217-SYNCPodcast_MaryAlice

[00:00:00] Jenny Swisher: ​

[00:00:55] Jenny Swisher: Welcome friends to this episode of the Sync Your Life podcast. Today, I’m with my new friend, Dr. Mina. We are going to talk about some cool things today, things we’ve never actually talked about on the podcast before. So even though we’re 215 episodes in, this is all new and it’s all exciting. It’s actually perfect timing for just the transitions that I’ve made in my life recently and the things that I’m learning about as it pertains to skin health.

[00:01:20] Jenny Swisher: Dr. Mary Alice Mina is a Harvard trained double board certified dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon. She’s a leading expert on skin health and skin care. She’s the host of The Skin Real, which is a podcast for people looking for real skin care guidance by true skin experts. So again, I love learning from experts.

[00:01:37] Jenny Swisher: I love people who are actually out there doing the work. She knows her stuff. So without further ado, Dr. Mina, thank you so much for being here today. I would love for you to just sort of kick us off simply tell us who you are, what you do and everything about you that you want to share.

[00:01:51] Mary Alice Mina: Yeah. Well, Jenny, thank you so much for having me on the podcast.

[00:01:54] Mary Alice Mina: I love what you’re doing and the message you’re sending and it’s great to talk to a another mom and podcaster. So I’m thrilled to be here. And uh, yeah, like you said, I am a. practicing dermatologist. I have a practice in Atlanta, Georgia, and I love being a dermatologist. I love my job. I love what I do. My husband laughs.

[00:02:15] Mary Alice Mina: Like on Monday, I’m like kicking my heels because I love going to the office and seeing my patients. But As I’ve gotten older and my friends are getting older and I see this a lot in my patients, I feel like there’s a lot of frustration that I’m seeing people around my age are starting to have with their skin and, and really even before.

[00:02:36] Mary Alice Mina: And I realized I could reach more people with a healthy message about skincare by speaking on stages, speaking on podcasts like this. By really expanding my reach beyond my four walls as a doctor one on one with patients, which while I love, I just, uh, am frustrated by all this sort of misinformation out there.

[00:03:00] Mary Alice Mina: And I see that a lot of my friends, patients, even myself, we’re getting overwhelmed. There’s so much information. There’s so many people. Telling us typically by this, by that, uh, do this procedure. Don’t do that. And it’s, it’s overwhelming. And so I’m just trying to, uh, spread some real information for people who are interested in having healthy, amazing skin that really reflects how they feel on the inside.

[00:03:27] Mary Alice Mina: So that’s kind of my mission.

[00:03:29] Jenny Swisher: I love it. It reminds me of, you know, I’m in the world of nutrition. And so it’s always like, You know, we got to read the labels, we got to know what we’re, what we’re putting into our body. The same thing goes for what we’re putting on our body. Right. And so to, to really, I love what you said about, you never know what you’re being marketed to, as opposed or sold to, as opposed to what really might be best for you.

[00:03:47] Jenny Swisher: So I also like that you’re specifically, you know, today we’re going to focus on sort of the perimenopausal woman, which I find tends to be my, my common listener of the show, a woman who is in her maybe mid to late thirties to forties, and maybe she’s starting to see differences. In her skin, um, this is actually something that’s been popping up for me even lately.

[00:04:07] Jenny Swisher: I know for me, I suffered with acne in my high school years. And of course my doctors were quick to put me on birth control for that, which could be a podcast for another day. Um, but now I’m entering 40 and all of a sudden I’m getting these like chin breakouts. Like my skin is a lot more dry in the winter.

[00:04:25] Jenny Swisher: Like I’m just noticing these changes myself. So I would love for you to share with us. What are some common skin changes that you’re working with women about? as it happens in middle age.

[00:04:35] Mary Alice Mina: Yeah. So everything, first of all, everything you’re experiencing is totally normal. And, and in fact, very, very common. I hear this a lot in my patients, that people are like, why am I getting acne?

[00:04:47] Mary Alice Mina: I’m in my late thirties. I’m in my forties. I’m even older, you know, fifties plus, why am I still getting acne? We tend to think that this is something that just happens in puberty. But not the case. And really, there are so many changes that happen in a woman’s life in the perimenopause, menopausal period, which typically spans sort of your 40s for most people.

[00:05:11] Mary Alice Mina: Um, the average age of menopause is about 51 in the US. So tends to be sort of mid to late 40s, but you can have these sort of perimenopausal symptoms. Um, uh, many years before, in fact, so, um, a lot of changes are going on in our bodies, our hormones, our estrogen levels are fluctuating wildly for many women, testosterone levels can be decreasing and fluctuating and, and so that kind of wreaks havoc on a lot of our, uh, our skin, our hair, our nails.

[00:05:41] Mary Alice Mina: And one of those. Things that you can experience is is acne and and we tend to call it hormonal acne when it’s more localized along the lower face and the jawline and it can be difficult to treat because a lot of times in, I don’t want to say when we’re older right than teenagers, our skin is also more dry and so a lot of the things we might use in a teenager without many side effects at all can be really irritating for our skin.

[00:06:10] Mary Alice Mina: Uh, more mature ladies, right?

[00:06:14] Jenny Swisher: Yeah. I’m glad you said that. I actually have two young daughters, uh, just three and seven, and they have biracial skin and their skin is always dry. My youngest is always dealing with sort of the eczema and she’s, she’s always itch my back, itch my back. You know, she’s dealing with like the itchy, dry skin.

[00:06:29] Jenny Swisher: So it’s been a task for us to find skincare in our family that we, that we like, and that’s non toxic that’s not endocrine disrupting. And, um, that’s really helpful for our skin. So I would love for you to share. If a woman is experiencing this, like if she’s, you know, in her mid thirties to forties, and she’s starting to say, yeah, I’m seeing these changes with my skin, what do you advise?

[00:06:52] Jenny Swisher: Like, how do you work with women in that way? Like, what is the best protocol to follow or, you know, products that you might recommend or whatever the case is.

[00:06:59] Mary Alice Mina: Yeah. So, uh, I always. Well, I, I’m a big proponent of keeping it simple, and I think people are overdoing it, uh, especially sort of my, my peer group. I see it all the time, and I see patients coming in with tons of products.

[00:07:14] Mary Alice Mina: So we’re, I, I, my personal opinion is that we overdo it with skincare products. We really actually don’t need a lot. You need a gentle cleanser, you need a moisturizer, and you need a sunscreen, and that can be as simple as you want. Um, you can, of course. Add extras and other things as well, but that’s kind of your baseline and people don’t believe me, but I pretty much get all of my skincare stuff at the drugstore.

[00:07:39] Mary Alice Mina: So you do not need to spend a lot of money on skincare products. Now I know some people really enjoy the like experience of using products or their bedtime routine or their skincare routine. But it is, it’s not necessary. And in fact, sometimes these products, they have a lot of fragrances and it can be very irritating.

[00:08:01] Mary Alice Mina: So personally, I like to keep it very simple and, uh, use ingredients that have been well researched and studied so that we know there’s good data behind their use and not really experimental. Or just what the latest influencer on social media is touting. So just, I, I don’t use fragrances. I keep things very bland with my products.

[00:08:26] Mary Alice Mina: But, um, the other tip is just, you’ve got to like how it feels. I really don’t like the feel of a lot of stuff on my skin. So I do keep it very simple. Uh, for other people, I tend to have more oily skin. But if someone has very dry skin, then they are going to need something very thick, more, um, a little oilier, more of a cream than someone who has maybe more oily skin that wants more of like a gel, a lotion, something thinner.

[00:08:53] Mary Alice Mina: So it’s not like there’s necessarily one product or one thing you should get. You really have to find what works for you. If you like how it feels, you’re going to use it. If you don’t like how it feels, you’re not going to use it. So, um, it, sometimes there’s a lot of like playing around to see what works.

[00:09:11] Jenny Swisher: Yeah. So for me personally, I know what you mean. I mean, I have several friends who are influencers in the health and wellness space, and even some that have gotten into different skincare products. And it’s interesting because sometimes you watch, you know, on social media and you see these like seven or 10 step skincare routines.

[00:09:29] Jenny Swisher: And I know for me, I’m like, girl, I got, I lost interest in like five seconds because I’m not dedicated to my skin health, obviously like our largest organ. Um, but at the same point, like I’m, I’m not going to stand in my bathroom for 30 minutes. On my face. I’m going to clean it. I’m going to moisturize it.

[00:09:45] Jenny Swisher: I’m going to move on. That’s, that’s my theory too. So, um, I like, I like what you said there. I want to, I want to say this too, that I just recently read a statistic that said that women, by the time we’re, you know, we’re using our, our, our body or whether it’s body washes, facial creams, moisturizers, whatever it is we’re using on a day to day basis.

[00:10:05] Jenny Swisher: By the time we get through a 24 hour cycle, most women are using over 160 different Chemicals and ingredients on their skin. So I do think that, you know, awareness of knowing what’s going into your product and like you said, finding the well researched stuff is very important. I also think that we’re kind of seeing this trend.

[00:10:25] Jenny Swisher: At least I’m seeing this trend through social media, through just my, my friend connections of wanting to restore our skin and keep it healthy as we age. For this sort of younger look, right? Like that’s always, I feel like that’s always the thing. Like my, my mouth, my mom talks about, you know, how do I get rid of my wrinkles or how do I look younger?

[00:10:43] Jenny Swisher: Can you touch on the whole anti aging phenomenon too for us? Yeah,

[00:10:47] Mary Alice Mina: well, it’s, if you, uh, read the news or watch social media, even 10 to 12 year olds, right. Are getting into the anti aging routine, which is crazy. Um, but yeah, so I, I think everyone falls in a different, you know, there’s a spectrum, right. Of how much do you want to.

[00:11:05] Mary Alice Mina: Uh, pursue anti aging, but really what I would encourage people to do is not so much anti aging, which is like reversing. Um, it’s very, sounds very aggressive. I think we need to sort of understand what’s going on with our bodies. Understand it’s normal. These changes you might be experiencing now. Normal doesn’t necessarily mean there’s nothing to be done and you just have to suck it up and deal with it.

[00:11:29] Mary Alice Mina: Right. But I think if you have an understanding of what’s happening, you’re not alone. This is happening to every woman who lives long enough, who will go through this sort of perimenopause and menopause. Um, I think that it just helps you have a better grasp of what’s going on. The other thing I would say is we always think about what are we going to put on our skin or, um, what are we going to inject?

[00:11:52] Mary Alice Mina: And I really think we need to think about our skin as It’s truly an organ that works with all the other organs in our body, and we really have to nurture it from the inside out. And maybe that sounds hokey or a little too holistic, but more and more we’re seeing research showing that, um, our nutrients that we eat and take in or the food that we eat, um, exercise, all sleep, stress, inflammation within our bodies, all of these things show up on our skin and affect how our skin looks and that we’re not even talking about.

[00:12:31] Mary Alice Mina: Stuff you’re putting on. So I think they’re to before we even talk about anti aging and how to reverse it. We need to talk about how can we maximize our overall health during this period because your skin is going to reflect that. If you’ve had a all nighter, right? You don’t wake up in the morning and look great when you are stressed at work or have something stressful going on.

[00:12:57] Mary Alice Mina: Your skin doesn’t look as vibrant and youthful, right? So these things affect us. And especially as our body is going through such drastic changes during this. Period in our lives. It’s really important to really nurture our bodies and take care of it from the inside out. And I think that’s a big area that we’re missing.

[00:13:17] Mary Alice Mina: Everyone just wants to know, well, what cream should I put on? Right? Or what procedure should I have? So I yeah. I could do all the procedures in the world, but if you’re smoking or you’re using tanning beds, you’re never going to get the results you want. So, um, the first step is just taking care of yourself within diet, exercise, sleep, um, all of those things.

[00:13:39] Mary Alice Mina: And, and then we can talk about anti aging, but I, I find that by doing those things, you’re kind of preventing a lot of the signs of aging that we see, and you’re kind of pushing it and delaying it. Uh, And you don’t get that sort of premature aging that you might have. So, um, I don’t know if that was the answer you were looking for.

[00:14:00] Mary Alice Mina: That’s

[00:14:00] Jenny Swisher: perfect. And that’s, that’s totally within my wheelhouse too, because I’m sort of the fitness nutrition girl. That’s constantly advocating, working on your health from the inside

[00:14:09] Mary Alice Mina: out. So, yeah, you have to. And I love that. There seems to be much more of an interest in that and and people will say, well, the medical community, they just want to get pills and this and that.

[00:14:21] Mary Alice Mina: And our health care system is not set up and designed to to talk about preventative care and to really encourage it. And so I love that there’s this kind of wave of people saying, wait a minute, like. How we’re doing things is backwards. We’re, we’re being reactionary to our health when really we need to think about, uh, preventing it.

[00:14:40] Mary Alice Mina: And um, you know, I, I did a post recently where I said, I’ve, I’ve had access to every laser and device that I want, and I’ve never used them on, on my face or my neck. And people are like, well, well why? Why wouldn’t you use it? Why don’t you do that? I’m like, well, I don’t need it. I mean, I’ll use it if I need it, but I don’t need it.

[00:15:00] Mary Alice Mina: So I’ve found that by really taking care of my body, I can sort of stave off doing some of these other stuff that watching social media or watching people, you might think, Oh, you got to do all these, all these things to get healthy skin, but you really don’t. Um, now I, I certainly. I think those, there’s a time and a place for those things for people who are interested.

[00:15:23] Mary Alice Mina: But if that, if you think just going lasers or Botox or fillers is going to anti age you and you don’t have to kind of work on the inside, I think you’re going to be disappointed.

[00:15:35] Jenny Swisher: Yeah. No, I completely agree. And I think it’s funny because, um, I think about the things that I hear women complain about the most when it comes to, you know, looking older, so to speak, like I’ll hear people say.

[00:15:48] Jenny Swisher: You know that they don’t like the flab under their arms or they don’t like the sagging, you know, beneath their eyes or whatever. I remember my grandma used to talk about her double chin. You know, she used to say, I hate this double chin and she’d press her, press her chin, you know? And what’s interesting is coming from the world of like fitness and nutrition and understanding how much exercise and food.

[00:16:08] Jenny Swisher: Impacts our body and our health it’s, it’s hard for me sometimes, cause I’m thinking, well, maybe we should follow the approach of, you know, building muscle, especially in these sort of perimenopausal years, which again could be a podcast in and of itself and has been, um, because. If you’re complaining about flabby arms, perhaps it’s because there’s skin there and there’s not enough muscle there, right?

[00:16:31] Jenny Swisher: So maybe we need to be looking at the inside as opposed to just the skin. Same thing goes for, um, you know, the wrinkles and all those kinds of things. I find, I know, again, my grandmother, my family members have all complained about those things. But have, but also never really took or understood like what it meant to really dial in nutrition, right?

[00:16:52] Jenny Swisher: It was, I know my, my grandparents, um, my grandma was known for like the biscuits and gravy and, and all the, you know, the fried foods and all the things. And, and I think part of that is just what she, she didn’t know what she didn’t know, but there’s nothing at fault there. I mean, her food was real good, you know, I miss those days, but at the same point.

[00:17:10] Jenny Swisher: You know, I wonder, you know, if, if those things wouldn’t have been the case, had she embraced more of a whole food diet, which is something that we talk about here on the show often. So I’m glad that you said that because I mean, health is from the inside out and that’s something that I’m constantly advocating.

[00:17:23] Jenny Swisher: People see me as, uh, you know, especially in my previous life, a fitness enthusiast, someone who wants to teach personal training. And, um, all the, all the workouts and all the things, but in reality, you know, I have seen it firsthand, especially in these virtual consults that I’ve been doing with women in the last six months.

[00:17:41] Jenny Swisher: I have seen it firsthand where you can have a woman who’s the picture of health on the outside. She is someone who is maybe got the six pack or the, you know, the, the toned arms and the tone body. And she’s, she’s into her workouts and all that. But then you look at her on a hormone health level or you look at her as far as metabolic health and endocrine health and you’re like, whoa, like things are really messed up because there’s not, there’s, there’s like a certain level of, of attention that’s not being paid to, um, to internal health.

[00:18:12] Jenny Swisher: I don’t know how else to word that, but anyways. Yeah. All this is well.

[00:18:16] Mary Alice Mina: Yeah, and I think if if people enjoy like I enjoy Botox, I enjoy, um, I doing Sculptra and fillers. Um, and I think they have a place if you want that and you enjoy it, but you have to sort of think of that as like the icing on top that you do that one sort of everything else is, um, you know, enjoy it.

[00:18:37] Mary Alice Mina: At its peak, and you’re working hard on those other things. Um, I think, unfortunately, we do it sort of the opposite way and people spend a lot of money on products and procedures that, um, they’re not getting the results they want because they haven’t really focused on all the other things. And the good news is, um, in some ways, it’s easier to focus on the inside because it’s It’s um, a lot of times cheaper and, and it just sort of helps you in all aspects of your life too.

[00:19:07] Mary Alice Mina: So, um, yeah, I really love just that skincare. We’re really talking more about a holistic approach to it and not just put on this cream. Certainly there are times and places you need creams and the things I like and, and don’t like. Um, but I, I really think focusing on the inside first is going to 10 X your results.

[00:19:26] Jenny Swisher: I used to be involved in this business and I, in this particular business where my success partner in the business, my, my accountability partner in the business was always telling me, Jenny, you just got to wake up earlier. You just got to wake up earlier and put in the work early.

[00:19:40] Jenny Swisher: Right. And both of us, very like entrepreneurial minded. And I kept telling her over and over, like, I do not. Do well in the mornings. Like I really need sleep. And so we kind of had this constant, like battle between us, right? Where she’s like, I got so much done before 5 AM. I set my alarm for what I did.

[00:19:56] Jenny Swisher: And I would say to her, like, how are you not just so exhausted? Like all day long? Like, I, I mean, I can’t, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I can’t do that. And she was like, Oh, she was like, uh, Bobby Brown makes a great under eye concealer. And when she, when she would say that to me, I remember thinking to myself, like.

[00:20:13] Jenny Swisher: I can’t wait to fast forward 20 years and see, I’ve, I’ve just been more of like, no, I’m going to sleep in. I’m going to make sure that I get my seven to eight hours of sleep. I’m not necessarily the early bird and I’m going to pay attention to that. And I’m okay with that. And hopefully I don’t have to use the under eye concealer, um, you know, to, to, to cover things up.

[00:20:32] Jenny Swisher: So just a funny little story, but I think we, as women, we get into that. Where it’s just like, Oh, I can just cover it up or I can, you know, but then you, you get to 40 or 50, your skin starts to change and you’re like, what’s happening? Well, perhaps it was the years of lack of sleep or the year, you know, the years that we haven’t paid attention to that.

[00:20:50] Mary Alice Mina: Right. It, it, I always say like mother nature is going to always win. And you had mentioned earlier about like creepy skin. I was actually just having this talk with a lady. Today, and she had had some liposuction, her arms looked great and thin, but then she was saying, but you know, now I I’m noticing this crepey skin, what’s going on here.

[00:21:12] Mary Alice Mina: And, and I was trying to tell her, well, you didn’t notice it before because you had more volume. And now that volume has gone down and now, now your skin has not stretched back. And, and that’s where sort of understanding what’s going on with your body comes into play because. These things are going to happen, at least in this, with the information we have now, right?

[00:21:30] Mary Alice Mina: We have not gotten to the point that we, our bodies aren’t going to age. Now, maybe we will get there, but we’re not there yet. So, I also think you have to have some grace, uh, because you, you’re going to beat yourself up if you are staring in your mirror every day. looking at all the flaws, looking at how different you look from when you were 20.

[00:21:51] Mary Alice Mina: Yes, I’ve got some like jiggle on my arms and my skin doesn’t bounce back quite as much. I mean, this is just, uh, things that happen in natural and I’m gonna, I’m doing all the things that I can to slow it as much as possible, but I’m also not going to spend every waking moment obsessing about things that really are beyond my control and that are.

[00:22:12] Mary Alice Mina: And, you know, part of just maturing and aging. So I think there has to be that embrace, too, that yes, things are changing and may not look exactly as they did, but we don’t necessarily have to go back to that, right? There’s so many positive things that have come since we were all in our 20s with super tight skin and no fat or whatever.

[00:22:34] Mary Alice Mina: And so I think we just have to give ourselves some grace that we don’t have to be perfect. Our skin doesn’t have to be 100 percent perfect and tight in tone. Really what matters again is like on the inside.

[00:22:45] Jenny Swisher: Yeah. Well, I’m curious. I don’t want to go down too far of a rabbit hole with this because I know we could probably talk about this particular thing, um, quite some time, but I’m interested in your perspective and not just like that proactive skin care regimen that you talked about in the beginning, but also.

[00:22:59] Jenny Swisher: Your, your stance, I guess, on cosmetics, I know for me, I’m not a huge makeup person, so I’m not someone who, I, I, I use it when I’m going to be on video or if I’m out and about, but otherwise, it was funny because I recently led a master class, virtual event and, I’m a, I’m a, I’m a, I’m a makeup artist, but I also do cosmetics training and I had my makeup done, which I haven’t had done in a really long time.

[00:23:18] Jenny Swisher: And my oldest daughter looked at me and like, she was like, what happened? Like what she was like, who are you, mom? Like, because I just, I was like, well, thank you. Thank you for the compliment. So anyways, I’d love to just hear your perspective on, on cosmetics.

[00:23:32] Mary Alice Mina: Like makeup, makeup, cosmetics. Yes. Yeah. I am also a minimalist with makeup and partially because I don’t really know how to use it. Um, I, my mom never wore makeup. I never had an older sister. And so I really never learned. I’m kind of like a one trick pony. I do like to put on mascara to me, sort of opening my eyes up makes me feel really good.

[00:23:57] Mary Alice Mina: Uh, so I, I will usually put on some mascara. I’ll do maybe a light little shimmery, uh, eye shadow and maybe a little bit of blush. And that’s kind of it for me. I don’t wear foundation. I don’t like the feel of stuff on my skin. Uh, so I keep it really light. And that’s where I say, you know, If you have nice skin and you take care of your skin, you don’t need to wear a lot of makeup.

[00:24:23] Mary Alice Mina: And so I, I, I see, unfortunately, a lot of people, tons of makeup, they really cake it on. They think they’re kind of camouflaging things, but really, um, they’re not. And so I, I would love to help those people so that they can have skin where they don’t feel like they have to cover it up. But I do like if I’m going out with my husband or going out, I might put on some lipstick.

[00:24:44] Mary Alice Mina: I put on some lipstick for you, Jenny. But a lot of times it’s just my aquaphor or something like Vaseline. Um, but I feel like if I had my eyes done, then I’m like awake and open. Um, so that’s kind of my, uh, if I were like stranded on a desert Island and I could only pick one makeup product, that would be, that would be mascara.

[00:25:04] Jenny Swisher: Yeah, it’s, it’s funny because, um, my, my, both of my girls, like I said, three and seven years old are 50, 000 times more girly than I ever dreamed of being. So I was sort of born a tomboy, like very into sports, not really big into fixing my hair or makeup. Both of my girls, it’s like, God thought it would be really funny to give me two really girly girls.

[00:25:26] Jenny Swisher: So they both want to carry the purse and they want to put their little lipsticks in there. Well, the other day when I was going to put some makeup on for myself for the first time in a long time, all my makeup’s missing my, my lip gloss. And it was all butchered, you know, So I’m like, I am not about to use me some Hello Kitty, you know,

[00:25:46] Mary Alice Mina: red, wet, wild, right.

[00:25:49] Jenny Swisher: So, um, but anyways, I, I digress, but what I’m, what I’m saying here is it’s funny that you mentioned the Vaseline on the lips and that kind of thing, because my oldest, uh, Must have gotten hold of some sort of, I don’t know if it was a YouTube video or where she saw it, but she saw people using like Vaseline on their lips.

[00:26:07] Jenny Swisher: So, you know, one day she comes out of, you know, she thinks she has a skin care routine, so she gets out of the shower, she bought this, she’s got this big hair, so she bought this headband that keeps her hair out of her face because she’s seen, you know, older. And she starts to mimic this like skin routine.

[00:26:23] Jenny Swisher: And I’m sitting there thinking like, well, she did not see this from me because I do not do this. Um, and so she starts putting the Vaseline on her lips, right? A few minutes later, I look over and my three year old of course, mimics her. So my three year old gets up on the bathroom stool. And next thing you know, her entire face is just covered.

[00:26:41] Jenny Swisher: She’s shiny,

[00:26:42] Mary Alice Mina: like, shiny, you know, that the kids call that slugging. Jenny. Oh,

[00:26:49] Jenny Swisher: I’m out of it. And I told her, I’m like, what are you doing? And they were like, yeah, yeah, you do mom. I’m like, no, I don’t. I’ve never heard this before. before. Anyways, maybe I’m just out of the loop that they

[00:27:00] must

[00:27:00] Mary Alice Mina: have. Yeah, they definitely watch some like tick tock where, um, so yeah, I mean, you can slug slugging is basically just putting on an occlusive ointment to help hold in moisture.

[00:27:11] Mary Alice Mina: And we use it a lot with people who have very dry skin, atopic dermatitis or eczema. And, uh, you kind of, um, when the skin is a little bit damp, you smear it on and it really helps hydrate the skin when it’s really, really dry now. Um, You know, most people don’t need to cover their whole face, but yeah, there are videos where people will do that.

[00:27:31] Mary Alice Mina: You’re

[00:27:31] Jenny Swisher: telling me my seven and three year old know more than I do about this topic, which is a surprise. Not surprised. Um, but yeah, it’s, it’s just, it is funny. It’s also funny to just watch, watch them think that, you know, think that they’re going to start a skincare routine, which is funny. But yeah, I mean, I think, you know, everybody has, for me, like I said, in my teenage years when I was dealing with acne and obviously hormone imbalance issues, which is part of my story.

[00:27:54] Jenny Swisher: I tried everything. I saw dermatologists. I did the Accutane. I did so many different things trying to sort of heal it, right? I did ointments. I did everything. It wasn’t until my 20s when I finally was like, it actually was an unrelated thing. I started getting into health and fitness. I started doing this, this three week cleanse that was all about removing dairy and different inflammatory foods from your diet.

[00:28:16] Jenny Swisher: And I actually saw my skin clear up. From removing inflammatory foods and that was my first clue of the whole internal health piece like, oh, well, maybe this is something I need to pay attention to when I started to figure out my hormone imbalance issues and the fact that I was very estrogen dominant.

[00:28:32] Jenny Swisher: My estrogen was way too high for me, and especially in my fertile years. Um, It was just, it was like an aha moment, right? When I could finally start to really focus on getting my hormones back in balance, which for me meant all the things we’ve said, proper sleep, nutrition, like lifestyle factors, right?

[00:28:50] Jenny Swisher: Getting, getting the proper supplementation that’s unique to me. And when that started to happen, it was like my skin just cleared up. I had finally, I had a glowing skin by my late twenties that I would have died for in my teen years when you really, you know, truly, truly care. And so anyways, all that to say that, um, It’s been a journey for me.

[00:29:10] Jenny Swisher: And so I always kind of had oily skin, like when I had the acne and all the things, and then, like I said, now it’s like, I, I’ve heard people say this before. They’re like, I turned 40 and all of a sudden, everything changed, right? Yeah. All the time. And it’s true for me, like really heading into age 40. I remember thinking like, why are my hands so dry?

[00:29:28] Jenny Swisher: All of a sudden, I never had dry hands. Yeah. You know, why am I getting these breakouts again on my chin? Like things have really, really shifted. So. I know for me, being someone who works with a lot of women that are in this sort of midlife, we can be really, really hard on ourselves. We can be really hard on ourselves about our bodies.

[00:29:46] Jenny Swisher: We can be really hard on ourselves about, I like to say, being the best for those we love. Right? We do, we wear all the hats as women. We’re wives, sisters, you know, mothers, all the things. And so we can be really, really hard on ourselves. I just shared on social media today, a post it. That’s in my bathroom that says, talk nicely to yourself today.

[00:30:04] Jenny Swisher: And, um, I think we as women need that message. So I would love to hear just from your perspective, being someone who obviously also sees women who are maybe struggling or upset with the way that they look skin wise, what would your advice be to them?

[00:30:18] Mary Alice Mina: Gosh, um, it’s so challenging and I really feel for them and I experience this too.

[00:30:24] Mary Alice Mina: It’s not like every time I look in the mirror, I’m like, Oh, my skin looks amazing. I love this, right? I see it too. It’s happening to me as well. Um, I would just tell people to, I love your thought. Talk nicely to yourself. Think about the things we say to ourselves. We would never say that to a stranger, right?

[00:30:41] Mary Alice Mina: Or someone that we love and we talk very negatively to ourselves. So I would, uh, encourage people to, instead of focusing on like your outward appearance, at least in the beginning to really take a deep dive into, um, Your, your whole health, what’s going on in your life sort of mindset and your point about your skin got better once you control the inflammation and the things going on inside, we’re learning more and more how our gut microbiome affects.

[00:31:11] Mary Alice Mina: So much of our all our organs, including our skin and the skin frequently is a reflection of things that are going on internally. Sometimes that’s the first sign of something going on like diabetes or or other cancers. So, you know, back to your question, like, what would I tell someone I would say, be kind to yourself, I would say, give yourself grace.

[00:31:34] Mary Alice Mina: That things are changing. You aren’t the same person. You’re maybe had children. Your body doesn’t look the exact same way and that’s okay. And it doesn’t need to be right for most of the people listening. We’re not super models or celebrities who have to rely on our looks for our careers. Right. I feel for those people because that’s super, super stressful, right?

[00:31:58] Mary Alice Mina: They are really not allowed to change in age. Right. But for most of us, My, my livelihood doesn’t depend on that. Yours doesn’t. Right. And so, um, give yourself grace. Also, don’t compare yourself to someone on, um, you know, a celebrity who has, um, unlimited resources, who spends eight hours a day working on their, their beauty, their health routine.

[00:32:21] Mary Alice Mina: Right. When you’re just trying to squeeze in 30 minutes before work. Um, so I, I would say the comparison has to stop. If you find that you are seeing people or following people on social media who Uh make you feel bad about yourself kind of blocking them and what i’ll call sort of canceling the noise And really just surround yourself with people who share your values and Encourage you where it’s less about what are you wearing?

[00:32:47] Mary Alice Mina: What do you look like? Uh that kind of stuff that sort of superficiality because I think that can just really wear you down So I like to tell people you got to cancel the noise cancel the people who make you feel bad about yourself Uh realize that these images that we see Frequently are filtered.

[00:33:03] Mary Alice Mina: They’re photoshopped. So don’t compare yourself to that. That’s not reality and Embrace, you know your imperfections and if there is something that really really bothers you about your skin see a dermatologist because there are things we can do to to help and I think you’ll save a lot of time and money and frustration by just going to the expert getting their guidance and and expertise and You know, if a little Botox is going to make you feel more rested, it’s going to make you feel brighter and going to give you more confidence, then go do that.

[00:33:41] Mary Alice Mina: Um, if getting a chemical peel to kind of refresh your skin from some sun damage back in the day, go do that, um, if that makes you feel better. But, you I think the comparison is a big problem. And then, um, sort of thinking as women that we aren’t allowed to age, right? My husband doesn’t stress about his gray hair and his, you know, he might tell me like, actually, I was recording a podcast about dark circles under the eye.

[00:34:09] Mary Alice Mina: And he did kind of later say like, Oh, is there something I can do about that? So I know every now and then little things will, will bother him. It’s not like men are totally immune to it. Right. But they don’t have that. pressure that we have. Like we’re not allowed to age. We’re supposed to have babies and look like we did before we had babies.

[00:34:28] Mary Alice Mina: We’re supposed to have our estrogen basically become non existent and we’re supposed to still look as, you know, vibrant and youthful as we did in our twenties and thirties. So these unrealistic expectations, I would love to see it, um, change. I would love to see more women. 50s, 60s, 70s plus who are healthy, who are strong, who, radiate just beauty, not just by their physical appearance, but by their strength and their intelligence.

[00:34:56] Mary Alice Mina: And, and I, I think as women too, we need to realize we’re more than just what we look like. We should value ourselves for what we bring to our communities, our intelligence, what we bring to our, our work as professionals or whatever you do, whatever gives you value, but. If all your value is how you look, um, then you are going to have a hard time through this period because things are going to change.

[00:35:19] Mary Alice Mina: And there’s, uh, you know, again, we can’t totally fight and eliminate mother nature because ultimately, you know, these things we can’t totally stop.

[00:35:29] Jenny Swisher: That was amazing. That’s a mic drop moment. So it’s the perfect place going or not, but yeah, that’s amazing. And actually, you know, just as you’re talking, it makes me think about just the societal impact.

[00:35:40] Jenny Swisher: You know, the fact that my seven year old understands that there is a skin routine, right? How different that is from when I was seven, 30 years ago. And also just thinking about. You know, the things that my grandma used to always balk about there are some of the things that I love most about her and the things that I am reminded of about her so often, right?

[00:35:59] Jenny Swisher: Like the things that I miss about her, um, are some of the things that she would complain about. And she used to have this really funny phrase where she would say, she would worry about like what to wear for something, right? Like, she’d be like, do I wear this? Do I wear this? And she would really fret and worry about.

[00:36:13] Jenny Swisher: What was the best outfit to wear? And then she would eventually just throw up her hands and she would pick something and she would say, what difference does it make Jenny? When I die, you can pick out what I wear to my grave because it doesn’t matter anymore. Right. And she would, and she would make that, but it was such a funny comment, but also just so true and so like, you know, positioning of like, What, what really matters at the end of the day, like at the end of the day, what matters are our relationships.

[00:36:37] Jenny Swisher: What matters is how we make other people feel. What matters is how much, how we love ourselves. Right. And sometimes I feel like we can get so caught up in the social media highlight reels or seeing what other people are doing and seeing these 17 step skincare routines and all the things that we, we get really down on ourselves.

[00:36:54] Jenny Swisher: So I agree with you, like talk kindly to yourself today. Um, whether. Your body, your skin, your, whatever you’re, whatever you’re going through, um, I am, you know, like I said, I’ve entered 40 perimenopausal symptoms are strong, um, at this moment. And I, my, my listeners are like, this is no big deal. They hear me talk about it all the time.

[00:37:13] Jenny Swisher: Period is impending, right? Coming any moment. And tonight I was cutting up a steak for my daughter and I just started crying out of nowhere. So apparently that happens too. And very, you just, my husband looked at me like, Oh my gosh, like, what’s the problem? Like, is, are you upset about the cow? Like, what’s wrong?

[00:37:28] Jenny Swisher: I’m like, no, no, no. I’m just, I was thinking about something else entirely. Right. So, and then also just wanted to say too, that, I totally agree with you that we are so concerned as women about different things, like how we look and how we age, and meanwhile, I think my husband got his first haircut since November today, it’s been three months.

[00:37:46] Jenny Swisher: I was like, you have got to go. I’m pushing you out the door. You got to go get a haircut. And he just shrugs like, okay, you know, whatever I, you know, at the end of the day, I love him for him and he loves me for me. Right. And so if I’m really going to get hung up in. The wrinkles or the pimple on my chin or whatever it is, like I need to do some deeper work and that’s what it’s all about.

[00:38:04] Jenny Swisher: That’s what that’s what your message is. Yeah. Yeah. I would love for you to share, um, with us. Well, first of all, the other thing I wanted to mention that I don’t want to forget is I’m always advocating and making sure that people know, you know, get your mammograms, do your, do the work that you need to do.

[00:38:19] Jenny Swisher: Self check same thing goes for your skin, right? Like make sure you’re doing those types of things as well. I would love for you to just tell people, where can they find you? Tell us about the podcast and I’ll make sure that I link everything up in the show notes as well.

[00:38:30] Mary Alice Mina: Yeah. Awesome. Well, Jenny, this was a lot of fun.

[00:38:32] Mary Alice Mina: I feel like we could keep talking forever, but I think we have kids to put to bed. Uh, but, uh, you can, so you can follow me on, um, I’m at Dr. Mina’s skin on all the social media channels. And my podcast is called the skin reel and it’s R E A L, which always makes me laugh that in this day and age, uh, the first thought people have is real like videos, but, uh, yeah, it’s the skin reel.

[00:38:56] Mary Alice Mina: And I, uh, have an episode every Monday and a lot of times I have other dermatologists on talking about things, talking about things that are trending or skincare, uh, habits and myths and, and all that kind of stuff. And, um, it’s a lot of fun and, hopefully providing a lot of good education for everyone.

[00:39:14] Mary Alice Mina: And if people want to learn sort of how do I develop sort of some good skincare habits. I have a PDF that you can download at the skin real. com forward slash habits. And uh, yeah, thanks for including all of that. And yeah, if you’re in the Atlanta or Southeast area, I’m in practice at Bauckham and Mina Derm Surgery.

[00:39:35] Mary Alice Mina: Perfect. Okay.

[00:39:36] Jenny Swisher: Well, we’ll link it all up for everybody in the show notes so they can simply swipe up to get all the links, but thank you so much for taking time out of your evening to be with me and to share your expertise. Never talked skin before on the show. So I’m so

[00:39:47] Mary Alice Mina: grateful to have

[00:39:49] Jenny Swisher: covered. So thank you so much guys for listening and we’ll talk soon.

[00:39:52] Jenny Swisher: Take care.