Women should include clinical grade cosmeceuticals in their skin care as a part of their overall self care. The motivation to care for one’s skin should be out of a deep love and appreciation for self and thus nurturing that inner beauty and not out of self loathing with the intention to change the way you look which is too often the case. This approach is very harming to women.
We spoke to Dr Michael Serafin about his views on this topic:
“Quite often if a women is not comfortable and confident within herself if she see’s an images of another beautiful women she will tend to immediately go into comparison, whether it be conscious or subconscious, and then judge that image as being more beautiful than herself and then often go into feelings of lack of self-worth or self-loathing.”
“These emotions are very harming as not only do they adversely affect your behaviors by eroding your confidence and sense of self-worth and self-love, they also get buried deep in your body, affecting the way you move and feel about yourself, and eventually leading to a range of illnesses and women’s health issues.”
As women, how much do we reinforce this lack of self-worth with the way we use cosmetic products?
“If motivated to use a product because you want to look like the model in the ad, or because you judge you are not beautiful and you want the product to change your appearance ‘for the better’, to be ‘more beautiful’, each time you rub that product on your face you are cementing the lack of self-worth and self-loathing further into your body. Just stop for a moment and deeply feel how damaging this practice is. Most women would do this twice a day, every day, so they are constantly re-enforcing and cementing this lack of self-worth issue upon themselves. These emotions will then continue to control a woman’s behavior and hold her back from expressing all that she truly is.”
From what you are saying it sounds like the quality of how and why you apply the product is just as important as the product you choose to put on your skin?
“Exactly. DermIdenticals takes care of the science of skin care, and does it very well, but it is women who will need to take care of the science of self-love. Promoting this message to women is just as important as letting people know about the product, because without that part the product can only ever work ‘skin deep’. What use is having flawless skin if you don’t deeply cherish and honor yourself within?”
“You may be thinking this all sounds quite serious, possibly pessimistic and quite odd for a cosmeceutical website selling face creams, but we care deeply for all women and want to initiate a change in how women use their cosmetics, the attitudes women have about themselves and what motivates them to use these products.”
Making a routine into a ritual
You often talk about a having a skin care ‘ritual’. What is the difference between a skin care routine and a skin care ritual?
“Well love is the main difference! Routines tend to be something that becomes rehearsed and that we do on autopilot. Slapping on some moisturizer after the shower to make sure you don’t have flaky skin is a skin care routine. Being super-delicate with yourself, sitting down to put on your moisturizer, taking a few moments to appreciate your face and its contours, checking in with how you feel and appreciating you – that would be a skin care ritual. There is something very honoring about a ritual. And all women deserve that level of honoring.”
“Applying a cream to your face twice a day from this perspective is deeply healing and supporting rather than the other approach that is self-sabotaging and damaging. Even just being not present and in a rush is stress inducing. Making stop moments in your day to really nourish and nurture yourself like this can give you a check in point to continually build your self-appreciation. I have seen this with many women who have healed lack of self-worth issues; it comes from a deep appreciation and naturally this then translates to the inner beauty being let out for others to see and celebrate. This is how true beauty develops – it has to come from self-love first.”
“Using these products is obviously a good thing for your skin, but what I would love to see is women using the products from the angle that they are already beautiful just the way they are. Because they are divine in essence and in honor of that beauty they take the time out to care for themselves, to nourish and protect their skin.”
