Summer Skin is Here! Plus 10 Overlooked Causes of Common Skin Conditions

Clean, smooth, and soft skin all at once? Who knew?!

Buh-bye rough, dry skin. Hello, healthy summer skin! Here's a way to get skin-so-soft-I-just-want-to-keep-touching-my-arms-and-legs. We're also chatting about the top 10 overlooked causes of many of the common skin conditions we experience. 

Here comes Summer!

Summer officially begins this month! Let's heal, reveal, and get those arms and legs glowing with healthy skin. We're also highlighting common skin conditions and the 10 overlooked causes of many of them. 

Our skin is like the window into our bodies.

It shows us what's going on inside and outside. Embarrassed? Bright red. Fever? Flushed, and hot to the touch. Tired? Dark circles under our eyes. In love? An inexplicable glow.

All of these external changes to our skin, hair, and complexion are actually tell-tale signs of what's going on beneath the skin. When your skin is sending out warning signals in the form of rashes, pimples, or blemishes, it's time to pay attention.

Unfortunately, we don't always do that. Then again, perhaps we are paying attention, but just don't understand what those warning signals mean.

Most of us try to resolve skin problems from the surface down - by trying new skincare products produced to 'resolve' our current skin issue. Unfortunately, nearly all beauty products on the market these days are packed with chemicals and toxins that add to the problem, rather than healing it.

At Qet, we're firm believers in using the best natural beauty products, made with clean, green ingredients, that are designed to nourish and heal your skin. For some, this nutrient-rich, all-natural solution is exactly that - their perfect solution.

But for some of us, there's more going on underneath the surface that needs some attention. And when this is happening, no amount of nutrient-dense, natural skin care products are going to fix the issue entirely.

So, together, let's dig a little deeper into some common underlying causes of beauty blemishes.

Thyroid Imbalance

The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland located at the base of the neck just below the Adam's apple. It's responsible for regulating your body's metabolism and producing hormones that affect the function of virtually every organ in our bodies. Because it plays such a huge role, even a minor imbalance of the thyroid can have huge consequences to your health - and your skin not least of all. 

The most common type of thyroid imbalance is hypothyroidism, which means your thyroid is underperforming. There's a long list of physical signs of hypothyroidism. Just a few of them include:

• Hair loss (especially on the outer third of the eyebrows)
• Dry skin
• Dry, coarse hair
• Pale, puffy complexion
• Intolerance to cold

If you knew how many people we talked with who have a thyroid imbalance, you'd be surprised ~ me included. It's one of the reasons that Qet was formulated and is shared.

Toxin Overload

An accumulation of toxins in your body can have a profound effect on your skin. After all, your skin is responsible for much of the elimination of toxins from your body. When toxins get backed up in one of your body's elimination channels, it will begin to overload.

Toxins find their way into our bodies through our food, water, pollution, medications, cleaning products, and the skincare products we use. Our skin absorbs more than 60% of the products that come into contact with it, so using the best all natural beauty products that nourish and heal your skin, rather than add to your toxic burden, is an important part of keeping skin clear and smooth.

Acne is the first and most common skin response to a buildup of toxins in your body, but rashes, skin inflammation and redness, puffy eyes, eczema, and psoriasis outbreaks can also be signals that your body has more toxins than it can handle. The best thing to do is to help your body get rid of them. Choosing a chemical-free lifestyle is an excellent way to decrease your toxin exposure. More water, exercise, and sleep will also help your body restore balance.

Chemical Sensitivity

Chemical sensitivities don't usually occur overnight, but rather build up gradually. This slow progression often means that those who suffer from chemical sensitivities due to their beauty or skin care products (or cleaning products and laundry detergents) are unaware of the root cause of their skin irritation - they just see a progressive deterioration of the skin.

Almost all brands of fragrances, soaps, colognes, deodorants, cosmetics, detergents, lubricants, hair dyes, hair care products, nail polish, sunscreens, moisturizers, and lip balms include harsh chemicals in their ingredient list. While not everyone immediately demonstrates the effects of these harsh pollutants through skin irritation, they do have a profound effect on our bodies.

It's hard to emphasize enough the dangers of placing chemicals on your skin (which will absorb up to 60% of those chemicals within seconds), so instead, we will list some of the common visible side effects of chemical sensitivities:

• Red skin
• Scaly patches
• Blisters that ooze
• Burning or itching, which may be intense
• Swelling of the eyes, face, and genital area
• Hives
• Sun sensitivity
• Darkened, "leathery," and cracked skin

We are deeply passionate about keeping all of our products entirely pure and chemical free - for the health of our bodies and skin, as well as our delicate planet. If you've identified chemical sensitivities in yourself, it's time to switch to all natural cosmetics and skin care that are safe and healing for your body.

High Sugar Consumption

A high-sugar diet has an enormous impact on your skin - and your body as a whole. Sugary and high-glycemic foods quickly break down into glucose, which leads to inflammation and damage to collagen and elastin in your skin. When the protein fibers of collagen are damaged, they become dry and brittle instead of springy and resilient. This gradually results in sagging skin and wrinkles.

Additionally, digested sugars attach to collagen in a process called glycation. Glycation increases the speed of aging in your skin while exacerbating skin conditions such as acne and rosacea. If you consistently eat large quantities of sugar, you may develop insulin resistance, which can lead to excessive hair growth (especially on the face) and discoloration on the neck and in body creases. Finally, sugar deactivates your body's natural antioxidant enzymes, leaving your skin more vulnerable to sun damage.

Poor Diet

While arguably the most well-recognized for its contribution to acne, sugar isn't the only food that contributes to poor skin. Inflammatory foods such as wheat, refined grains, dairy, processed foods, foods with trans fatty acids, corn, vegetable oils, peanuts, and even lots of red meat can contribute to inflammation in your body.

Your skin is particularly sensitive to inflammation (think bee sting or sprained ankle). While some types of inflammation are helpful for your body, the chronic low-level inflammation caused by poor diet is not. In fact, inflammatory skin diseases are the most common problem in dermatology. Acne breakouts, rosacea and visible signs of aging (like wrinkles and sagging skin) are all common side effects of poor diet.

Gut Health

Despite 70+ years of scientific research on gut bacteria and the role of the intestines in our immune system and overall health, surprisingly few individuals are aware that an unhealthy gut has an enormous impact on our emotional and physical well-being.

SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), dysbiosis (an imbalance of good to bad bacteria in your intestines), hypochlorhydria, (a decrease in stomach acid), parasites, yeast infections, and leaky gut syndrome have all been linked to skin conditions. The most common skin problem arising from a gut imbalance is acne, but it can also cause or contribute to acne rosacea and make you more prone to rashes, hives, and other inflammatory skin responses.

Dehydration

Your body desperately needs water. When doctors, nutritionists, and naturopaths tell us that we need eight glasses of water a day, it's for an excellent reason. Dehydration has many negative effects on the body, and our skin doesn't escape the repercussions. The most common symptoms of dehydrated skin include:

• Sensation of tightness in the skin
• Burning sensation
• Itching
• Irritation
• Flaky skin
• Dry lines
• Rough skin texture

The cause of dehydration can be about more than just getting enough water, though. Environmental factors can play a part as well. Heating and air conditioning, cold weather, pollution, illness, smoking, and some types of medication can all contribute to skin dehydration. The best way to combat this is with a powerful, all natural moisturizer that soothes and heals irritated skin while protecting it from further damage.

And of course, don't forget to drink up.

Vitamin Deficiencies

Cracks at the corner of your mouth can indicate that you're low on iron, zinc, and/or B vitamins. A red, scaly rash and hair loss can indicate a deficiency in biotin (B7). Red or white acne-like bumps on the cheeks, arms, thighs, and buttocks may mean that you're low on essential fatty acids and vitamins A and D.

And that's just the beginning - dry skin, brown skin spots, discoloration around the small joints, eczema, greasy skin, sensitivity to sunlight, psoriasis, red spots, and even wrinkles can point to a vitamin deficiency.

Most of us have some form of vitamin deficiency (even those of us who go to great lengths to eat a balanced diet). Ensuring that you are getting a good amount of those vitamins through diet or supplementation can be an important piece of skin and hair health. A great way to find out what vital nutrients you may be lacking is to ask your primary care physician to order a basic blood panel.

Sleep

Missing out on adequate sleep can make us look older than we are. A lot older.

A study done in England measured the effects that sleep had on women. To begin, they examined the number of wrinkles, pores, brown spots, and red areas that women had while getting eight hours of sleep in one night. Then, for the rest of the week, the participants in the study slept their usual six hours a night. At the end of the week, each had their skin tested again. All of them showed 50% more fine lines and wrinkles and 75% more brown spots and dark circles under their eyes than they had from just one full eight hours of sleep.

Suddenly, the phrase 'beauty sleep' is a lot more relevant to our daily beauty regimens.

• Lack of sleep can lead to:
• Sagging skin
• Wrinkles and fine lines
• Increased redness
• Clogged pores
• Acne
• Brown spots
• Puffy eyes
• Dark circles under the eyes
• Dry skin
• Oily skin

Stress

Have you ever noticed that when you're stressed or anxious, you seem to have more acne breakouts? These occur because your emotions have a powerful effect on your skin. When you're worried, depressed, or upset, your body produces cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones. Over time, these hormones lead to increased acne, oily skin, blemishes, spots, puffy skin, clogged pores, hair loss, brittle nails - the list goes on.

Stress can also worsen existing skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea. Sudden extreme stress can also lead to hair loss, hives, and rashes. Often these physical manifestations of our emotional upheaval only make us more stressed out (think back to when you got a huge zit on the morning of a big presentation). This only leads to more stress, which leads to more physical signs of stress, leading to more stress - and the cycle goes on.

Your June Special

Now that we've touched on these 10 hot buttons, let's move on to getting our glow this summer. Let's proudly show-off our healthy skin this summer. The average person has 22 feet of skin ~ that's a lot to take care of. It's time to say buh-bye to red bumps, dry elbows, scaly legs, and rough patches.

Gently exfoliated, moisturized, and softened skin, all in one step, awaits! There are four favorites to choose from, and all are made with proven skin-loving and pampering ingredients. 

In June, SAVE 10% on any of our four body polishes: Espresso Mint, Lavender Flowers & Vanilla Bean, Matcha Green Tea, and Raw Cacao & Oat. These products fit into the EWG Verified® categories and have been whole-heartedly Verified. Safe for you. Safe for our environment. Lovely to indulge in. Use this code for your savings: QETSUMMERSKIN. 

Of Note

It's a 4-day getaway focusing on fitness, self-improvement, or yoga. It's a reboot for mind, body, and whole. It's a beautiful location such as Turks & Caicos, Costa Rica, or Bonaire. It's quality time with an expert in their field of health. It is exclusive, beautiful, and necessary ~ it's Retreats Unlimited, and we're honored to share that we are the exclusive skincare provider who is teaming up with this incredible team of ambassadors and health conscious experts. 

Luxury resorts throughout the globe accommodate the limited number of guests. Attention to the smallest detail is given, and included in the welcome care package will be hand-curated, health-minded Qet to finish or start each day while on retreat. Delight!

Making a choice to pursue healthy, beautiful skin.

Our skin plays a vital role in protecting us. It is our level-1 barrier against the outside world, keeps us cool, eliminates toxins, and so, so much more. As with the rest of our bodies, our skin deserves to be well taken care of.

Choose a healthier lifestyle. Make efforts to improve your diet and diminish your stress. Stay away from chemical-laden beauty products and reach for natural, organic nourishment instead. Find a trusted, holistic healthcare provider who can help you delve deeper into possible underlying causes of ongoing health issues.

The end result.

It's not vanity. It's not just at the surface. It's more than what is on the outside. 

There's more at stake here than just a beautiful complexion - that's a side benefit. What's really at stake is a healthier, happier you.