Dr. Barbara Sturm: The Truth About Skincare, Inflammatory Ingredients to Avoid | TUH #063

Some of the unknown dangers about, you know, what's out there in the skincare world.

Retinol is one of the products ingredients which cause inflammation, a destruction of your skin barrier. There's so many things wrong with using that. I mean, like would you throw acid peels on your kidneys? We do all these things to our skin and we think it doesn't matter. It does matter what we put on our skin.

These poor young girls are going to these big box retailers at very young ages. They're applying all of these chemicals and hormone disruptors to their skin because these.

Lip balms have really scary ingredients and you put it on lips and then the kids eat it.

Sunscreen pulled from the market for cancer causing properties.

Everybody tells you use sunscreen 24 7, of course you. Because you destroyed your skin practically, right? So it's actually better if you.

Today we are joined by Dr. Barbara.

Sturm, a medical doctor and acclaimed German aesthetics doctor and trailblazer in the realm of anti inflammatory skin care care. From pioneering the renowned blood facial, also known as the vampire facial, to launching globally recognized skincare lines, Dr. Sturm has seamlessly blended science and aesthetics to revolutionize how we approach skin health. Today we'll delve into our innovative treatments, her philosophy on skin care and how she continues to push the boundaries of beauty and wellness. Hey guys, welcome back to the ultimate human podcast. I'm your host, Gary Breca, human biologist. Where we go down the road, everything anti aging, biohacking, longevity and everything in between. As you just heard, today's guest, who also happens to be a very close personal friend of my wife's and I been to her home many times in, in Switzerland, spent a lot of time with this beautiful soul. She has made such an impact on the world of skin care, cosmetics, women's beauty. She is none other than the esteemed Dr. Barbara Sturm. Welcome to the podcast.

Thank you guys.

I'm so excited to have you on here.

I love you so much. Thank you for having me.

I love you too. Like you're one of, you're one of our closest friends and like every time, every time we spend like a few weeks or months apart that we get together, we just eat each other's faces.

Oh my God. We just talk science all the time and it energizes me and we're just like, you know, making plans and.

Yeah, already just for those of you guys that are watching, she had a flight. She's moved it how many times now? Three times? Four times? Just, just since she's been here. Today and because we couldn't get the podcast started because we had so much to talk about. But I think the world of, of you, I mean you're an md, first of all, you founded one of the most incredible boutique skincare lines in my, my wife and I use it. Yeah, I have, I have thousands of our clients that use it. And it's not just that you have this incredible boutique skincare line and just a world class design packaging, but you really, really deeply care about the ingredients. And this is where you and I first, you know, came together. Years and years ago. We were actually going to co formulate a product using exosomes and her MC1 cream. And I just became enthralled and fascinated. Amount of time and energy and the exhaustive way that you care so much about ingredients and skin care. And I love for you because I, I'm trying to build my female audience, right. And they're always like, Gary, all you have on is men. You talk about men's stuff. So today I have women on talking about women's stuff. But the guys are going to get a lot out of this too. But you know, I want you to talk a little bit about first some of the unknown dangers about, you know, what's out there in the skin care world and some of the big myths about the best ways to slow down or reverse the aging process in your skin.

This is where we are so similar with our approach. And for me it's so important that I just not only care about the ingredients in the products, I also care about the outcome for the patient. So I'm at service to my patient and I love when patients get a result and have effective products which help them to slow down the aging process, but also give them an immediate result. And that has to do with the ingredients we use in the products, but also the formulation we do. So we're working on formulations for years and years and years and it's important that many things take place like an anti inflammatory process because. And that's where I think you headed towards products which cause inflammation on the skin. So I'm an anti inflammatory doctor. My background is anti inflammatory science. I started in the orthopedics, I helped pioneering a treatment where you basically take the patient's blood, you process it in a certain way, you create anti inflammatory proteins, re inject those into the joints, take down inflammation and slow down the aging process. So inflammation, aging goes very, very close together. And here I come back to your situation where you think, okay, which ingredients actually cause inflammation on the skin. And that we find in skincare products a lot that starts from retinol. Retinol, Retinol.

Because everybody says to take retinols. You can walk down the grocery store aisle and retinols everywhere, everywhere.

And they sell it to kids, they sell it to everybody. But retinol is one of the products ingredients which cause inflammation, a destruction of your skin barrier sensitivity on your skin. There is so many things wrong with using that. And you know, the industry tells us, okay, it accelerates your cell turnover, it, it, you know, creates baby skin, whatever. But you know, our skin has tasks, functions. It's our largest organ protecting our system. It's intertwined with our immune system. I mean, like, would you throw acid peels on your kidneys or liver? Would we do that?

Crazy way to look at it.

So with the skin, we think, oh, we scrub it off, we resurface. We do all these things to our skin and we think it doesn't matter. It does matter. What we put on our skin has a. Has a. Corresponds with our immune system. With our system. There are dendritic cells underneath the skin. That's why when immune, testosterone, for example, or whatever it is, you put it on your arm or in your leg or, you know, you just have this effect through application on your skin. And that's the same with our skin care. And that's why we need to be knowledgeable about skincare ingredients. So, so we know what's going on when we put certain ingredients on our skin.

And for those of you that are wondering why she has a bandage on her arm, we did, we did vitamin C IVs right before the podcast. So I actually just took mine off. But we did vitamin C IVs.

I thought it's chic.

Yeah, no, it is very chic. It actually really makes your eyes pop. It looks great, but I think there's so many. You go to these big box retailers. I won't say the name. You know, several of them have crept up in our town. I live in Miami. We split time between here in Naples. And our youngest is 16 years old. And so she goes into these big box retailers. I go in there with her. I have no idea what I'm doing in there, but I spin some of those bottles around and look at the back of those labels. And I know these are major, scary hormone disruptors, major causes of inflammatory conditions, certainly in. In, at a cellular level. And. And then you start to look at all of the. Aside from the food supply and everything else, these, these poor young girls are going into these big box retailers at very young ages. They're applying all of these chemicals and hormone disruptors to their skin and they're starting their menstrual cycles at very, very, very early ages. They're throwing their menstrual cycle off in their pubescent years.

So talk a little bit about a lot of problems. And not just 16 years old, Pepper is nine. The whole community of the eight, nine year old, they are all crazy about skin.

Pepper's your daughter?

Yeah, yeah. Pepper's my daughter.

Yeah, yeah.

They're crazy about skin care and then all the brands, I don't know how they know it, probably, you know, some tick tock, whatever. The friends talk and you know, there's so much buzz out there. They go into the retailers, they buy some brands and they don't know what's in there. They just want to use it. They want to do like a really elaborate skincare routine and then they get their rashes. I get calls from my friends, oh my kid put this on. What can I do? So as parents, it's very hard to stop them, you know, because then also if you don't buy it for them, they trade with their friends. It's crazy. They come with these skincare ingredients. I told Pepper, listen, you know, this ingredient causes really cancer. Can I have your lip balm? Lip balm, for example? Because sometimes as parents you think I'll just give it a lip balm. You know, it doesn't matter, it's just for. This is even more dangerous because these lip balms have really scary ingredients and you put it on the lips and then the kids eat it.

Well, in the US 23, 23 bands of, of sunscreen have been pulled from the market for cancer causing properties. And if you think about sunscreen causing skin cancer, it just, you know, 23 brands.

The law about filter and skin care hasn't changed for over 20 years. And you know there's like this.

What do you mean filter and skincare?

Yeah, the, the skin care like the, the, the, the filter, the, the sunscreen hasn, the law hasn't been changed for over 20 years. They're still using the same filter. That's why when you come to Europe, buy your sunscreen better in Europe because they're using way more modern filters. But you know, in general filters and skin care is not the greatest ingredient. So if you damage your skin constantly, retinol, glycolic acid, period, damage, damage, damage. So you, your skin is vulnerable. It's raw sun even penetrates harder, you get more Pigmentation, more aging you can cause. It can cause cancer, inflammation. So you do so much damage that you, that everybody tells you use sunscreen 24 7. 24 7, of course, you. Because you destroyed your skin practically, right? So it's actually better if you strengthen your skin, make what you got, the best it possibly could be. You know, make it, like, away from inflammation, hydrate, nutrition, telomerase activation, exosomes. Put that on your skin, heal and repair, healing and repair. Make it super, super, super strong. Sun. If you cross the street in the sun, that it doesn't, you know, destroy them, you know, And Gary, come on. How important is sun for so many of you?

So important to you? I talk about it all the time. I, I think that most of us are not getting enough sun.

We're not moving.

It's not that we're getting too much.

We need. We need our light. We need the sun for our respiratory tract, for immune system, for our bones. Very photovoltaic, for our mental health. I. We cannot exclude ourselves from the sun. But if we destroy our skin on a constant basis, obviously, you know, we have to use all these foods.

So let's talk about some specifics. What are, you know, if they're going to take a pen out right now and say, what are some no fly zone ingredients that moms and dads and everybody listening to this, this, this podcast could say, okay, these are some things I definitely want to make sure are not in my cosmetics, not in my skincare regimen, because advertising is so good now. And, and you know, the men and women they're using in these ads are so beautiful. And you just like, God, I would love to look like that. If that's all they're using, you know, I'm in. But what are, what are some of the absolute no fly zone ingredients that we should know about?

I think the more simple ones we can totally remember quickly. You know, it's like perfumes, fragrances. Shouldn't be in.

So, so, so will it say perfumes Fragrance?

Fragrance, yeah.

Okay.

It would say that and it destroys your skin barrier, too.

And these are also parabens.

Yeah, phthalates. Exactly. Mineral oils. I would stay away from mineral oils.

Mineral oils. Hyper mineral oil sounds great.

It's petroleum, basically.

When they say mineral oil, they mean.

Yeah, it sounds great, but it's not. It's not great for you. It basically clogs your pores, takes hydration out. You need hydration in your skin. You know, I always compare grapes with raisins. Hydrated skin cells are grapes. Raisins are the dehydrated skin cells. And obviously the grapes look better on your skin, on your skin barrier. They're more, you know, robust. So things like hyaluronic acid, hyaluronic acid for example. And you know, these grapes have better osmosis channels take on active ingredients because we also want to go through all our cell divisions and therefore we need the nutrients, we need the hydration, we need, you know, support for our cells. So I always want the skin to be hydrated. Hyaluronic serum is a great hydrator. But I formulated every single product to be super hydrating to the skin. And if someone has dry skin, they have to fix it. Dry skin is really a skin killer. With everything aging, whatever it is, rashes.

I want to jump on that. But I want to, I want to go back to the ingredients. Like what are a couple of absolute no fly zone ingredients?

And then for sure, glycolic retinol, retinoid.

Retinoic acid, hydroquinone, Hydroquinone.

Then acid peels.

Acid peels. Everybody does acid peels.

I did a whole list. I would, I would share like a list where also check products specifically for ingredients. And we say, okay, this is not for sensitive. This is not for.

And you have this list.

I have this list. I will show.

Okay, if you send that to me, I will make it available in the show notes for you guys so that you can actually get this list. So we have an exhaustive list because it's hard to memorize all of these different.

High concentration of alcohol.

High concentration alcohol is not only terrible for sleep, it's terrible for your skin. Yeah, I mean, since I've stop drinking almost entirely, my wife and I, our sleep scores have gone through the roof. I actually just did a podcast earlier today with the CEO of Sleep Aid. It's a sleep cooling mattress. And so I have all these ways of tracking my sleep. And of all of the things that I've done to hack my sleep, the greatest impact on my heart rate variability, my resting heart rate and the percentage of deep sleep and REM sleep that I get has absolutely been zero alcohol for sure.

And sleeping is so anti inflammatory, a good night's sleep.

That's helped my skincare routine too. So. So now you know the basics of a good male or female skincare routine at any age. First you have to hydrate. So hyaluronic, serum hyaluronic.

Perfect.

And these are not expensive, right? Hyaluronic acid.

Mine is quite expensive, but also it's the best formulation I Mean like seriously, you want to get the benefits out of it. So you need to have different molecule sizes. But also the diffusion matters, you know, because sometimes. Oh, your hyaluronic serum is not highly concert. Yeah, highly concentrated hyaluronic serum is basically like a gel that wouldn't penetrate the skin. So it needs to be perfectly formulated so that it penetrates the skin, goes in all the cell layers and hydrates deeply in a long term, but also superficially in the short term. So you get all the benefits. And that's your grape maker.

So your hyaluronic acid not only has different molecular sizes, it actually protects the barrier, it protects the surface of the skin and then goes. And what kind of procedures, if you will. Are you a fan of chemical peels? Micro needling. Micro needling with radio frequency dermabrasion. What for? For people that are listening, that want to, you know, that have these options to refresh their skin. And, and I've had cosmetic surgeons on and all kinds of physicians on. I'm always interested to know, you know, what can we do to just enhance the beauty of our skin without borrowing from our future, which is what you're telling me these chemical peels do. You get some short term gain, but.

You'Re just not borrowing for sure. I wouldn't do chemical peels, I wouldn't do laser unless you have like underlying problems like CBD or acne scarring. But pigment, look, if you do a treatment for pigmentation, you take off healthy skin layers with the acid peel or with the laser. So you make your skin totally raw, vulnerable. So now you sit in front of your computer with the HDB light or you go outside so you have the sunlight, you have pollution bombarding your skin and actually causing inflammation on your skin which your skin is not protected of right now. So you cause post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. So actually instead of making it better, you're making it worse. So what I did was I created a brightening line and a darker skin tone line and the better be. And those products together actually help to loosen the acclomeration of yellow and dark spots so it doesn't go from today to tomorrow like a quick fix. But like after three, four weeks you see such a great difference while you still hydrate, while you still protect your skin barrier, while you hydrate and you know, make your skin the best, most beautiful organ. And you, it looks great, you know, so you don't damage your skin, but you take ingredient science to make your problem go away.

You know, I noticed that you at your Locations. You do certain facials. So what kind of facial procedures do you do you do there and which ones do you support? If somebody's listening to this podcast, they're like, wow, I've been reading about Morpheus or lasers or microneedling or any number.

Very, very trendy right now. And we have the Morpheus aid in our spa in London.

Okay.

And it's radio frequency and microneedling together. And I haven't done it because I'm always like, like, you know, I'm staying a little bit away from, from a little more intense treatments, but. And that definitely causes a, you know, light form of inflammation and which you can treat right away with exosomes and hyaluronic serum, the calming serum, etc. And this is like a thing you do once, right? You know, I think what's really problematic is the constant inflammation. You know, if you do a micro needling once in a while. Obviously we do exosomatic micro needling. We do, you know, we. I created the blood facial.

So, yeah, what they call the vampire facial. This, this is the founder of the vampire facial. They coined it the vampire 20 years ago. Yeah.

I was like, okay, was this from the.

This the platelet rich plasma that you, you're originally using to put into joints to reduce inflammation in joint.

So it was not just growth factors like the prp, but also anti inflammatory proteins.

Like, and where do you get these anti inflammatory proteins? You spin them down in the blood?

Yes.

Okay. So you take the blood, you spin it down, you not only get the platelet rich plasma, the PRP, which I.

Think most people have heard about, anti interleukin 1, the anti inflammatory support system.

And how do you separate the. This anti interleukin one, you just spin it.

You just like need like exosomes. It needs a ultra high centrifugation. It needs a normal centrifugation with 8000rpm.

And then once you extract this, how do you apply it to the skin? Do you apply it or do you inject it?

You do inject it.

Okay.

I mean like you do all kinds of thing. I did a blood cream. I, I mixed the blood with the hyaluronic.

You mean the patient's blood?

Yeah, you mixed the hyaluronic acid. So I injected, you know, patients with hyaluronic acid combined with your blood and.

Then with a patient's own blood. So with their own serum, you're basically capturing the healing power of the body and just concentrating it in the face, which is similar to what we do with, you know, injuries with repetitive use injuries and, you know, post surgical rehab, we put platelet rich plasma into the joint to accelerate.

Exactly.

Which, which, which I'm a huge fan of because you're just basically taking all the power of the healing body and you're just concentrating.

My. My knee surgery and why there was a surgery.

She just tore her ACL Skiing.

Yeah, no, I'm. Now I'm so on, Gary.

Like standing and not skiing. This, this, this, this woman rips. So her and my wife are both like super expert skiers. And when we were in Switzerland, we were staying at her place. She has a superhuman protocol. So I was doing the red light and everything and, and the two of of them went out and just ripped down that mountain. And then you, you tore your eel just standing in like doing nothing.

But you know, I'm very diligent with my red light now and with my PMF and oxygen. Yeah, this helped really very much the healing.

Yeah, no, it's, it's. No, the red light is, is, is amazing. Red light PEMF and then obviously your own platelet rich plasma. Your knee looks, looks amazing. So again, if you're. You're listening, basic skin care routine is hyaluronic acid.

Hyaluronic. This is for me, the white T shirt of your skincare routine.

Okay.

Morning and night. There's no. They're all the time. Morning and night. You need the hyaluronic serum or the super anti aging serum. One of the two serums morning and night and then one face cream. And that depends a little bit. If you have oily skin, you use the face cream light or the clarifying face cream. If you have a mature skin, you use the super anti aging face cream. Or if you have normal skin face cream. The normal face cream. But if you have these two products and the cleanser, you already like have the most beautiful glowy skin. Just don't mix it with any crazy products. But you can. This, the skincare routine can be as simple as that.

Okay.

And then do you have the enzyme cleanser, the powder?

I do, yeah. I put the powder on. I actually sometimes I do it in the steam room.

Yeah. Do it in the shower. It's amazing.

I'll do it in this when I go in the steam in the morning because I shower in the steamer. I'll get in the shower, I'll get in the steam. I only do it once a week, but. And I put your enzyme powder.

That's the most gentle form of exfoliation.

My face feels really clean, but it feels Tight, almost dry when I get out. And then that's when I put the hyaluronic.

Hyaluronic. Calming.

Calming. Ironic, no?

I have so many serums. You know, I have so many serums because the serums are the power tools of your skincare routine. And they're very targeted, high, concentrated. You know, we have the niacinamide, the good C. We have like, you know, clarifying, whatever you need, super anti. Aging. So you can layer the serums and it's like your little pharmacy at home and you can really depending on where you are in the world. What's your problem right now? Want to do something on pigmentation? Do you just want to hydrate or, you know, do you want to do an elaborate skincare routine or do you want to have like something small and short and quick, simple, so you can really choose match and match and choose.

No match and shoes.

I don't know.

I'm not sure if that.

I think, I think mix and match. Mix.

Oh, mix and match.

Okay.

I was gonna say, I think you just made up a word.

This language.

I think we just.

My mother.

I think we just made up a word. Mansion shoes. Those are shoes you wear in a mansion, but you can also put them on your face. What are some of the trends that you see in. In skincare? Because as a physician, as somebody who's formulated all of these products that are. That are chemical free, and I'm a huge fan of chemical free living, you know, the ultimate human is even developing some chemical free living products. You and I might be developing some. What are some of the cringeworthy moments that you see where you're, you know, you see an advertisement where you see things on the shelves and it just makes you cringe because, you know that society has bought off on this and, and lots of, you know, lots of your clients would be. Not your clients, but lots of people would be using this on their skin.

I mean, the skincare industry uses a lot of marketing to sell products. So if you look at all these giant, you know, corporate companies out there, I mean, like, they, they really look what's trendy. They put a lot of a trendy ingredient into a product and then they market it and sell it. You know, for example, vitamin C is a good example. You know, vitamin C orally taken, you can do 2, 3 gram, whatever, or intravenously. But on the skin, vitamin C, sl. Ascorbic acid just bombards the surface of your skin and destroys your skin barrier.

It actually stings. I put it on the other day.

But, but the good sea stings. The good sea stinks here.

No, no, not this. Not yours. Because I found one the bottom of my door.

Yeah, don't use it.

Well, I just didn't want to waste it, so I just dumped it. My wife was like, what are you doing?

Anybody dumped it?

My palm. And I just splashed it on my face.

But that's the problem with vitamin C, jellyfish, nettles, because vitamin C they use for pigmentation, and vitamin C isn't for pigmentation. Vitamin C is for radiance. You know, production of collagen and catching free radicals. This is vitamin C. But, you know, when l ascorbic acid and 20 in product bombards the skin barrier, damages the skin barrier and does the same like retinol, basically taking healthy skin layers of. And that's what we don't want. We want the good stuff from the vitamin C. That's why I created the good c, which under 5%, not l ascorbic acid. And it's good for sensitive skin. You can still get all the benefits of a good vitamin C. That's why.

So what is that form of vitamin C? So is it different than.

You know, for me English words with you?

I'll put it in the show notes.

Kakadu plum, which is 50 times more rich in vitamin C than an orange, for example, comes from the plants and.

And this is extracted and put into a skincare product.

Everything we do also goes through a lab. You know, for example, purlane, one of my favorite ingredients, which is. Is telomere, is activating, gets biofermented and we get all the good stuff from the purslane, but don't get the viruses. We don't.

So what is this? What's, what's being fermented?

So it, it's, it's, it's a process in a, in a, in a lab. So we ferment this herb to make sure it's reliable on concentration. It's not having any viruses, so it doesn't cause allergies and you get the best out of it. So it's like, you know, when you get. I don't know how I can compare it to something, but you take the best of it out and leave the.

And leave and leave and leave the rest. And now you can apply this to the skin. Is the basis for the majority of your skincare products? Are they. Are they plant based? Are they animal based? Are they marine based? Like, where do you source vegan?

All of them are vegan, but some, some things come from From Marines. So we use astaxanthin, for example, which, you know, super oxidism, for example. Lots of plants really.

Superoxide dismutase or. And are you getting these from algaes? Kelps.

Yeah, algae.

Okay. And then. And the, and these are formulated into.

These are in the supplements now. But purslane, for example, is. We, we use a lot of herbs. Like, mostly everything is coming from the plants.

Yeah. You know, so what right now is really exciting you about the future of, of skin care? Like, what's your next big project? We were in this kitchen earlier. You were talking about chemical free living. And, you know, you were talking a little bit about, you know, skincare goes beyond what you just put on your face every day. It has to do with your detergents and your soaps and your dishwasher detergent and your toothpaste and all of the things that we think our skin is protecting us from. But very often it is allowing in. Right?

It's exactly right. So I, I'm a doctor. I'm not just, just like a skin care formulator or company which makes skin care. So I'm very, you know, we're, I'm like you like, we thinking as a whole, you know, and it's like, you know, anti inflammatory living is like, get enough sleep, don't stress or de. Stress, you know, have an anti inflammatory diet, take anti inflammatory skincare products, you know, don't go in the midday sun, things like that. So it's a whole lifestyle around it. And the lifestyle also regards our body. So if I use a shampoo with silicones and, and sulfates and 10 sites and microplastic and all these fragrances and all this crazy stuff. Our scalp is skin. It's very permeable. It takes on all those crazy ingredients, you know, and then we wonder, why do we have dendrite? Why do we lose hair? Why is all of this happening?

Yeah, because a lot of women think that it's hormonal related, but very often it's chemical related.

Yeah. And you know what? We straighten our hair. We do like all this kind of stuff and put all these products in our hair all the time. And it touches scalp. So I created this hair care, the whole line for haircut, because. And I put ingredient science in. So we have a line which works for anti hair, but it works because we put ingredients.

You told me you have a product that in what, three months grows 50 more hair. Yeah. Is that for men and women?

Supplement. That's the oral supplement, growth cycle supplement. It's Amazing really.

What is in that, what's in that growth cycle?

For example, this, I told you this, this ingredient from the millet. It, it's something very special and it's clinically proven and tested that it supports hair growth after three months for 50.

Wow.

So it's, it's amazing. But you can do so much with the products which touch your body. For example, for, for the women here, you know, the female intimate area, for example, has a very low pH. Our skin, by the way, is acidic. So if you wash your skin with soap, which is very alkaline, you mess up the ph and you mess up the microbiome which lives on our skin. And for the, the female intimate, which is very, very acidic because there's just this one bacterium which needs the acidity. And if you would wash yourself with soap, it comes alkaline, other bacterias come in and then the microbiome changes. Then women get UTIs, they get like all kinds of infections. But this is like due to a change of the ph. So if you create products which respect ph, respect all these areas of our skin, it's so much better. And you know, we talked about it like detergent, whatever you wash your T shirts with, it comes on your skin and then you, you, you have, this is like things which migrates into your skin as well. Every day matters how you wash your clothes as well. So I credit the detergent. I'm a little Willy Wonka, you know, I'm doing, I'm just doing all of it. But I care so much about these things, you know.

So just tell me a little bit about the, you know, the, this, the line that you have outside of skincare? I mean, what are you doing in the detergents and dishwasher soap and, and detergents to wash your laundry with? What, how are you getting the, the dirt out and avoiding like harsh, by.

The way, the, the detergent, you know, and we tested it and I hate.

For this to be a product commercial, but I want people to, to leave with the idea that, you know, chemical free living is more than just what you're putting on your skin.

It's performing super well. The detergent, it's like.

What's it called?

Dr. Sturm detergent. I don't know. How is it called? I have no.

It's called Dr.

Detergent. You know, weirdly, there's no fragrances in it. Smells super good. It gets all the job done. And I put skincare ingredients in like aloe vera purslay.

Oh, you actually put skincare ingredients in the detergent. So you actually get some skin benefit.

You just need tiny bits. You don't need a lot. It gets the job done. It smells good, and you do something good for your skin. So this is all I wash my clothes in.

And where do you fall on sunlight? I mean, one of the things I tell people is that they wake up in the morning the first 45 minutes of the day. There's no UVA, there's no UVB rays. The first light is just beautiful. Time to expose your skin to sunlight because you can also get the vitamin D3. But there is a pandemic of public policy against getting sun. Sunscreen, Sunscreen, sunscreen all the time. I see moms lathering their kids up in sunscreen before go out. They just think the sun is the absolute devil. So where do you fall on, you know, sunscreens and. And sunlight exposure?

Yeah, you cannot demonize the sun. As I said, you're not born as a mood. You need the sunlight so much. And as I said, obviously, if you go, if you take your kids to the beach, if you go to the beach, put sunscreen on. Definitely. But, you know, if you strengthen your skin barrier, our skin also has a natural sun protection, you know, and then I did a supplement called sun skin with polyphenols to support your inner sun protection. Obviously, you have to balance. You also have to define what skin type am I, you know, do I get, you know, affected by the sun quickly or not?

Am I very fair skin?

Exactly. And then you need to use a good sunscreen, which has a nice protection but also has a good filter. And.

And then what are some ingredients to look for in a sunscreen that would tell me that besides zinc, zinc oxide.

I mean, I already, I already put panthenol, for example, in. In our sun drops. Our sun sun block is called sun drops. And Pantanol, for example, already, you know, takes care of the damages possibly caused by the sun.

Wow. So it's a sunscreen that actually is beneficial for the skin.

Yeah, skincare product. I already put, like, skincare ingredients which help to, you know, help with the damages, you know, caused by the sun. And that's something.

But do you recommend that people constantly wear sunscreen every day that they go out outside, Even if they're outside?

Now we have to talk about lifestyle too, because, you know, it's also. Do you want to have no wrinkles? Do you want to have porcelain skin? Do you want to have no pigmentation? Do you want to not have any of the signs of Aging, then you better wear a big head. Wear sunscreen all day long, gloves, whatever. You know, use, you know, vitamin D as a supplementation. I personally like to swim. I like to do water sports. I like to, you know, for me, this is also life.

Oh, yeah, you're out.

Happiness, life, sun for mental health. You know, obviously, you know, my sunscreens are amazing. I love them. I don't mind them, you know, I, I use them. Do I use them 24 7? No, I use them when I need them. I know exactly how my skin reacts. This is where you have to really balance. And I know in America especially, it's very, you know, people think sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen, Dermatologists tell you sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. But also, if you think about dermatologists, just, they give you cortisone, antibiotics, lasers, acid peels, retinol, glycolic. They give you all of these things which actually damage your skin barrier. Absolutely, yes. They have to tell you sunscreen 24 7. We talk about keeping what we got in the best shape and keeping our skin also functioning. So you decide when do you wear a sunscreen and when, you know, you don't.

I mean, there are even some articles that are, that are pointing to the fact that, that as sunscreen has proliferated, the incidence of skin cancers have actually.

I know, I know, I know correspondence.

Which is really very interesting. I don't know that I've read a clinical study, but I've read numerous number of articles that as the, you know, as the sunscreen industries really proliferated and all of these brands expanding to these sunscreen brands and, you know, when you go into the shelf, you have 7, 15, 35, 50. Now they have 70 and 100. I'm like, how do you get a hundred? You know, on.

Also, the difference between 50 and 30 is not that much. You know, 1 is 96, protection, percent protection, 1 is 93. I mean, there's not a big difference.

It's the amount of sun exposure. So, yes, so SPF 30. You could have twice as much sun exposure as SPF 50.

Also, it's important when you use sunscreen, you have to use it everywhere, also on your ears, the back of the neck. And you have to use enough and it has to get into your skin, otherwise it's not the right protection.

Right.

So it's also how we use sunscreen.

But why do you think that there would be a correlation to the increase in the availability and use of sunscreens at the same time that you have A rise in skin, skin cancers.

I read that. And probably because, you know, as we already said, these chemicals are not amazing. You know, these are not great skin care ingredients.

Yeah. And, and I, and I think also very often, you know, we think that a lot of these pathologies and conditions are happening to us. You know, I, I really believe that many of these are happening within us. Meaning that, you know, just like you said, if you live a pro. Inflammatory lifestyle, if you drink a lot of alcohol, if you're actually exposing your skin to a lot of, or exposing your, your, your blood, your immune system to a lot of assaults, micro assaults, with all of these different, you know, that we're exposed to in our water and our food and our air, you are less capable of defending yourself, meaning you're less likely to have.

It's nice that you say defending yourself. Our skin is also a defense system. If you constantly destroy your defense system, I mean we, we need to do exactly the opposite. We need to strengthen our skin. Strengthen, give them the support it needs, Give the, give the skin everything it needs to maintain good health. Protection tool. It's just such an important organ.

Most of us have a very difficult time meeting our protein needs. And certain protein sources like whey protein and others can be as little as 20% absorbable. This is 99 absorbable. And it has all of the essential amino acids that the body needs to build lean muscle, to recover, to improve our exercise performance and most importantly to, to repair after we have intense exercise. So this is called perfect amino by body Health. It's like I said, 99 absorbable. It only has two calories. Eventually the caloric intake has virtually no caloric intake. It will not break a fast. It tastes amazing. You mix it in water. I take this literally every single morning. If you're working out in a fasted state, you have to take a full spectrum amino acid prior to your workout to preserve your lean muscle and make sure that you're recovering properly. And again, again, it will not break your fast. So the caloric impact is virtually zero. You get all of the full spectrum amino acids. It tastes wonderful. I use it every single day. You can go to bodyhealth.com forward/ultimate. That's bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate. And look for the perfect aminos. They actually come in capsules if you're on the go or it becomes in several flavors that they make in a powder, which I love, love. It's flavored with natural means of flavoring. So there's no artificial sweeteners in Here. So this is one of my absolute favorite products. Give it a try. If you're working out at all, you need a full spectrum amino acid, go to bodyhealth.com forward/ultimate. That's bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate. I love their lab tested products. You can actually see the absorption rate for all of their products. They've got great electrolyte protein combination. My favorite is the perfect Aminos. Bodyhealth.com/forward/ultimate. And now back to the ultimate human podcast.

So middle aged woman, let's say 35 to 60 years old, very concerned about the, the health and vitality and beauty of her skin. Where would she start? What would she get out of her routine? What would she add to her routine to, to, to, to have a world class skincare routine that is not so cumbersome. Fifteen steps that she can do before she puts on her makeup.

Yeah. So ingredient science. A good hyaluronic serum. You know like our super anti aging serum is amazing for absolute hydration because what happens when we get older? Our skin becomes more permeable and we have the trans epidermal water loss. So we have to protect from dehydration to the super anti aging serum and the super anti aging face cream cream to super super good tools to really keep the skin barrier strong, give enough hydration. Maybe take the super anti aging supplement for telomeres activating from the inside. You know so much about that.

I do but I mean for those people, yes, activating and telomeres are measure of your biological age. The chromosomal, they're sort of the top of a chromosome, kind of like the, the plastic piece on your shoelace. Right. And as it, as it gets shorter and shorter and shorter, eventually the shoelace frays so the chromosome, you know, it dies. So that the telomeres are a sign of your biological age rather than your chronological age. So this is telomerase activating.

So the whole skincare line is telomerase activating. And I have a supplement corresponding to the, the skincare line as well. So hydration, anti inflammation, telomerase activation and nutrition. So your cells go through your entire cell divisions instead of accelerating your cell turnover. What the industry tells us we should do. So I believe in keeping yourself strong.

And because as you accelerate, you know, cellular turnover, you really are borrowing from your future.

You know you're essentially say that.

Yeah, you're just, you're essentially getting that benefit today. But yeah, you know it's going to come knocking in the future.

Absolutely. Yes. And then what you Know what I really like? If you get, get you know, massages or you use to gua sha or you use like a little vibrating tool, you know, not aggressive.

Those, the rollers that women use on their face with the micro needle.

Micro needling. I've heard that those are, you use like a very low. Because they do it too much. You know, people think they need to bleed and they need to be red. That's, that's, you know, self inflicted damages. We shouldn't do that. You know, if you want to do, do once a month a little micro needling with 0.2 millimeters, you know, fine, do it a little bit with a hyaluronic.

With the hyaluronic, sir.

Yeah, exactly. But don't make yourself bleed or something. But you know, slight massages are great. And you know what I always talk about the dry brushing, for example, not for your face, but for your legs and arms. Dry brushing is so great for exfoliation, for stimulating your fibroblasts, to produce collagen, for microcirculation.

Really even in the skin of your arm. And, and how do you do the dry brushing? You take.

So we have a dry brush. You can get this also in a, you know, any dry brush. And you brush, I don't know, with the microphone. You brush your arms always towards the heart and the legs and your butt and everything. You massage, massage when you're dry, dry before taking a shower. It's amazing.

And this will help with circulation from.

Your skin, especially in the arms. Cellulite, it's the best tool against cellulite. There's nothing better.

And what do you, what do you think about. There seems to be like a new laser treatment for fat and cellulite and skin toning and tightening every, every week that I open a magazine. What about those men and women that actually have either saggy skin or cellulite or that cottage cheese appearance on the skin? Are you a fan of procedures to remove that?

Or try dry brushing.

First brushing.

Do it for six weeks and then.

Six weeks dry brushing. There you go.

Do it. Do it like two, three times a week. Do it. Try it and see how your skin changes. And if then you still have like scarring, whatever, you can put a little filler or what. You know, there's so many treatments which can help to, to, to reduce the damages. Yeah, but I would use the driver. It's the cheapest and most effective tool for firm skin.

Yeah, I mean I tell people that my favorite biohack is mineral salts and a $15 bag will last you five years. And it's, it's got all the trace minerals in it. So dry brushing, I'm, I'm taking, taking that one away. This has been amazing. I mean I think my audience is really going to get a lot out of this. Where can, where can they find out more about you? Where can they find out more about your cosmetic line with your skincare line? Where can they find out more about you?

So I do a lot of, you know, I started during COVID for the kids.

You do a lot of education too, which I love.

Yeah, I love, I love to talk about it and you know, I love when people ask questions and want to know. I, I try to help and give advice. So started skin school during COVID Skin school. So we do regularly skin schools to learn about because you know, as you, we, we like our audience to be experts because then they can make good choices for themselves, how to live their best lives.

Right.

And so we do master classes, we on YouTube, we do, you know, I do a lot of education also on our Instagram channel, Dr. Barbara Sturm, Dr. Barber Sturm. And our website is very informative. We have doctor's notes which, you know, we, we show anti inflammatory recipes about Persein, whatever it is. You know, we do a lot of education also on the website.

Is this at doctors Dr.barbersturm.com or Dr.

Sturm.com oh, doctorm.com doctorm.com yeah.

Amazing. Well, I finish every podcast by asking all my guests the same question. If you see my podcast, you know this question's coming. There's no right or wrong answer to it, but what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human?

Personally, you know, I, I feel, I feel always very young, you know, and I ski every day when I. In the winter.

You do? You really do. I mean, this woman's a maniac in the snow. I've seen it myself and I'm like.

A little bunny, you know, I'm always, you know, running around and then have pepper and then we do all kinds of things and you know, lots of sports and I feel like I want to stay in, in my possible best shape ever as long as I can. And so I believe a lot in everything what ultimate human does, what you do. And I love all those, you know, tools. I have it at my house and I do it regularly because we're not just friends.

You've been a client of mine for a long, long time.

So when we met Gary and I, we couldn't stop talking because we were Also talking about the same thing. Anti, inflammation, hydrogen.

We did. We just ate each other's fish.

We were like, oh my God, I couldn't believe that.

Yeah, we drove our staff crazy.

Yeah. And we were talking stuff and then, you know, Gary, you're such a, such a nerd that you get the best machines and the best, you know, products from everywhere. So. And I just gobble everything up. And I was like, okay, I do this, I do this, I do this. So I, I love everything you do. And so it's, it's, for me, it's, it's a, it's a privilege to be being able to give all these sources to myself, to my family. I am.

Yeah. I mean we, we shipped a red light bed to Switzerland. I was like, wow, you're committed.

You need like the strongest, you know, power.

Yeah.

That wasn't easy.

Yeah, yeah. We had to redo the power in her house. And like she, but she wanted that bed. She wanted the PMF mat, she wanted the oxygen.

No, I believe in all of it and I do it religiously. As I said. After surgery I was on the red light bed sometimes twice a day. I, I really, I'm religious.

I mean, it's really, really, really becoming a lot more mainstream now too.

And you if, if you're disciplined and I'm very disciplined since I'm 16. I'm eating only healthy food. I'm such a healthy eater. I take my eight hours of sleep. I'm so disciplined about all of it and I love it. And I think it makes me feel better.

I think it makes you look better. So you heard from another ultimate. I think you're an ultimate human too, Dr. Sturm. I appreciate everything that you're doing to make an impact in this world.

And same same to you. I want to give this back because what you do is really changing a lot of how people think about health and be. Being a patient. I want to just be a patient being healthy. I don't want to be a patient when I, when it's too late. When I'm sick. I want to know what I can do to have my best life.

You know, I think the whole world is not the whole world, but I think there is a massive movement of people that are, that are very like minded. I would say five years ago, maybe not so. You know, when we talk about red light and gene testing and, and chemical free living, I think that it was falling on deaf ears. But I think post pand. Oh, just doesn't matter what side of the aisle you fell on. I mean, it just hit people in such a way that they said, you know, I need to wake up and become my own citizen scientist and at least start going out and trying to gobble up information.

You can find everything on Google. If you question something Gary saying, or I'm saying, just go on Google. There's so many studies out there. Be your own expert. Believe some of it, you know, research the others. I don't want to preach. I don't want to. To, you know, this is my experience, my knowledge, and I share it. I love to share it. And I want everybody to get the, the power of the knowledge for themselves. You can be your own doctor. You can do everything yourself, everything your own. You can get all the, the, the clinical studies out there right there in the library.

Yeah, I agree. Dr. Sturm, thank you so much for coming all the way from Stad Switzerland, you know, and spending some time with us today. I think our audience is going to get a lot out of. Of this, I promise you. I will put those products that she referred to in the ingredients. She's gonna send it to me and I'll put it in the show.

We will research more products. I want to get a whole list of all products out there, especially the ones which are interesting for the tweens because they're the most.

Yeah.

Vulnerable.

Lots of moms concerned and dad's concerned about what's going on with their young daughters putting all this stuff on their skin. So we'll do as much as we can to put that in the show notes so you guys can have access to it. I'll also put it up on the ultimatehuman.com com website and make it available for download for free. And as always, that's just science.