Skin Correctives

Karen asked Dress for Success Illawarra seven questions.

What they actually do, what to donate, where the money goes, and we also discussed why Skin Correctives keep supporting them over the years.

Every dollar raised at What Women Want what_women_want_illawarra on 25th October is split between two local charities. This is one of them.

Three things that get blamed for skin, and what is actually going on.

Chocolate. The evidence for chocolate as a direct cause is thin. What you eat overall and how stressed you are matter a great deal more than any single food.

Dirty skin. Acne is not a hygiene failure, and treating it as one tends to make it worse. Over-cleansing strips a barrier that is already struggling.

Drinking more water. Hydration matters for your health, genuinely it does. On its own it will not repair a barrier or clear a flare.

The answers here are rarely complicated. They are just specific to you, which is why the internet cannot hand you one.

Which of these have you been told most often?

There is a moment every year, somewhere between the entrée and the keynote, when the whole room is talking at once. Women who arrived on their own, now three conversations deep with the table next to them.
That is the bit we do it for.

It started with a handful of women and a slideshow. Twelve years on it fills a room, and it funds two local charities doing quiet, hard work for women in the Illawarra.

Come and be looked after for an afternoon, instead of doing the looking after.

Swipe for the details. Tickets and tables via what_women_want_illawarra.

Stress does not cause every skin problem. It makes most of them louder.

That matters, because "it is just stress" is where a lot of people stop looking. What stress reliably does is turn the volume up on whatever your skin was already doing quietly. The rosacea that was manageable stops settling. The congestion that used to come and go just stays.

This is the first of a few posts on stress, the gut and the whole-body side of skin. Over the coming days we will cover what raised cortisol does to your barrier, and whether a flare is the gut, the hormones or the skincare. We will stay on the skin half of it and leave anything dietary to a GP, dietitian or naturopath.

Follow along if it is your kind of topic. (02) 4297 7455.

Meet Karen, our Founder, Director and Principal Electrologist at Skin Correctives.

Karen wears quite a few hats. Alongside running Skin Correctives and seeing her electrolysis clients, she is a Councillor for the Aesthetic Beauty Industry Council (ABIC), Founder and Senior Advisor of the ABIC Electrology Division, serves across four ABIC committees, and is the founder of our annual community event, What Women Want.

But what does Karen enjoy when it comes to treatments, skincare and life outside the clinic? We asked her...

Everything that happened in August

A new ritual, a second machine, three lots of award news, and a goodbye we are not quite ready for. Keep swiping.

Every treatment now starts the same way

Before any device or active product goes near your skin, we start with a grounding first cleanse. A few unhurried minutes, deliberately slow, so your nervous system has a chance to catch up with the fact that you have stopped.

Our therapists brought it in at the end of August and clients took to it faster than we expected. It is included in every appointment at no extra charge. The only ones that skip it are treatments where cleansing is not possible, like anything done under numbing.

Why we slowed everything down

Cortisol is the body’s main stress hormone and it is known to influence the skin. Research links ongoing stress with slower healing, a weaker barrier, and flare-ups of concerns like breakouts and redness.

The gut sits in the same conversation. An emerging body of research suggests the gut and the skin influence one another, and that stress affects both. There is more to it than fits here, so we will come back to it over the next few months.

A second GEMM16 Multi-probe Electrolysis Device arrived at the end of August. It works alongside the original and the Apilus Xcell Pro, which between them suit different hair types, different areas and different sensitivities.

More electrolysis appointments each week, and less time waiting for one. Electrolysis hair removal works best when sessions are consistent and properly spaced, and a full book is what stretches those gaps out.

A day at Circadia Elevate - Friday 14 August, with Circadia Skincare

Karen featured on a panel and the team came away from Circadia Elevate inspired, refreshed and full of new knowledge. The biggest takeaway was that great skin outcomes come from understanding the skin as a whole, treating with purpose and never stopping learning.

Pippa and Keanah also went to Sydney for an IPL refresher, which means any changes to protocol come back to the whole team rather than staying with one person.

Karen was on a panel and attended the ABIA Awards as a judge

Two things off-site in August. Karen att

Peptides or exosomes? If you have seen both names lately and wondered which one matters, here is the plain-English version.

Peptides are short chains of amino acids, well established in skincare. Depending on which peptide it is, they may support the appearance of firmness, refined texture or calmer-looking skin.

Exosomes are the newer name: cell-derived messenger packets, studied for how they may support the way skin communicates. Promising, still emerging, and we would rather be honest about that.

There is one point worth holding onto, particularly for skin over 50. Your skin's own signalling naturally slows as you age. Supporting it is useful, but no single active carries a result on its own. What matters is the plan it sits inside, matched to your skin by someone who has properly looked at it.

Book a facial imaging skin assessment at our Shellharbour clinic on (02) 4297 7455.