Chapter 11
Putting It All Together: Becoming Comfortable in Your Own Skin
Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.
- Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American writer, 1883-1931
This final chapter will help you make all this know-how work on a more than skin-deep basis. So far you have learned about the inner culprits that cause damage to the skin and how using the FACE program can remedy that damage and keep you looking-and feeling-youthful, fresh, and radiant. Now it's time to invite some of the experts who specialize in natural skin care to speak about facial beauty from the inside out. If you follow the FACE program and take the best of what these experts have to say as it applies to you, you will have a beauty-care regimen that fits who you are, nourishes your health and entire being, and allows your natural beauty to shine forth radiantly-no matter what your age is.
Your Skin: A Reflection of Your Inner Being
Making women's faces look beautiful is an industry that has existed for thousands of years. In modern times, this industry has become large, mostly corporate, and based on particular standards of beauty that can cause women to feel as though they require a makeover, a face-lift, or a cabinet full of facial creams to elevate them to the current standards of beauty. This pressure to make yourself into something other than what you are has touched even the most independent, intelligent women, many of whom spend copious amounts of time and money trying to "get it right." Even women who have decided to sidestep this insistent invitation often secretly feel that they are missing something in terms of beauty.
We were fortunate to locate several skin-care experts who don't see things this way at all. Instead, their perspective is helping women be as healthy, as natural, and as balanced as they can be. In their work as aestheticians, product developers, facial acupuncturists, and dermatologists, they seek to nourish the whole human being by means of nourishing the skin. As you read what these experts have to say in these pages, you will discover how you want to use your skin-care regimen as a way to care for your entire being. This makes the prospect of caring for your skin much more than another habit to begin or improve; it opens the door to caring for yourself in a much more accepting and conscious way and will lead to healing your heart and soul as you heal your skin.
Let's hear what our experts have to say. First we'll introduce each one to you. Next, we'll see what they all agree on. Then, we'll explore their different points of view on a given skin-related subject. And, finally, we'll present each expert's unique perspective. Read the following sections with an open mind to see which ways might work best for you:
Our Panel of Skin-Care Experts
To give you a good range of expertise from professionals on different parts of the skin-care spectrum, so that you can benefit from their knowledge and wisdom and apply these fruits (sometimes literally!) to your own face, we interviewed the following people:
Marianne Damhuis: Aethestician
Originally from the Netherlands, Marianne Damhuis is an aesthetician in private practice in Sausalito, California, who uses a natural approach to skin care. A radiant-looking woman in her fifties who practices what she preaches in terms of a lifestyle that promotes beautiful skin, she brings her spiritual life to her work and believes that you can do the same.
Shelley Rosenfeld: Licensed Aesthetician
As the name of her business, Conscious Skin and Body Care (Alameda, California), implies, Shelley sees herself as a wellness educator, helping to demystify some unfortunate skin-care myths and promoting facial beauty as an outgrowth of knowledgeable self-care and the most natural approaches. An expert aesthetician at a world-renowned spa in Northern California before becoming a business owner, she has had extensive advanced training at the International Dermal Institute, and she continually studies to enhance her skills as a skin- and body-care therapist.
Elina Fedotova: Holistic Practitioner, Cosmetic Chemist, Medical Aesthetician, and Creator of Elina Elite Skin Care Collection
Elina makes by hand an all-natural skin-care product line containing organic fruits, vegetables, herbs, vitamins, essential oils, and other natural ingredients. Her products are endorsed and distributed by doctors, aestheticians, and plastic surgeons throughout the world. Originally from Russia, Elina has salons in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois.
John Nieters: Licensed Acupuncturist
John Nieters, L.Ac., is an acupuncturist in Alameda, California. Specializing in internal medicine, he also does cosmetic, or facial, acupuncture. Extensively trained in Chinese medicine, John has an M.S. in traditional Chinese medicine, is board certified as a diplomate through the National Board of Acupuncture Orthopedics, holds a national certification in Chinese herbal medicine, and teaches Chinese nutrition and herbal medicine at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Science in Oakland, California. He hosts a call-in radio show based in San Francisco called The Balancing Point (Thursday mornings from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on KEST 1450 AM).
Karen Burke, M.D., Ph.D.: Dermatologist and Research Scientist
A dermatologist and research scientist in private practice in New York City, Karen is on staff at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Department of Dermatology. With extensive research in antioxidants and a Ph.D. in biophysics, she is an expert on the effects of vitamins and supplements on skin. She is known for her research on the prevention and reversal of aging of the skin, as well the prevention and treatment of skin cancer. A focus of her work has been demonstrating the efficacy of topical and oral antioxidants in reversing photoaging of the skin and preventing skin cancer. A member of many organizations, including the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Medical Association, she has been a consultant to many corporations and has authored numerous articles as well as four books: Great Skin for Life, Thin Thighs, Thin Thighs for Life, and Thin Thighs Diet and Workout (Octopus).
Contact information for each of these experts is listed in Resources section, located at the back of the book.
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