The Importance of the Skin's Barrier - Magic Talk Radio Interview

Mel Homer: Right now though, Jo is a former New Zealand police, Constable, and a forensic photographer who launched LoveSkin from her Wellington home after friends and family started requesting the products that she'd be making for her own skin. She joins me now on the phone, morning to you Jo. 

Jo from LoveSkin: Good morning Mel. Thanks for having me. 

Mel Homer: This is really quite interesting because you've, I mean, you really did a massive career swap didn't you? I mean, going from Police Constable, and Forensic Photographer, which you would have seen some things, to the founder of a skincare range. I mean, how do you do that? 

Jo from LoveSkin: Yeah, but I wouldn't say it was a linear journey and in hindsight, I think probably the common thread was that I was always on a journey with my own skin. So, as a teenager, I started to break out and my Mum, bless her bought me a Nylon bristled skincare brush and some foaming cleanser. And I scrubbed my skin religiously morning and night. And my skin progressively got worse to the point that I ended up on Roacutane, which is quite a hash drug to get rid of the acne.

And so once my acne was gone, I guess I ended up with acne free skin, but it wasn't ever great. And I was really confused by skincare. Which sent me on a bit of a journey of self discovery to learn that much later the benefits of botanical oils. So that was all happening whilst I was in the police, but it obviously didn't align with what I was doing from a workplace perspective

Mel Homer: No, I can imagine. And I guess if people start noticing what you're doing to your own, skin's working, that's when you see that there's actually a market for it. 

Jo from LoveSkin: Yeah. Well, I, I also learned that there's a lot like, like me there's a lot of confusion around skincare and so LoveSkin was kind of the the Genesis, sorry, the genesis, this was from my own skincare journey, but I learned that there was a market because of that journey. And that LoveSkin answered a lot of questions that other people were also asking about their skin. 

Mel Homer: I guess the thing with oils that you use, it can be counter-intuitive can't it? If you've got problem skin, the feeling that you're putting oil on, it seems wrong. 

Jo from LoveSkin: Yeah, well, I think that that's just a real misconception that's perpetuated by marketing. And once you understand the skin, you learn that it's actually the opposite. So what most people don't understand is that the skin has a protective barrier which hasis made up of natural oils, which are very similar to botanical oils.

Jo from LoveSkin: And when you use soap or a foamy cleanser you actually strip that protective barrier away, which then leaves your skin exposed to environmental dirt and bacteria, which can then start to cause acne and breakouts. It can also cause dryness and sensitivity. So actually putting the oil on replenishes that barrier, and then those symptoms start to improve and go away.

Mel Homer: And if you're constantly stripping all the oil out to get that tight feeling, it's just going to go into overtime. Isn't it. Just to get it all back into your skin.

Jo from LoveSkin: Yes well, then the interesting thing about that tight feeling that a lot of people associate with clean skin is that that's actually damage that has been done to that barrier. And then dirt and bacteria has gotten under that barrier and caused that irritation, which has that kind of crunchy feeling that you get. 

Mel Homer: So when you started out, what were some of the roadblocks that you encountered? What was the toughest bit? 

Jo from LoveSkin: I think probably realizing that it's one thing to make a product, but it's another thing for people to understand every element of why it's, why it works and why it's important. And especially like you say, the barriers that people have to the idea of oil, especially oil cleansing, which is quite a new idea for a lot of people.

Mel Homer: But they are, it's getting it is getting more widely known isn't it? Becoming more of a thing.

Jo from LoveSkin: Yeah, it certainly is, but I think more so as a parallel to a foaming or a soaping. So at LoveSkin don't advocate at all for washing your skin or exfoliating. We only believe in restoring the skin, which is what an oil cleanser and a hydrating like botanical serum will do for your skin.

Mel Homer: Well, it is quite a different different outlook because most places always talk about exfoliating 

Jo from LoveSkin: And once again, it's that same principle. So exfoliating, I think we're sort of taught that if you exfoliate, then you'll remove the dead skin cells and reveal healthy, fresh cells underneath. But those cells actually form a form that barrier, which performs a role.

So it helps to lock in moisture and like I say it helps to keep dirt and bacteria out. So when you restore and support that barrier, you actually end up with healthy skin. And most women haven't had really healthy skin in their lifetimes because we are taught, you know, to do all of these things to our skin. And what we've noticed with our, sorry.

I was just going to say, so what we've noticed with our customers at LoveSkin is that when they do restore that barrier, they have healthy skin, but it's more beautiful than they've ever actually seen before , it's better, better skin than they've ever experienced. So it's just changing that mindset. 

Yeah. So once you can kind of overcome that and it is, it's more of a psychological shift than anything, because from a health perspective, it actually makes a lot of sense. But once you can overcome that psychological barrier that you don't need crunchy skin to have it kind of that crunchy feeling that people, like I say associate with clean skin is actually damaged.

The once you can kind of get your head around that and move to an oil cleanser, then you'll experience more beautiful skin then you anticipated, you could have, 

Mel Homer: And you're also really fond of, I don't even know how to pronounce it. Is that Quasha? 

Jo from LoveSkin: Yeah. Guasha, that is based on ancient Chinese medicine. So it's a little rose quartz tool that you use to move puffiness in your face. So it helps to stimulate lymphatic drainage. And so you can actually notice in some of our customers, at LoveSkin once again, have shown that they have moved, sort of changed subtly changed the shape of their face by moving the puffiness from around areas where you would normally, excuse me, experience a little bit of puffiness, you know, like first thing in the morning, for example.