Dr. Trevor Cates Oils For Skin Part 2

Oils for Skin Care Part 2 with Dr. Trevor Cates

Dr. Trevor Cates: Welcome to The Spa Dr. podcast. I am Dr. Trevor Cates. Today I am sharing part two of a two part series on oils for skincare. This time I am going to be sharing five of my favorite plant-based oils for skin care and what you should be looking for when you are looking at oils for skin care. I get questions about this all the time, so I had to break these into a two part series, so please enjoy.

So now I want to share with you my top five favorite plant-based oils. These are my absolute favorite for myself personally and for patients, my followers. Okay, so the first one is cranberry seed oil and I love to choose organic. One of the things to think about with organic is that when you are using an oil from a plant, you are using a lot of that oil. You are extracting a lot from that plant, so it is best to use organic so that you are not pulling anything that might be in the plant that is not pure. So if pesticides are used on the plant, you don’t want any of that concentrated in the plant. Then it ends up in the product. So choosing organic is important.

I love cranberry seed oil because it is extremely lightweight and it is able to absorb easily without clogging your pores. This makes it great for all skin types because it is lightweight, it is easy to absorb, and it doesn’t clog pores. All of the Olivia, Amber, Sage, Emmet, Heath, all of those skin types, from theskinquiz.com, all of those can benefit from this oil. It is rich in antioxidants, It is rich in vitamin E, which we know is so hydrating and nourishing to the skin, it is also high in naturally occurring vitamin A. We know that vitamin A is also very beneficial for the skin. Phytosterol and phospholipid, nourishment our skin needs. It has a natural ratio of Omega six, Omega three and Omega nine fatty acids. We need those fatty acids for that barrier function of the skin, that lipid barrier, protection of the skin. This helps provide those essential fatty acids that we need for the skin and helps with moisture retention. One of my very favorites.

Another favorite is pomegranate seed oil. If you haven’t found this one yet, this is a really great one. It’s also packed with antioxidants and the rare Omega five essential fatty acid. We need these fatty acids for our skin. It also has regenerative effects in repairing the skin, evening the appearance of skin tone and smoothing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. So of course one of my favorites as a woman of 47 years old, I certainly love those effects that it has.

The third oil is raspberry seed oil. I absolutely love raspberry seed oil. It is high in tocotrienols and offers the skin a broad spectrum protection from the damaging effects of UVA and UVB rays. It provides us great protection to the skin. However, this is really important. This is not to take the place or it is not the equivalent of using a properly formulated SPF sunscreen. So I want to make sure that is very clear. There are many factors involved in making a sunscreen and how it works. I am not saying it takes the place of that. You still want to use that, but naturally occurring in the plant are these protective benefits.

The fourth one, this is an absolute favorite, is Rosehip fruit oil. If you are not familiar with what Rose hips are when you see the Rose plant, when it is in a cycle on the Rose itself, you will see it has this sort of a bulb like part of the plant, that is where the Rose hip comes from. It is from the Rose plant. It is not the Rose itself, but it is the Rose hip. So it’s high in unsaturated essential fatty acids. Those Omega three, six and nine, also high in vitamin A, beta carotene, lycopene, these beautiful antioxidants that are naturally occurring. Rose hip fruit oil is known for helping regenerate damaged tissue.

For skin that has been burned or stretch marks, many people ask me, what is a good oil for stretch marks? This is one of those oils. And also it helps protect against signs of sun damage, scarring and wrinkle formation. A lot of people ask about what can help with scarring. This is one of my favorites for really helping regenerate and protect the skin. The fifth final of my favorite of the plant based, I mean there are so many that I love that are plant based oils, but I will explain in a moment why I love these five in particular together.

Apricot kernel oil is the fifth one that I want to mention. Again, I love making sure that all of these are organic. Apricot kernel oil is rich in vitamins A, C and E as well as minerals and Omega six and Omega nine fatty acids. It has a really nice lightweight consistency and it absorbs fast without leaving any kind of greasy after feel, nothing sticky or greasy. So it is suitable for all skin types, even the most sensitive ones. I really like having apricot kernel oil as one of the base oils. It is part of an oil combination of plant based oils. One of my absolute favorites for this. And also it is soothing, repairing, revitalizing, nourishing and softening for the skin. So absolutely make sure that you have apricot kernel oil in there.

Whenever I look at a plant based oil blend, I like to look for other ingredients that are making sure that the oil stays fresh. As I mentioned plant-based oils, especially those that are unrefined, it is important to make sure that they stay stable. So a couple of ingredients that I like to look for in that I include in my products is tocopherol. It is also known as vitamin E, and at The Spa Dr. We use a mix of tocopherols made free of genetically modified ingredients by the way, is sunflower oil. We find that is the best source of vitamin E, that is what we use at The Spa Dr. It helps provide antioxidant protection to oils, keeping the products fresh.

Vitamin E itself is known for its wound healing effects. It is itself a potent antioxidant and an excellent skin protector. So love vitamin E and that can be added into a plant based oil blend. And then Rosemary leaf extract. Of course, organic still is always great and the extract of Roseberry leaf is ideal for helping keep formulas fresh and maintaining. It also has its own benefits for the skin, helping with the skin suppleness and making it soft. I love the fact that we can use nature to help support nature. We don’t have to use synthetic ingredients to help preserve oils or to preserve any skincare products. We can look to nature with things like this to help preserve that combination.

The five that I mentioned, is what we use to create The Spa Dr. Step Four, ENHANCE Glow Boost. We carefully selected each one of these in combination together because individually they have potent effects. The antioxidants, the fatty acids and the fact that they are organic. Individually, they have these powerful effects and then when used in combination, these five together are magical when combined together. Some are a little bit thicker than others, but when you use the lighter oils in combination with the richer oils it creates with our Glow Boost, it is an amazing combination and you can see it and the richness, you can feel it in the consistency.

Now you can find these oils individually, but I do like a nice combination of oils like we have in the glow boost. Not all skincare products made with oils help your skin. I am not saying across the board, all oils are good for skin. Some oils blend well together. Some don’t., Some oils are okay to use alone, some are best to use in combination. It really also depends on the other ingredients that are used in the products. It is about the formulation, it’s about the raw ingredients and you want to make sure the plant based oils are pure, they are clean. I prefer the extra virgin, unrefined types of oils.

Now when you are working with oils, and again, not all of them work well together. Some are thicker, some are thinner and you want a combination of those when you blend them. You also want to think about your skin type. I talked about five oils that are really my favorite oils for skin and those are good for all skin types. Now when it comes to individual oils, there are certain ones that you need to be careful with to use caution with. For example, when you are looking at something like the essential oil tea tree oil, you don’t want to just use it undiluted directly on the skin. You want to use it in combination with other oils. Essential oils in general should be used in combination rather than alone when it comes to direct skincare use.

Also oils like coconut oil tend to be very thick when at room temperature. Using coconut oil alone on the skin can be difficult for certain skin types because of how thick it is. For people that tend to have oily skin, the Olivia skin types, I don’t recommend using straight coconut oil, especially on your face or areas where you tend to be oilier and where you tend to break out. Now that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use coconut oil. Coconut oil is a fantastic oil and this is something that I get asked quite often. Is coconut oil good for the skin or not? And absolutely coconut oil in the right form and the right balance is great for all skin types. It is very hydrating, it is very nourishing. It is rich and it is great because of the consistency of it. However, I don’t recommend using it straight because it can be rough for people with oilier skin instead of using it in combination with other oils.

It is also really important that you are using a pure, unrefined, extra Virgin form of the coconut oil. And organic is preferred if you can get it, when it comes to oils. Organic is always best. That is what is important to remember. It is the purity, the being unrefined, as well as being in blend in combination with other oils. Now if you are not a Olivia or an oilier skin type, you might be able to use it straight without it in a combination. But I wouldn’t necessarily recommend just using it on the face. I would use it on the rest of the body. It can even be great for using as a scalp or hair treatment. But when it comes to the face, I recommend doing like we do with our step one cleanser, using it as part of a really beautiful formula.

These are things that people want to think about when blending or using individual oils. Coconut oil is one of those, but there are many others that you want to think about. Is it okay to use them individually or is it too strong? Is it too thick? Is it too sticky? Is it right for your skin type? I prefer to use the oils in combination and not just one straight oil. Now there are exceptions to that. You are doing a massage. Almond oil is great for doing a body massage and using it on the body, but I do think overall it is nice to use a blend.

Mistakes that people make are around using the wrong oils and the wrong concentrations so you don’t want your skin to feel sticky or greasy. That should not be your experience using oils. If you are finding that, then you are not using the right blend, you are not using the right oils on your skin. Certainly you can find moisturizers with oils and those are fantastic. I love that you can find moisturizers with plant-based oils and you can find the hundred percent oils or you can find moisturizers that contain all. Both are great, but be sure to look at the ingredient list and make sure that the moisturizer in particular doesn’t have any parabens, fragrance or other endocrine disrupting chemicals, hormone disrupting chemicals like these in your skincare products. Other harmful ingredients like dimethicone is one that is used in a lot of even natural skincare products as an occlusive to trap moisture in. But there are concerns about what this ingredient might be doing to the skin microbiome. All these microorganisms that live on and protect the skin can get out of balance from the use of dimethicone because of how it traps in moisture and doesn’t allow the skin to breathe the way that natural plant-based oils can.

When you are applying oils to the face, I want to give you some tips on using plant-based oils, especially when you are using them on the face. First of all, what I love to do is to make sure the oils are at room temperature. If you have been outside, if you just received a shipment and you live somewhere cold, you want to make sure that you warm the oils up at least to room temperature. If you want them a little warmer, you can also just warm them in your hands. So I have our Glow Boost here, and what I will oftentimes do is do an application in my hand, and then just warm the oils up in my hands so you can rub them together, hold them in your hands, and then you want to press them into your face so that they absorb in the areas where you want them.

So if you have an oily area, maybe your T zone, then you avoid that area with the direct oils. And unless you feel like you can use that hydration and depending upon the oils, but just pressing into the areas where you need it, then that is a great way to use plant-based oils. Then after you press them, then you can do more of the sweeping motions and blend it in with the other products that you have been applying to your face. You can also mix plant-based oils with other products. So for example, at The Spa Dr., I often recommend people blend our step four, our plant based oil blend with step two, our antioxidant serum. Because they make a nice combination and the oils aren’t quite as thick and as strong, especially in areas like around the eye area, it is nice to do a combination.

I also think it is important to just really understand when you are using plant-based oils that it might take a little time to get used to them. If you haven’t used plant based oils, experiment with them, use them in different areas of your face, try them in combination with other products and just have fun with them and experiment with them. A lot of times people ask me about their children, so maybe you have a teenager or children in your home and you are wondering about skin care products for them. I think it’s important for educating girls early on, and boys too, educating your children about the proper use of skincare. Because at some point they are going to start using products and if you could introduce them to natural products before they start getting introduced to products by their friends, then that’s a great way to educate them and to get them on board with using more natural products, understanding how to use them.

And a lot of times teenagers are going to be more prone to acne. So again, educating the use of all plant based oils, which they absolutely can benefit from them and use them, it’s just a matter of using them properly and maybe combining with other products that will help with balancing the oil production and their skin and making sure that they understand you don’t want to strip your skin. Whether you have dry skin, oily skin, sensitive skin, mature skin, young skin, whatever. You don’t want to strip the skin. This is one of the biggest mistakes people make because the oils that naturally occur on your skin are there for a reason. They are there to help protect your skin, help protect the barrier function of your skin, the mild acidity, the skin microbiome, all to protect the skin, keep it healthy, keep it functioning the way it’s supposed to. And when people are using these foaming stripping kinds of high pH cleansers, it’s actually damaging that natural oil production at all the protective benefits that it provides. So make sure that you educate yourself, help educate others. If you have children in your home, I have three kids I have been working on educating them. I have got a son and two girls and all of them use natural skincare products and they are also helping teach others.

I want to go through the different skin types, the five different skin types of The Spa Dr. and some tips with each one of these skin types. So we have our Amber, Olivia, Sage, Emmett and Heath, skin types. And if you don’t know your skin type, just go over to theskinquiz.com you can find out for yourself which of these you are.

Let’s start with the Sage skin type. The Sage skin types tend to be drier, and concerned about aging and the impact that maybe they are aging faster than their friends, around them and they are seeing more of that. What we want to do with plant-based oils is to make sure that we are using them to hydrate and protect and nourish the skin. These are fantastic for Sage skin types. So you shouldn’t be afraid to use a plant based oil directly and straight on your face and all areas of your skin. But again, if you have any oily areas, you can skip those areas. Maybe it’s around your nose. If you tend to be oiler there, then you could just skip that area. Or if you tend to still have areas at the T zone, you can blend those with other products. But Sage skin types, just do so with the oil blends and doing them straight.

I recommend the plant based oil as your final step and you can cleanse first. I do like oils in cleansers. Oil based cleansers are fantastic for Sage skin types. And then following with your serum, your moisturizer, and then ending with your plant-based oil blend, like we have at The Spa Dr. With the Amber skin types, it’s going to be similar where you are going to want to use it as a fourth step after you have done the cleansing, the serum, the moisturizer. And doing that as a fourth step. You can blend the step four with the other steps, like with your plant-based oil, with other steps to give you extra hydration, extra glow. But for the Amber skin types, what you want to notice is an evening of your skin tone and the antioxidant.

Antioxidants are so important for the Amber skin types, both internally and externally. So you are getting those in plant based oil blends. So just make sure you use those liberally. Use plenty of it around your skin. What you don’t want to feel is that your skin feeling oily or sticky or greasy afterwards. You should not experience that after using a plant based oil. If you are, then you are using the wrong plant-based oils or you are using too much or maybe you are noticing in certain areas so then you can change and modify the way you’re using it.

Olivia skin types are going to be more of the oilier skin types. You do want to be mindful of using smaller amounts of plant-based walls in your oilier zones or skipping, if you are very oily and you are breaking out, then you want to skip using the oils just in those areas, but you can still use it in any areas that are dry or that areas that aren’t oily because they do help with balancing the natural oil production in your skin when you’re using the right kinds. If you are a Olivia skin type, you don’t want to be using coconut oil straight on your face. That is an example of one. The oils that we have at The Spa Dr., they are great for Olivia skin types of really all skin types. That is why I picked the oils that we have in there. So you just want to be mindful of which oils you are using and where, but you still want to use them. You don’t want to miss out on the benefits of plant based oils.

And then Emmett and Heath skin types. I am going to group those two together because usually Emmett and Heath skin types have more sensitive, more reactive skin. So I completely understand this as an Emmett skin type, growing up I had a lot of eczema, irritated skin hives, itchy bumps and rashes and all kinds of issues with my skin. So I understand. I was really reactive to skin care products. I am not as reactive as I used to be now because I’ve improved the barrier function of my skin. I’ve actually nourished my skin. I have helped create that really great foundation for my skin from both inside and outside. So from the inside out you could get a lot of support and education around this and my book Clean Skin From Within because that is the whole thing that I talk about in the book is how to nourish your skin from the inside out, but also what you are putting on your skin will help with over time reducing your sensitivity and you still might be reactive to certain things, but you will find out for yourself.

Always do a skin patch test if you tend to have more sensitive skin. That is particularly important for our Emmett, and Heath skin types. You could do just a little on the inside of your jaw, that is a great place to do it because that area of your skin is more like the area of your face. You could also test on the inside of your wrist or your forearm. That is also a place where we have delicate skin. But this right here, on the inside of your jaw, this is definitely going to be more like the skin on your face. So you put a little bit of the product, wait 24 hours, look for any signs of redness, irritation, itching, anything that you might have. If you don’t have a reaction in 24 hours, then you are probably fine to just put it on your face.

You might start with a thin application and then see how you do with that and then use more. If you start with a skin patch test and this is fine, then you can also go here on the forearm. And if that is fine, again, you are good to go. If you have a reaction, then you might be allergic to something that is in the product. It does happen that sometimes allergies occur with natural products. It happens with all skin care products, whether it is synthetic or natural. You can have a reaction to products. It is good to know if you have that. Always good to do a skin patch test with all of the skin types, whether you are Amber, Olivia, Emmett, Heath, Sage, any of the skin types you want to notice a healthy glow. What you don’t want is to feel greasy or sticky. That is not what you want from plant-based oils. If you are experiencing this, you are using the wrong type, you are using the wrong amounts, then you can adjust and play with it, enjoy it.

What you do want to notice is that when people are using the right plant-based oil blend, whatever your skin type, when it’s used properly, what you want to notice right away, you will notice your skin feels more hydrated, it will feel softer and you will feel more hydrated. And if you are noticing that areas are really oily, maybe just adjust where and how you are applying the oils. And then over time what you should notice is that your skin tone should become more even. You will notice the smoothness of your skin, you will notice less redness, irritation, the smoothing out of fine lines. And that can take 30 days. You will start to notice more improvement after 60, 90 days, but keep using the products because consistency is key and it does take time with natural products. It is not a quick fix, like when you go in and get some sort of procedure in your dermatologist’s office, with a treatment, it is going to be different.

Natural skincare products take time because you are building this really important essential foundation for your skin. That natural barrier function of the skin. It needs the essential fatty acids. It needs these nutrients to help support the mild acidity of the skin, the skin microbiome that barrier function of the skin. And so over time your skin is going to be healthier, it’s going to be less reactive, it’s going to be more balanced. And so of course you want to be doing this both from the inside out and on the outside. And plant based oils are a really great way to help build up that skin barrier function.

Now people often ask me, where do I get these? Where do I shop for these? And there are plenty of places to find good plant-based oil blends, your local health food store, your local whole foods. Something like that could be a good place to find plant-based oil blends. When you are looking for them. Make sure that they are organic, that they are super clean and a reputable brand that you know is testing for impurities that has good quality control. Believe me, it is really important because as a manufacturer myself, I know what skin care companies can get away with and it is really up to the manufacturer to follow these guidelines.

While the FDA and FTC, they certainly have guidelines for skin care manufacturers. They are not stringent. They are particularly not stringent when it comes to things like natural and clean. The word natural, the word hypoallergenic actually has no regulations around that. There are no criteria that people have to meet in order to use the word natural or hypoallergenic. That is just a marketing claim. So it really depends upon the company and their practices. And I know that with my company we have really strict quality control.

We look at all the ingredients that come in and we test all the raw materials when they come in for purity, stability that they are what they say they are. We test these things. And then when we finish the product, we test them again. And we have practices that we maintain. We look for organic, we look for wild crafted, we look for free of genetically modified ingredients. We look to make sure that we are not having impurities and all of this is important. And we also want to be free of any common allergens and all of that. So it is important to work with or find oils that come from a reputable source that they are doing this kind of thing. It is not always easy to know. A lot of times you will find a brand that you love and then they get bought up by a bigger company. And the practices that they had initially maybe aren’t quite the same.

So education is key and that is why I wanted to do this video to help you understand that all of this, the organic, the clean, the quality control, you find that at The Spa Dr. You can find really pure, clean plant based on oil at The Spa Dr., We have done the work for you. You can really believe me that we use clean, pure, organic, the perfect combination where we formulate very carefully with our products that contain oils and all natural ingredients. And so we have oils in our cleanser, our moisturizer, we have our step four Glow boost and we have our daily essentials, which is the four step system.

We have other products too, we even have body products that contain pure plant based oils. And you can really see that if you look at something like our Glow Boost and I am just going to put some in my hands so you can see how rich the color is of the this oil and you saw it start to drip off my hand because my hands are warm and, and that is what they are supposed to do. It is supposed to be thin, it is supposed to move, it is not supposed to be super thick and that color is there. And I know you can’t smell it as this is a video, but I love the nutty, sweet scent of our plant based oils. And that is what you should experience. It should not smell rancid. It is a clear oil and may not have all these antioxidants and nutrients that you can benefit from using plant based oil blends.

Women love our products, and they give us incredible feedback and men love them too, but most of our customers are women and people of all ages, all skin types, love our products. And if you are looking for all of this, if you are looking for plant based oils and a really great blend and ones that you can trust that they are going to have the purity, the quality and the results that you are looking for, go to The Spa Dr. Store, get the Glow boost or step four or even better get the entire daily essential system. It is a four step system. All that you need for daily use, using it twice a day. It has those plant based oils that are so beautiful, like my favorite oils like Rosehip oil, pomegranate seed oil, raspberry seed oil and also things like sea buckthorn oils, coconut oil, argon oil. These are all really pure, nourishing for the skin. So I hope you have enjoyed these tips today. If you have other questions, which I am sure you will, just let us know, we are happy to answer your questions and I really hope you enjoy the glow that these facial oils bring to you.

I hope you enjoyed part two of the two part series on oils for skincare and have gotten all your questions answered when it comes to oils and skin and if you have any other questions, you can always comment below the podcast at thespadr.com. Also, I invite you to take the skin quiz at theskinquiz.com and find out what messages your skin is trying to tell you about your health. What skin personality type are you? Are you an Amber, Olivia, Sage, Emmett, or Heath. You can find out at theskinquiz.com and I will see you next time on The Spa Dr. podcast.