Skin 101 with Zaphira - Hidden Gem Wellness - Part 1
Skincare is an essential part of any beauty routine, and taking care of one's skin can make a significant difference in appearance and overall health. A good skincare regimen involves understanding your skin type, choosing gentle and effective products, and committing to daily care. Whether it's cleansing, toning, and moisturizing in the morning and at night or using a weekly mask or exfoliator, consistent and intentional care can keep your skin looking radiant and youthful. Skincare should also be tailored to one's lifestyle and environment, including sun protection, hydration, and stress management. Investing in quality skincare is an investment in self-care and confidence.
I don’t know about you but when it comes to skincare, I feel overwhelmed with steps, products and what to do, when. There’s SO much out on the market, so many steps to follow and it’s just A LOT. Not to mention the fact of ingredients within products. That’s a whole other topic but nonetheless an important factor to think about in putting your skincare routine together.
I’ve been working with Zaphira for years and this girl KNOWS. HER. STUFF. She recently opened up her own business in downtown Lafayette offering skincare, waxing & tinting. I wanted to put together a blog post addressing some of my basic questions when it comes to skincare. We’ll get into the weeds in future blog posts but for now let’s take a look at my interview with Zaphira.
For a busy gal, what are the most important products to incorporate into your daily routine?
I love this question, I think people can get so overwhelmed when starting a new routine or if you’re wanting to change up products. The absolute most important thing is SPF, 90% of the signs of aging are due to sun exposure. People often tell me they are good with sun protection if they are hiking or know they will be out and about, which is great but windows exist and we also have to think about blue light which is from cellphones and computers. Most SPF’s these days will protect against blue light. If you’re already using sun protection on a daily basis then this question is actually so hard! But if I had to pick one thing, being a Colorado native I always need a good moisturizer. I love Helena Meyer Organics’ moisturizers, not only does she make a light weight oil hydrators but she also makes these amazing and rich cream based moisturizer. Since Helena formulates a Rejuvenating, Corrective, Calming and Rose line it is so easy to find the perfect product for your skin or skin concerns.
i’m always so overwhelmed by which steps to do when, can you give us a breakdown of which products to use in which order? (i.e. 1. cleanser, 2. toner, 3. oil/lotion etc...)
I get this question all of the time! So of course this can vary person to person since everyones product routine is different. So I am going to pretend like we are talking about someone who likes to do a little bit of everything.
Cleanse morning and evening, sometimes this can feel overwhelming so even just using cleansing wipes is an easy hack if you’re in a rush. Cleansing prepares the skin for all subsequent steps. Not much will penetrate into our skin if we don’t properly clean it first.
Exfoliation this is so important for any skin type and I know people can shy away from exfoliators because they aren’t sure what kind they should use. One should work their way up to using an exfoliator 2-3x a week. It was one of Helena’s exfoliators that first sold me on her skin care line. I have never experienced such a beautiful product before. Why I love her exfoliators so much is because they act as a scrub and/or an enzymatic mask. Fruit enzymes are a very gentle and effective form of chemical exfoliation which is so important for our skin and can get us to our goals a little faster.
Toner’s can be used daily, even twice daily. Toners rebalances the skins pH, help deliver small amounts of active ingredients into the skin and can be used as a make up setting spray! Helena Meyer has four different toners so it is easy to find one that works for every skin type.
Serum use is super important. Serum’s are a smaller molecule size so they penetrate deeper into our skin than some of the aforementioned finishing products. Serums have higher concentrations of active ingredients which help us reach our skin goals a little faster, whatever they may be. It’s important to slowly incorporate this type of product into your regular routine. Since the Rejuvenating and Rose line have higher concentrations of Vitamin C and Vitamin A, I like for my clients to start slow, 1-2x week for a couple weeks and then work to using 3-5x week. If a person is interested in the Calming serum which helps strengthen the capillary walls, tones down redness and is amazing for people who have true Rosacea. Since that products goal is to soothe I let my clients know they can start using it 2-3x a week and jump up to daily after a couple weeks. For my acne people the Corrective serum is great for a spot treatment / as needed during an active breakout. The heavy hitter in this serum is Neem which has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties, this serum does have anti-aging ingredients but lower concentrations so one could use this as their regular serum even when there isn’t an active breakout. i recommend people use this 2-3x a week for two weeks and then if they want to up it more they can. Your skin will let you know if you’ve made the jump too quickly, you might get a little flakey or tight feeling, maybe a little more redness, if that happens, all groovy just pull back the serum to 1-2x week for two weeks and then slowly jump back up. Just listen when your skin speaks and always have a good moisturizer to follow or as your sole finishing product.
Moisturizer should be used every morning and evening. I tend to use cream based moisturizers since I’ve got that Colorado combo/dry skin so I like something a little richer. Helena also makes a light weight oil moisturizer. This is perfect for someone who is more oily or just likes a very light weight feel. Having a good moisturizer is so important and can be the perfect jumping off point for a person who wants to start using higher quality and results driven products.
SPF needs to be worn daily, I love physical sun protectors (zinc oxide and titanium oxide based) because they irritate my skin less than chemical SPF’s but both are essential! So it can really boil down to the feel or look of the product to determine if one uses a physical or chemical option. I always apply a 50 SPF in the morning and I keep a facial sun protecting spray in my backpack so I can reapply during the day without touching my face.
Can you talk about the importance of a monthly facial like the one you offer?
The Hidden Gem offers a ton of facial options so I am able to facilitate the most change for my clients. Regular facials are so important if you truly want to change your skin. My practice is all about meeting my clients where they are. My goal is to educate as much as possible while also giving a deeply relaxing service. I obtained my massage license before changing my career to esthetics so I love to incorporate a lot of massage in all of my facials. Monthly facials are a great way to slowly bring high quality products into your daily routine. I have implemented a Facial Membership program at The Hidden Gem. I wanted to bring this to my clients to make skin services more accessible. You and I have been doing The Ultimate facial series. This particular service is all about stimulating the deeper musculature of the face so we can achieve some lifting and contouring. We do this with a multitude of tools and modalities. The Ultimate is great for people who want to really start preventing deeper signs of aging, if you want to push the use of fillers or Botox like products to further down the road or if you’d like for your Botox to last a little longer! It is a very versatile facial and since Helena Meyer Organics formulates four different lines, we can really narrow down on concerns and how to reach our goals quicker.
How important is exfoliation in your skincare routine? And how often should I do it?
It is SO important. Due to our climate and altitude I find it to be very helpful to see an esthetician if you’re thinking of adding in or changing what kind of exfoliation you are doing. There is so little regulation in the US in relation to what is allowed into beauty products. I love Helena Meyers’ exfoliators but I also just really like to educate my clients. So whether one ends up purchasing her product or not, you will get off my table knowing more about the types of exfoliation, what ingredients to look for or lookout for and how to properly use said products.
Tell me a little about the Neem products and why they're incredible!
Oh yes. The Corrective line is my absolute favorite. Neem is extracted from bark and is antimicrobial and antibacterial. I have never used a better acne fighting line before. I got into esthetics because I struggled with cystic acne when I was younger and had a lot of post inflammatory hyperpigmentation from those breakouts. I did do deeper treatments like microneedling and deep chemicals in my mid twenties but for the most part I found skin success with my at home routine and I have been using Helena Meyer and her Neem line for the last six years. I like to mix up which lines I use at home, but I always have at least one Neem product on my skin every day. The Corrective line is formulated to calm active breakouts and heal the skin. There is also Vitamin C and Vitamin A sources in the line so even if your main goal is to eliminate acne, you are still promoting cellular turnover and rebuilding collagen and elastin at the same time.
If you could offer one piece of skincare advice, what would it be?
Oof this is hard! But honestly routine and tiny habit changes are the most important things to focus on when you’re really wanting to improve or maintain the health of your skin. It can feel so overwhelming and we are bombarded with messages of how to never age or that we must use X product line, which always ends up being SO expensive, to see any results. Yes, using quality products is essential and maintaining a regular facial schedule if your life allows for that will absolutely get you to your goals and help keep the results lasting a lot longer. But little tweaks or slowly adding in good ingredients to your routine will be major. I love talking about skin and I love the Helena Meyer line without a doubt, her ingredients are sourced ethically, are derived from herbal and botanical sources and she believes that high quality skincare should be accessible to everyone so her line is priced very fairly. But it truly boils down to learning about what ingredients to start implementing. So I like to educate my clients in a broad sense and I have used many amazing, clean product lines in my career. If we want to discuss one piece of product advice, as I mentioned before, using a daily high-quality sun protector is the most important thing you can do for your skin.
If I wanted to get waxed, how far out should I space my facial appointments from my waxing and which one should go first?
For facial waxing we can do those together with a facial. I do let people know that there could be a chance of more purging after the facial since waxing is a gentle form of exfoliation. It is easy for me to avoid the areas we waxed when doing the exfoliation steps of the facial. The wax The Hidden Gem uses is a natural resin base and infused with different oils to help protect the skin and help it adhere more to the hair. So in general there is less of a chance of irritation. If a person, even my super regular clientele, is getting a facial and needing a wax for a special event then I would want them to split it up and have at least three days in-between the wax, which would go first, and the facial. If we pair them together I would do the wax first so that we don’t remove any of the yummy finishing products from the facial, plus I can throw on some of the calming products to reduce redness. When people want to do body waxes and a facial I would start with the wax and once we wrap up I would flip the room, which doesn’t take long at all, and jump into the facial. I find it a better experience when we knock out the wax and end with a more relaxing and therapeutic experience.
A HUGE thank you to Zaphira for her time and energy used in answering these questions!! Please support her small business and check out Hidden Gem Wellness!
Have a question for Zaphira? Drop a DM on IG, comment below or send me an email!
