Last time we talked about some of the signs of chronic stress, and the signs you might recognize (even if you don’t identify as stressed).
💤 Waking between 1-3am at night
🍎 Increased weight around your middle that just won’t shift
🌪️ Brain fog
Let’s talk about the effects on your skin (that’s why we’re here after all!) 🧬
Here’s a fun list of ways your skin is affected by elevated cortisol (bingo card time - how many do you have??)
💧 Dryness and dehydration - cortisol damages the barrier that holds moisture in. Skin loses water faster than it can replace it. This is the #1 reason our customers tell us they come to us.
🧟 Dullness and loss of glow - stress reduces blood flow to the skin. Less circulation means less oxygen and fewer nutrients reaching the surface. Skin looks flat, grey, lifeless.
🕸️ Accelerated fine lines and wrinkles - cortisol breaks down collagen and elastin faster than they can be rebuilt. Chronic stress essentially speeds up what we CALL ageing - which isn’t aging at all - it’s totally stress related (and is fixable if we catch it!)
⚡️ Increased sensitivity and reactivity - the compromised barrier means irritants get in more easily. Products that used to be fine suddenly sting or cause redness. Skin suddenly feels reactive - even when it used to be totally fine.
🍓 Rosacea flares - stress is one of the most common rosacea triggers. The inflammatory cascade dilates blood vessels and increases facial flushing. (So many people tell us they love wonder balm to help with rosacea).
🔴 Breakouts and hormonal acne - feel like a teenager again? Cortisol stimulates sebum production. More oil, more congestion, more breakouts - particularly along the jawline and chin where hormonal acne clusters. Luckily Wonder Balm won best cleanser for teen skin, so you know where to go when your skin turns back time 😂
🐍 Eczema and dermatitis flares - stress suppresses the immune system in some pathways and overactivates it in others, worsening inflammatory skin conditions
🩹 Delayed healing - wounds, blemishes, and post-inflammatory marks take longer to resolve because the immune system is redirecting resources away from repair.
🐼 Under-eye circles and puffiness - stress disrupts sleep, and poor sleep immediately shows around the eyes AND cortisol also causes fluid retention.
🐆 Uneven skin tone and pigmentation - stress-driven inflammation can trigger melanocyte activity, leading to patchy hyperpigmentation, particularly in combination with sun exposure (I was SO mad when I found this out - all that perfect SPF application and I still had brown spots?! Unfair)
🦋 Thinning skin prolonged cortisol exposure literally thins the dermis over time, making skin more fragile and translucent. (So many people have been talking to us about this recently)
Now we also have to talk about a really important think you might be thinking which is - this all sounds like peri/meonpause symptoms?! YES - we’ll talk about that in another post because (yey being a woman!) it’s both.
Reducing your cortisol particularly in your peri/menopause years is ridiculously important. Doubly so.
So what do we do?!
1. We admit we have it...
2. We work to deal with it
Both from the outside in and from the inside out.
We are on a mission to help you be your best self, holistically.
So number one - our skincare has been specifically formulated to fill the EXACT gap this stress / hormone chaos creates
Truly, the people who use our skincare and are both living hectic lives and experiencing the starts of hormonal chaos experience deep love and 🤌🤌🤌 for this exact reason
Our entire routine takes less time than you spend brush your teeth, and you can trust that you are doing good things for your skin, not using junk that causes more problems than it solves 🙄
And number two - download this free video and follow it. It’ll help you reduce those stress hormones by up to 43% in an hour. Don’t skip this bit.
Get your hands on a starter bundle if you haven’t tried them yet, or full size if you’re ready to commit.
We’re here for you!
