode where we can go deep into looking at what's actually aging the skin. And I think from our pre-conversation, there's going to be lots of surprises for people. So I'm looking forward to the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Thanks, Kelly. Thanks so much for having me on. Yeah, hopefully people can take some little bite-sized pieces of information and really start to just grasp the understanding of their skin and what does influence the aging process.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Awesome. Awesome. Um, I like to get started by just getting a sense of the guests, you know, who they are and so forth. And to do that, I'd love to hear like how was your morning this morning? Do you have any morning routines? How do you set yourself up?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Okay, so well, this morning. So my mornings are usually a little bit of organized chaos. So this morning I got up before my five-year-old. So usually he comes to wake me up. But this morning I got up before him and I squeezed in a quick workout because I know that movement helps me really kind of get gear up for the day and get started and puts me in a really good mindset. So and then it was actually a beautiful morning. I got Byron up, my son, and looked out the window, and there was this beautiful pink sunrise. So it was really just really special. So I said, come on, buddy, let's go outside. And he's, you know, just the look in their eyes. They're so young, and you know, they see these beautiful things, and it was just a really nice start to the morning. Yeah, it was beautiful. That's awesome. A pretty good snapshot of life at the moment. So juggling parenting, work, and you know, health, everything in between. And I think a lot of people can probably relate to that. But um, yeah, then we managed to get to school drop-off on time.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Amazing. I feel like when you have like I aim for mornings like that, but you know, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. And I feel like you have to celebrate them when they do work because it's not every day, and like that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

I will also add that when I got in the car, I forgot it was reader day, and so I laid it in the house and grabbed the reader, and we still managed to have like one minute to kick the footy when we got to school.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

So oh my god, you're winning, my dear. Yay! Um, and what's one small habit that you've kind of implemented lately that you've been surprised by how effective it's been?

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Honestly, I think, well, there are so many, but well, actually, one of the biggest things I've learned, well, through nursing and building stellar is that everything has a ripple effect. So, you know, sleep affects stress, stress affects hormones, hormones affect skin, and well, skin affects confidence, and nothing really exists in isolation. So if I had to choose one thing, it would be at the moment prioritizing sleep. So when you're building something that you're passionate about, it's easy for sleep to be one of the first things that goes out the window. And you know, a lot of busy women can probably relate to that. Um, and whatever your busy looks like, but I've learned um that it doesn't have to be that way.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Totally. So important, like prioritizing sleep. I think I honestly I really do think it's the number one.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yep, and there's an old saying in my mom used to say it all the time, and I didn't appreciate it at the time, but early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy, and wise. And as I've gotten older, I've really started to, you know, see a lot of truth for that.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Um, totally. Awesome. Well, let's hear about your story because you're a registered nurse and you went from emergency care to building this amazing skin health platform. So, how what was that shift? How did that happen?

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Well, so I've always been really fascinated by skin, biology, science, and all of that, you know, tying in together and just connecting the dots. I've just, I get it and I understand it, and I just love it. But mostly from my own experience, so like many teenagers, I struggled with really painful cystic acne, and I ended up needing some pretty strong hardcore medication to get it under control, and it was really effective, but you know, that doesn't last forever, and you know, the skin journey continues. And in my 20s, you know, acne came back, it wasn't as severe as it was before, but you know, it was enough to leave me, you know, with acne scarring, which was always a constant reminder of you know the pain and suffering and and going through that back in the day. So um, yeah, so left with the aftermath of the scarring. And to me, skin is you know incredibly personal. So whether it's acne, aging, rosacea, pigmentation, all these, you know, things tie into aging as well. It's not just lines and wrinkles, but um, yeah. So what I've learned through my personal experience and my nursing career is that also when people are vulnerable, they're also it's they're very easy to be marketed to. And um, you know, there's always another product, another treatment, or another, you know, promise that doesn't necessarily deliver us. So for me, that's why this matters. And it's not about perfect skin because it doesn't exist. We're living biological beings, it's about helping people understand what's actually happening to their skin so they can make informed decisions and feel comfortable in themselves. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Beautiful. So maybe you could explain just briefly to people how Stella actually works, and then we can dive into some of the things that you found from it.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah. So Stellar is a longitudinal skin analysis and tracking platform. So it's a wellness platform for skin. So where you can sync your lifestyle things like wearables, your products, your treatments. Um, so users take a scan regularly a couple of times a week, and it tracks things like you know, redness, pigmentation, breakouts, pores, lines, puffiness, and you know, facial sagging. So there's over 20, there's about 26 metrics that we track over time. And the interesting part is not the photo itself, because if we just go by that, we're missing so much context. So they can combine information like sleep, stress, even menstrual cycle activity levels, stress levels, and lifestyle factors that help people understand what's influencing the skin. So instead of asking why is my skin bad today, you know, um, we're helping people answer what is happening in my life that improved or worsened at that point in time. So um it was built by a team with backgrounds in dermatology, nursing, technology, um, AI, and data science. So I'm really proud to have Dr. Alice Rod dermatologist on the team, um, and then our tech guy and our um marketing guy. So it's just, you know, skin is so complex, and we know from that there's no single discipline has all the answers. So um we track our steps, we track our sleep, we track our cycles. So it makes sense that we'd be tracking our skin too, the largest organ of our body.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

So yeah, no, it's awesome. And you know, you and I, you know, got talking at the digital health festival because we both essentially have these health platforms, but yeah, great to meet someone who's doing it in um in skin. So now I'm really curious to dive into some of the things that you've found through doing this work. I think you know, a lot of people, whether it's in their mid to late 30s, they start to notice skin changing, whether it's dryness, sensitivity, wrinkles, laxity, all of the things. Um, and most of them just assume it's just aging. But what's actually going on that's causing that?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah, so aging is definitely part of the story, but you know, what is aging? You know, aging is a word, but that covers so many things. So as we age, we know that collagen production naturally starts to decline, it becomes thinner, cell turnover slows, and we lose elasticity. But a lot of the changes that women notice in their late 30s and 40s and 50s is also heavily influenced by hormones, sleep quality, stress, inflammation, nutrition, and lifestyle. So, particularly for women in their late 30s, we often in 40s, we often see changes related to perimenopause and menopause. So, one of the things that women don't realize is that our skin contains estrogen receptors. So as estrogen levels start to fluctuate and then you know decline rapidly, we do see rapid changes in collagen production, elasticity, the ability for the skin to retain water and wound healing. Um, and sometimes, you know, women tell me in the clinic, I've been using the same skincare for years, and suddenly it doesn't seem to be doing anything. And often it's not the skincare stopped working, it's that the biology underneath has actually changed. And that's why I think we do ourselves a disservice when we treat skin completely in isolation, like skincare. So don't get me wrong, skincare is absolutely important, and proper formulations and appropriate skincare for different concerns is important, and I will say sunscreen and evidence-based skincare. But if we're only looking at the surface, we really do miss important clues about what is actually happening underneath. Um, yeah, so we can kind of treat skin as a messenger that we can, you know, draw a lot of information from.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

So you touched on a number of things there about like what causes skin aging. Could you maybe unpack some of those?

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Um, so I think a lot of it, our skin aging is you know coming from maybe somewhere else in the body.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Um, and we're missing it by treating the skin like topically in isolation. So um it doesn't, skin doesn't exist independently of someone, it's your largest organ and it's constantly responding to what's happening, like what we feed it, antioxidants, protein. I mean, our collagen is a structural protein in our skin. So and if we don't, and keratin is a protein. So if we don't eat enough of it, um, you know, that's going to compromise our um our skin integrity as well. So poor sleep increases inflammation. Um, chronic stress can increase cortisol, and cortisol, you know, is associated with that collagen breakdown and changes in the barrier function of the skin. Um, and hormonal fluctuations can affect hydration, the pigmentation, breakouts, you know, the thickness of your skin, all of those things. Even intake of sugar, yeah, causing glycation.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Yeah, right. Okay, amazing. So, from that perspective, I imagine that you see, depending on the habits that people, not even like the topical skin habits, but the actual health habits that people are following, how well they're aging on the outside. And so, what are some of the main habits that contribute to skin aging? And then conversely, what are some of the habits that um you know promote a long-term kind of youthful glowing skin? And from what you said, I I can guess some of them, but but yeah, good to really make those clear.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yes. So the things that really accelerate skin aging the most are pretty similar to the things that negatively affect our health overall. So, but one of these things is, and I'll say it again, it's boring, and people know about this, but they it's you know, it's UV exposure. It's one of the number one things, and by quite a significant margin as well. So if I could give get people to do one thing consistently that really does have that compound effect, it's where the SPF, and then obviously smoking, poor sleep, chronic stress, um, excessive alcohol and things like that as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

But okay, well, let's start with the most important and then maybe we can unpack a few of the other ones. Um, so with the SPF, we live in Australia, like what I have read, but this is general data from other, like you know, from scientific journals that are usually published out of the US, and it's um about like peak times nine to I forget what they said, four or five being out of the sun. But I think in Australia it's different. And I there's also for our health, like it's important to get sunlight and vitamin D and so forth. So, what's your recommendation as far as like when to stay out of the sun, when to wear sunscreen, when is a good time to get sun, because sun is also important for our health?

SPEAKER_01 13:42

I think limiting yourself to a certain amount of um time as well in the sun is is you know, is is helpful. But I think having certain like you can be aware, like if Stella actually integrates the environmental factors like UV into the app as well. So you can use the app to actually track your skin at and when you should be wearing wearing SPF most of the time. Um but yeah, I I don't I know that I mean in Australia our ozone layer is quite quite um just disturbed as well. So I think that's not really so helpful in our um in the protection of our skin. So I would advise to be wearing it most of the time.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Some things that I've heard that have surprised me, and maybe you can elaborate on this, is that like you even need to be wearing sunscreen if you're inside near a window where sun is coming in or you're driving your kids around, for example. Like things like you know, I would think to wear sunscreen when I go for a walk. I love walking, I live near the beach. Um, but I would forget to wear sunscreen when I'm driving my kids. And I went to a dermatologist and he was like, Oh, your right hand has more pigmentation. I was like, huh, interesting, you know? Is it interesting? So what's your like let's try to think about what people are not thinking of and how often they should be applying sunscreen and like those kind of things that people are not thinking of.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Um, so with sunscreen, oh, there was actually a really interesting photo of you can probably look it up online. It's a lot of dermatologists actually do show it to patients, is that, yeah, like exactly what you said when you're driving, and there was a truck driver, and over time he um, you know, all of his right side of his face was you could see the the damage that the sun exposure over time had caused. Um, yeah, it was um, it's really, really interesting to see the compound effect of sunscreen, you know, and even identical twins, you know, you could have one that doesn't use sunscreen. There was another study on that, um images on that that people used in a lot of presentations. Um, and it's the difference in the breakdown, it causes DNA damage. Um, so you know, I think there are other ways to get your vitamin D. Um, I don't think it's the be-all end-all, um, but spending some time outside, wear your sunscreen.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Yeah, great. Yeah, I like to think about it like first thing, I mean, from a health perspective, and this has been recommended by several guests, and I it's something that I recommend as well as getting sun in your eyes like within 30 minutes of waking up. And that sun, like, unless you're like really crazy and don't have kids and can sleep until 10 a.m. or something insane, you're fine. Whereas, you know, like then you probably need sunscreen. But like if you're waking up like I am really early and you're literally watching the sunrise, then I think that sun's fine and that's actually really healthy. But then for the rest of the day, what you're saying is make sure you're not just applying, but also reapplying sunscreen and being aware that it's like of all the places that you might not think of, like the drive or the computer.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

And and not just, you know, putting it on in the morning and that's it, or people assume that their sun their makeup has sunscreen in it so that they don't have to, but that's not necessarily enough. And there's different types of sunscreens. Um so I think finding one that works for your skin because everyone is different as well. There's chemical sunscreens, there's physical sunscreens. Um, yeah, so finding one that works for you and sticking with it and having that become part of your routine, part of your habit.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Cool, awesome. Okay, so that's number one. Now you've mentioned sleep as being really critical. Why is sleep so critical for the skin? I mean, I know it's critical for your overall health, but why specifically for the skin?

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Well, when you're sleeping, your skin is going through the repair process. So you secrete growth hormone, you, you know, melatonin. So all of these things help to repair the skin. So if we're, you know, going about our day and we've got all of these factors that are essentially traumatizing our skin, whether it be um UV, whether it be um, you know, different things that we've done to our skin or just living, by by being able to have that good quality sleep, that growth hormone is able to do its thing, our skin can start to repair from the day previously. And, you know, that does have a compound effect over time in our barrier function, our inflammatory, like inflammation in our skin. Um, and like even in the data in style with with stellar. So the decrease in sleep has diff as correlated with that increased redness in the skin and texture irregularities and decreased ability, not to mention the dark circles, which is obvious in hindsight, but when you start to track, you can really start to see these things come about.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Um, interesting. I mean that it's when you're having, and I think it's also like important to mention that you know, all sleep is not equal. So I had an amazing guest on who was talking about brain health. I had two guests on talking about brain health and prevention of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's and so forth, and took they were talking about the crucial nature of deep sleep because that's when your brain is literally kind of you know being cleansed. Same with all, yeah, exactly, same with all of your organs. So I suppose it makes absolute sense that it's no, it's no different from for your skin because it's just a different, it's the largest organ in the body. But um, but I imagine it's again, it's not just you know the amount of time you sleep, it's also the quality of sleep that you're getting and how much deep sleep.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Yeah, so you know, even things like alcohol a couple of hours before bed can be can be quite disruptive to that deep sleep. Um, and you might, you know, maybe it might make you have a glass of wine and you feel a bit sleepy and tired and relaxed, but it actually impacts the quality of your sleep. Um, and things like screen time, you know, trying to limit that. And these are all things that we, you know, it's all good, well and good to say, but life is busy, but but these are you know are in fact things that do affect our sleep and our hormones, exactly. So, you know, women going through perimenopause and menopause, that decrease in progesterone, that natural progesterone helps to um make us feel calm and induce GABA and things like that, which help us to to have good quality sleep too and feel relaxed.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Yeah. And in terms of collagen, that's another you mentioned collagen and you mentioned protein. Do you have any recommendations on like what's the most bioavailable or how anything like that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Um, I'm I know there's a lot of different collagen supplements on the market. I I wouldn't be confident as to say that you know, one of them works or not, but I would say, you know, can't hurt might help. But making sure you actually have enough good dietary protein in your diet. I don't think like if your diet is lacking good quality protein, but you're taking a collagen supplement, it's just not going to do the job. Like if you're, you know what I mean? You can't, it's like I love this saying for you know, when you have an exercise routine, you can't exercise your way out of a poor diet. Totally.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Yeah, yeah. And is there any other nutrients that are really critical for the skin?

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Um, so I like so beta carotene, that's a really good one. So it's in orange, um, orange kind of fruits and vegetables, so carrots, pumpkins, all those kinds of orange foods. Um, and that's really good for skin health, eye health as well, but it helps to um, I always like to call it like an in like an edible retinol in retinol in a way because you've got it converts to vitamin A in the skin, and that's really important for healthy functioning skin as well. So, and then there's so many other nutrients, you've got your antioxidants because we're exposed to oxidative stress throughout the day. Um, and by being able to um you know supplement and take in those antioxidants helps to reduce those. Reactive oxygen species, which helps then maintain our skin health as well. So it's got a very important effect on our skin. Vitamin C, all of that.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

What about for dryness? Like if people have dry skin, is it kind of like your fish oils or anything else?

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Yeah, yeah. So amigas, having enough good quality amygas is really, really important for good skin health. Particularly if someone's got um, you know, yeah, that really true dry, because people might say that they've got dry skin, but is it actually dry, lipid dry, or is it hydrate like water dry? Is it dehydrated from water? Is it lack of oil production? So um yeah, that does, that's another really, really, really important one. And um yeah, it's all as you can see, it's all connected, so that's not just one thing. Of course, it's like everything.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

And what about? I mean, I'm not sure if you know um if you've come across this, but like these days you hear so much about more advanced things like you know, uh supplementation peptides, etc. etc., that are meant to be specifically for skin and hair, like um uh copper peptides, for example. I do you know, uh have you any got any thoughts on things like that?

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Well, I I would always say I think there's the thing with social media and all of these things coming about on social media, people using you know injectable peptides and things like that. I think it's really dangerous because I don't think we have enough evidence base for a lot of these things that people, influencers or skinfluencers are recommending. Um so I think that's a really, really um like a big problem that is well it's a problem. Um but I skin cells take uh 28 days roughly to turn over. So I think a lot of people assume that what they're doing topically is gonna happen overnight, whether it be peptides or whatever it might be. But no matter what you're using, you know, it it actually takes two or three cycles to really start to see the effects of skincare. And we live in a very, very um time poor, impatient, short attention world at the moment, because we kind of force to. Um but people don't give themselves enough time to see these effects. So what might work for someone might not work for someone else, but to really understand what's driving the change and start tracking to see what's actually driving the change for that person is the only way to really develop a comprehensive plan, treatment plan that someone can actually stick with to actually um make some changes that are meaningful in their skin.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I think that's the case in general. People want quick fixes. I mean, often, I often well, almost in in general, not often, it's just like nailing the fundamentals. But I do feel that once you've got those fundamentals really dialed in, then you can make, you know, significant gains by you know different advanced protocols. But there's no use doing them unless you've got the most fundamental things really sorted, which a lot of people don't. Um, so on that, let's say someone's listening and they're like, okay, I get you. I'm gonna wear my sunscreen, I'm gonna reduce my stress, sleep better, increase my protein and my collagen intake, you know, all the things that you're saying. But I've been partying for the past 30, yeah, how I don't know, 20 years, and I've already got skin laxity or damage or whatever it is they have. What are like the most effective treatments that you've seen that address um like those? I would say, and correct me if I'm I'm wrong, the three big kind of conditions of aging, wrinkles, pigmentation, laxity. So what treatments not skin actually help reverse some of those things?

SPEAKER_01 26:15

So I think there's a lot of evidence-based things that actually work, but well, there is. So the first thing I would say that there isn't one, you know, one thing that is the right answer because not all wrinkles, pigmentation, and laxity have the same cause. So, for example, pigmentation that's hormonally um derived, like melasma or something like that, is going to be treated differently to someone that's had like years and years and years of sun exposure. Um so, so really understanding what the driver is, but if you know, there's a lot of energy-based devices that can be quite helpful. Um, me personally, with my acne scarring, one of the things that really helped me was microneedling when I was younger. So that was a really investing in that collagen banking and getting that um building the skin up. Um, because once you understand what's driving it, then you can make decisions about what actually might help. But in terms of topical skincare, one of my favorites is retinol, right? So as we age, that you know how I was talking about that 28-day cycle where the base of the epidermis, like skin cells are produced in the base of the epidermis, and it takes about 28 days to get to the top and de-scrum and come off. So as we get older, that lengthens a little bit as well. So it gets a bit longer, a little bit slower. Um, so retinol is really helpful because it increases that cellular turnover. So that's really helpful for many skin concerns. So wrinkles, um, collagen, pigmentation, um, even acne, because it's getting rid of that um clog, like prevents the pores to get from getting clogged, um, because it's increasing the cell turnover. So that's one of my favorite things. That in combination with SPF, those are really my favorite things. Not tolerable for everyone to be using retinol. Again, that's case-dependent, um, depending on the severity, um, sensitivity. But that is one of my favorite and one of the most evidence-based um skin care.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

And with um with retinol, like, is there because you see so many creams on the market, it is there some that they just don't have enough percentage that it's like it's kind of a joke? You know, like you see some vitamins where the percentage of the thing that they're saying is so small that actually it's just a marketing hype. So is there something that you would say to people when you're looking at a retinoid cream, like make sure that it's got at least whatever it is percent?

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Well, not necessarily. I think it's more actually more the formulation. So you have some people might need to start on a really small percent, but as long as the formulation is right, because you want it to actually get to the point to where it's actually going to start working in the skin. So um I think it's more the formulation.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

So, how does somebody listening like how what would help them know where to look?

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Um, I would speak to a skincare professional. So I would avoid looking on TikTok, Instagram, and all of these other, you know, social media platforms. Definitely speak to a um healthcare professional. You can start, you can also track with Stellar and you know, if you're if it's recommended that you start a retinol, um, there's certain products that can be recommended, but I would definitely start by having a conversation with your healthcare professional, your dermatologist, or your dermal therapist um to really get an understanding because there's a lot of noise out there and it's not um it's not all evidence-based. So totally.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Um, and what else, like whether it's um you've mentioned like whether it's a treatment or it's a protocol, like a protocol treatment, product, are there any other things um for those kind of key signs of aging that you think are worth people at least investigating? Because like you said, there's tons of noise. So what's the no what where do you separate what's noise and what actually has some evidence?

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Um I think one of the things is to give your skin enough time to actually try these, these, these skincare products. So um SPF, again, I'm not gonna go into that again, but ingredients like the retinoids and the vitamin C and the niacinamide. Um and azalic acid is really good for someone that maybe has some rosacea because you know, a lot, I think a rosacea is actually quite underdiagnosed. So that's one thing that, you know, with the facial flare flaring of the redness and all of that inflammatory um stuff going on in the skin on in the skin. Azalic acid is another one that's um um quite quite helpful for that. But really looking after your barrier. So sometimes it's not about having a 12-step skincare routine. Definitely the consistency beats that kind of every time. So it's slow biology, you know, even the best products in the world still need time to work, and pee people often expect, you know, in a week or two to have completely different skin, but you've still got you know, that process of um shedding those other layers of skin is actually still happening. So um that you know, don't be impatient, it's really hard not to be, but let it take, you know, run, let it run the course and um yeah, consistency.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

You mentioned taking care of the barrier. How do you take care of the barrier?

SPEAKER_01 31:41

So the barrier is, you know, part of the the outer layer of your skin, it's made from lipids and ceramides and things like that. So it helps, it helps to keep like prevent transepidermal water loss, which is the evaporation of water outside of the skin. So it helps to keep moisture in the skin and it also helps protect the skin, keep irritants out. So um, a lot of skin conditions and inflammatory concerns um are actually caused, you know, or made worse by having an impaired skin barrier. And there's a lot of you know, um, talk about skin barrier, but I've done it myself when I was younger and trying to tackle acne and pimples, and I would put all these things on my face and I'd be creating some kind of chemical concoction on my face and inadvertently stripping my barrier. Um, and then, you know, repairing that process is slow, it takes time, but it isn't necessary. So even if, you know, when we're talking about aging, there's so many things that we can throw at our skin, but it's a fine line between really stripping that barrier and helping to support our skin and get the most out of our skin. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

And as far as like layering on things, um because yeah, like I'm keen to hear kind of the correct layer. Maybe I'll use myself as a guinea pig and you can tell me if I'm layering correctly. So personally, in the morning, I um just wash my face with water, and then I always add um hyaluronic acid. I feel like that's made a big difference to my skin because it's naturally drier. And I've read that you're meant to do that when um your skin is kind of moist, so I try to do it like only pat dry skin, and then I add vitamin C and then I add like a cream and then sunscreen. That's my morning and then nighttime. I double cleanse, um, which I never knew until recently. Sorry, my face has like some the weird shadows.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

An angel.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

Um, yeah, so then I do the double cleanse hyaluronic acid. Again, that's like cheap and easy. Um, and then I have just started experimenting with a um, like occasionally I'll use a um uh copper uh serum, and then I alternate like a night doing that and a night doing just a um retinoid, like you mentioned, um, and then cream over the top. So is that what as far as what can we learn of what's working or what's not working in terms of like the kind of that kind of routine as far as stacking things on? I always talk about habit stacking.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Well, so I always remember the belief that you apply the thinnest products first. So because you want your skin to actually be able to absorb these products.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Um, so you know, even if you put your um so whatever, so serum serves. So you cleanse, then it's your serums, and then it's your moisturizers, and then it's your SPF over the top, obviously, during the day. Um, so that's the the routine that you have does sound quite um appropriate. Um, but I do recommend you track with Stella because you can put all your products into it and then you know start start to actually see what's working. And the interesting thing about that is you can see your um, like there's time frames for each different product. So they run as different experiments. So at the end of um that experiment cycle, it'll tell you whether it's worth keeping or not. It's actually quite interesting.

SPEAKER_00 35:22

Um I love, yeah, I saw that feature. I have been trying it. Um, because we have something similar in Vitopia, and I love it as well. So, same thing, like you have your general protocol, health protocol, and then you try just something else. Like, you know, for example, I'm going to cut, um, stop eating three hours before bed instead of one or two, and that's all I'm doing, change I'm making, and I'm gonna see how that impacts my sleep. So I love how you can do that, where you have your set skin protocol, and then you can say, okay, now I'm just adding one other thing.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Yeah, it's cool. Yeah, because then you can really start to learn and get an understanding, and that's what real, I guess, skin intelligence and this platform is about. Um, and it's really individualized then as well. So yeah, but no, it sounds like you've got a pretty down bat. So, how are you going with the retinol?

SPEAKER_00 36:09

I've been using it for a while, so I don't really notice that much difference anymore. I don't maybe I did at the start. I've noticed since because the hyaluronic acid and vitamin C is more recent, and that's definitely made a difference. I also started, I would just on my body just use like a cream, but my skin is naturally drier, especially in winter. And I've started doing body oil then cream, and I've also started putting some of like a cheap retinol on my body like once or twice a week. And I feel like that's making that I notice makes a difference. Um yeah, do I do feel, and maybe you can comment on this, and I've definitely done this, is we kind of do all this stuff for our face and then forget everywhere else.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Yes, yes, absolutely. Um, that is a very good point and very, very true. Um, so like, yeah, you'll see like you know, people, women who have, you know, are a bit older and they've got this beautiful, you know, cams on their face. Um, and it's it just looks so different to the rest of your body, and hands are the biggest given. Yes, yes, yes. You know, it's it's not about chasing perfection, it's you know, about you know, maintaining, you know, and being aware of what's influencing your skin. And you know, life is busy. Totally. If you can just learn about what's going on and what's influencing your skin and not focusing about all the noise in the media and you should try this, that, and the other. I think um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Yeah, absolutely. Like, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Instagram. Like sometimes I like it, but then, and luckily it's learnt that I like natural things, so it but it feeds me then like I'm constantly getting getting shit about like face yogurt and tallow cream because you know it's figured I'm miss natural and I'm into natural stuff. But like even that gets over the top, you know. You're like, oh, maybe I should do this face exercise or this or blah blah blah, you know. It just gets too much. You need to just decide on something for yourself and kind of stick to it and see how it goes.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Yeah, yeah. I remember seeing someone rub banana peels on their face saying it was gonna remove their acne. I thought, oh, okay. RD went into that.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

Yeah, I think I used to do toothpaste as a teenager. I'm sure that was pretty bad.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

Yeah. I um I remember putting oats, like putting yogurt on my face, and my parents were like, what are you doing? Walking around with oats on my face and yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

I'd have like the white dots of the anyway, the things we do. Is there anything? I mean, there are constantly a lot of advancements in this field. And are there any that you're looking towards and being like, oh, I'm actually excited about that compared to we've just talked about there's a shit ton of noise. Um is there anything that's actually you're like, oh, that looks cool, that looks exciting?

SPEAKER_01 38:57

I'm really excited about the skin tightening devices that are evolving. So I don't know if you've heard about um hai food or high-intensity focus ultrasound that's been around for a while now and that you know is intended to help to lift and tighten the skin. I mean, really, if you're wanting to really lift and tighten the skin, I mean you probably need to speak to a surgeon, but there are things that we can do to improve, right? That's the goal of it. Um, and so all therapy is one that is a type of high-intensity focus ultrasound that helps to um it penetrates down into the SMAS layer, which is supposed to be the area that actually is um is um addressed in facelifts and things like that. So by being using heat to be able to tighten and um tighten the skin that way is one treatment. But there's a new one. It's I think it's a it's a it's called Zerf. X-E-R-F. That's a new one to look out for. I know Dr. Alice Rudd really likes that treatment, but um yeah, so what was the one you mentioned before about skin tightening?

SPEAKER_00 40:05

You said hyfu and then you said something else and I didn't catch it.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

Um therapy is a type of high intensity focus ultrasound. That was a brand, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

That um how do you spell that? Because I'll put all these, so I'll put hyfu and I'll put zero z no X E R F.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

X E R F, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

And the mid the middle one, how do you spell it? I'll put this in the show notes for people.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Um therapy, U-L-T-H-E-R-A-P. L therapy.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

Okay, I'll I'll Google and I'm sure I'll be able to find it. So they're interesting things, but from a skin kind of um laxity perspective.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Yeah, and I think a new one that's come is is um is Zerf is the one I'd really be looking for. Um X-E-R F. It's a it's a non-surgical radio frequency skin tightening and lifting treatment. So it combines, um, so it's um dual frequencies, so it stimulates collagen and tightens the skin from the down in the deeper layers, the structural layers, without needles and up, you know. So it's quite um it's a new advancement that's come into Australia.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

So awesome, cool. I mean, I think things like that that you can do naturally without like needing to result to any whatever it is, surgery or whatever, is is great that things like that are coming out and they exist.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

Yeah, and I'm I'm really excited, you know, I'm less excited about miracle products and more excited about um like these personal insights that you can gain and and learn from. So it's moving away from you know these TikTok trends and understanding your own biology well enough to know what's actually moving the needle for you and your skin.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

Um I mean it makes sense because I mean that's our whole premise behind Vytopia as well, is that and I I think that's the way the world is going. People don't want your generalized protocols or your generalized supplements or your generalized whatever, because you know, the way my skin, my health works is different from you and everybody else. And so the more we can take this kind of bio-individual approach and also trust ourselves and learn about ourselves, the better, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

And where AI and wearable technology and like longitudinal tracking can actually, you know, it's becoming quite exciting.

unknown 42:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Yeah, totally awesome. Okay, we've covered a lot today. Um, so let's go to for people listening who are inspired to take their health seriously, let's say they have kind of had a haphazard approach. Now, obviously, we're recommending that they try Stella, and you're gonna tell us about that at the end where they can find that. But I like to leave people with habits. And like, where would you recommend they start? You could make that a bit broader, and then if you could narrow that down, because the promise of the show is that we leave everybody with like one habit. So you could start more slightly more broader, but then if you could end it with what's the one habit that if you do nothing else, um, you would try that.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Okay, so start getting curious about your skin to start with. So um, not thinking of your skin in isolation, but really thinking about it. I guess it's a perspective shift that it's not just skin in isolation, it's part of the system and it's responding to what's happening throughout the body every single day. So, some non-negotiables, I would say let's just bite size, daily SPF, a retinoid if it's appropriate for you, adequate protein intake, and good quality sleep.

SPEAKER_00 43:36

Awesome. So that's nice and easy. And because I promise it, if they could only do one of those, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 43:46

People hate me with SP. I'm good. Oh no, but then SPF, okay. Can I can it can it be two?

SPEAKER_00 43:54

Okay, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

Sleep and SPF.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Okay, cool. Sleep and SPF, awesome. Um, very cool, thank you. That's great. And then look, people listening, those things are everything that you've mentioned is really doable. Um, and you know, even for myself, I'm pretty good on SPF, but even listening to you focus on it so much, I'm like, I should put a um like, you know, some sun. I used to have a sunscreen in the car and I'd forgotten about it. So I'm like, okay, go back to that. Um, yeah, just simple, because I'm all about habits and helping me people turn these things into habits. So I suppose it's you know, sticking some sunscreen in your handbag, putting it in your car so you never like forget about it. Or if you have an office with bright light shining in that you have some sitting there, just things to make it a habit.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

Yeah, keep it near your makeup bag, keep it in the butt, you know, wherever you have frequent access to, you know, something to do with your face.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Yeah, cool, awesome. Perfect, thank you so much. Now, where can people find out about you, but also more importantly, uh, about Stella and trying it, trying it out?

SPEAKER_01 45:01

So if you want to try Stella, um you can search C Stella, that's S-E-E Stella on the App Store or Google Play. So it's available on both. Um, and we also have a website, so www.cstella.co. Um so that's where you can find us. We also have an Instagram page as well. Um but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:25

Awesome. I'll put I'll put all of those um links in the show notes, and yeah, go give it a try, and then maybe you can uh comment to both both Jo and I about how you've how you've gone and what insights you've found from from using it.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

Beautiful. Thank you so much, Kelly.

SPEAKER_00 45:43

Yeah, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. You too. Bye.

unknown 45:47

Bye.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

Now it's your turn. Take what you've learned today and put it into action. Try the habit, run the experiment, and actually track how you go. I'll be doing it right alongside you and sharing on socials. So come find me there. Links are in the show notes. Tell me what's working, what isn't, and what questions are coming up and genuinely want to know. And if today's episode helped, share it with someone who maybe needs it. And if you haven't already, hit subscribe so we can keep optimizing our health together. One simple step at a time. Take care. See you next week.