The Age of Aesthetics: Discovering Skin Care

When Christopher Columbus went on a journey to explore new territory, he stumbled upon the Americas, and ended up with his fleet in Hawaii. During their long trip, the sailors got infected with various diseases, especially Syphilis which they brought with them back to Spain. Syphilis in particular was still unknown in this part of the world and with low levels of sanitation at the time; it spread like wildfire across Europe. No one knew what to do with the disease. When Syphilis reaches stage 3, it becomes an open wound with a heavy odor. All the infected were isolated as one knew what to do with them.

Exploring options for a cure, someone realized that adding sulphur to the wounds would cover it up and stop it from spreading. However these wounds then started to get burnt, became deeper and worsened. Another doctor found that adding sulphur with sour cream would cause less burning. They later started using sulphur with sour cream to make a whitener for the face. This was the first creation of a cosmetic product, which eventually became the base for creams and other medical applications.

Oil vs. Cream
In the 19th century, a woman was famous for selling beauty related creams she used to make at her home from mixing milk products and proteins. She was known for the red painted door that attracted many people to visit her and become her first customers. She continued making more creams and promoted her products as skin care for beauty. At that time, no preservatives existed, and so these creams would only be valid for 2 to 3 days.

During the time of Cleopatra, and ancient Indian practices, all the beauty products were oilbased. If you put herbs or anything in the oil, it can preserve itself and its content. It is also familiar to the skin’s texture. This means if you use oil, the skin and your cells will absorb it.

Cream on the other hand is fermented and protein based. Protein has a big molecular size and coagulates under the heat and sun. This means the milk thickens and begins to block the skin’s pores. Oil-based products did not have this problem.

Skin Care & Allergies
A huge amount of allergies developed due to covering the skin and not allowing it to breathe. By blocking the skin you basically shut down 1/3 of the lung. We breathe 2/3 through the lung and 1/3 through the skin. The moment our skin gets blocked, our lungs become blocked, leading to a shallow breathing and a spreading of allergies.

In the 1920-40s, chemistry started to develop. Cosmetic products were packaged with a longer shelf life. These products contributed to more blocking of the pores and resulted in severe pigmentation and allergies due to constant application over the years. Many blame allergies on chemicals in our food, but a large part has also been all the protein-based cosmetic products that cover the skin and don’t allow the body to breathe.

Creams were applied by adults and on children from the time they were born. More and more cosmetics products continued to be developed. But just like aspirin; it stops the pain, but it doesn’t solve the problem. These products did not work, which is why there was always a need to keep on creating new ones. In the recent years, aesthetic companies started introducing serums. Serums work much better than any other cream since there is no coagulation or fermentation on the skin, and that makes it more effective. Scientists have also turned to homeopathic formulations that work to stimulate your own collagen production.

Today, many of these procedures like Mesotherapy, Botox and laser therapy have been overused and people’s faces are beginning to get more disfigured. We are seeing the dreadful effects of anti-aging medicine. Anti-aging goes against time and results in a face with dead expressions. A substance can be the greatest medicine or the biggest toxin. It just depends what dose you use. Modern medicine takes the dose that works to suppress, while Homeopathy dilutes it in order to support you.

That is why what we see today is hardly “modern aesthetics,” instead it is anti-aging. Real aesthetics can only be holistic. Holistic Aesthetics works for youth and vitality as it considers beauty as a whole.