The Problem With Perfect: Why Smooth Isn’t Always Healthy

Podcast Introduction and Guest Welcome 0:00

You know, it's a matter of, um, just enjoying life, having vitality and not living, you know, in a, in a world where you think, Oh, how do I look? Oh, how do I look? We want to look our best. We want to take care of our skin. And that's why I wanted to have you on the podcast because you are an expert in natural skincare. And so it's not about just saying, Oh, what the heck, you know, It's about being a steward of this physical body without anything that we're going to have regrets about. Welcome to Vitality Made Simple.

The following production is for educational and entertainment purposes only. If you need medical advice, call your doctor. Now let's go to Vitality Made Simple. Welcome to Vitality Made Simple. This is the podcast that equips you to feel better, look better, and to enjoy better relationships. We're going to incorporate all of those because I have a very special guest today, all the way from the United Kingdom and Wales. Welcome, Lisa Harris. How welcome. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited, Debbie, to have this conversation.

Well, I feel like I know you Lisa, because we have sort of talked on Instagram. Lisa jumped into an Instagram post that I had related to beauty really, to accepting our bodies as they are, taking the best care that we can, but avoiding toxins that are going to have long-term effects. If you guys follow me, you know that I'm all about natural. I'm all about enhancing our God-given potential and nurturing these bodies, but not giving toxins in any way, whether we're talking about injected toxins, whether we're talking about toxic food, whether we're talking about toxic thoughts, whatever it is.

So Lisa, you're the perfect person to expound on this. So I want to start the conversation with your experience in skin science. Lisa has a robust business in Wales with skin science. So she helps people naturally enhance their skin. Tell us about that. Yeah, so I like to work with the skin biologically. And what does that mean? That means working with the skin as an ecosystem.

Natural Skin Science and Regenerative Approach 2:34

So I like to use my magic wands, I like to call them, that would be the bioelectrical devices. And that enables me to energize at cellular level. And that increases positivity in the cell. So it's like a We're just charging it up. So once that happens, then I can go in and do the healing. Basically that's what it is. And then we can use, then I talk about organic skincare, biotechnology, movement. So I like to treat the person as a whole. So I've got all these different tools that I can use to implement to treat from within and out.

I so appreciate that because as we talked off camera, there's just a lot of what I would call trickery actually telling people what beauty is rather than harnessing our natural expressions. We're muting our expressions and that's impacting relationships. I say that vitality made simple is all about relationships. It really is. And these expressions that we have are so important for nonverbal communication. So tell our listeners, Lisa, what you've learned in terms of the dangers because you're seeing people that have tried the Botox route and now they're wanting something that helps them sort of, you know, get their life back.

Yeah and I started out in the 90s and that's when Botox came on the scene and I did try it once, I told you that because I was unaware of actually what it was. I tried it once. I didn't like it. I didn't like how I was feeling. My face wasn't moving. It went against my ethos completely, whereas I'm regenerating the skin cells and improving the building blocks. That would be a muscle tone because that's the architect of the skin holding the skin up. Then it dawned on me. I think, well, if I'm not using my muscle, what else is it doing?

And so the 30 years I have been in the industry, what I noticed over time was people didn't look the same and I couldn't stimulate the muscle. I couldn't go ahead and regenerate the cells because it was completely blocked. And then I went further down the rabbit hole and I realized actually this is not a good thing because it's actually stopping not only is it preventing lines but you're preventing that movement in the face. So when you go to express it releases this ectocoline which is your sort of like a protein that gives you the feeling Surely this is not good.

So if you're not feeling it's doing something else. And what I noticed was it made people suffer from depression, anxiety, their face just didn't have a personality. I mean, the lines on your face is your signature. It's your story. And it's really important when you raise your eyebrows, it's awareness. When you smile, you release the happy hormones. I mean, these are really important. So it's actually blocking those feelings And that's messing around with the whole sort of like spirit as well and how you're feeling on the inside.

So it's not a good thing. I don't think Botox is beauty. It's actually freezing beauty, your natural beauty. I hope that makes sense. Beautifully said, Lisa. The science is so clear.

Why Botox Freezes Expression and Vitality 6:32

It, it disrupts mirror neurons. So in our brain, we have these mirror neurons. So think of, think of your, you know, your, your children when you, when you see them, it's like, ah, Or more or you say no, that's hot or whatever. It's it's a whole nonverbal communication system They were designed with that gets disrupted and and the research is very clear These days you have to dig for it But that it's it's clear that it is really making it tough for children to learn These these cues these nonverbal communication cues and develop that emotional intelligence that they need to move forward in life if they're around a lot of people who don't have that natural facial movement.

Yeah, it's not that, they look, they've lost the colour in their face too. It doesn't have that glow. Whereas I provide, for instance, phototherapy and I have been doing this for 30 years. And so I kind of layer my treatments up. And so the glow, it just doesn't glow. Their faces don't glow. They look like mummies. I mean, and I don't want to scaremonger people, but the point is, I actually think people actually do not realize what they're actually putting in the substance. It's the substance that's actually going into your body.

And it's served in a black box for a reason. It has a black box warning, which is the highest warning in the medical industry. It's systemic. It can paralyze you. I've actually seen it as well. It can cause neurological brain injuries. I mean, you are putting that into your body, straight into the vagus system. So it's not regenerating. It's blocking. And it actually accelerates aging. So if we're not using our muscle, our muscles becoming thin, our fascia as well, which is our sort of like the quantum, it's full of water, it's actually stopping the flow of everything, oxygen, and that's why I think they don't look so glowy.

Whereas regenerative treatments or eating organically and movement help, vitality, and I can see it's all the muscles around, especially around the eyes, look really thin and hollow. I mean, that happens in any way as aging, so what, you're just accelerating that look. Yes, and I think you've sort of touched on it's a matter of the heart. You know, it's a matter of just enjoying life, having vitality and not living, you know, in a, in a world where you think, Oh, how do I look? Oh, how do I look?

We want to look our best. We want to take care of our skin. And that's why I wanted to have you on the podcast because you are an expert in natural skincare. And so it's not about just saying, Oh, what the heck, you know, It's about being a steward of this physical body without anything that we're going to have regrets about. So Lisa, talk to our listeners about maybe facial exercises, movement that can be done. Yeah, so if you're looking for, let's say, alternative to Botox or fillers, facial exercising is amazing for you.

I do like to use organic oils and I have cancer ones. You can use Gua Sha. and this improves the lymphatic oxygenation in the skin and remember we've got 53 muscles as well in our face and we need to exercise them just like how we exercise our body so we can do this in a number of things we can do clinical so that would be a salon treatment and also we can do at home so what I tend to do is I have a consultation with my clients and they explain the treatments I'm actually going to provide for them.

So we're working at the lymphatic system, cellular level, and then we want to increase ecology in the building blocks. And also I provide EMS, which is electrical muscle stimulation. And I provide many other things, by the way. But the most important thing you can do at home is facial exercises. So I do have some videos coming out. I did do something about 15 years ago for Johnson and Johnson and Rock. I remember doing that with facial exercises with resistance. and that actually helps to improve the tonicity and also is providing those of like growth hormones as well because when you put your hands to your your face you're energizing your hands are actually they have an energy output as well as you can actually start to contour your face so i'm not going to show

Facial Exercises, Gua Sha, and Kansa Wands 11:30

you any exercises but maybe we could do that another time maybe you could do it with me we could do some nice spatial exercising and stretching as well No, I love that Lisa. Now, what is a Kanza wand? Right, so a Kanza wand is an Avedic tool. I think I have one behind me. I'm just going to show you. So basically this is, I love to use this and the cancer wand is an Ayurvedic tool that helps to open, it's like redox, so we're opening on positive pathways. Think of copper, so copper is an element, copper helps with anti-inflammatory, And also copper.

Copper helps is that it produces or helps to produce, sends signal to produce more collagen. So the cancer wand helps to sort of like soften and release any tension in the face. We can also then start to detox. By the way, we can detox with the cancer wands. Your skin actually turns green. And that is the acidic part. So the acid is coming out through the skin. So what we do is drawing toxins out of the skin. It wipes off. Don't worry, you're not permanently green. But this is amazing, just simple tools like this, this will actually help your body to oxygenate, lymphatic drainage, and also it kind of has a frequency like a little bit like microcurrent, so actually be able to stimulate the muscle in a certain way to give you a non-surgical facelift.

That is fascinating, Lisa. I've never heard of that. So what should, if people buy one, where do you buy it? What is it? Yeah, I mean, you really do need to look for a traditional Avedic wand. It's usually a teak wood and it's 80% copper and then 20% is like a tin. And that was a traditional Avedic tool. I mean, there are lots of copies on the market. I mean, you do need to look. I mean, I'd be very careful on Amazon. Maybe I'll put a link below where you can actually... I've taken all the headache away so you can actually go and purchase one online.

I will be coming out with some exercises with a sacred oil for the skin and I'll be able to show you some simple movements with the Gua Sha. The Gua Sha is really good, but unfortunately, it doesn't push the product into the skin. Whereas the Kansan wand can help to absorb or amplify the actual medium that you're going to apply to the skin. And please, if we are doing this, we need to use clean products, not toxic. Otherwise it defeats the object, what we're trying to achieve. And that's a healthy, dewy, glowy skin.

No, we will look forward to that podcast. And I look forward to your videos. So that's a perfect segue, Lisa, into products to look for or things to avoid. Tell us about what you recommend. Right, so the products, skincare, it depends on what skin type you have. I think just stay with safe, organic products are amazing. Or biotechnology, that would be polypeptides and peptides, the different types of peptides like amino acids. And what do I mean by that? You've got your organic products that tend to be a great sort of like as in moisturizers that helps protect your skin as well from UVA and UVB.

So I tend to use no chemicals in my sunscreen especially. We can use products like zinc, coconut, shea butter is wonderful as a natural SPF on the skin because there are lots of chemicals, especially in SPF, which can change the composition and the pH balance in the skin, right? Biotechnology is where we want to go in and we want to ramp it up a little bit because we all want results but biotechnology is clean technology, it's green technology and I tend to use those within my skin therapies by electroporation which is a virtual nasal or within my skincare with a serum.

So serums tend to boost and amplify the results within the skin, and then you'd apply a natural moisturiser. I'm not a fan of retinols. I'm not a fan of them. I think they strip the skin. I've seen a lot of my clients come in and have had to repair the skin from overdosing on vitamin A. It is an amazing antioxidant and it should only be used sparingly for thick seborrhea skin, really damaged skin, maybe once a month. And they have different derivatives, about five different derivatives of vitamin A.

So you wouldn't want to put that on healthy skin because it's like a peel. If you're using that every day, you're disrupting the microbiome on the skin. So let's talk more about that. I know a lot of people are doing these pretty aggressive peels. What do you think about those? At first, I was doing the peels in the 90s and the glycolic and the TCA, the Jessner peels and the results, they were amazing. But long term, no, because what you're actually doing is thinning out the top layer. So we will know we've got five layers.

On the top layer, we actually have 24 dead skins, so we've got 24 layers there.

Choosing Clean Skincare Products and Avoiding Peels 17:28

And what we're doing, if you're adding a peel, you're completely breaking it down. All the memory, all that beautiful microbiome. We don't need to do that. It's a living organ. So let's leave it. We can use enzymes. Enzymes are better for the skin because they act for the skin like a Pacman. They eat away all the dead skin cells and they actually oxygenate the skin as well, whereas peels are quite aggressive. And they completely break down, like I said, the pH balance on the skin. And what I noticed over the years, continuing doing peels, people's skin, they look like thin, totally transparent.

So then I thought to myself, It's not only until you start using the peels on certain devices, certain lasers over the years, you realize actually what's good and what's not. But you wouldn't know that until you've been using it for 15 plus years. Like the speed of science is 15 to 20 years. You actually know the side effects. Does that make sense to you? So I actually don't believe in peels. I don't offer peels in my salon. I'll use enzymes because they're gentle and they're more positive for you.

So peels are too aggressive. You don't need to be that aggressive. I mean, you can use other things instead. Well, thank you for bringing up the point, too, about the speed of science. So many things that look good at first, long term, are very, very dangerous and damaging. And part of my commitment for Vitality Made Simple is for people to live without regret. to do things that really support our microbiome. And you brought out about the facial microbiome. When we think about microbiome, we think, of course, I talk about oral and gut, but the skin has a specific microbiome.

So what oils, natural oils, should people use to support that? We're in 140 countries and 7,000 cities. So if somebody doesn't have, say, access to the technology, What do you recommend? I'm absolutely a fan of coconut oil, organic. Coconut oil has to be organic. Castor oil, we all know it's like this miracle. I just think really basic. You could actually combine coconut oil, organic, castor oil if you want, because they're different in consistency and they do have different properties. However, that will restore and regenerate and their molecular so in other words that actually penetrates into the actual epidermis and it's feeding and nourishing our skin so it's inexpensive just use simple oils but please use organic yeah even olive oil olive oil olive oil is brilliant for your skin as well so long as it's organic yeah olive oil is absolutely amazing Great advice, great advice.

We'll talk to our listeners about food. So food, I mean, you are what you eat at the end of the day. So I always say to my clients that we're looking at the skin, we want to improve special rosacea, acne, or you're dehydrated, or you've just, you know, lacking that glow. We must we always look at the kidneys and the liver so we need to detox and it doesn't mean that you starve yourself by the way it just means be sensible cut out the sugars for a start the bad sugars and I always say start the morning with hot water organic slice slice of lime or lemon And that will actually alkaline the whole body and flush the whole body out, ready then for you to participate in breakfast and then your lunch.

I think it's really important that we just energize the body first before going into a good nutrition breakfast. I mean, it's just eating. from the garden really need an organic food and you know if you fancy a bit of meat then have meat you know but processed foods oh no they just completely age the body and also they ruin the microbiome on you know in the gut your skin is the gut inside out So we always focus on the gut first and we can put beautiful stuff into our gut. So organic merge, valvic acid, you've got your pre-biotics, your probiotics, fermentation, you know, just eating organic foods for your gut to flourish.

You will actually see it. The last place it comes out is your skin. I'm going to be quoting you, Lisa Harris, on your skin is your gut inside out. That is so true. And years ago, I remember helping someone get their gut healthier. And they're like, well, Dr. Debbie, that rash on my inner thigh that I've had for 25 years is gone. And I remember thinking, wow, I wonder if that's related. But now we know it absolutely is related. It is and especially rosacea and rosacea is one of the hardest things for me to treat and I have to strip back.

I have a few clients at the moment who unfortunately been on antibiotics for about 15 years. I mean, it's I just right. So there we go there. The microbiome is completely gone. and that's why they're so inflamed and sensitive on the skin and there's different stages to rosacea so I always start with just like go back to back to nature says eat organic foods and no sugars because sugar is inflammation is causing inflammation so what we want to do is energize your body with energy foods plant-based foods you can actually have I did a presentation a week ago on plant-based collagen.

Now, it's an amino acid, so it's very different from bovine, so that amino acid is more like a prebiotic as well, which your gut can flourish from, and that actually repairs your skin and increases collagen synthesis by about 137% if you're using a certain type of plant collagen, by the way. So, like I said, everything's from inside.

Gut Health, Diet, and Skin Microbiome 23:58

Everything's from inside. I mean, you have to give it time as well. Usually I say, you need to give yourself about three months if you've seen a full effect of repairing the skin. It doesn't happen overnight. You have to be consistent in clean living. Movement is really important. We can detox our skin as well. Neon thread is amazing. I am a fan of LED lights. I'm a big fan of them because I think that's medicine for your whole pituitary gland, your whole spirit. That fixes your cells inside out.

It does. And Lisa, you talk so eloquently about the pituitary gland and how important it is to protect it, nourish it, and how the botulism toxin A can harm it. Tell our listeners your perspective there. Yeah, so I realized that putting the Botox into the body is actually interfering with the pituitary gland, which is your conductor, if you like, the master, it's the master gland, and that regulates, as we know, all the good feeling factors, your hormones, your sex hormones, I mean, if you're putting the Botox in and you're actually blocking the vital flow, that would be the expressions from your face, because the expressions on your face, like I said, raising the eyebrows, smiling, all these wonderful things go back to the pituitary gland.

Now, if you're not receiving that signal, then your body is under stress. So it doesn't recognize, you hang about, we're not smiling, we're not doing this. That pituitary gland can't function properly. And that has a knock on effect with the whole body, the whole vagus system. So that puts your body in that flight mode, you know, that stress mode. And what does that do to the cell? Very simply, it sort of like defuses the battery. We are a battery. We are literally energy. So what it's doing is dampening.

We all know the ATP. So it's actually going to cut that supply off. And that is when we look a bit, we're not glowing. We're not seeing the sparkle in our eyes. I mean, we're all very different how we break down Botox, but this is what I've noticed generally. And you definitely split up your divine and your personality. I mean, you go to express, they can't do it. They must be frustrated. Yes, it stops lines. But at what expense? It's like a fear, isn't it? We're stopping the lines because we fear.

So Botox is a fear. I'm the complete opposite. I want to add into that vitality. I want to regenerate that. I want you to express because lines actually come from muscles, by the way. So the more you're doing the facial exercise, the more you look after yourself, the more you regenerate. Guess what? You look much younger than you years. Yes, and you're having way more fun in life. You're having better relationships and you're not living Lisa in a people pleasing mode. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I remember when I first learned about Botox, I was getting my hair done.

It's back when I was having my hair straightened. So there was the salon was next to an aesthetic salon and people were just coming and going, coming and going. So I asked the guy who was doing my hair. I said, what is that next door? And he said, well, it's a Botox salon. And I said, why do people do that? I'll never forget his answer. He said, Oh, Debbie, it's all about the pictures and I just remember thinking, Lisa, that's not how we want to live. We don't want to live all about the pictures.

We want real life. We want vitality. We want enhanced relationships. You know, we want to live life to the fullest and to heck with the picture. If you don't understand, I mean, not live for the pictures. Yeah, I have, like I said, I've got four beautiful daughters. They're all very natural. That's how I brought them up. And I think we need to change. And I'm hoping to do that as educate, especially the beauty industry, the aesthetic industry to say, look, We said that we have to freeze faces to look beautiful.

And there's a misconception as well when girls as young as 18 and a practitioner should not be injecting Botox into a beautiful, youthful skin that is functioning, youthfulness and, you know, giving the girl Botox. what they're actually saying is that it actually prevents lines. Now, the girls don't know anything else. I think it's an education thing here. We need to educate what Botox really is. And also, not telling them what the side effects could be is botulism. And there are so many cases, especially in the States, there's so many cases of neurological injuries.

I mean, there was one severe case study a lady had Botox and it completely paralyzed her. She couldn't swallow. So now she's feeding through her stomach. I mean, we just need to know, if you're going to go for Botox, you need to know what the substance is, what you're actually putting into your body.

Pituitary Gland, Energy, and the Risks of Botox 29:28

And also we should be teaching them the healthy way, regenerative treatments. Where I see now is, it's a trend. It shouldn't be a trend for health. There should not be a trend. I don't follow trends. So I think. It's the education, it's the lack of knowledge out there, what the Botox is. I mean, they know it's a toxin, kind of, they know it's not really good for them, but they're just continuing doing it like zombies. Right. Right. It's that peer pressure that gets people into trouble. And again, we have the heart issue that's so important.

You know, it's not just women, but it's mostly women, Lisa. You know, we need to know that we're wonderfully made. We're not what we look like in a picture. We are so much more. And, um, And then even, you know, not even going down the trail of how of expense, you know, there's so many adventures you can have for the money that is spent on, you know, those that you redone so often. Yeah, and the more you're doing it, the more you're actually aging. And I know the treatments I do here, like I said, it's regeneration and as regenerative, the more you do, the younger you look.

So clients have been coming here. I've been here in Surrey. I've been here for about 16 years and they still look the same. Do you know that? I wish I took the photo as soon as they walked through the door. So it just proves that energy treatments They're good for you. They're feeding you. They feed yourselves. They're optimized. It's like plugging yourself in. They completely recharge everything within your body so you can function at optimum level. Oh, so exciting. Now tell us you're getting ready to do a video series, correct?

Yes, so I did. I think you can see I've done it just a little bit of beauty investigate. But now I'm going out and I am going to start a few podcasts myself and just educate people. So it's in the pipeline. And I'm also representing a few other companies talking about natural authorities and natural collagen. And let's just make this a better place, especially for the young girls. I just would love to educate and say there are other alternatives out there at the moment. And it's changing. It definitely is doing its full circle at the moment.

Because when I started out, it was a big thing doing the electrical facials and electrical body treatments. And then it got pushed to the side because of this Botox. But now I see, like you said, the speed of signs, we're all seeing the damage it can cause and people don't want it now. They're more conscious of what they're putting into their bodies and the environment. So I definitely see this doing a full circle and we're going ahead now with more regenerative treatments. Well, Lisa, what you're doing is giving people freedom.

And I really appreciate that. I look forward to your videos. I look forward to having you back and let's practice together with the concept. That's so fun. I'm saying it in the Okie accent. It's so much fun. It's so much fun. And the more you laugh, I mean, that just releases all these beautiful growth hormones, happy hormones as well. They just keep you young. They do. I think humor is the most underrated element of lifestyle medicine. I think that needs to be on people's list, just like, you know, eating their antioxidants, drinking their water, getting their movement.

Having a lot to laugh about is super important. Oh, yeah. And walking in nature as well. I mean, trees give off like 200 hertz, by the way, so that's grounded. I mean, that's anti-inflammatory. So aging is, think of a cell, is a power, is a power. And as we get older, we have like called sentient cells, which are your zombie cells around this great sort of like positive cell here. And as we get older, they keep hanging around. We don't want them hanging around. We want them to disappear. So we can act and have more energy and we look more youthful.

So being in nature, doing natural therapies helps to get rid of these of like, inflammatory around the cell because inflammation causes disease. It was ageing, the whole thing. So feeding yourself, walking in nature, having a laugh, having some fun, not be so serious all the time, and just be more conscious. That's the true essence of longevity. That is your spirit. That is your definite spirit. And when you're happy on the inside and you're really healthy, you generally look more younger. You do.

You enjoy life more. People around you enjoy life more. People want to be around you. It is truly living. Lisa, thank you so much for your time today. Oh, you're ever so welcome. Thank you for having me. Oh, and people can find you at lisaharrisskinscience.com.

Education, Regenerative Beauty, and Closing Thoughts 34:48

Yeah, yeah, that's it, dotco.uk. Oh, yeah, right. Okay, say that again. Say that again for everybody. Okay, so I have a website, it's lisaharriskinscience.co.uk or you can find me on the Instagram and I'm going to be starting lots of little tips of like helpful tips in skincare and so forth. Yes, and we'll get together in a few months and we'll talk about all of your accomplishments on how to help people. Thank you listeners. Thank you for being part of Vitality Made Simple. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for subscribing. If you haven't, please do that. Join Lisa on her Instagram. Join me on my Instagram. We met on Instagram. And, um, I'll put all of that in the show notes, Lisa, so that people will have exactly all the way from Wells. Thank you so much. And listeners, uh, just share this with anybody who has skin. We all want to, we all want to look our best and we want to have great relationships. And that's what Lisa, that's the, that's the bridge that Lisa's, um, creating. We can look great and not worry about toxins.

So thanks again. I wish you God's richest blessings until next time.