Hormones and Skin

Introduction to Dr. Trevor Kates 0:00

Welcome back to the reverse autoimmune disease series summit, everybody. Summit series. We're on, round five of this. This is our fifth iteration, healing the energy body. And I'm delighted to bring you one of everyone's favorite speakers to talk about hormones and skin. Doctor Trevor Kates, who is the author of USA today bestselling book Clean Skin From Within and founder of the Spa Doctor Natural skincare line. She was the first woman licensed to the natural empathic doctor in the state of California.

I was the doctor and several world renowned spas in Park City, Utah. She continues to help women from around the world with a focus on skin and hormones, and she's been featured on various TV shows and as a host of the hormones, health and harmony docu series. The Woman's Doctor Podcast, and the public television special Younger Skin From Within. Her natural skincare line is sold online and is popular with celebrities like Zoe de Chanel, makeup artist Georgie Douglas and everyday folks around the world.

Her next book, Natural Beauty, reset the seven day program to harmonize hormones and restore Radiance, is now available for preorders on Amazon and hits bookstores in September, which I guess it's going to be beyond the listening of this, but hits bookstores now. Doctor Casey's goal is to inspire and empower women to find the keys to harmonize their hormones and open their eyes to their natural beauty. Their beauty has always been there. Sometimes we just need a guide to help eliminate the path.

Welcome to the series. Thank you. It's great to be here with you. Yes. My book just came out September 13th, so I need to make sure you have an updated bio and I so I know. Yeah, I was like, oh no, it's already hit the bookstores. So you know, the that last line that you already have the beauty that's within and just need the path eliminated. I think it's really beautiful and poignant because, oh, so many people are shown through airbrushed images that runs some magazines, right? That, their, their skin is not beautiful enough.

So how how do you speak to that? Yeah, I know it is really interesting question. The reason why I really wanted to write a book, a whole book around, you know, Nat called Natural Beauty Reset has to do with it. When I was interviewing different people for it was started with customers and then it ended up in the docu series is one of our favorite questions to ask, which is when did you realize that you're beautiful? And we weren't asking, are you beautiful? Or do you think you're beautiful? But when did you realize you are?

And the the answers to that were really interesting from people,

Beauty, Self-Image, and Skin as a Signal 2:53

because some people said, you know, this is when it happened for me. And then some people would say, well, you know, I'm still trying to figure that out. And, you know, it's then everything in between. And really it's it is the thing where, you know, and I and I had lots of people actually cry when I asked the question, like, you're telling me I'm beautiful, you know, it's yes. And, I know it is a challenging thing. Skin can be really brutal, especially for women. But men also. And what we do is we, you know, we we because our skin issues are right on the surface are harder to hide than other issues.

Like, if we're in pain, we may be able to kind of hide that and kind of fake it. But, you know, certainly, you know, it's not always easy to do that. Skin issues. They're just right there on the surface. And while women can wear makeup to cover it up, you can use, selfie filters and things like that. It's, it is right there. And so when you're with someone, it gives you information. And as physicians, as doctors, we look at our patients skin and we say, okay, well, this is a sign that something's out of balance.

So dry skin means, so, you know, it could mean you have hypothyroidism. What other symptoms might that person have? Might that patient have you're having, acne breakouts and they're along the jawline. Let's let me think about maybe hormonal acne and look at your hormones, but I unfortunately, most people don't really think about skin and that way. So people oftentimes will think, okay, well, I just need to use a topical to suppress it or something just to cover it up, not realizing that your skin is is actually giving you really valuable tools and information about your overall health, including your immune system.

Okay. Yeah. It's such a I think that, you know, the filter thing is it's kind of damaging these days. You know, we I talked about like airbrushed magazines and I remember reading a story a long time ago, many, many years ago where, Cindy Crawford, I guess, is from somewhere in the South, I think Georgia. And she had gone back to at home and her mom had said, hey, can you just, like, at least one day put all of your stuff on so that people believe that you're my daughter? You guys, you look so different from you know what?

What the glossy pictures showed. You know I'm right. Magazines. So there's just kind of a weird ideal that we have for what beauty is and that these natural aging processes. Right. Are not acceptable. So. But at the same time, we have things that we can do to make that be a little more graceful. Right. And so one of the things that you're talking about with autoimmunity, you know, there are so many skin things that will show up. Autoimmune, right. Yeah, absolutely. And so and as you know, you have one autoimmune condition.

It can show up. And as other autoimmune conditions and people oftentimes will develop a number of them. And sometimes skin is one of the early ones. And so like it could be eczema atopic dermatitis. It could be psoriasis. Those are two of the, you know, really big ones that a lot of people will develop. Yeah. And rosacea is another one that oftentimes shows up with people with autoimmune conditions or but Aliko and even, you know, hyperpigmentation, it's just, you know, our, our body is constantly training our, our skin is our our is our barrier to the outside world.

And so it's constantly trying to adjust to what's around it and then also balancing with what's going on internally. And so we just, you know, are constantly seeing things show up. And some people are, are more prone to this than others. I can say for myself, I as a child, I had a lot of, allergies and health issues that showed up on my skin. So I'm one of these people that whatever shows up internally, I'm like, my skin is just going to show me and tell me and I'm going to react to everything. If it's not super clean and my gut health isn't in a good place, I'm going to.

I'm going to know it by minute, eat something. And so not everybody is quite as sensitive. But most people, if you pay attention, you are you can make that connection. And so even in dots around my eye, if I eat, yeah I clean like and it usually happens if I am traveling and I'm still like dedicated. I don't eat gluten, I don't eat anything, even on the road. I don't eat sugar. But sometimes there'll be some, you know, I just get this little break and I go, well, something was somewhere, you know?

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And it also will give you indications that you're going in the right direction with your health. So if your skin is really healthy and glowing,

Hormones and Common Skin Conditions 8:07

then you could take that as feet. But like what a feedback of what am I been doing. What have I been doing lately that really helped me get back on track? Have I been? What have I been eating? Have I been sleeping better? What supplements have I been taking? What have I been doing? Why is my skin looking so good? That's actually part of what led me to write my first book, Clean Skin from Within, was I was putting people on a two week weight loss program at the Waldorf Astoria. And then at the end of the two weeks, they would say, gosh, I've lost to this weight, doctor case.

But what surprises me is my skin. I didn't know that my skin could look this good. And so that's when I realized that, you know, this, there was this need for this message to get out there about the clues that are on the surface of your skin. Well, you mentioned earlier about hormone related issues of skin. So what what do hormones have to do with skin health? Yeah. There. So, there are a lot of hormone skin connections. And we a lot of times people think about sex hormone. So certainly as we, you know, go through transitions like puberty when we have hormones, sex hormone changes, teenagers will oftentimes notice breakouts.

And, so that's that's one thing, but it's not just for puberty. Right. So it was a lot of a lot of women in perimenopause will start to notice shifts in their hormones that will cause more breakouts that maybe they didn't experience for since they were a teenager. Or maybe for the first time ever. And then there are also things like I mentioned, thyroid. If your, your your, your thyroid is off, that can also show up on your skin. If it's low, you might have dry skin. If you have hyper thyroid issues then it can.

You could be noticing more oilier or more acne prone skin and then even adrenals. Our adrenals are cortisol levels. So when our cortisol levels go high and they stay high especially can lead to more inflammatory skin issues, especially if you have a tendency to things like rosacea or acne or eczema that you can notice flare ups with those because of the increase in cortisol and even melatonin has, it's, you know, it's oftentimes just thought of as the sleep hormone, but it actually has a role in protecting our skin.

And, and on our, our health. And it actually works like an antioxidant in the body. So a lot of really powerful hormones that play a role in our skin. So, you know, you mentioned I'd love to go through specific like, what does what does this mean around the jawline. Yeah. So different different skin issues. Yeah. So when so some of the common skin things that people oftentimes so analysis, you know, a lot of those women will break out along the jaw line. And so that can be a sign of hormonal acne especially.

Or you know that your hormones are related and so if you're noticing that especially at certain times of the month that you're getting, flare up, maybe it's right before your period, you might get a flare up and acne. And then, you know, that might be related to your hormones. If you're if you're getting, acne more around your mouth, it it could actually be not be acne. It could be Perry oral dermatitis. It could be something different or it could be acne, but it might be more related to something that you're eating, and then it's causing you to break out around your mouth.

Some people will get breakouts, like around their hairline, and sometimes that has to do actually with the products that you're using, like your hair care products. A lot of women will, you know, start to use more hair care products in their hair. And they're it's touching their face, or as they're spraying their hairspray or their products are getting and clogging their pore. So it could be related to that. Or if you've changed up, you know, like your shampoo or different things, something to look at.

But those are some of the common things with, with acne. But another common things that I see with a lot of people and people oftentimes will stop me, like, what is this? What are these little bumps on the backs of my arms? And there's it's a condition called keratosis pilaris. And it's very common. And a lot of people think that they need to just use more moisturizer or they need to exfoliate their skin more, but it actually is oftentimes due to an essential fatty acid or, a zinc deficiency. So it might be actually be a nutritional deficiency.

That can be another thing that shows up on the skin can be the. Yeah. So yeah Candida usually shows up a little bit differently. But yeah you can have candida overgrowth and that can definitely show up on the skin. So that leads us to the the role that the microbiome plays from the gut. Right. And and skin and hormones. Yes. Absolutely. The gut skin connection is really, really important. And it is one of the biggest things that I talk to, for people who have skin issues, talk to them about their gut.

And the research does show this gut gut, skin connection, gut brain, skin connection, and of course, the gut hormone connection too. So we really want to look at what we can do to improve our gut microbiome, because that in turn is going to impact our skin microbiome. And it really is any number of skin conditions. So what can happen? Is it, you know, skin the skin has its own microbiome. It has its own balance of microorganisms that live on it, protect it and keep it in this balance. Just like the gut has its own balance of microorganisms in it that help keep it working optimally when our skin has that too.

Gut, Skin, and Microbiome Connections 14:06

And as I mentioned before, our skin has this barrier function to it. And part of that barrier function is protecting us from the outside world are these microorganisms. So there are things that we do internally from the inside out of our gut and that can impact our skin microbiome. And then there are also things that we do externally that impact our skin microbiome. And so we really want to do both. So I know for many years of my practice I've been a naturopathic doctor for 22 years. For many years I was just focusing on the inside out because as a naturopathic doctor, I wanted to help people just, you know, from the inside out.

And then I started to shift about ten years ago, I started to see, wow, what we put on our skin in our environment physically can impact our skin microbiome too. So it's really important to do both. And oftentimes people will say to me, well, I don't think there's anything wrong with my gut because I don't have any digestive symptoms, but they might have skin issues. And I that I want people to realize that if you have gut dysbiosis issues, it can show up as skin issues, and you might not have any digestive or gut symptoms.

I actually want to highlight that for a second. Like not out. Like we're doing a sports replay. Because this is really, it's a key point that, you know, if your microbiome is not healthy, it isn't necessarily true that you're going to have digestive issues that are overt. Instead, you can have covert issues in your immune system, you know, as well as with your skin, your hair, your nails. You know, it's just like eyes, your thyroid. So it's it's not necessarily just going to be about your, your bowel movements.

Right, right. And I sometimes was surprised by some of the tests that I would do with patients and not really thinking of like, well, let's do a gut microbiome test and to see if you have got this issues. But because you don't have any of the typical symptoms, it's probably fine. But then but they had acne, you know, really you know, pretty significant moderate or maybe some people even severe acne. And then we would definitely find dysbiosis issues. And sometimes it was it was usually when it that bad, it's usually a combination of not enough of the good bacteria as well as some imbalance of commensal bacteria, the bacteria that are normally there but should be in check and they should be in a certain range, or actually some presence of harmful bacteria or bacteria that should not be that present.

So pathogenic bacteria or also things like Candida overgrowth. So those are things that definitely have shown up. And and then sometimes what's been interesting is after we treat it they say, you know what? My my digestion is actually better. And I said, well, you never mentioned that it was bad. And they're like, well, I wasn't having symptoms, but I didn't know that I could just feel this comfortable. They didn't even realize what optimal actually felt like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So and then there's another issue.

And in fact, the Environmental Working Group has a whole thing about this, you know, about the, skin care products that are from multi billion dollar industry and, you know, there are clean ones and then there are ones that are not so clean. And why is that something that we should monitor. Yeah, it's really important. And I think particularly people who have issues with their immune system and it's really important for everyone. But when you have your immune system is compromised in some way and you're working on balancing it, the last thing you want is to throw additional toxins or interfering factors into the equation.

And oftentimes we see, with, with this issues with skin and skin dysbiosis, kind of like gut dysbiosis. We see leaky skin, which is kind of like leaky gut. And that that barrier function is not working the way it's supposed to. So your skin is more reactive, it's more permeable. And so what we want to do is get it built back up. So the last thing you want to do is be putting toxic ingredients on your skin, because you could actually absorb more of those into your bloodstream. And I think a lot of people forget what we put on our skin.

Can get into our bloodstream. But there have been numerous studies, especially on endocrine disrupting chemicals. It's a group of chemicals that have hormone disrupting effects in the body, that there are many of these in personal care products, and that they actually can get into circulation from personal care products like, for example, fragrance oftentimes contains diethyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate as a as a plasticizer agent. Phthalates are plasticizer agents and known endocrine disrupting chemicals.

They're used in fragrance to help the scent last longer, but they are these group of endocrine disrupting chemicals, and research has shown that they do show up in human samples, so they do get absorbed from personal care products. So we want to be really careful not to add these things in to worsen. And, cause our immune system to be like, what is what is going on? Because constantly, you know, you talk about the immune system, what our body gets exposed to, anything it's trying to figure out. Is it is it mine?

Is it a is it a foreign invader? Is a good or is it bad? Right. So is it kind of. And so when it gets exposed to a lot of these chemicals, it's either going to think it's foreign and fight an immune response against it, which then leads to more inflammation in the body. Or if it recognizes it as its own, like and like like this is what happens with endocrine disrupting chemicals is the body will go, oh, that looks like estrogen. So let me turn up our estrogen.

Skincare Ingredients and Endocrine Disruptors 20:20

So now the body starts asking acting like it has more estrogen in it. What. It actually doesn't. It's actually a chemical. So it's it's so important for us to reduce our exposure to the is because we get exposed to them and our air, our water, our food, personal care products. So we want to focus on the places where we have the most control, right? So like the personal care products we use, what we put on our bodies is especially if we have skin issues that are have caused a breakdown in that barrier function.

And then of course, you know, also looking at things like avoiding pesticides in food, trying to get organic and drinking filtered water and and making sure you're not getting, lead or mercury or various heavy metals from, your environment. So all of that is important. And then also what we put on our skin can disrupt the skin barrier function. So there's the toxins the that component. And then there's also what is what you're putting on your skin has the potential to support your skin microbiome or disrupt it or kind of be inert.

So not really doing much, but oftentimes we're putting on things like for example, there's an ingredient called dimethicone and it's known as an exclusive agent, which kind of helps trapping moisture on the skin. So it's using a lot of moisturizers, a lot of makeup to give people that kind of dewy, glowy look. But it traps when it's trapping in moisture is kind of like putting a liquid plastic on your face where your skin is going to be able to adapt to temperature and temperature changes. Think about if you had like, plastic on your face and you go to the gym and you try and workout, your skin is going to overheat.

And then when it's trapped under this layer, it can actually disrupt that skin microbiome. So then creating more of these imbalances, that's a great visual. One of the things that, you know, our Vedic medicine said 10,000 years ago, the sister science of yoga is that whatever you put on your skin, you're eating, you know? So I just kind of wanted to push that home a little bit more to that. You know, if we give medications as patches, right, you take hormones, you have a hormone patch you can slap on there and regulate everything.

You can put a scopolamine patch on if you get seasick and voila, no seasickness. And so the, you know, we have narcotics we give that way. So the idea that, oh, we can put off bug spray on and it's not going to influence the body, but we can put medications on the patches just like you got to make that connection. Right. So anything that you put on your skin, you need to actually be able to recognize the ingredients as edible. So I think that's important. You know, just it really is. And you know, I think a lot of times we're hoping that are being protected.

But unfortunately, the FDA is only banned about 11 ingredients and personal care products, while in Europe they ban over a thousand ingredients and personal care products. So there are a lot of things and that are used that are, approved to use in personal care products. And I have to say, since, you know, I make a skincare line, I have the spa doctor products. And as a naturopathic doctor and a skincare manufacturer, it's an interesting thing because it's like, I'm just going to be honest here.

It's a pretty shady industry. And so the lack of regulations trickles down into everything. So it's a lot about just marketing hype. So people companies now have jumped on the natural, you know, like claiming everything is natural, but there's no regulation around the word natural or the word hypoallergenic. So anyone can call their products, without having to go through any kind of regulations or testing or even show that their ingredients are truly natural, whereas you know, but, you know, there are certifications or things that you can look to, like environmental working group, ewg.org.

They have, they have a skin deep database where you can go in and you can do a search, and it gives a rating about ingredients and even a lot of products, personal care, beauty products. They also have a verification. So like the spot doctor, my skincare line, we went through their verification process. And so we've been EWG verified. So there are independent agencies will do that. But unfortunately the United States, United States, FDA is not doing that. But we look awfully good all the way till I, Really fabulous.

Our last, So. Yeah. That's so frustrating. So are there any other, you know, top kind of skincare ingredients you mentioned one that we can find a healthier alternative for. Yeah. So let's fragrance. That would be one. That would be a really big one if you could only just everybody know. You know. Right. Yeah. You, you want to look for organic essential oils. That's going to be the the best alternative or fragrance free. You can also get fragrance free and then get your own organic essential oils.

And add that so you can make it whatever scent that you want it. At the spot after we use and several of our products, we use and organic, essential oil blend and then some, some of our products are fragrance free, so, so people can choose what they like. And, so they're also, you know, chemical sunscreen ingredients are another big one because I think people are thinking, oh, here I am doing a good thing. I'm putting this on my kids, I'm putting it on me. And I'm we know we're spraying it and we're rubbing it on, all summer long or even all year round.

And unfortunately, there are a number of endocrine disrupting chemicals that can be found in sunscreen. So things like oxybenzone is one that you want to avoid. And there are natural mineral based sunscreens like zinc oxide based sunscreens I think are a much better alternative. So those would be the ones that I would I would recommend and then also want to remind people to be careful of what you're spraying, in addition to what you're applying. And also powders. So for women, a lot of homes are, you know, using powders or spraying deodorants or, you know, products in your hair and things.

Remember that this is another way that things can get into your body. So there are certain products that are sometimes even called natural, but they have nano sized particles in them. And these tiny little particles, when you breathe them and they can get into your lung tissue and create a lot of issues. So, so just be mindful about it. It's not just what you put on your skin, but also what you're breathing in. And remember, your lips are one of the most sensitive areas because you're like your lips, you're eating whatever you put on your lips is going to enter not just with your absorption topically, but orally and through your digestive system.

So what's your stance on fillers and injections? Speaking of lips and what you're putting on and in a well, I think it's a very personal choice for people. I personally do not choose to do any of those, but I think, the there's a lot of concern with them. One of them is just the obvious of you've got to be careful with whoever is doing these procedures because there's a lot that can go wrong. Scar tissue can build up even when you're using more natural substances for fillers. There can be scar tissue.

If you're doing a lot of it, you're working with a practitioner that's not super skilled. You could get scar tissue that build up, and that can create a lot of issues down the road. And then, you know, I just have to say Botox, however you want to describe it, it comes from botulinum, which is a neurotoxin. So I know it's said that people say that it's safe, but I'm still not convinced I feel the same. And and it can also be a trigger for autoimmunity everyone. So it is definitely a personal you know, it's a personal choice.

And your relationship with your own aging process is an important one for you to be able to walk that pathway. And it can also fillers and injections can have been shown in article after article after article to be potential triggers for autoimmunity. So yeah, I mean again, if we look at everything that we do, our body is constantly like, okay, what is this? Is it foreign? Yeah. And I yeah. It's like, is this foreign? Do I need to protect the body against this? And so anything like a filler or an injection, it's not going to recognize it as its own.

Fillers, Botox, and the Four Pillars of Natural Beauty 29:38

So especially with people with autoimmune where your body is hyper reactive, then you know, your your body is just it's trying to do its job. So the less you can put these things in your body and give as you're going through the healing process. And I know Doctor Keesha and all the people on this, are giving you lots of ideas. I'm like, actually heal this. So as you're healing, has your healing your gut as you're getting your nutrient status back up and you're decreasing the internal inflammation in your body, just give it a break from all of these potential toxins and then down the road when you've cured yourself of this.

Although we know whatever the autoimmune diseases are, or at least gotten into a place where it's, you know, you're symptom free or very managed symptoms, then you could decide if it's worth it. But I think you're probably going to determine it's not even worth it. Right? Yeah. I found it interesting that sometimes people that were really upset about having, you know, to make a decision about the Covid vaccination were getting fillers. I was like, don't. No, these are both like, yeah, you know, I think what I think I think deeply about for sure.

Yeah, I think we do. It's become so normalized. It the beauty industry has done a really, really good job of normalizing this and making it seem like, these are not I mean, this is just regular things. These are just a normal part of being a woman and that, you know, even starting with young women in their 20s like, this is prevention. And I just really hope that people start to realize we don't need this. This is not what we need. And eventually it it can really backfire. And some people might get get away with it for a period of time, but, is it really worth it?

Right, right. So in your new book, you talk about four key key pieces of this, and I would love to have you highlight those and talk or talk us through them. Yeah. So my new book, Natural Beauty Reset, it's a seven day program to harmonize hormones and restore radiance. And it's really about building the healthy foundation to help us help our bodies restore it to the balance that our our bodies wisely are able to do naturally. And so their food movement, mindset and skincare, those are the four areas that these are the things that we do on a hopefully day to day basis.

And that's what the goal is to get to that, to create a healthy foundation in these four different areas. And part of what I talk about in the book is a seasonal approach to that. So there are the four different areas, and I tell people how to do a seven day reset at the beginning of each season. So to help, help get back on track, because our needs for each of these different areas change with the seasons. So right now we're in fall and we're shifting away from summer and going into shorter days, less sun exposure.

Sun is further away. So we're going to start noticing differences with our skin, with our mood, with our motivation for eating and exercising, and also with, the, the food that's available to us also changes. And, and I think so often we go to the grocery store, we're always buying the same thing. We may even shop at Whole Foods or a health food store and just think, oh, okay, well, I'm getting my super foods and not realizing that there are certain foods that are going to be more nutrient rich and also more flavorful at at certain times.

So I definitely encourage people to look to your farmer's markets. And even in grocery stores, you typically will see like certain produce looks like it's fresh or it looks like it's it's just going to be more nutrient rich because it's in season. So I encourage you to start to start looking at this. What can you do to start shifting to get your body back in balance or moving into root vegetable time? Everybody. Yeah, yeah. Root vegetables. And what's amazing about things like yams and sweet potatoes and pumpkins and they're they're rich in vitamin A they added beta carotene.

And then also broccoli is in season rich in vitamin C. And these are nutrients that we need to help support our immune system. In times when we might be more exposed to cold, flu viruses, different things. And so to support our immune system during that time, nature is actually abundant with the nutrients that we need for that support. I have a little bit of a question that just popped into my mind. I love that you're following like, what are your readers said to you? You know, seasonal changes.

You don't just wear the same clothes all throughout the year, you change them. So of course you're going to change your other routines. There's another change. That's a shift that's happened in the last three years. And it's the wearing of masks. Do you have anything that you advise for keeping that part of your skin? For people that have to wear masks for long periods? I mean, I'm lucky I work from home, you know, it's I rarely have to wear one, but I do. If I get on a flight, I wear it for the whole flight.

And so of course, your skin is not breathing very well at that point. So what are your. Yeah for that. Yeah. There's it was there was a big thing about it when, you know, everybody was wearing masks at the height of it as a mask. Mask, you know, like people would be breaking out under their mask. And so a couple of things to think about is be mindful of what you're putting on your skin. So like, if you know you're going to be wearing a mask, maybe skip the makeup. You know, if you're a woman, just skip the skip the makeup there.

You could still, you know, certainly. Use like your, you know, your cleanser or and moisturizer and things, but you know, that having that extra makeup around in that area that could just clog your pores and create more irritation and then also, if you get a chance to actually cleanse your face again after you take the mask off and using a really good cleanser, one of the biggest mistakes people make in skincare are is this the cleanser that they use? And there's this, you know, feeling like we need to over cleanse and over exfoliating.

Like kind of like a too much of a of a good thing, but using it like a gentle cleanser that has the right for your skin, more of an oil based cleanser that keeps the barrier function of your skin intact while still cleansing your skin. And you don't need to just overdo it with these, like foamy kinds of cleansers and things. And so that would, you know, those would be some tips and, you know, changing your mask, of course, and not, you know, repeatedly wearing the same mask over and over again. So those would be some tips.

Okay. That's a good ideas. In my car, I keep my cloth masks and then I know if my my 25 year old daughter's been using them because I don't wear foundation at all. And so she'll, she'll, I'll look down and there's a mass. It's got all this foundation and lipstick on it and I'm like, oh, Reagan, you know. Yeah, yeah, it's a really good idea. Like skip the makeup if you're going to be wearing a mask. My husband also uses, we use like the doctor Bronner's hand sanitizer for the last three years with, lavender essential oil in it.

And it's, like, our favorite, you know, after you pump your gas or you come in from the grocery store and he's sprays that in his mask all the time now and then puts that on. So, maybe another I don't know if that's good for you or not, but I can't remember what's in there. But essential oils can be a great thing to put a drop off you a little bit goes a long way, though. So just remember you're just like, probably a drop, maybe a half a drop in some circumstances. Or wash your mask if you're if it is a reusable wash it with some essential oils.

Yeah. That could be a great thing. I think hand sanitizers, we do want to be careful with that. Just remember that when you wash your hands, you can just use soap and water. When you wash your hands. That's actually the best thing. That's actually better than using hand sanitizer. Only use hand sanitizer when you don't have access to soap and water. So that one in our car. Yeah, right. But you know, some people are just like using it everywhere they go. They just wash their hands and then they're putting out hand sanitizer.

You don't need to do that. All right. Actually there's I mean you have that is actually a better way to get, any kind of, bacteria viruses off your hands. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking this time to share your wisdom with us. And, is there anything that we haven't talked about that you just really feel like we need to say before we sign off? I mean, I think that one thing. I hope you're talking about it in the doc, I mean, in the summit, is that, you know, I think one of the things that's really important for our immune system is our mindset.

And we kind of touched on it a little bit. But when you think about the immune system, it is your body's, opportunity to protect you from the outside world. And it's trying to do you a favor. But if we have, I'm sure you're talking about this, especially emotional traumas and things. Our body just doesn't really understand how our immune system should function. And so especially if you have these emotional traumas, your body, your your immune system could be overreacting. And I, that's something that I noticed with myself that, you know, as a kid having a lot of allergies and having a genetic predisposition to allergies and eczema and things like that is that it's, you know, and the emotional aspect of it and also genetically, how it can get passed along because you know, something that is hereditary from my, a medical perspective, kind of.

Also, can the trauma and emotional trauma can be passed along through generations. So I know that you're you talk a lot about this. I'm glad that you're doing the summit, but I just want to mention it from me personally to that, that I've that's something that I've noticed and that I have talked to my patients about, especially when they have that really reactive kinds of skin and that immune reaction with it. Like, why is your skin so reactive? And there's part of it is that gut health and the skin microbiome support.

But I'm not going to deny that the emotional aspect is an important part of it too. And that's a really good reminder. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you. All right everybody until next time. Be well.