Hormonal Health Might Be the Key to Perfect Skin – Here’s What You Need to Know

How is it that sometimes your skin looks flawless, and other times pimples and redness rear their heads, seemingly out of nowhere? Yes, they do seem to always appear at the wrong moment (think job interview, public event, or date night!) but if you’ve ever noticed some kind of pattern to your skin breakouts, there might be more at play: your hormones. So, what are they, and how do they affect your skin? Read on to learn more.

What are hormones?

To sum it up briefly, hormones are chemical messengers that move through the body, travelling through the bloodstream and into tissues and organs. Hormones are secreted by our endocrine glands and are a part of the endocrine system. Hormones play a major role in our bodies and affect how we sleep, eat, how we deal with stress, and how our skin looks!

Which hormones affect skin health?

There are over 50 different hormones moving through our bodies at any given time, and not all of them have an impact on our skin. So which ones do? Let’s see.

• First one is estrogen. How? Estrogen affects skin thickness, boosts moisture retention, and increases collagen – in other words, estrogen keeps the skin youthful and glowing.
• Second comes testosterone. Here’s what testosterone does: increase sebum production (oiliness) which can be great for dry skin, but possibly lead to adult acne when unbalanced.
• And finally, we have cortisol, the stress hormone. We all know how stress can wreak havoc on our bodies, and you can thank cortisol for that. Stress and cortisol can have a huge impact on skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema.

How to balance your hormones for better skin

If you suspect that hormonal imbalance is responsible for your skin breakouts, you should try to balance your hormones in a holistic way – which means taking a whole-body approach to better wellness. Here’s what you need to focus on:

• Diet: The right diet for your body is an essential part of balancing your hormones. Sugar, caffeine, and alcohol can all impact hormones. Environmental chemicals and pesticide residues are the worst offenders when it comes to hormonal health so choosing organic is a must!
• Botanicals: Medicinal herbs and botanicals are magic bullets for balancing hormones. Think adaptogens like maca, Siberian ginseng, holy basil, and all the medicinal mushrooms.
• Exercise: Moving your body is one of the top tips for balancing your body. Exercise balances hormones by reducing inflammation, supporting the immune system, and activating metabolism.
• Relax: Lowering stress is essential when you strive to balance your hormones. Like we discovered earlier, excess cortisol (aka stress hormone) running through the body makes skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis worse – so get enough rest, and chill more!

Support hormonal balance with this one easy trick

If you do just one thing to balance your hormones, make it this one: get rid of your toxic skincare and beauty products. Why? Conventional body care products are loaded with harmful chemicals like parabens, propylene glycol, and sodium lauryl sulfate, along with a host of other hormone disrupting ingredients. So if you haven’t already, switch to organic, non-toxic skincare products like the ones we make at Seaflora. It will bring you one step closer to hormonal balance, and the beautiful skin that goes with it!