Stress can wreak havoc on our skin and boy, has the past year been the ultimate stressor for each and every one of us! Stress and burnout have a way of popping out into the surface, and it’s normal to feel a bit uneasy when our skin starts showing signs.

Most commonly, stress expresses itself as dehydration on the skin, but it can look a little bit different for everyone. This past year, I have been treating more clients suffering from symptoms of stressed skin than ever (which makes total sense, considering how big of a stressor 2020 was for everyone!).

Most of my clients’ skin has looked like dehydrated tissue with a layer of film on the skin. This look is caused by dead proteins that just haven’t peeled off yet and are preventing moisture from entering the skin. Other ways our skin can show stress are redness, broken capillaries, and of course, the dreaded cystic acne (better know as adult acne!).

Lux Laser Genesis™

So what can be done? If any of the above symptoms rang a bell, you’ve come to the right place! As a professional aesthetician who has been in business for over a decade, I’ve created and perfected a lovely at-home regimen to calm and heal stressed skin. This is the exact routine I immediately put all my clients on whenever any of the pesky symptoms of stress start showing up on their skin.

Before I go into my step-by-step regimen, I want to highlight the importance of tackling the problem starting from the inside out! Even the most expensive skin care routine won’t have the best results if you’re not tackling the problem from every angle. For starters, take a look at your diet and see if there are any changes you can make – antioxidant-rich greens are your best friends here! Raw spinach is my go-to, and because I don’t love to eat it raw, I usually make myself smoothies using fruits I love and pop some spinach into the mix (you won’t even be able to taste it!).

Alongside a healthy diet, make sure you’re getting your daily dose of water (two liters, as I’m sure you know!), plenty of sleep, and regular exercise to get your heart pumping. Moreover, I recommend looking for mindful activities to help you switch off and relax (these can look like yoga, meditation, painting, journaling, or simply sitting down with a cup of tea in hand and reading your favorite book).

Green Goddess Facial

With that said, here is my skin care regimen for stressed skin that will make SUCH a huge difference if you combine them with the above!

1. Take Allegra or another allergy medication to stop the histamine reaction triggered by cortisol (most commonly known as the stress hormone!)
2. Apply a collagen sheet mask or collagen treatment (collagen holds a thousand times its weight in water in the skin, so it will naturally help hydrate tissue, give it a juicy glow, and calm the skin down).
3. Apply Cortizone cream to the inflamed or infected areas
4. Use a jade roller to cool your skin or apply ice packs

And that’s it! Whenever I treat a client with what I call “burned-out skin”, I want to immediately focus on calming, cooling, and healing the tissue. Moreover, I always work from the inside out to repair inflammation, boost collagen in the skin, and trigger natural healing mechanisms.

If you’ve tried all of the above and you’re not getting the results you’d like, there are multiple treatments out there that can help you heal and further prevent stressed skin.

One of my favorites is Lux Laser Genesis™, which is a super gentle laser treatment that stimulates collagen production and flushed out any redness. It’s a 1-2 punch for dehydrated skin, redness, and acne.

It’s no secret that CBD oil works as an antioxidant, an anti-inflammatory, and calming agent, which makes it the perfect ingredient to treat stressed skin!

For the facial, your aesthetician will begin by deep-cleaning your skin AND exfoliating compromised skin through Diamond Microdermabrasion. Then, you’ll get a hydrating CBD mask and SkinCeuticals Phyto+ corrective serum that will heal your skin on the spot and give it a glow.