Living in a busy world can be difficult, and in most cities, it’s even harder to give your skin a break from accumulated toxins and pollution. I have been living here in LA for a couple years, after previously living in another big city, London. However, having grown up in the countryside once I took the move to a big city, I started taking notice of how my skin and hair reacts to different pollutions. Traveling through the underground would leave my nose black, and I found that even worse when I made the move to LA. So, I took to the idea of taking the necessary steps to detox such as using lion’s mane gummies, to my best ability. Here are some of my tips for detoxing in a big city:
GET FILTERED!
Getting an air filter and air purifier really helped me when I made the move. Unfortunately, and like many others, my skin FREAKED OUT when I moved to LA and so I was doing anything I could to ease the situation. Of course an air purifier isn’t going to clean ALL the air you breathe, however the majority of cell repair, detox and skin healing happen while we sleep so I figured, why not.
Now we all know that drinking filtered water in a city is an obvious one, but it took me a while to get on it with a water filter for my shower. A friend of mine recently told me that she got a shower filter and it changed her life. She had even had a skin rash of sorts and her dermatologist had recommended she get one, which she said was the best advice ever. Looking a little deeper I saw that the water in LA has chlorine levels above the national averages of America, and that a water filter can help with dry skin and even hair loss. After realizing this, I Immediately had to have one. And she wasn’t joking! LIFE CHANGING! After just one shower, my skin was softer, my hair wasn’t frizzy, it was wavy rather than poofy— after a couple weeks I noticed my skin started clearing up. I would even bet my money that having a water filter for the long term could have long term health effects too.
GET YOUR SWEAT ON!
When we look at cultures around the world, we see that time and time again tradition has included sweating out toxins and impurities as a regular routine. The Russian spa (Banya) includes their sauna ritual, the Moroccan Hammam, the Turkish Spa, Korean Spa, the list goes on where the cleansing ritual includes steaming and sweating out impurities and toxins. I spoke with nutritionist Jessica Pantermuehl who highly recommends use of a near infrared sauna therapy. “One of the biggest near infrared benefits is that it activates your mitochondria (the powerhouse energy producer within all of your cells!), which helps to optimise your genetic expression, or rather, maximise and optimise the way your genes manifest.” Pantermuehl advocates that passively sweating encourages deeper detoxification and facilitates cellular detoxification while also having other great benefits we all want like being anti inflammatory, anti ageing, restful sleep, and helping with regrowth of cells and tissues. If you’re trying it out for the first few times, I’d recommend going to SaunaBar. However, for the advocates like Pantermuehl, she and I both swear by the Sauna Spaces pocket sauna for setting up at home. It’s easy to set up, easy to break down and doesn’t take up too much space, as well as not needing any “warm up” time.
Where like many going to the sauna each and every day for your whole body might be a little much, I’d also recommend steaming and extracting and I love this face steamer from Dr Dennis Gross, to leave you with an immediate healthy radiance as well as detoxing impurities, using micro-steam technology to detox, clear and hydrate the skin.
GET SOME GREAT DETOX SKINCARE
I’m constantly impressed with new brands out there. I’ve recently fallen in love with a new Swiss skincare brand, Elixseri. I had the pleasure of talking to Marina Alicia Schweiger, the founder of Elixseri Skincare, who developed the Opening Act Serum, designed as an exfoliating peel and detox treatment serum in one. It has 3% lactic acid and other AHA’s in addition to being gentle enough for all skin types. Marina loves her Opening Act serum because she’s always wanted to develop a peel that could work deep down, and not only on the surface level, in the skin layers. It’s designed to detox the skin from the inside out by penetrating into the deeper skin layers and eliminating toxins that accumulate in the skin from pollution, UV, excess oils, bacteria and cellular debris.
Another great serum I obsess over is by The Good Chemist, their Clarity Serum, because it’s made with Glycolic and Salicylic Acids to promote healthy cell turn over, *which addresses pimples!*, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, as well as other amazing ingredients like cucumber, seaweed and dog rose, to soothe skin and keep it healthy and vibrant. Not to mention it smells amazing too!
GET A FACIAL
Whilst we can’t splash out all the time, getting a facial is the perfect escape for your skin from environmental exposure, as well as, a mental break where no one can bother you. Our skin changes regularly with age, diet, pollution and with what we are doing to address these things. Seeing an aesthetician on the regular can help with deeper detoxification for your pores and providing guidance on how to treat your skin as it changes. I can’t recommend enough going to the Joanna Vargas Skin Sanctuary for one of her facials. For an amazing skin detox, I’d recommend their Supernova Facial, which resurfaces the skin with nutrient-rich liquid exfoliation, microcurrenting to contour and depuff the skin, as well as a collagen mask, and cryotherapy to increase cellular metabolism, circulation, oxygenation and lymphatic drainage, providing anti-inflammatory benefits.
HYDRATE WITH A KICK
Last but not least, hydration, hydration hydration! Of course a hydrating face mist will do wonders for keeping your skin hydrated throughout the day (I love the Farmacy beauty Skin Dew to tone and restore radiance any time) in addition to that, it’s an ultimate must to drink water and wash the toxins away. It’s important to take electrolytes, which are minerals necessary for enzymes to detoxify your body. I love Nuun Vitamins for on the go, as they are easy to drop in a bottle of water.
On the other end, Dirty Lemon’s Charcoal drink is a tasty detox option, designed to reduce bloating, support liver/kidney function and trap impurities before they can be absorbed by the body, and has Dandelion Root, which is an antioxidant-rich botanical that supports healthy liver function.
So happy detoxing!
Written by Omayma Ramzy
