They say that home is where the heart is. But the heart cannot live outside the body. Just like the other organs, of course. Let’s try to describe this home of ours, which is with us wherever we go, which we never leave throughout our entire lives. What do the façade, the walls and the roof of this peculiar fortress of ours consist of?.
The skin on our eyelids is as thin as a sheet of paper, but the skin on the soles of our feet is as thick as two 50-stotinki coins stacked on top of one another. Our total skin mass accounts for 15% of our body weight. In terms of surface area (without picturing a scene from a horror film), it covers two square metres. It is constantly renewing itself, replacing its entire surface over the course of a month. Over a 70-year lifespan, the average person sheds around 50 kg of skin. With its three interconnected layers, our skin protects us, nourishes us with fat reserves, produces hormones and insulates us from the external environment.
Through our skin we come to know the world, but it is also the first thing the world sees of us. Dr Lynn Zivin says: „Our skin is a very interesting thing because it is a container; it is like an envelope that holds our entire being.“ But this unique envelope, which encloses all our organs, also contains something no less important, yet elusive: our personality. The way in which we have come to recognise ourselves. The face that looks back at us from our childhood photographs, that our friends see in our profile picture on social media, that we see every morning in the mirror, and which is slowly and imperceptibly changing. The skin on our face is our interface (literally), our outward appearance to the world. And a true diary of our experiences. A diary accessible to everyone.
And this often makes us think of our skin as a treacherous traitor. From early childhood, we’ve been used to seeing our skin as the enemy. Whether it’s a tell-tale graze on the knee that we have to hide from Mum so she doesn’t stop us playing. Or, during puberty, it’s produced a little volcano on our forehead, just before that long-awaited romantic date. Or, in later life, it surprises us with stretch marks, cellulite, and then wrinkles and sagging skin… What have we done to deserve all this?
But do we ever ask ourselves how we treat our skin? Do we moisturise it enough? Or are we stuffing ourselves with toxins – in the form of fast food, sugar, alcohol and cigarettes – which we then expel through our skin? It is the largest excretory organ in our body. Do we get enough exercise? Do we give it enough vitamin D, do we get what we need from the sun and, conversely, do we protect ourselves from its harmful effects? Or do we go to bed late, sleep poorly, get up early and start getting annoyed, frowning, pursing our lips, furrowing our brows, then rush about amidst car fumes and dust, and finally spend the whole day craning our necks over our phone, tablet, computer or a sheet of paper.
And why, then, do we get angry with our skin – for giving us away, for revealing to everyone our bad habits, our lack of time for ourselves, our worries, our neglect of our health, and our moments of unhappiness? Perhaps it’s sending us a signal. It’s telling us that it’s time to pay attention to ourselves and look after the envelope that keeps its contents from spilling out.
The busiest and most sociable season of the year is just around the corner, bringing with it important events, celebrations, holidays, trips to the seaside and the mountains, and get-togethers with friends and family. In summer, we relax and open ourselves up to the world. In doing so, we inevitably reveal the results of our lifestyle throughout the rest of the year.
For many, one of the most important events in their lives is just around the corner – the school-leavers’ ball. But preparations for it need to start early. You can’t afford to have missed half your lessons throughout the year and then try to cram for your A-levels the day before. The same goes for your skin – you need to start in good time.
The aim isn’t to feel guilty or to feel sorry for yourself. It’s to believe that it’s never too late to start. Fortunately, there are now modern technologies that can help us catch up and achieve results in a matter of days that would otherwise take months.
But that is no excuse for not looking after our skin every day. Because if we really do see it as our home, our own personal fortress, then its walls need care, repair and reinforcement every day.
At Body Aesthetics, we do not believe in the existence of „perfect“ skin. But we do believe in taking sensible care of what we’ve been given, so that we can engage more fully and actively with the world around us. And so that we can feel happy in our own skin.
The material MY HOME, MY SKIN was first published on Body Aesthetics.
