Skin Fasting

What exactly is skin fasting?

It’s as simple as sleeping without a moisturizer only one night a week!  Our skin has an inherent ability to take care of itself, when given the chance to do so. Fasting is thought to be beneficial, as a preventative measure to increase overall health, vitality and resistance to disease.

Fasting is a good way to remove toxins (influence by the environment) from the body.

Hippocrates believed fasting enables the body to heal itself.  With this knowledge in mind, it is logical that the same applies to your skin. Our skin has an inherent ability to take care of itself. The purpose of skin fasting is to strengthen the skin’s natural protective barrier that is weakened by excessive cleansing (particularly with synthetic ingredients) or excessive nourishing, to normalize the secretion of natural oils and support the natural rejuvenation process. This natural barrier protects your skin not only from dryness but from any external stress including UV rays, pollution, and cold temperatures. With weakened skin protection, you will be more easily prone to sunspots, wrinkles, sagging, and other skin aging symptoms. Becoming dependent on products that give hydration, oils and other skincare aides lessens your skins natural maintenance system. Overuse of makeup and moisturizers interrupts normal skin cell renewal which averages every 28 days.

It's common for pimples and other skin conditions like eczema to clear up faster when a person fasts (you may see evidence of toxins leaving your body in the form of a blemish).

“The Japanese have studied the skin’s regeneration on a monthly basis and have proved that 'skin fasting' improves your skin’s condition and detoxify skin impurities,” says Koko Hayashi, Creator of Mirai Clinical Body Care. “Dry skin is dry on the skin’s surface. The moisture inside the skin becomes dehydrated because there’s not enough protection [natural oils] to keep the moisture inside. With too much added artificial moisturizer [cosmetics], the skin ceases to produce its own natural oils. This leads to even drier skin," says Hayashi.

How to Effectively Skin Fast

1. Wash your face gently at night.
2. Sleep one night a week (twice at the most) without any skin care products. This will help strengthen your skin’s recovery power. Using moisturizer daily, skin becomes lazy, because the skin does not have to produce natural moisturizer (natural oils) by itself.  Without moisturizer, the skin tries to produce natural oils without relying on moisturizer. Make sure that your room has the proper humidity and is not too dry, particularly in the winter. Do not skin-fast, if you are not in good condition.
3. In the morning wash your face gently using only lukewarm to keep oils on your skin. By using just water. Your skin can now focus on cleansing your skin (naturally) instead of spending energy on digesting and breaking down the products you put on your face.

Japanese have studied "skin fasting." On a monthly basis it has been proven to improve your skins condition and detoxify skin impurities. (You may see evidence of toxins leaving your body in the form of a blemish).

4. Skin fasting can be applied to your body, too. Generally, the face is more affected because of sun exposure, make up, and overuse of synthetic skincare and harsh cleansers, but if you usually moisturize your body every day, your skin might be in lazy mode a well. Why not skin fast on your body too?
5. Keep drinking plenty of water! Remember, hydration is of key importance for skin health.

Skin Fasting Do’s & Don’ts

• Do make sure that your room has the proper humidity and is not too dry, particularly in the winter
• Do not skin fast if you have atopic skin or any other serious skin condition or have had a recent chemical peel or face treatment.  When in doubt consult with a dermatologist.
• Do not skin fast if you are not feeling well.
• Do choose your skin care productscarefully!

In addition to Skin Fasting, don't forget to face exercise for skin's lift up and wrinkle reduction too. Check Koko Face Yoga here!