What If Your Skin Is Trying to Tell You Something?

Clear skin is often about so much more than skincare products alone. Your skin reflect what's happening internally.

In this episode of The Pink Cloud Frequency, we explore how an alcohol-free lifestyle creates the conditions for your body and your skin to finally regulate, repair, and heal from the inside out.

We discuss how alcohol contributes to chronic inflammation, dehydration, poor sleep, and inconsistent diet and nutrition, and the exhausted appearance so many women normalize over time.

I also share some of my favorite wellness and skincare products, and most notably my recommendation for red light therapy and why I personally love LUMEBOX for supporting skin health, and overall wellness! https://thelumebox.com/pages/lb68/?_ef_transaction_id=&oid=3&affid=8066&discount=thepinkcloudfrequency

Because the “glow” people notice in an alcohol-free life is not just about skincare. It’s what happens when your body is no longer constantly fighting against the lifestyle exhausting it!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning, good morning. Thank you for tuning in to episode 26 of the Pink Cloud Frequency. I am your host, Brianna Wynne, and today we are going to discuss skin care and how an alcohol-free lifestyle creates the conditions for your body and for your skin to regulate, repair, and heal. Because skin is often a reflection of something deeper than skincare products alone. Your skin health is tied to inflammation, stress, sleep, and ultimately alcohol consumption. So we're really talking about listening to your body and creating conditions for your skin so that it can glow from the inside out. And at the end of the episode, I will share a resource that I personally love for supporting healthy and glowing skin. So, first and foremost, when we're talking about skin health, we have to talk about inflammation, which is really at the root of internal health in general. And to keep it simple, inflammation is your body's response to stress, irritation, any type of injury. And it's basically your immune system reacting and going into protection mode for you. So short-term inflammation is normal. If you get sick, inflammation is what helps your body heal. But alcohol creates chronic inflammation, meaning your body stays in a low-level state of stress on repeat. And when that happens, your immune system stays activated, your blood vessels are dilated, your body retains water, your stress hormones increase, and your liver and gut are forced to work overtime to try to process the toxins that you're putting in your body and to recover. So inflammation impacts your gut, your liver, your hormones, your nervous system, those blood vessels, your hydration. And that internal stress in your body is eventually going to show up externally, specifically on your skin, because skin is one of the last places your body prioritizes when it's busy trying to repair every other area in your body. And inflammation can show up on your skin as puffiness, redness, dullness. It can look like uneven skin tone, under eye swelling, acne, dry or dehydrated skin, loss of elasticity, and premature aging overall. And I know that a lot of you probably think these effects are genetic or hormonal or random. And it's not to say that that's not entirely true, right? Genetics do affect how your skin appears. You can have two people at the same age and they have two completely different skin stories, but that's not the only piece. And beyond genetics and hormones, it's actually your body signaling that it's under constant stress and inflammation. Looking back, I used to think that the redness and puffiness in my face came at random. But anytime I drank wine, I could literally feel my skin heating up. And it would, it's like it would break up. It would feel rashy. And that was my body reacting in real time. My face would get flushed and just look swollen and feel irritated. And at the time I did normalize it. And I knew when I drank wine that that would happen, but I was willing to drink it anyway. And I realized now that that was inflammation. So, yes, your skin is often reflecting what's happening internally. And if your body is inflamed, exhausted, dehydrated, and constantly recovering, your skin is going to reveal that. And when you make the decision to quit drinking, one of the biggest changes you'll notice initially is going to be reduced inflammation. So now that I've personally stopped drinking, I may still get a pimple randomly or more so, I shouldn't say randomly, it's more so around my period. But my skin no longer shows those same signs of inflammation. Even when I look back at photos from times when I was a similar weight, there is a drastic difference, not just in the size of my face, the swelling of my face, the redness, the flush look in my cheeks, but my body too. My body was so swollen. And a lot of that was inflammation and water retention. So once you stop drinking alcohol, your body's no longer constantly trying to process and recover from those toxins. So now your liver can function more efficiently, your gut can start to heal, and you're not dealing with that same level of dehydration. And over time, your body and skin naturally start to look healthier and less swollen because they're no longer under that constant stress of trying to rid the poison from your system. So stress is in fact the next big factor contributing to your skin health because stress affects your skin more than you realize. And alcohol doesn't remove stress, right? It compounds it. Let's just say, for instance, you drink at night to relax, but then your sleep is disrupted. You hit snooze repeatedly in the morning. You finally get out of bed and you're groggy. Then you're rushing around. You're hurrying your family out the door. You're irritated sitting in traffic on your commute, and you're frustrated before you even sit down at work. That rushed, dysregulated feeling carries into the rest of your day. It carries into all of your interactions. And that irritation and anxiety and the fatigue that becomes another layer of stress that your body has to carry. So when you drink, it may feel as if you are doing it to relax. But what you're really doing is delaying your stress until the next morning. And then you're dealing with the initial stress that led you to drink in the first place, plus the physical and emotional consequences of drinking on top of it. And like inflammation, that stress shows up physically in dull skin, breakouts, puffiness, dark circles under your eyes, tension in your face, and that constant exhausted look on your face that no skincare product can really fix for you. And I say that respectfully. Now, of course, life without alcohol can still be stressful. You still have responsibilities and bills and caretaking and emotional demands. But without alcohol, you wake up clear-headed, your mornings become a peaceful part of your day, you feel more capable of handling life and your stressors and anything that you are faced with, you are more capable of overcoming without resistance and tension. So reducing your stress is going to improve your skin health. Now, of course, we can't talk about skin health without addressing your sleep. Because sleep is one of the most underrated beauty and wellness tools. And one of the biggest impacts that quitting alcohol had on me was better sleep. And I cannot emphasize this enough because in the past, when I did drink, I would wake up here and there. I would be so dehydrated that I kept a bottle of water on my nightstand. And I thought that was normal. I thought I was doing the right thing, staying hydrated throughout the night. And I'm like, that is a major sign of dehydration. But honestly, then I still thought that I slept good. Sure, there was some fluctuations over nights and depending on how my day went or what time I got to bed, you know, you still have those same variations now. But when I quit drinking, oh my goodness, what a difference. My body feels so good. And I wake up feeling rested and rejuvenated. And even on those nights, I may not get enough sleep. I still don't feel overly exhausted. Rarely, if I am going, going, going, going, I may feel that momentarily getting out of bed. But once I start moving and getting my day going, I'm right back to where I was. I don't it doesn't get to me in the way that it used to. And all of that good quality sleep in your alcohol-free life that supports your skin health, your collagen repair, your hormone balance, the reduced inflammation, your skin regeneration, reduced cortisol, a brighter complexion. And beyond that, better sleep changes you not just physically, but emotionally. Your mood, your patience, your consistency, your motivation. And that impacts every other wellness habit. So even if you think alcohol helps you fall asleep initially, it's just passing out. And there's a difference because alcohol is going to disrupt that deep restorative sleep. It's going to increase the nighttime waking. It's going to elevate your heart rate overnight. So even though you're sleeping, it's not good quality sleep. And when you stop drinking, diet and exercise become easier because you're now constantly showing up for yourself. We just talked about consistency over perfection in episode 25. So without alcohol, it's easier to wake up early. It's easier to move your body. It's easier to maintain your routines and commit to your health and wellness practices. You may not do a 60-minute workout every single day. You may not walk 10 miles every single day, but you still show up for yourself even on the hard days. It becomes easier to eat intentionally and choose foods that are actually nourishing your body. And that consistent commitment to your diet and exercise shows up on your skin. Because when your diet is poor, your skin reflects it. Those greasy processed foods, the excess sugar, the lack of nutrients, the inconsistent eating habits, that contributes to breakouts. Again, dullness and puffiness and dryness and uneven skin tone. So your skin will start to look tired and irritated and depleted because your body isn't getting the nutrients that it needs to properly regulate and repair itself. So regular movement, that matters too. Because exercise improves your circulation and it supports your sleep as well. And it regulates your hormones and reduces your stress levels. And all of these things directly impact your skin. But when you drink on a regular basis, what happens? Your workouts get skipped. And yes, you may go through those extremes, the all or nothing that we just talked about, but you're doing it for periods of time. So you're going to go through extremes where you do all the right things, but then you're going to go to the opposite extreme and do all the wrong things. So that doesn't balance out when it comes to your health. Consistency and balance are what matter more. But it's hard to maintain if you're drinking on a regular basis because those greasy food cravings increase. You want sugary foods. You can't find anything that satiates you. So you keep eating. You eat late at night, right? That becomes common. You find it difficult to maintain any level of motivation. So when your body is trying to recover from the toxin that's disrupting it, it's difficult to build a healthy lifestyle, a healthy lifestyle that supports your skin health. But in your alcohol-free life, you spend more time progressing forward with your health rather than constantly recovering from the effects of drinking. And over time, that shows up in how you feel, in your energy, in your overall appearance, in that skin glow. So as the saying goes, you can't outrun a poor diet, right? And likewise, you can't eat a bowl of fruit or eat a salad and think it's going to outweigh the poison that you're drinking on a regular basis. So all of those practices, your exercise, your diet, your good quality sleep, your minimal inflammation, all of that is going to impact the health of your skin. All of that is going to be the foundation for good skin care. Because a good skincare routine helps you maintain healthy looking skin, but a good skincare routine alone isn't going to bring you beyond all of the other areas of your life that are contributing more to your skin health. These things are going to work together. Wearing sunscreen, cleansing your face, removing excess dirt and oil, keeping your face moisturized, keeping your skin hydrated, all of that is going to protect against premature aging and wrinkles. Even doing face masks on a regular basis. All of that matters. And I mean, let's say something as simple as removing your makeup before bed. That makes a huge difference, right? Now, I've never really been a makeup person because when I was growing up, my mom didn't allow me to wear it. So as an adult, the appeal just wasn't there for me. And at that point, I didn't know how to apply it. I mean, there's all these makeup tutorials you see online, and they take like 25 minutes. It's a it's a process. And so I so I don't I don't wear makeup. I'll wear mascara, and even then, it's usually a couple times a week, maybe a few times. Sometimes I go weeks without it at all. But when I drank and wore mascara, there were countless nights over the years where I'd fall asleep. I'd pass out, I should say, without taking a second shower or without washing my face off. And I'd wake up with mascara smeared all over my pillowcases. And when that becomes more of a habit, all of that leftover makeup and oil and bacteria sits on your skin overnight. And if you do wear foundation, it's the same thing. If you don't wash that off before bed, that's gonna clog your pores. And that's going to contribute to irritation and breakouts. So I say all that to say intoxication affects your skincare routine in more ways than one. Everyone has their own products that they like to use. And I personally, one of my recommendations is to choose a waterless cleanser and moisturizer. I recently switched to a brand called Olivada, and that's formulated without added water. So it's typically more concentrated and it has bioactive ingredients instead of diluted fillers and more toxins, which is common for most skincare products on the market today. And those traditional skincare products are less potent. You don't see results in the same way you would if you were using a high-quality brand. So waterless products like Olivata use ingredients like olive leaf extract and plant-based nutrients that provide deeper hydration and stronger antioxidant support and just better nourishment for your skin barrier in general. And if you visit your their website, they offer you a skincare quiz that's going. Going to direct you to the products that are going to target your specific skincare needs and wants. My other recommendation is to add collagen to your diet. And collagen production naturally declines with age, but alcohol accelerates that process. So abstaining from it is going to support your skin's ability to retain more elasticity and firmness. But I would still absolutely add a high-quality liquid collagen to your diet because the liquid is considered more effective than powders or pills because it's already dissolved. So it's easier for your body to absorb and digest. And it usually contains higher doses in one serving, whereas pills usually require, you know, multiple capsules to equal the same amount. I just stopped though, like a month ago, because I cycle through different products and I try to like test out what works, what doesn't. And collagen does work, but you know, you have to choose and prioritize where your money's going. Because if you're like me, you just spend hundreds of dollars every single month on products. Um, but the collagen, the liquid collagen that I liked best was from a company called Modare, and it was a liquid biocell. Now I don't think Modair is the company still selling it. It's on, I think like shakily or something like that. But I am gonna go back to that. I went to buy it recently and it was on back order, but that is a phenomenal product. I mean, I used to take that faithfully and you see results quickly, you feel results. It's not just your skin, right? Usually when you have a good product, it's affecting your joint health and your recovery and all those things. So the bio cell does the same, the collagen does the same. And I would raise my eyebrows. And you know when you get those wrinkles in your forehead, when I was taking that, those I had no wrinkles in my forehead. I would raise my eyebrows and no wrinkles in sight. So I absolutely love that product. And it wasn't say a good nine months after I stopped taking that particular liquid collagen that I started to see those wrinkles come back. So again, like anything, you do need to use the products on a regular basis to see the results. But staying consistent makes a world of a difference. And again, when I drank alcohol, it was harder to keep up with those routines because let's say that liquid collagen, I just referenced the bio cell. For some very weird reason, if I drank too much, so this wasn't all the time, but when there when the nights occurred where I would drink more than necessary, my body the next day would reject the collagen. It would reject my protein shakes and sometimes even my coffee. I just couldn't keep things down. So that makes it really difficult to adhere to good quality products if your body can't even handle it after a night of drinking. So again, quitting drinking shows up in these other ways as well. My next recommendation is red light therapy. And I cannot recommend this enough. And all red lights are not created equal. It's really important that you know that because there's a lot of stuff on the market these days, and it's sheer advertisement, but it doesn't work. And the results you might think you see are probably from something else that you're using. So I currently use Loom Box, and one of the reasons I love Loom Box is because it uses medical grade, red, and near infrared light wavelengths that are designed to penetrate your skin more deeply rather than those weaker cosmetic lights you see in most of the cheap devices on the market. Many of those lower quality red light products are underpowered. So they may look bright, but they don't deliver enough light energy to produce any long-term results or noticeable results, I should say. And before I purchased Loombox, I had bought some cheap little red light wand. And I may as well have just been holding a flashlight to my face with, you know, a piece of red tissue paper in front of it. Because it's it was the same thing. It felt good to have a routine in place, right? It still feels good to like sit there and take care of yourself on some level, but I can assure you that what I was using at that time was doing absolutely nothing for my skin. But a high-quality red light can help support that collagen production and it can reduce inflammation, it can improve your skin tone and texture and support recovery and healing in your body. So loom box, it gives my skin just a healthier glow. And I use it two times a day. I try to do six to twelve minutes each each session, but sometimes, you know, I do six. There's even a couple times where I've only done three. But this is something that you will notice results fairly quickly. And you can use it on other areas of your body as well. And that's the difference because a lot of the good red light that does in fact exist are in the form of masks. But a mask you can only use on your face. The loom box you can use anywhere on your body, and that really sets it apart from everything else that's out there. So again, highly recommend um some red light and specifically loom box. I can probably do a whole other episode on it. And you know what? Maybe I will because I recently partnered with them as an affiliate because I genuinely believe in the product, and I've personally seen such improvement in my skin quality from using it consistently. So go grab it. You can use my personal link to browse their website. And whenever you decide you're ready to purchase, using my link is going to give you access to a significant discount. And that is a huge deal because this is one of those products that rarely goes on sale. And I can promise you, even at full price, it's more than worth the cost. Um I will leave the link in the episode description, or if you prefer, just send an email to the pinkcloudfrequency at gmail.com and I will send you the link directly. So I will wrap this episode up by saying the foundation of glowing skin is removing alcohol. And once you remove alcohol from your system, it's going to improve your stress regulation, your inflammation, your sleep quality, your hydration, your diet and exercise consistency. And while, of course, it's true that age and genetics play a role in your skin and your overall health, drinking on a regular basis is only going to accelerate and exacerbate the things that you are trying to fix later on. My aunt is in her mid, I want to say 60s. And I hope, I hope if she's listening to this, she doesn't get upset. But I think she's in her mid-60s. I'm so terrible with age. And she only drinks a few times a year. She's the type of woman who can have one, maybe two glasses of champagne. She's done, she's all set. Um but my point in sharing that is her skin is flawless. It's absolutely beautiful and hydrated, and it's just it's so nice. So aging alone is not automatically the reason that your skin may change as drastically as it sometimes does. Your lifestyle matters. And yes, good skincare products are important, and you should absolutely prioritize quality products and your skincare routines, but that alone cannot override chronic inflammation, poor sleep, dehydration, chronic stress, or poor nutrition and exercise. So your skin care is going to start working better for you when your body itself becomes healthier. Alcohol-free living changes the way that you care for yourself and the way that you invest in yourself. So stay hydrated, stick to your routines, nourish your body, move your body, wear sunscreen, invest in quality products and tools that support your health, like Loombox, and know that the glow up you are going to see is going to be well worth all of your efforts. And you are going to love looking in the mirror and seeing what happens to your skin, your face, when your body's no longer constantly fighting against a lifestyle that's exhausting it. So for your reflection today, consider if your current lifestyle is showing up on your skin, what might your body be trying to tell you? So thank you so much for listening today. If this episode resonated with you, please leave a five star writ review. If you are not following the show already, please do so so you never miss a new episode. And like I said, I will leave that link for Loombox in the show notes. I will talk to you guys next Wednesday.