- 9 hours ago
Skincare Tips with Ariane Turner, Dr. Michelle Henry, and Dr. Crystal Aguh.
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00:00Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Ask Ari Live. I am excited to bring this conversation
00:08to Essence Wellness House. Today we are talking about skincare and scalp care 411. We are
00:14going full body, head to toe, with two heavy hitters in the skincare industry. But first
00:20about me, my name is Ari. I am a skincare expert and educator. Also, I'm the CEO and
00:26founder of Look Good, Live Well, a clean luxury skincare line formulated for melanin-rich
00:30women and men who are done dealing with dark spots. And today in our conversation, I am
00:35joined by two, like I said, skincare professional heavy hitters. First up, we have Dr. Michelle
00:41Henry. She is a dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon. She is also the founder of Skin and
00:49Aesthetic Surgery of Manhattan. Welcome, Dr. Michelle. How are you?
00:53I'm doing well. Congratulations on all of your accolades. I'm excited to dig in. I got
01:00some good questions for you. Also joining us today, we have Dr. Crystal Agu. She is a
01:07board certified dermatologist and the director at John Hopkins Ethnic Skin Program. How are
01:13you, Dr. Crystal?
01:14I'm so great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
01:17Thank you guys for joining me. Like I said in my bio, I don't know if you guys got a chance
01:21to listen, but I consider myself a skincare expert and educator. I've spent the past 20
01:26years in the beauty industry. I've gone to cosmetology school. I'm a master cosmetologist.
01:32And while I have lived, worked, breathed, practiced skincare and aesthetics for the past, like I
01:38said, 20 years, I understand that there are some things that are better left to a professional.
01:43So I'm excited to dig in, have these conversations with you guys about all things scalp, skincare,
01:48skincare, everything in between from head to toe. So let's jump into it. One thing that we see a ton
01:54of, I mean, not just right now in a pandemic, but just one thing that's been popping up over the past
01:59several years are protective styles. So your weaves, your wigs, your braids, all of these things that
02:05people are saying are opportunities for them to tuck away their natural hair and allow it to breathe or
02:10rest or whatever. And they have the versatility, which I love as a black woman, right? Being able to
02:15bounce between different styles. But I'm really curious to know how protective are these protective
02:21styles? Yeah, I mean, I think this is a great question. And this is something I deal with
02:26as with a clinic that focuses on alopecia and hair loss. So first of all, I'm biased. I do not
02:33call them protective styles because I see too much damage being done by, you know, weaves that have been
02:39left in too long, wigs that are kind of matching away at the edges. But basically, when it comes to curly
02:44hair, we're really trying to protect our hair from one of two things, that's breakage from just like combing it
02:49and brushing it, or breakage from the hair being too dry. And so when you leave in extensions in place for
02:57eight weeks, 12 weeks at a time, you're not really protecting the hair because your hair is not getting
03:02that moisture and those nutrients that it needs to stay strong. And so by the time you take that hair out, it breaks
03:08really, really easily. And that not even, you know, speaking about the tension that it's putting
03:14on your hairline. So I recommend if you're going to have extensions in place, you really want to max
03:19it out at like four weeks, or you want to do something with wigs that you can take off every
03:23day. So you're still able to condition it as often as possible.
03:28Okay, so then that leads me right into my next question that piggybacks off of this.
03:32And when I open up my Instagram, I see all of these hair growth oils and serums and
03:38edge revivers. How effective are those then?
03:42Yeah, so this is something I see a lot. And I'm sure if I open up my Instagram now, there is at least
03:47one ad for some hair oil. They're so popular, and they're popping up everywhere. And while I am a fan
03:53of oils on the hair, because I think that they can lead to strengthening the hair, moisturizing the hair.
03:59And as Dr. Crystal said, that breakage is due to dryness. And so breakage is more of an outside
04:05job, and hair falling out from the root is an inside job, typically. So we do want to make sure
04:10that we're hydrating the hair, we're moisturizing the hair, that we're taking care of the hair that's
04:14growing. And I love oils for that. And there are some oils that are better for that than others.
04:18There are some ingredients that can give you, stimulate some growth in some smaller scale studies.
04:25So things like rosemary oil, some loose evidence for peppermint oil, and there are many others.
04:31But really, nothing is going to outcompete some of the treatments we're going to give you in the
04:34office. So if you're having hair loss, or you're using these oils, and you're just not seeing
04:38improvement, come in and see us. Because I often call certain types of hair loss hair emergencies.
04:44And time is really critical for us to stop that inflammation so we can keep you from having
04:48permanent hair loss. So whereas those ingredients can help a little bit, if you're continuing to have hair
04:53loss after using those oils, come in and see us. Do not wait. Because time is really critical.
04:58How much hair is normal for us to lose? Like when should I be concerned and say,
05:02oh my goodness, I need to schedule an appointment with my term?
05:07So we say roughly around 100 to 150 hairs per day. But if you think about, you know,
05:14how often you wash your hair. So if you're washing your hair, you know, once a week, once every two weeks,
05:18you might see a little bit more. And then everyone's a little bit different. You know,
05:21for instance, you may not lose 100 a day. So pay attention to your patterns. And so when my
05:27patients come in, I believe them, I trust them if they say I'm losing significantly more than I
05:31typically lose. But we have those kind of loose numbers for when we really get concerned that it
05:37may be something internal that's really triggering this hair loss.
05:40Yeah, that during this time of COVID, when it's a very stressful time, we're in a global pandemic,
05:46we're seeing higher rates of medical debris shedding, which we call telogen effluvium.
05:53They're documented higher rates of this because it is stress induced hair loss.
05:59After you beat COVID three months later, you can get this process where you have increased shedding.
06:04So if you've had a recent infection, recent hospitalization, any kind of medical illness,
06:09we know that this is somewhat expected. But fortunately, it improves about three to six
06:15months after it starts.
06:17With the wearing of masks, we are seeing a whole new trend of breakouts pop up or that's become
06:23more common. And that's mask-y. So mask-induced breakouts all over the chin, jawline area,
06:30anywhere that a mask covers. So tell me about you guys' experience with that. And please,
06:35like I'm asking for myself at this point, some preventative measures and some treatment measures
06:41that we can do to get a handle on it. So in my office, we could probably run a
06:46mask-y clinic. We're seeing so much mask-y. It is so common. So just as you said, mask-y is mask-induced
06:53acne. And the clinical term for that is acne mechanica. And that's because it's from that mechanical
06:58friction. It's that rubbing of the mask on the face, causing inflammation, causing those pimples.
07:04If you imagine that's then coupled with the oil, dirt, and debris that's on your skin,
07:07now getting rubbed into those pores. And then it's underneath the mask when you're talking,
07:12the vapors from your mouth, it's making it a humid environment, further compromising the skin.
07:17So we're seeing lots of acne. Another side note is that acne mechanica, we also see it in athletes.
07:22So in football players, we'll see it where they have their chin strapped. And so that's one of the
07:26first areas when we documented that we see this sort of acne from friction. But so now you're
07:31getting these flares because the skin's inflamed. We're also seeing another condition called perioral
07:36dermatitis, where you see these kind of bumps and scale around the nose, kind of following your
07:40smile line. That's something else we're seeing. And so really the name of the game is about being
07:45gentle to your skin. So choosing masks that are made of breathable fabric. So things like cotton,
07:51silt, single use paper masks, you know, not using really heavy masks, protecting the skin. So again,
07:58the key word is friction. So how do we reduce friction? We want to create a barrier between
08:03the skin and the mask. It's a really nice, rich, non-comedogenic, which means non-pore clogging
08:09creams are going to help. And I often liken it to what we do with babies. So what do we do when they
08:13are getting diaper rash? We put rich creams on them, on their little bums to protect them from the water
08:18and, you know, the moisture to protect their skin. We're doing the same thing underneath our masks
08:22to protect us. While we're talking about COVID, we got to mention quarantine, the fact that we have
08:27been in the house. A lot of us have not been able to see our dermatologists or estheticians. And many of
08:33us have gone to Amazon to order products and tools and treatments, all the things to try to keep our skin
08:39in control. So I'm curious to know from you guys, which tools and treatments do you think are safe to
08:45use at home and what should we lead to a professional? Well, I would say definitely
08:50leave chemical deals to a professional, please. We are one year into the pandemic and I can't tell
08:57you the number of text messages and patient messages that I've gotten of beautiful women
09:03with burns that are going to last them for months because they were really sold on a social media ad
09:09or a friend's recommendation where, you know, you're looking up these ingredients in isolation
09:15and you're seeing something like, let's say, for example, glycolic acid and you're, and it says,
09:19okay, well, this is going to treat hyperpigmentation and reveal newer skin. And you're like, oh, that's
09:23exactly what I'm looking for. Right? That's a yes. And then you see something that says super strength
09:29and you're like, even better. Right? I need all the strength. I'm looking for all the strength.
09:34Right? And you see a really, really high strength product that is actually not intended to be in a
09:41client's hand is actually meant for professional use only. And it's definitely not meant for brown
09:47skin, which is like I mentioned, particularly sensitive. You put on your skin and you get a very
09:51severe burn and some of the effects are irreversible. Some people even get long lasting scarring from this.
09:57So chemical peels absolutely, especially professional grade should be left to the
10:02professional. So you can find ingredients and there are great products that have chemical exfoliators
10:07like low strength glycolic acid or lactic acid. And they'll be sold, you know, at some of your
10:13common stores, Sephora, Ulta, Target, et cetera, find online. But if you're starting to go to a really
10:21shady real, you know, retailer and it's sand for professional use only really heed those warnings
10:28because you really don't want to do something that's going to have lifelong consequences.
10:34We talked a lot about don'ts, things that we shouldn't do, overindulging and at home
10:38treatments, neglecting our visits, not, you know, respecting our derms and seeing them as often as we
10:45probably should. But I'm curious to know what advice you guys have for us in terms of what we
10:50should be doing, what products or ingredients or practices do you think that we all need to be
10:55implementing on a daily basis?
10:58Yes, I'll start if I had to pick two ingredients. Overall skincare, I think, especially right now,
11:05hydration is absolutely critical. So finding the moisturizer that's right for you. A lot of my
11:09patients have oily skin. They say, I don't need a moisturizer. Absolutely. You do. You just need
11:13something that's lighter because hydration is critical. Exactly. Hydration is critical to
11:17maintaining your skin barrier. And our skin is our largest, the largest organ in our immune system.
11:22It's critical that we keep it functioning optimally. We do that by hydrating it. For beauty,
11:27I say retinol. That is my must have. I actually use it. I'm a little naughty. I actually use it twice a
11:31day, but that's because I'm a little acne prone. It really helps our skin turn over. It helps even out
11:38our pigment. It helps to fight acne. It stimulates collagen. Sunscreen, which is always a controversial
11:44point. You know, there's a lot of conversations about do we need sunscreen as black folks? You know,
11:50even the deepest, richest skin is just SPF 13. And what the American Academy of Dermatology recommends
11:55is SPF 30 and above. And so although we have lower rates of skin cancer, I still think we should wear it.
12:00And if there is concern, then use a physical sunscreen. So physical sunscreens are inert, made out of zinc
12:06and titanium dioxide. So they're not going to be hormone disruptors. They're not going to be
12:11absorbed. And now we live in a beautiful time where they're formulated in ways with pigments and whatnot
12:16to make them okay for brown skin. So sunscreen would be my last in terms of products. And then my very
12:22last is to be patient with yourself and give yourself grace. You know, there's not a magic solution
12:28to a lot of what we do. It is an exercise in patience. And, you know, even if your skin is not
12:34perfect, you are still beautiful. It is a journey. So give yourself grace.
12:37Well, thank you so much, Dr. Michelle and Dr. Crystal for joining me and for everybody watching.
12:43Thank you for joining this special edition of Ask Aerie Live for Essence Wellness House.
12:49I look forward to continuing this conversation on other platforms. Thank you guys both for joining
12:54me and thanks for watching.
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