As someone who's worked with skin as long as I have (almost 15 years), I've encountered plenty of people who experience breakouts on their face, neck, back, and body.

While there are a lot of internal causes and lifestyle factors that contribute to acne, many of these people never realized that the shampoo, conditioner, and styling products they use in their hair can contribute to their problematic skin. 

I used to be one of these people too.

You don't have to sacrifice clear & healthy skin to get the luxurious locks you've always wanted!

In the last few weeks I've met a lot of new people who've asked if their hair products could be breaking them out, and after a quick glance at their product ingredient lists, my answer was a definitive 'YES' each and every single time. 

Since so many I've chatted with face to face have wondered this, I decided to record an episode for my new podcast with my thoughts on the matter. You can listen to it on anchor.fm, my itunes channel The Healthy Skin & Beauty Show (look for episode 0029), or I've attached here as an audio file from my YouTube channel.

While the showering tips & the ingredients mentioned to avoid aren't a complete list of what makes a difference, they're a great place to start. Especially if you're wondering if this could be affecting your skin & what to do about it. We'll consider this part 1 of (at least 1 or 2 more episodes) that I'll be recording as I share all of my tips to keeping your hair healthy & your skin healthy too. 

Why would you want to listen to me, an aesthetician, when if comes to something like hair? 

I'm someone who struggled with my hair the vast majority of my life, yet now I get asked more about my hair than just about anything else. I'm a hair model in runway shows, hair shows, for magazines, and for an international hair color company. 

I'm also someone who's experienced severe acne and rashes from things like diet, hormones, stress, AND the ingredients I was using in my hair products. 

I get the frustration of wanting hair that looks amazing, but not being able to find healthy natural hair products that also keep my skin clear. 

I'm not a trained chemist. But I work with them. 

I research A LOT.

I'm always testing products and ingredient formulations on myself & don't stop until they're perfect.

As I mentioned in this episode, I've always been fascinated (bordering on obsessed) with healthful ingredients & formulation of all things beauty. I've spent years researching anything and everything when it comes to having healthy beautiful skin & once I started seeing such a link to how hair products were affecting the skin of my clients & myself I made it my mission to figure all that out too. (Basically, I've barely slept for the last 5 years & most nights when everyone else has drifted off, I'm researching the heck out of ingredients/their molecular structures/ and how they affect anything they come into contact with, laboratories, packaging manufactures, etc.)

I feel confident in my self given title "Research Queen".

It's no surprise that the direction of my career has taken the turn it has, (service provider turned cosmetics line creator).

Fun fact, I used to cut all my doll's hair & as a child I thought I wanted to be a "beautician" (what I used to call hair stylists) like my dad's mom who passed away long before I was born. 

But then, as I got older and embraced my introverted & perfectionist ways I realized 2 things...

1. While hair does grow, haircuts were waaaaay too important for me to feel comfortable with doing & I'd be mortified if I made mistake (like I did on poor Barbie a few too many times.) I had so many botched hair cuts & dye jobs when I was younger that I knew I could run the risk of ever making someone feel the way I did during those times.

2. Being out "on display" in a salon with so many people, so many conversations, and so many noises would be way too overwhelming for me to thrive in each day. So I thought I'd be a doctor instead. Until I realized I was much too empathetic for that & decided becoming an aesthetician instead would be a perfect fit for me. And it was!

Really though, my mission isn't to dive deep into the hair care world. I really just wanted to provide helpful advice for my clients & in the process I found a way to have labs that I was already working with on my skincare and makeup line (Breanna Thomas HEALTHY SKIN & BEAUTY) to make products that were full of really great natural ingredients, didn't contain any ingredients that used to clog my skin or break me out, and when my clients started asking me about why my hair was looking so bouncy, shiny, and how it got really long really fast I started sharing these products with them too. They've been happy with them, so I figured I'd make them available to anyone else who may want to try them as well. 

The more people feeling confident about themselves, the happier I'll be & if eliminating breakout causing ingredients from ALL of their grooming products is what it takes for the people I care about to stop breaking out, then I'll keep looking for ways to help them with this.

THIS is the kit mentioned at the end of the video. I'd love to have you join the rest of my final formulation product testers as we put the finishing touches on the texture & the scent of these healthier hair products!

If you try any of the suggestions I shared in this episode of The Healthy Skin & Beauty Show, I'd love to hear how they work for you. They've been super helpful to me and my clients in my skin care practice & I'm so happy to finally be making them available to everyone to hear.

In the meantime, be well & remember...

You matter and you are loved!

Xo's

Licensed Aesthetician

Professional Makeup Artist

Brow Design Expert

Health & Happiness Encourager for Busy Women in Business

Creator of the remarkably effective skincare & makeup lines, Breanna Thomas HEALTHY SKIN AND BEAUTY and MANifest Men's Care

Owner of the boutique skincare clinic, Healthy Skin AZ

Founder of the BEAUTIFULLY BRAVE SOCIETY (coming soon)

p.s. There's more on the blog about healthy living, healthy beauty, and how to feel a bit better in your day to day life. Check it out HERE.