50. The 3-Step Skincare Routine That Changes Everything with Dr. Andrea Suarez, “Dr. Dray”

Women of my age are definitely all concerned about this era of our lives. So what do you recommend for softening or reversing those first signs of aging?

So the little fine lines, a lot of times they are aggravated. Their appearance is more obvious when the skin is dry. And women in particular with perimenopause and menopause, start to experience more skin dryness overall. And it can be subtle in the beginning. You may not realize it. So this is where regular, consistent moisturizing ends up. Helping you out a lot doesn't go in there and reverse the actual wrinkle, but it improves moisture retention in the outermost layer of the skin, which is being lost more readily as we age. And by doing that, it really lessens those little fine. I call them dehydration lines.

That's a great way to put it. Welcome, Dr. Dre, to Rooted in Wellness. I am so excited to have you here, especially considering. Thanks for having me. You're welcome. Especially considering my background, a lot of people who might be new to my community. I actually started in the cosmetic world, so brands like Christian Dior and Tom Ford. And unfortunately, at that time, I noticed I was just slathering my body in a lot of chemical fragrances, which I know you talk a lot about. And I think that there's a really smart way to do skincare and you simplify it so much for your audience, which is exactly why you have the following that you do. So I'm so thrilled to have you on. Before we get started, as I was mentioning, you know, this podcast is all about ancient wisdom, but in our modern world and really how we can become more rooted, hence the name. So it's rooted in your health and in yourself, but also like your inner wisdom to. To heal and kind of cutting down all the noise that's out there. So we're living in an era where we're, like, totally overstimulated, emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually. I'd love to, just to start things off personally. What's, you know, one or two things that help you feel really rooted every day?

Well, I think a big thing that I've implemented over the years is turning off all of my devices about an hour before I am supposed to go to bed. I really find that that helps me calm my mind so that I can go to sleep. And I believe that the light from the devices does keep my brain at least awake, longer than it needs to be. Just sets up a vicious cascade of staying up longer than I need to. And that really has a drastic effect on all parameters of your health if you're not getting good sleep. So that's really been, you know, I guess you could say going back to more traditional way, as bizarre as it sounds to not have a screen in front of your face. But I would say that's made a huge difference for me.

And it's so simple, right? Like, I'm sure I don't know if you wear any sleep devices or if you've tracked your sleep with screens or without screens. And the impact. And if we're sleeping better, you know, we see it in our skin, we'll talk more about that. On the flip side, I always ask, you know, especially the doctors that come on, you've been on this journey of what works, and you obviously are learning what doesn't work for your system. What are things that you notice, make you feel really uprooted in your daily life? So one being on a screen before bed. But what else?

I would say overextending myself to too many things at one time. I think now that we're so connected, it's a blessing and a curse that you can easily overextend what you're able to offer someone else. And it starts to not only take a toll on those relationships with people because you can only be so many places at one time. Uh, but it also wreaks havoc in your own life, causes a lot of unnecessary stress. So I think really setting firm boundaries in place is essential. Um, because now that we're so connected and people can get in touch with you at any moment, at any time of the day, from anywhere in the world, you really have to. Yeah, turn off.

Yeah, a hundred percent. And do you, do you have boundaries for yourself at night? Like, I, I just imagine you with everything that you talk about. You've got some pretty strict boundaries for your, your nighttime rituals. Is that something where you put this into practice? Let's take a quick break to talk about something that's made a huge difference in my skin health lately. A product called One Skin. If you're like me, always on the hunt for a wellness solution for optimizing your skin's health and longevity, you need to hear about this one. Most skincare products focus on surface level results, but Oneskin goes way deeper, working at a cellular level for lasting results. Their amazing all women team of skin longevity scientists developed OS1 after testing over 900 peptides. It's the first ingredient scientifically proven to interrupt cellular senescence, a core aging process. As we age and get exposed to UV rays, our skin cells enter senescence, they stop rejuvenating and producing collagen and elastin like they should. And even worse, they release harmful inflammatory chemicals and cause neighboring cells to become dysfunct, like a domino effect that makes our skin age faster, with deeper wrinkles thinning and sagging. What we all want to avoid. But OneSkin's OS1 switches off these senescent cells, getting to the root cause of skin aging. It helps our skin stay younger and healthier. And since skin is our body's largest organ, the health of our skin is absolutely critical to our overall health. That's why I personally love one skin. I've noticed a real difference in the resilience and youthfulness of my skin since using it regularly as a rooted in wellness listener. You can get 15% off your first order with code Mona at Oneskin Co. Mona, I really believe Oneskin is something that can benefit all of us on our journey to optimal skin wellness, longevity and just aging. Feeling our best. Definitely check it out and see the difference it can make for you. Remember, go to Oneskin Co Mona that's O n e s k I n.co/m o n a. Use code MONA for 15% off. Trust me, your skin will thank you.

Well, I really like to wind down about an hour to an hour and a half before I go to bed. Like I said, no screens. And I really, I always take a shower at night and I feel like once I'm in the shower and doing my nighttime skincare routine, then it's pretty much I'm off, offline, out of, out of contact. That's the goal at least. I'm not saying that I'm perfect about it. So those of you out there are like, but you answered my comment at.

2 in the morning.

So it's not, it's not perfect. But that's definitely the goal is to, you know, wind down. Because I think that it's really easy to just keep going all night long.

That is exactly why I asked that question, because I think that people, they'll often look at experts or practitioners like you and me, like we've got it figured out, but I think we can own in on the things that we know really work for ourselves. And I think that if we keep making this part of the messaging for people, eventually it's just going to catch on. We have to make that trend a little bit more. All right, so let's switch gears. So when we think about this insane, massive global skincare market, I think it hit over $200 billion like, it's insane. It's driven by social media. It's driven by these, like, hashtags of clean beauty and wellness trends. And yet, still to this day, 72% of women say that they feel completely overwhelmed by skincare choices, and 59% don't even know what skincare ingredients they can actually trust. And anymore, because we're hearing it all right, and it's hard to know what works, and it's hard to know what what doesn't, where we're wasting our time and money. So let's start off by, like, cutting through some of that noise and talking about, like, the routines that actually work and what it looks like for you. So you being such a trusted voice in the skincare world, how you merge science without the fluff, I think is really important. Can you just tell us first, what inspired you to enter the world of dermatology? And how did your mission kind of evolve from that into the educational work that you do?

So I was actually working in a lab during medical school on a mouse model of skin cancer that was sort of my gateway into dermatology. I really didn't know what specialty I was going to go into at that time. I originally thought I was going to be an OB GYN and then found out that was, like, not for me. And so while I was working on this project, it led me to work with a dermatologist, and it really opened my eyes to all of the ways in which dermatology as a specialty, you can go in so many directions. There's hair, there's skin, there's nails, there's skin cancer, there's medical dermatology, there's, you know, cancer surgeries. I mean, it goes on and on. There were a lot of potential avenues, and it's such an accessible organ that it's also a great potential sounding board to answer really interesting research questions. So that's what led me into dermatology. And in starting in the early stages of my career and in training, I always found it so frustrating for patients because we only have so much time in that visit. And, you know, most of us learn how to swallow a pill when we're young. Maybe easier for some of us than others, but we really don't get, like, education training on how to put skin care on or how to put topical medications on. So what seems really intuitive for me at this point, just because of my background, is something that's just not natural to a lot of people. And so I turned to YouTube to create content about basically, skin care and the essentials for skin care. Also, in doing that, I came across a lot of bad information out there that I wanted to debunk, and it's kind of evolved from there.

What a cool story. And to your point, that's so true. Like, even in the world of health and wellness and nutrition, in Ayurveda, we think about our skin like it's a massive organ we digest with our skin, and yet no one talks about it. And I'm sure you've probably come across so many people who maybe they don't even consider going to a dermatologist until something goes wrong instead of for prevention or maybe understand how our skin directly influences everything inside of our body. Like, it's so essential.

Yeah, it really, really does have a lot of value in terms of telling you when things are going on internally. I tell this to my audience on YouTube all the time, but it really is a window to. To what's going on internally. And one of the cool things about the specialty is that you oftentimes can just walk into a room and know what's wrong with somebody just by looking at something on their skin or their nails or in their mouth. I mean, it's really amazing. Like, you could actually save someone's life just by knowing what a bump on their skin is. And I'm not being hyperbolic. There are situations like that where you end up helping a patient get to a diagnosis that would have taken a ton of lab tests and invasive testing to figure out just because their skin and was like, hey, look at me. So, yeah, it's really great. And to your point about, you know, the digestive tract, there is definitely a close link between the gut and the skin and a lot of cross talk between those two systems. And you do see a lot of overlap of skin and digestive problems together.

My own process, like, over the past 20 years, if it was an Ayurvedic practitioner or traditional Chinese medicine doctor, like, I'm always so amazed at the amount of time that they spend looking at your hair and your skin and your nails and your tongue to really give them insight. No lab tests, no expensive procedures or anything like that. So I love that you speak about that and, like, what great information for people to use because we're not getting it anywhere. And when you mention your story, like, I remember when I worked in the cosmetic world, I would love meeting with all the scientists that would come in. So obviously it's no secret to our listeners, every big beauty brand out there, there's like a scientist that finds an Ingredient and it becomes this like star ingredient that's like the star of the show. It's going to be the cure all. But would you agree that from that translation, especially in the world of like big beauty, it kind of gets watered down a little bit. So like, the science might be there, but then they've got to make it sell. They've got to make it, you know, a really great price. It's got to make it smell good. Would you say a lot of that is really like lost in translation when it hits consumers in the marketplace?

Absolutely. I think brands become so laser focused on coming out with something that's going to capture the consumer attention because, you know, you buy your cleanser, your moisturizer and sunscreen, you got to, they got to get you coming back for something else, a new ingredient or something of that sort of. And something that they teach us as physicians that I think is, you know, germane to skincare is like, you never want to be the first doctor to be using a new drug. Like always, best to stick with what's been around a while and wait for those newer things to really parse out to see if they're actually going to prove to be what, you know, the exciting study claimed it was going to be. And I think the same holds true for claims made in skincare. There are always new anti aging ingredients that come out and get, you know, really popularized. And, you know, if you actually look into the science, it's like, how do you mean to tell me you actually figured out how to get that into the skin in a cream? I'm not buying it. And, you know, over time they kind of fizzle out. And, you know, I think it's good to have a healthy degree of skepticism for new hyped ingredients. And with social media always, you know, blasting things on our feet all the time, you might be led to believe that, like, you have to have all of these things. And, you know, it's kind of funny because I spend a lot of time trying out different skincare products, new products, reviewing them on my channel. So I probably test out hundreds, honestly. But then at the same time, my baseline messaging is you actually really don't need all of these things. You really just, you know, wash your face, put on a moisturizer if your skin feels dry, and protect your skin from the sunlight. That's really what most people need. Unless you have some skin disease, then, you know, maybe you need a topical treatment or a certain skin care product to support the needs of that skin condition. But by and large, I mean that, that's, that's really it. So all of these new exciting ingredients, they might help, they might lead to some visible improvement in the skin. But you know, there are only so many. You only have one face, so can't put everything on there.

So, yeah, can you reiterate that? Because look, the skincare world, the beauty world is just like supplementation and weight loss. Like everyone is still, despite decades of falling off the wagon and finding out something doesn' work, everyone is still so addicted to find like what the next best thing is, what the next best thing is. And we constantly give these things a go. But can you just recap what you just said? What does truly effective skincare as a routine look like for you?

Well, honestly, it's a, a big part of it is consistency. I think a lot of people, you know, like I said, things come out left and right. Like every time you, you look up, there's like 10 new ingredients, products, things that are like a must have holy grail. Someone's claiming change the game for them. But you really have to stick with skin care for a while to see any kind of change. You know, six weeks. So people claim they put on a cream and you know, all of a sudden they look 10 years younger. That's definitely not likely now. So. And you know, you have to give a given ingredient time to work or given product time to work. And also keep in mind that the more things you add, the more likely you are to run into irritation and problems and conflicting with all of the different products and formulations. And so it's best to just keep things simple and just keep repeating what is, you know, seemingly well tolerated for you and working and allow it to really do something and stay consistent with it. And you know, the basic tenets of skin care, cleanse, moisturize, protect, they really do pay off in the long run if you stay consistent with them and helping your skin. You know, providing a supporting role to.

Skin cleanse, moisturize, protect. That is simple. I absolutely love that. Yeah, I remember working with one big beauty brand and they discovered this exclusive crepe from the south of France with a molecule in it that was going to make everything better and your skin was going to become more firm. But then you turn around the ingredient label and it's like the very last ingredient after a bit, 30 every other ingredients. So yeah, we gotta stop like sensationalizing all of these things. And especially in the world of social media where a lot of influencers are saying this is the cure all, like we just have to really look into, one, what it is, two, what the ingredients are. And like, really, if something says it's too good to be true, then it probably is too good to be true. Right, that. That old sage advice.

Absolutely.

So we had a lot of questions that come in, obviously from a lot of men and women about really feeling empowered through their skin, but without having to chase, like, all of these aggressive or invasive treatments that are coming up, I want to know from you, what does aging gracefully mean to you, and what does it look like actually in practice?

So I think the biggest thing that we see where people have signs of accelerated skin aging, and it's, you know, there's. It's expected, normal and healthy for skin to age, and it ages, you know, in a pretty typical pattern, but where people can run into, you know, problems, things that they want to avoid, or doing things that push the gas pedal and make things more significant. And yes, there's a cosmetic consequence, if you will, to that looking older, more wrinkles, but there's also a health change associated with that. And that the more, for example, sun damage that you have going on, the more likely you are to have skin cancers, the more likely you are to have poor wound healing as you get older. So it's not just about the way it looks. That's kind of an added benefit of taking care of your skin, but it's also keeping an organ system healthy. And things that people might participate in throughout their lifetime that are not good for the health of your skin long term are tanning, tanning beds, smoking, and excessive alcohol consumption. All of those things are really hard on your whole body, but your skin in particular.

Yeah, absolutely. They're stressors. Right. And what a good protocol. You know, I love what you just said because, you know, we think always about what we can add, what we can add, what we can add. But ultimately, it's often about these. These big yet simple things that we can often just take away. Right. So I love that you call that out. I also know, like, you are so great at calling out a lot of these fads, and one of those really is this clean beauty phase that we're in right now.

Right.

So I talk about this all the time with my clients, especially with my healing journey. Kind of doing an audit of your house of ingredients that may be contributing to, you know, if it's. I hate the buzzword inflammation, but just like the accumulation of things in your system that would manifest on your skin. I don't know about you, but when you walk into a sephora and their clean beauty section. When you're looking at the ingredients and stuff like that, it's just like, I think the FDA kind of have their hands in that pot, too. But can you talk to us about your perception of clean beauty and what's happening out there?

So clean beauty is a marketing term. It doesn't really have any substance to it at all. Anyone can say that their product is clean, but what does it mean to be clean? What does it mean to not be clean?

Who's deciding then?

Like. And it also sends a message that there's some sort of special regulatory oversight over certain skincare products that are safer. When all skincare is, you know, safe, obviously you can have adverse skin reactions, things of that sort. But consumer safety is the same for all of these products. There's not, you know, some special vetting of products that call themselves clean. And so, you know, one brand might say they're clean because they use a certain preservative and not another preservative. Okay, well, is that preservative really better? Was the other preservative really bad? So it gets into. I mean, it's. It's a very misleading. And I'm not a fan.

Oh, I love that you said that.

I'm not a fan.

It's just such marketing. It's like, it's just another gimmick. I would say that it's another one of those dangling carrots, especially for a brand. If they have to reformulate to hit the clean category and whatever that was decided upon, they could have, you know, 12 or 13 clean ingredients to fall into that category. And yet you'll still see, like, petroleum byproducts or, you know, fragrances, a lot of, like, really harsh chemicals, even, you know, colors and stuff like that that are just unnecessary. I can't say that they add anything outside of the sensorial appeal for the whole experience that are benefit chill for skin. So it's really important to know that, like, I really want people to feel empowered when they're purchasing. And look, if it was actually clean, like natural beauty, we would probably pick something off of a tree, crush it up, put it into a jar. But, you know, obviously, that could never. That could never work.

Yeah. From my perspective, the biggest harm that comes from skin care products to your health is directly to the skin in the form of a contact dermatitis. And that can be contact dermatitis that is largely irritation or a contact dermatitis because you've become allergic to an ingredient in the product. And it's one of those things where, you know, people are allergic to peanuts, but we don't say never ever eat peanuts unless you're allergic. So it's kind of the same thing with skincare ingredients. There are certain skincare ingredients that are common allergens. And if you're going to develop an allergy to something in the product, these are like the most common culprits. Like fragrance is pretty much the most common culprit allergen in skincare products for someone to develop a problem to. And the funny thing is, is that these clean beauty brands will say no synthetic fragrance, but then natural fragrance. It's still, it's still the same issue. Like there's nothing about the natural fragrance that's going to be non allergic. You know, if you're allergic, you're allergic. It doesn't matter what buzzword there is. And so that's for me always been one of the most frustrating things is that these quote unquote clean brands for a patient with contact allergy, you know, they're still going to have, there's, they still need to read the ingredients. There's nothing about them that's somehow safer that the other ones were unsafe. Just you have this problem and you have to look out for this ingredient. And along those lines, there's been a lot of clean beauty marketing around these preservatives are bad and we're not using those. So what ends up happening is that they replace a preservative with another preservative which turned out to be even more likely to cause contact dermatitis, the isothiazolanomes. So that's a real negative consequence of the misleading marketing is that it forces brands to make decisions about their formulations that aren't necessarily in the consumer's best interest. And they do it to attract the consumer, but it can cause, end up causing more problems in the long run.

And do you speak about, you know, let's just take for example fragrances that come in a lot of skin care products and the connection to hormone disruption or phthalates.

So that's outside of my area of expertise as far as the phthalates. I'm not a cosmetic formulator. But my understanding and the research that I've done and speaking with cosmetic chemists and formulators is that the phthalates is like a broad category. And from what I understand, the presence of those in fragrances is not thought to actually be of concern for the endocrine system. My biggest issue with fragrances is for people who have more of a Likelihood to develop allergies to them. That's a big reason why I caution, oh, choose fragrance free. It's safer. Safer in the sense that you, you might be somebody who is in a situation where you're just more likely to become sensitized and allergic to fragrance. So better to, to try and lessen that that risk by going fragrance free. Not everyone needs to go fragrance free, but some people are more at risk. People who have certain types of eczemas, for example, they're, they'll see a dermatologist and the dermatologist will tell them only use fragrance free skin care. That's why they're maybe more at risk for problems to it. Yeah, but the endocrine disruption thing I think is another category where it's really easy to scare the consumer unnecessarily based on a lot of times what we call pre clinical studies. So like animal models and things of that sort that 95% of the time don't necessarily translate to humans. And we have a lot of safety data with the ingredients and skincare that we do have.

So yeah, thank you for your honesty in that. I think there's a lot of fear like coming out from both worlds on fragrances and a lot of these ingredients, like they just haven't been around long enough. But at the end of the day, the phthalates are what binds the fragrance to your skin for a long period of time. There's no reason for you to be smelling like peaches or strawberries or like these fragrances if you know that those ingredients are going into your skin. Why not just do your own research and just like drift to the air of caution if you're looking to support any imbalance or symptom that you're suffering from. Just something to consider. But why not just opt for fragrance free? Is there any ingredient that you tend to avoid?

I try my best. Although it's not easy to avoid the preservatives in the thiazolanone class, not because they're necessarily directly harmful to your health, but rather they are a higher risk of allergic reactions happening to those. As a matter of fact, those are one of the preservatives where they've regulated the amount in Europe and they've seen a decline in the incidence of people having problems to it as a result. So I also have atopic dermatitis, so I try and avoid it. But that being said, from time to time I use certain anti dandruff shampoos that have that ingredient because the dandruff shampoo ends up helping and so I, I run that risk. But all that to say, yeah, I try and avoid that just because of my background skin issues. I try and avoid fragrance. But like I said, I'm trying out so many products for the purposes of reviewing on my YouTube channel. Sometimes I do end up testing products with fragrance and you know, but by and large I try and avoid leave on fragrance. I should say like scented moisturizers on my face. Plus they just, I find them annoying headache and like I don't want that smell in my face all day. And I think I'm not sure to your point of like if it's not necessary, why have it? I get to a certain extent because certain raw ingredients have an off putting odor and so consumers aren't necessarily going to want to use something that smells like rotten eggs for example. So I get it from that perspective. But I think a lot of times brands hold on to this idea and I guess it translates monetarily for them that consumers want a luxury experience and they, you know, associate the fragrance with that. But a lot of people, at least from my audience are like, please know the fragrance, fragrance. We don't like it. It's irritating to our skin. Like stop doing that. And over the years since I started on YouTube, I have definitely seen a rise in fragrance free skincare that, you know, people are excited about and buying. So there's definitely a market for it.

I want to take a quick break from today's episode. To tell you the truth, healing is so much more than just food and supplements. It's about community, connection and accountability. My name is Mona Sharma, celebrity nutritionist. And that's why I built the rooted community. A space where we can learn, grow and support each other on this wellness journey. Inside, you'll get access to exclusive content, Q&As, deep dive discussions and real connections with like minded people. If you're tired of going at it all alone and want a space where wellness finally makes sense, join today@monasharma.com Such a great call out and I love that you say like just customizing based on your own needs like you. So I think that's important. All right, let's switch gears now to a hot topic I'm going to shout out. There's a lot of people that sent in questions. So Laura Diaz, Kristen Rodriguez, Amy Dysar, Paulina, they're all asking about fine lines, wrinkles and sagging skin. Women of my age are definitely all concerned about this era of our lives. So what do you recommend for softening or reversing those first signs of aging.

So the little fine lines, a lot of times they are aggravated. Their appearance is more obvious when the skin is dry. And women in particular with perimenopause and menopause start to experience more skin dryness overall. And it can be subtle in the beginning. You may not realize it. So this is where regular, consistent moisturizing ends up helping you out a lot. It doesn't go in there and reverse the actual wrinkle, but it improves moisture retention in the outermost layer of the skin, which is being lost more readily as we age. And by doing that, it really lessens those little fine, I call them dehydration lines when the skin is dry. So that really can pay off a lot just consistently moisturizing the skin. Also, it's never too late to start protecting your skin from the sun. A lot of the wrinkles have to do with just lifetime sun exposure damages the collagen and the deeper layers of our skin. And so it's never too late to start sun protection. It can help slow down the process for you and protect what you do have. And then as far as ingredients that can actually make a physical difference in collagen formation, there is retinol is a cosmetic ingredient that you can buy at the drugstore or retinaldehyde is kind of related to it. And those ingredients can help to improve how the skin turns over, make it turn over more efficiently. Because with age that kind of gets a little lazy. It can improve that improve the smoothness of the skin and also can tell the cells in the deeper layers of the skin to make healthier collagen. So that's another evidence based ingredient family. Now of course there are prescription forms of that that have a lot of data behind them for doing those things and that work maybe a little bit faster. But not everyone tolerates them. Not everyone wants to go down the rabbit hole of having to see a doctor and have a presc for something for wrinkles. So they're more inclined to use an over the counter cosmetic retinol or retinaldehyde, which can work.

And do you recommend like, if that's a primary concern, would you go the prescription route over the over the counter route?

You know, it really depends on your, the degree of concerns that you have. I think some people are already seeing a dermatologist or a doctor who feels comfortable prescribing them. Or nowadays you can get them actually through these telehealth platforms that you know is they're definitely easier ways to get access to them. And still a lot of people just find that they're too intense, for lack of a better word. They get a lot of dryness, peeling, and they tolerate the cosmetic forms much better, and that works better for them. I even know dermatologists who can't tolerate. Like, there's nothing about becoming a dermatologist that makes ingredients work for you. Okay. So there are dermatologists that I know who themselves at home, they don't use like tretinoin, not because it's bad, they're prescribing it left and right, but they just don't tolerate it. It's too drying, it's too irritating. But they'll use the cosmetic things, so it's definitely an individualized outcome. Also, I didn't mention this, but you can buy Adapalene, which is an acne treatment, over the counter. That's an actual retinoid. And a lot of people end up using that. It's not indicated for wrinkles, but it can improve wrinkles as well. We've seen that clinically.

Trial and error. Right. I definitely tried a prescription retinol and it was great until it wasn't. And then my skin started to feel a little bit dry and flaky and stuff like that. So, yeah, I think it's like you've got to really just tune into what your skin needs and maybe even at the time of year. And in terms of skin sagging skin, what about like all these lasers that are happening right now? You know, micro needling with PRP is definitely having a moment. What are your thoughts on sagging skin? A lot of the maybe more intense treatments that are out there.

So for sagging, some of that is related to how the. The face ages over time. It's not just your skin now, but it's the underlying framework, the bone. You get bone loss, especially around your eye, and you end up having the. The cheek descent. And so things just kind of start to droop and then they're, you know, the jowl area can be more obvious. You can have a lot of sagging in the lower neck creams, Skincare products that you buy without a prescription, they're not going to change those things. They're not going to replace lost bone and that support there. You're looking at more treatments that you would have in office. Certain tightening treatments, like ULT therapy, for example, or radio frequency in office can tighten these areas and firm them and you can get a nice lifting effect. Also, strategic placement of filler, depending on the area, can just kind of help to provide a little bit of support in some of these areas and, and get reversal of that. But the other thing people nowadays are hearing a lot about with the rise in use of the medications for weight loss, the GLP1 agonist, you hear people saying, oh, zembic phase. So I always let people know that it's not necessarily those drugs. But anytime you have a rapid or profound weight loss, you can get a lot of hollowing and sagging in those situations. So I wouldn't say that as a way to discourage anyone who needed necessarily to go on a weight loss journey to do so. But there are ways to kind of lessen that in the process by making sure you're fueling your body, still getting in good protein, you're being on those medications at a safe dose, your doctor's monitoring you. So it's not like so extreme. The weight loss is at a healthy rate and at the end of the day, if you do have a lot of sagging, which many people end up with when they lose a lot of weight, there are cosmetic interventions that can be offered to replace the that.

So you're just making me think there's gonna be a whole new wave, isn't there, after all these GLP ones that are going to be used.

There already is a large increase in demand for cosmetic procedures around, around those medications and weight loss. But it's to be clear, it's, it's not the drug, it's just the weight loss. Like people who have weight loss surgery, for example, also can see those same changes in their face. I mean, anytime you lost, if you were to lose a lot of weight, especially very quickly, you know, it can make you look older.

I lose it on my cheeks first before anywhere else in my body.

It's always, Isn't it always like that?

Right.

It's never. Same thing with hair, right? We lose the hair that we want and then we grow here where we don't want it.

Oh my God, girl. Yeah, I'm older than you, so yeah, this is like front and center for me. So you mentioned a few things there, but like radio frequency, low hanging fruit, non invasive, totally supportive for tightening the skin. I think that that's like maybe a really great way to start. And would you say consistency too? Because like we look at all therapy, I wish all therapy was affordable for a lot of people because it's also non evasive. But when we look at all of these things, it's consistency also, right? Like when you commit to doing some sort of a treatment, you have to be consistent with it for a certain period of time. There's no kind of one and done treatment out there.

Exactly, exactly. Maintenance and maintenance, things like that. Yeah, definitely one of the other top.

Yeah, go ahead.

And you know, it's. It's one of those things too, or how motivated are you to. To do these things? And I always tell people they're not necessary, they're not medically necessary. So just because there's, that's, you know, kind of one of the consequences of us having so much access these days to so many people is that you are led to believe, especially the way algorithms fe you things, that everybody is doing these procedures, and then once you hit this age, you've got to be, you know, going in and doing these procedures and you don't. So it's, it's really a personal decision. It's great that we have them, but I also want people to know that, like, lots of people don't do them and, you know, it's fine too.

That's so true. Like, we can't trick the system. It's just like the world of nutrition. Um, you know, you can do the best workout on the planet, but if you're drinking a bottle of wine every night and going. Having fast food every single weekend, then you're probably not gonna get the same reward. So it's this holistic view. And do you often talk about that internal aspect? Like, do you ever look at blood labs from your clients?

So blood work is a very helpful tool in a variety of skin issues and hair, for sure. And, and yes, definitely for dermatology. Blood work is. Yeah. Something we look at a lot. But, you know, I always emphasize on my, in my content to people that like lifestyle habits really, really, really pay off in the long run as far as how healthy you are able to stay and how your, you know, your skin looks. Yeah. But also the, the health piece of it, the longevity, it really all adds up. It has a, you know, compounding effect. The, those healthy behaviors of staying active, eating a balanced diet, getting good sleep, managing your stress. And I think that those things are boring. They don't always, you know, generate the clicks. Eat your fruits and vegetables, like, make sure you're sleeping. But that, that really does make a huge difference for sure.

What if true wellness wasn't about extreme diets or the latest trends, but instead about daily sustainable habits that actually work? My name is Mona Sharma, celebrity nutritionist, and I have spent years blending functional medicine with ancient healing practices. And with the help of my colleague, Dr. Mark Hyman. We have narrowed it down to 12 essential wellness tips. The key things that I do every single day to support energy, gut, health, and longevity. And I want to share them with you for free. Register now to get your copy of the 12 tips@monasharma.com 12 tips. And start making small shifts that create massive impact. We have to make that go viral. Because it's funny, my world and your world, everything that you just said is the exact same foundation as well as so many of the practitioners that come on here. It's the foundations. Get the foundations right, and, like, a lot of the other symptoms just go away. All right?

And the funny thing is that it's, you know, a small habit change can trickle down into the other areas. Like, for example, I encourage people to just try exercise at some frequency. Walking, it doesn't have to be some intimidating, intense thing, but then that ends up leading you to sleep better, and it has benefits for your stress level. So now you're hitting a couple of different key pillars of health just by being able to go on a walk, for example. It's. It's, you know, really, a lot of things can end up changing for you in a positive direction.

You're talking my language. Everything's connected. I love that. Thank you for saying that. All right. Another really hot topic is hyperpigmentation. So when we think about this is men and women and things that they can be doing. You have a lot of really great videos on, like, simple washes that you can do for your skin and really how to treat this as we age. For me, like, it's a 40s thing. I live in Los Angeles, for crying out loud. So, like, now I feel like I'm way more sensitive to the sun in my 40s than ever before. I know a lot of that's hormonally driven, but some of us just have different skin texture, and a lot of people of color also more prone to that. Right. Can you elaborate on that?

Definitely. Definitely. So anything in the skin that causes some inflammation, whether it be acne or eczema or a condition called seborrheic dermatitis, which is really common, actually related to dandruff. But you get these flaky patches, like around your nose and your eyebrows. All of this inflammation for people especially who have pigmented, deeper skin tones, it can leave behind either hyperpigmentation or it can take away the background skin color and lead to hypopigmentation, skin lightening, and that post inflammatory pigmentary change. It can linger for a while and it stays around as long as a couple of things that came about. First of all, what it was that led to it. If it was a really inflammatory issue, like, the more inflammation, the more stubborn and significant the pigmentation is likely going to be. So, for example, really inflamed cystic acne may have a more stubborn dark spot than just like a little bug bite that maybe you picked out a bit. And also, how long it went flared up and untreated can also make that residual pigmentary change all the more stubborn. So that's a big thing. Like, the pigment change is what bothers people the most. But you also have to address that underlying causative factor for sure. And then, of course, the sun will drive more of the hyperpigmentation to stick around and to stay around a lot longer. So the sun protection piece becomes very important also for people with deep skin tones specifically, you know, you think about the sun and dermatology, we're always talking about ultraviolet, right? Ultraviolet radiation being the main thing, but there's also visible light, right? That is what illuminates everything. And of that, there's blue light. And we've come to learn that that blue light from the sun, because it's a really strong dose from the sun, it actually can lead to more stubborn hyperpigmentation in deeper skin tones, specifically paler skin types. It doesn't. It's not clear that it does anything. But for deeper skin tones, there's just, like, true mechanism there. And we recommend people try to use sunscreens that are tinted because the tint comes from ingredients called iron oxides that seem to help protect from the blue light. They don't protect from the ultraviolet radiation, which also drives it, but they protect from that blue light piece of things. So if you choose a tinted sunscreen, you kind of are covering both of those bases for fading or helping to fade the hyperpigmentation. You also can get those pigments from your makeup, from foundation, and things of that sort as well. So, you know, if you don't find a tinted sunscreen that works well for you, you could also be using, like, your foundation for that iron oxide piece of things.

Oh, that's good. No one's talking about blue light. So what you're making me think of then is, well, one are doing things like peels. Way too invasive. And on the flip side, spf, what's the number that we should be wearing every day when we go outside?

Yeah, definitely. So chemical peels can actually be incredibly, incredibly helpful for helping to fade post inflammatory hyperpigmentation as well as sensitive spots, age spots and the, you know, the nice thing about peels is that there are a few different agents that can be used and depths of peel and you can go really conservative and do multiples over time, real low, low and slow. And that actually can really help people get clearer faster just by being patient with the peels. So going to a dermatologist, you know, who has a training and knows pigmented skin and everything of that sort, you really can get some very nice results actually with chemical peels. So yes, that's definitely an option. Also, sun protection. It's funny, the Recommendation is always SPF 30 or higher and I think that's a great baseline measurement. The thing about sunscreen that makes it so annoying is that not only do you have to apply it and apply it every day regularly, but you also have to apply enough of it, a thick enough layer. The way it's, that measurement is, is devised. They. They put it on the skin in a pretty thick layer when they're doing the testing. So in order to compensate for that, the higher the SPF that you choose, the more likely you are at get a good protection on. Just because of the nature in which most people apply sunscreen in a thinner layer than they should. Because.

Oh yeah.

Annoying to apply it that thick. Like when you really try and apply it as thick as you need to, it's like, especially if it's a mineral sunscreen. And then people are like, are you okay? What is on your face? So yeah, that's one of the challenges. I thought I'm a big component of sunscreen. That's like my whole channel tagline, right? Sunscreen and subscribe.

Yeah, yeah.

But also you. I suggest other protective measures, especially when you're out in a sunny day, like hats and you know, long sleeves.

Are you that woman? Are you.

If I were to, if I were.

To see you leave your house, are you leaving with a big brim hat and big sunglasses? Is that you?

Yeah, I do. I mean, I live in Houston. It's like sunny from 2am until 3am the next morning. It seems like the sun here is always.

Yeah, yeah, very intense.

And you know, I was just in Florida recently and they don't call it the sunshine state for, for no reason. But you know, other areas of the world, they don't have as much sun, you know, intensity. And so, you know, there they can be a little bit, won't say negligent with the sun protection, but it's not as, as, as drastic as it is here. You know, in certain areas of the world, like Australia has, has very strong sun. That's why they have such a high amount of skin cancer. And they've got really, you know, from a public health standpoint, they have really comprehensive sun protection requirements. Like the children in the schools there. There's got to be shade and things like that because it's so, so intense there. For sure.

What I'm really hearing you say, like, this is ultimately our prevention. Right? So the type of sunblock, and I'll fully admit, as a woman, I hate the feel of sunblocks on my skin. I put a new one on this morning and it was like completely white. I look like a ghost until I warmed it all up with makeup. So you've got to find one that you like. But I think that this is one area where, like, put it on your face. Find one that you really, really, really like.

Also go back to most important thing with sunscreen. Like, there's so much conflicting information out there about sunscreen. It really can scare people and terrify them. But honestly, the best one is the one that you're actually going to use because, you know, I. You can get into the science and the specs of different sunscreen ingredients and like the wavelengths and the breadth, but if you're not putting it on your face, it's completely useless. And it's not a perfect intervention by any means because like I said, people don't apply enough of it. It's, you know, it's definitely a. I would never tell someone to rely solely on sunscreen, like, as their only means of sun protection, for example, when they're on the beach all day. And you know, I would always say rain and other things, but it's, it, it's definitely, you know, important, but it doesn't work if it's not applied so totally.

And at the end of the day, I'm with you. There are so many studies coming out and there's a lot of really shitty, poor quality sunblocks that are out there with like really gross ingredients in those fragrances that we talked about before. But at the end of the day, if I'm looking at this through a lens of aging, just look at skin where there's been studies of people who have used sunblock versus those who don't. Like, you just see firsthand the benefit of it from a anti age standpoint. So let's stick with that one. All right. Switching to ancient wisdom a little bit, let's talk about castor oil. So castor oil, I think is like, it's really cool that this ancient ingredient that's come from, you know, seeds is now resurfacing. You know, in Ayurveda medicine, it's often used either as a laxative or used for detoxification. And I love seeing these, like, ancient rituals come back. Castor oil packs in the nutrition world are also really trending right now. Why do you think it's trending? You've done a lot of educational videos on it. Why do you like it so?

Castor oil is commonly found in skincare products. It's a moisturizing oil. It's very viscous, it's very thick. So it's actually, you know, as an ingredient, it's really good for moisturizing the skin. And a lot of people who use it on their lashes, they feel like it has helped their lashes grow. Now I don't know about that, but I will say because it is so viscous, it really coats the hair and it can make them look thicker. And it also can help cut down on breakage of hair, you know, the hair, the lashes. So I, I can see why people like using it. This is the case with anything you put on your skin, whether it's, you know, castor oil or anything. There's always a possibility for you to be someone who reacts negatively to it either again, irritation or allergic reaction. And allergic reactions are possible with anything, but they definitely can happen with, with castor oil. And you know, you want to be careful if you are using it around your eyes. Some people develop a lot of irritation up close to the lash line. So I always suggest, you know, maybe just putting it towards the tips for the conditioning benefits. So as long as people are aware that, you know, there's a possibility. Not everything that's natural is necessarily safer per se. But yeah, I can definitely see why people like it as an ingredient. It is very moisturizing. It has a compound in it called ricinoleic acid that has a lot of potential anti inflammatory effects. And you know, it's used, I think, to, I think it can induce premature labor because of that. So, you know, pregnant women have to be careful about, you know, ingesting it. But it definitely makes sense that people find certain health benefits with it. It is a laxative. So I caution people about ingesting it. And I can see, you know, I don't know that I fully buy into the castor oil pack thing, but you know, theoretically, I guess the compounds, maybe they can relax the muscle somehow if they got in that way and you know, help with perhaps cramps or something like that. But I, you know, I'm not going to say that I believe that that works, but as an ingredient, it's really moisturizing. A lot of people feel like it's good for hair growth and I wish we had studies on that showing that it, you know, if it can help with the hair growth, that theoretically there's a potential mechanism there, but there's not any research study looking at it. So as far as I can tell, it at least is moisturizing for the hair. But because it's so thick, I do warn people this is rare, but there is a situation where it could cause some matting of the hair depending on your hair type. So that's another thing that we've seen a couple of times. It's rare, but just another possible thing to keep in mind. But yeah, it's definitely a popular remedy for a variety of things.

You said ricinoleic acid, that was what is anti inflammatory in it? Yeah, like that in and of itself is amazing. So if we know that something's gonna help to lower inflammation, it would just make sense. And like you in my world. So with castor oil packs around the abdomen trending, it's a really big ayurvedic tradition also around like a lot of fasting experts out there as well. There isn't a lot of scientific data, but I think that this is just one of those things. Often when people introduce really healthy rituals, it causes them to make other really better, healthier choices. So whether you believe it or not, I think for those of you who have listened, I'm sure some people listening are just like, oh my God, I swear by castor oil packs. And it works for you. I think it's great. And I love that you talked about the hair growth aspect because like, oh my gosh, hair growth is a hot topic now, right? You talk a lot about hair loss hair, especially on the utter ends of the eyebrows and stuff like that. There's a lot of brands that are creating products with this in. Is that something that you do? Would you ever take an eyelash or, sorry, a mascara wand and put some castor oil in your eyebrows? Do you ever do that?

I haven't done that, no. But I know it's a very popular thing to do to condition it definitely could help condition the lashes, like I said. To what extent it actually grows hair. I wish we had a study. But you know, a lot of, you know, that's a popular market now for lash and brow growth serums and it's funny because most. Many of them, with a few exceptions, have a class of ingredients called prostaglandin analogs. And that's actually what Latisse is. Latisse, the prescription lash growth medication, has. The active drug is something called bimatopros. But there are similar compounds that are considered cosmetic and are. What are you. So they do work to grow hair wherever they're applied. The brows, the lashes. But they have the same side effects that Latisse can. Eyelid irritation. Red eyes can cause hyperpigmentation of the eyelid area or whatever skin area you're applying it to. Obviously, if it gets under your eye, it can cause little hairs to grow there. And some people even develop this fat loss around the eye related to these compounds. So it's one of those things where, like, you know, because they're cosmetics, people aren't necessarily being warned about that. Like, they would be if they were getting the prescription Latisse. But, you know, that's a situation where you would think that castor oil would be like, a safer alternative. Yeah, it still has a risk of irritation, but there's no report of it causing fat loss around the eyes. Like, could potentially happen with these. So, you know, it's one of those things where sometimes the. Maybe. Maybe the castor oil is safer. I don't know.

It's so funny because we want to believe, right? Oh, it's so simple. It's one ingredient. And all of these people are talking about the benefits. We want to be able to use it and see those results. So, yeah, I'm with you. I mean, I love that it's one simple ingredient that you. Everyone can include. But definitely, you know, don't believe the hype of everything else. Right. Just trust that you're using like some.

Something, you know, pretty much there's a. There's going to be side effects with 99% of things. Right. But it's the transparency of side effects that I think is really frustrating, not only with skin care, but with wellness things like supplements and things of that sort. Like, some people are okay with the potential of hyperpigmentation of their eyelashes, whatever, but if they didn't know that they develop it, then they're really, like, upset about it.

What a good foundation. You guys keep going, you and I keep going back to the basics, like understanding internally what could be impacting your hair, your skin, your hair growth. I love that you brought that up. There was a question on hyperthyroidism and hair loss also. How should someone know this? Like, should they go to their doctor if they're having a lot of hair loss first, do they go to their dermatologist first? What do you say?

Yeah, hair loss is really complicated. And so dermatologists are the hair specialty. We get the training on all of the hair loss disorders, how to diagnose them, how to know if they're related to an underlying health problem like the thyroid. And so it's, you know, if you are having hair loss, see your healthcare provider and ask them, you know, like, I'm really worried about this. Could you refer me to a dermatologist? Dermatology will usually approach hair loss by, of course, examining you, asking you questions about your medical history, and then actually looking through your scalp, looking at your hair. They might even take a biopsy of the scalp to look under the skin and go from there to figure out what is going on. But to the point about thyroid, both hyper, too high the thyroid hormone or hypo, which is a lot more common, too low. Both of them impact the hair, can cause hair loss, brittle hair, changes in the hair texture. And we do see a lot of thyroid problems and hair loss together. And it's one of those things where a lot of times people will end up in the dermatologist's office with a hair problem and we find out, oh, you actually have a thyroid disease that has been missed because, you know, maybe it wasn't checked or something of that sort. But, yeah, thyroid is, is possible. Also, a lot of. A lot of hypothyroid is autoimmune, and those patients tend to have a tendency to have other autoimmune things. So they may have autoimmune hair loss. It's called alopecia areata. They might also have vitiligo. That's another. That's a skin problem where you lose the pigment in the skin often can be seen in people who have hypothyroidism. So, yeah, there's. There's a lot of overlap there. But to answer the question, hair loss, I really push for people to see a dermatologist if they're able to, because a lot of hair loss has a window of time where you can really get in there and correct it. But if you let it go untreated, you won't. You'll lose that hair and you won't get it back. And that's really what, you know, hair loss is really, really psychologically distressing for people to go through. So I definitely encourage people to. To see a dermatologist if they're able to.

It's funny, I always ask my clients to build a care team. So a doctor that's their partner in healing and a dermatologist should definitely be one of those people. So if you're listening to this, find a dermatologist who's your partner in feeling best. And really one like you today, you keep under, you keep emphasizing this idea of also understanding your biology. You know, a lot of guests that are listening Right now, Sukpreet, Dr. Gary, you know, they're talking about these internal issues that you're talking about. And maybe to bring things full circle, stress and diet are those two pillars also, like we've talked about, Inflammation of the skin, hair loss, autoimmune condition, like, like it really all does go together, doesn't it?

One hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yes. Yes. But they, the hair, like the hair, growing hair is so demanding, believe it or not. Like those little hair follicles, they have so much work to do, they require a lot of energy. So that when your body is under a lot of stress, whether it be emotional stress or physical stress, like you've been ill, you had a big surgery, you had a fever, your hair follicles, they check out. They're like, this is not the time to be making hair. And so hair loss is often a warning sign of health problems. But definitely stress, definitely stress can cause hair loss for sure.

Thank you for bringing that up. Everything is connected and often it's the simple things that we can do that has such profound impact on the way we look, but also our energy, how we feel and how our body functions. So I'm mindful of your time. Let's wrap this up with some rest. Rapid fire questions. Okay, so what is one common mistake that you are seeing most people make when it comes to their skin? Recently, my body was trying to tell me something. My glow was gone, water wasn't cutting it, and I was riding this weird energy roller coaster. Sluggish in the morning, crashing by 3pm and totally wired at night. Coffee obviously made things worse. And no amount of skin care was helping to bring the glow back to my skin. Then I found something that actually worked. Peak's Radiant skin duo, backed by experts like Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Will Cole, is designed to deeply hydrate, boost energy and support whole body wellness from the inside out. And with over 15,000 five star reviews, I knew I had to try it. You know that I'm obsessed with high quality ingredients that work and Matcha that isn't, isn't filled with harmful additives or any toxins. Peak checks all the boxes. Clean, clinically backed and tested for toxins four times over. No mold, no pesticides, no sugar, just real functional ingredients. Let's talk about this Sun Matcha. Goddess. This is next level Matcha. It gives me calm, focused energy without the crash. L theanine for mental clarity. Egcg antioxidants for skin and gut health. This is the kind of energy that supports your body without draining you. After. I drink it daily with warm water, sometimes some almond milk, and it seriously replaced my morning coffee ritual. Then there's the BT fountain electrolytes. This one surprised me. I drink tons of water daily, but lately with the change in season, I'm still feeling depleted. These electrolytes actually help your cells absorb water and they're loaded with ceramides that hydrate your skin from the inside out. Within a week, my skin looked plumper and more alive. Hydration just hit a little bit differently and I could see and feel the results of my skin, which I am so here for. It's the kind of support that your body feels and that your skin shows. So if you're over the burnt out, bloating or dull skin phase and you want to try something that really nourishes you from the inside out, this is it. It Peak goes above and beyond with quadruple toxin screening, meaning every ingredient is tested for heavy metals, pesticides and mold. So it's delicious quality that you can trust. Go ahead and get 20% off with a free rechargeable frother, no batteries and a glass breaker with my link peaklife.com mona20 that's P I Q U E life.com20 seriously, your skin, your cells and your taste buds will thank you.

I think a lot of people who deal with. Well, a common mistake people make is not protecting their skin from the sun regularly. And you know, they're doing all of these things with their skincare routine. They're trying out all of these anti aging serums, but they're like lacking that foundation, foundational piece. And maybe they're going out and tanning and it's kind of like, all right, well that serum is completely useless. Like this is the main thing that you should focus on. The other thing that is actually a habit that a lot of people develop that's really hard to break is picking the skin. Some people do it absentmindedly, some people do it as a stress coping mechanism, especially people who have acne. Maybe they get stressed out, they pick their skin or they want to pop or squeeze and that backfires all the time. It can cause hyperpigmentation, scarring, make the acne worse or the skin problem worse, and you can get an infection there. And it does become this kind of habitual thing that a lot of people get into. And of course, you know, like I was saying not to beat a dead horse, but the Internet is always like showing us things that we probably don't need to watch. And those pimple popping videos come up and devices squeeze your face and it's like, no, don't do that.

No, don't do it.

Your spin is like there is a.

Barrier breaking holes in it, but it's.

Actually really hard for a lot of people to break that. It becomes like a full fledged. You've seen. No, people bite their nails when they get stressed out. Some people pick their skin to break.

And my son is 10 years old.

It's a lot of inflammation.

I was thinking, because he's scratching all these gaps, he does so many sports. And I'm like, oh my God, you're, you're setting a habit that you're going to take on into your teenage years. So, yes, no picking, no breaking of your skin. What excites you most about modern dermatology or skincare science right now?

Well, I, I really get excited about new advancements in therapeutics that can help people who have certain inflammatory skin conditions. Different drugs that come out that address like very specific arms of the immune system to really help clear those and also those kinds of drugs that end up treating cancers. It's wild to me that when I was a medical student, like people who had invasive melanoma, it was such a grave prognosis. And not to say that it's like no longer a grave prognosis, but we do have these new medications, newer, I should say, they're not actually new, but time flies, but they've actually really helped people live with invasive cancers, live longer. And I just think that that is really an amazing testament to the hard work that scientists can do to discover therapeutic targets that really help people not suffer so much.

Yeah, it's the coolest part about science that I absolutely love. All right, so for our men, there's actually balance of men and women that sent in their question. So if we were to just simplify this, if you could leave those listeners with just like a simple takeaway to feel confident in their skin care regime every single day, what would like the three or four things be? Let's just recap that for them. Coming from a dermatologist, you can feel.

Confident if you are staying consistent with your skincare routine and includes some degree of cleansing, moisturizing if you need it, and protecting your skin from the sun. And I say if you need it, because there are also people out there who have never used a moisturizer and are completely fine. They don't feel like their skin is dry. They don't have any sort of skin problem. I find a lot of men fall into this category, maybe because men have thicker skin, they don't tend to lose water from the skin as readily, and they, you know, they don't really necessarily need a moisturizer. So if it's not broken, you know, no need to go fixing it with a product. So really just understand that a lot of the hype around skincare is just that and that you. You're likely doing exactly what you need if you, you know, prioritize the protection and some degree of consistent cleansing is. Is. Is important. But a lot of. A lot of really what goes into healthy skin is your lifestyle habits.

Here it is again. Lifestyle, what you're consuming. I love it. Dr. Dre, thank you so much. I mean, in a world where skincare is trending with so much confusion online, thank you for the science that you've given in a really simple approach to basic daily routines. I'm so excited to know you, and I can't wait to have you back on. Thank you.

Well, thank you for having me, Mona. I really appreciate it. This has been great, and I hope everyone out there feels a little more confident about their skin.

Thank you. And thank you for everyone who sent in all the questions. I'm pretty sure we caught the three biggest categories today, so pass it out to those who have the same concerns about their skin and aging well and feeling great in your skin.

Thanks, Dr. Dream.