Honestly, Vanessa

The skincare industry is worth tens of billions of dollars, and it grows every year. New launches, trends and “holy grail” products.

Most of them come with an expensive price tag and the same promises that it will fix your skin.

And then when it doesn’t work? You’re told to buy something else. It starts to feel like a scam.

Over time, many people end up wasting their money and with a bunch of products shoved under their bathroom sink.

But I’ve learned along the way that skincare is not that simple.

Your skin isn’t just a surface. It’s a living tissue that reflects what’s happening inside your body and around you.

Your skin has its own internal environment, what we refer to as terrain. Try to see it like different landscapes.

A desert cracks and dries. A swamp stays damp and heavy. A tropical climate grows heat and inflammation fast.

Your body works the same way.

Some people naturally run dry. Some hold moisture easily. Some trap heat and inflammation. Some are sluggish and congested.

Your skin is simply responding to the internal state it lives in.

Another thing most people don’t realize is that your skin isn’t just made of human cells.

It’s home to millions of beneficial microbes that protect your skin barrier, regulate inflammation, and help keep harmful bacteria in check.

Your skin is its own ecosystem so when the internal terrain is imbalanced or products are constantly stripping the skin, that ecosystem gets disrupted. Skin issues show up fast!

And when most people hear “holistic skincare,” they immediately think it means switching to natural products. This is a big misconception.

Holistic is a way of thinking, not a substance or a product. Using natural products simply means choosing natural ingredients, it doesn’t automatically make something holistic.

Thinking holistically when it comes to the skin means looking at the skin as part of the entire body, not a separate surface you treat in isolation.

This means acknowledging that your digestion, stress levels, hydration, hormones, sleep, emotional state and even seasons can all affect, shift and shape the inter terrain of your skin.

You can be under high stress or not sleeping well, which raises inflammation in the body and often shows up as breakouts, redness, or slow healing skin.

You can move into dry winter weather and suddenly develop flaky, sensitive skin as moisture is pulled from the tissues.

You might normally have clear skin, but breakout during hormonal shifts or get inflamed during the summer.

You can have a diet that’s low in healthy fats resulting in having rough, flaky, or scaly, ashy or cracked looking skin.

Maybe you drink too much caffeine, struggle with poor digestion or not drinking enough fluids?

That’s why you can use expensive products or natural remedies and still struggle with skin issues if the underlying environment isn’t supported.

Yet most skincare advice ignore those other factors entirely. You’re told to fix everything with another bottle. More money to spend.

And there is no such thing as a skincare routine that stays the same either because the terrain is always shifting.

That’s where most skincare goes wrong.

Now the problem with focusing on symptoms is that symptoms are merely signals and we’re being taught to ignore what our body is trying to communicate, when in reality:

Oil may be your skin trying to protect dryness.

Acne may be telling you there’s inflammation underneath.

Redness may be showing irritation or overstimulation.

Dry skin may be depletion deeper in the tissues, not a lack of moisturizer.

If your symptoms improve for a bit and then come right back when you stop using the product or regimen, that’s a sign the root issue isn’t being resolved.

It’s also important to mention that two people can both have acne, but one is dealing with dryness underneath, while the other is dealing with heat and congestion.

Same symptom. Completely different needs.

Holistic (whole-person) medicine is not one-size-fits-all.

Instead of asking: “What product should I use for this issue?”

The better question becomes: What is my skin trying to adapt to right now?

Is it lacking moisture?
Is it holding congestion?
Is it overheated?
Is it depleted?
Is circulation sluggish?

There is no perfect routine or ono one-size-fits-all skin solution. There is only the internal state of your body and your environment.

When you support those, your skin naturally moves toward balance.