As we head into cooler seasons, we look forward to feeling cozy and going inward to restore from the more active nature of summer. However, even though we welcome the transition into a more calm, introspective time, the one thing we don’t want to leave behind is our summer glow that makes us look alive (and thriving).
Even if you can’t catch as many unadulterated rays with the shorter days and longer nights, there are still super easy ways to keep your skin popped, snatched, and glowing without harmful fads or extreme measures.
Get a DOSE of infrared
For an instant glow, nothing makes the skin shine like a sweat session in an infrared sauna. Just one session leaves our skin softer, dewy, and more radiant, thanks to increased blood flow and circulation to the skin. Infrared, which increases your body’s core temperature over time, helps push deeply-embedded impurities and toxins out of the skin.
Not only will your skin look instantly refreshed, but so will your central nervous system. Infrared naturally releases our brain’s feel-good chemicals aka your DOSE.
What’s in a DOSE?
- Dopamine | Stimulates nervous system functions like pleasure and attention.
- Oxytocin | The "love hormone,” decreases stress and anxiety levels.
- Serotonin | A chemical linked to many functions within the body and is thought to play a role in balancing mood, memory, sleep, and sexual desire.
- Endorphins | The feel-good hormones that give you a “runner’s high” after a hard cardio workout.
The impact of all these good feelings? Less stress, which means less inflammation to wear down your skin. The result? A longer-lasting, supple glow.
Give yourself a lymphatic massage
Good skin starts from within.
Your lymphatic system is a system that lives just beneath the skin’s surface, that transports waste out of the body and helps to keep your immune system at its strongest.
Stress, a sedentary lifestyle, a poor diet, and bad sleep can lead to a faulty drainage system that leaves you feeling depleted and your skin, dull.
When you treat yourself to a lymphatic massage, you stimulate the lymph nodes to speed up this detoxification process. Draining the lymphatic system can help reduce fluid buildup that causes skin to feel puffy and inflamed.
There are several ways to activate your lymphatic system:
- Give yourself light-touch strokes from your feet towards your heart with your favorite body oil.
- Dry brushing for 6-7 minutes per day (again move up from your feet towards your heart, and from your neck down).
- Get microcurrent treatment that exercises the facial muscles and energizes the lymph system.
- Use small blood-pressure-sleeve-type devices to facilitate muscle movement that stimulates lymphatic drainage.
- A three-minute cold shower after your infrared sauna session.
Benefits include reduced dark and puffy under eye circles, clearer skin, and even improved texture and skin tone. It’s an instant glow up paired with a relaxing massage: a win-win.
The ultimate combination? Detox in an infrared sauna to remove toxins from your cells and relax your muscles for a deeper lymphatic treatment.
Chill out with a cryofacial
Cryofacials, also known as freeze therapy, are all the rage when it comes to juicy, taut skin.
How Does It Work?
A cryoprobe wand blows cold air onto your face in concentrated, circular motions. Your skin responds to the icy blasts by tightening to retain body heat, which encourages collagen regrowth and cellular repair.
The results:
- Instantly-glowing, younger-looking skin
- Rejuvenated skin
- Restored firmness
- Reduced inflammation
- Improved skin texture and tone
- Reduced puffiness and dark circles
A cryofacial is a quick way to remove the outer layer of dead skin cells and stimulate cell regrowth with even, smooth distribution.
Give the HigherDOSE Cryofacial a spin at HigherDOSE Williamsburg. Or, if you can’t get to the spa for a chilly blast, use a cold roller or ice cube wrapped in a clean cotton cloth to get the same benefits.
Get a burst of Vitamin C
Vitamin C isn’t just for your immune system – your skin needs some TL(Vitamin)C too!
Every day, our skin is exposed to free radicals from our environment, pollution, blue light exposure, sun damage, diet, and stress. Those free radicals lead to oxidative stress on the skin, which leads to premature aging and a breakdown of collagen.
Don’t get sad about “the sag” just yet.
As a potent antioxidant that helps to fight oxidative stress, Vitamin C helps to brighten, firm, smooth and nourish the skin by improving the integrity of your skin’s elastin and collagen. It’s basically like a shield and an eraser at the same time.
There are tons of serums and exfoliators that can give your skin a glowy boost of Vitamin C. Eat the right foods – citrus, kiwis, kale, broccoli – or take a Vitamin C supplement to help your skin get enough of the good stuff. You can also add organic rosehip oil to your SPF for an extra boost of pure Vitamin C glowing power.
Cut down on sugar
We’ve all been guilty of some additional stress-eating during the pandemic. Here’s the bittersweet truth: Sugar raises blood sugar and therefore increases inflammation throughout the whole body. Your skin, as your body’s largest organ, is one of the first places to see the consequences of sugar like accelerated aging, acne, redness, and impurities. Consuming foods with high-carb, refined, or processed starches that have a high GI (glycemic index) like white bread, rice, and sugar can lead to chronic issues with both the skin and the gut over time.
The right kind of sugars are natural ones found in fruits and vegetables, which are high in fiber and feed the good bacteria in your stomach. Give your gut a boost by adding a prebiotic and probiotic into your routine.
When in doubt, drain it out, whether with us or at home. For more, follow us on Instagram: @higherdose.
