I was heartbroken when the Body Shop stopped stocking my favourite carrot moisturiser back in the 1990s. Well, heartbroken maybe too strong a word, but I had used this same brand for over ten years, ever since my university days, and l loved the way it moisturised my skin. That was it. That was the sum total of my skincare regime.

I didn’t really think much more about my skin until I started having the occasional facial at the ESPA Spa down the road from where I then lived in the UK. That made me feel good, too so I started using their range of products – cleanser, toner and moisturiser – and that was the way it stayed for another six years or so until I moved to Asia. Getting hold of ESPA products proved to be difficult the days before they opened in Sentosa Island, so I would order and buy products from the UK and bring them back in my suitcase, along with birthday cards, natural toothpastes and other goods I found difficult to source in Singapore.

Is skin care just a marketing ploy?

If I am honest, I pretty much thought skin care products were a waste of time, a marketing ploy to entice women to spend more money. Twenty years later though, as wrinkles and blemishes started to appear, I began looking for products that would protect my skin as I aged. Like most people, I thought aging was just a natural process; I didn’t realise there was a gap, a genuine lack of knowledge around what I thought about aging and the role that skin care and a healthy lifestyle could play, not just for cleansing and nourishment but to protect and rejuvenate our cells from further damage.

I suppose I was pretty open to finding an alternative to ESPA, so when my good friend Angie introduced me to a range of products, that promised to reverse aging in the skin, I was open to having a try. I was older too, so anything that would help give me the shine of youthfulness was worth investigating. I was a bit dubious to start with as the products used stem cell technology, the chemical language that repairs and rebuilds the body, but when I found out I wouldn’t be smearing stem cells all over my face I was willing to have a go.

100% of customers recommend

It was this language, not the cells themselves, that made the range so powerful, not just in reducing wrinkles but in actually rebuilding the collagen and elasticity of the skin leading 100% of customers to recommend. That was six months ago, and I haven’t looked back. I have received so much more than a skin care regime. It is like a whole new world has opened up to me, one I knew, or cared, very little about – the world of science and aging.

Is aging just a natural process that we can do very little about? What is new science revealing to us about how the body ages? Are our only alternatives, if we want to have youthful looking skin, botox or plastic surgery, or are their natural ways we can heal and restore our body and look good no matter our age?

Use skin care that gets results

I feel I am only at the tip of an iceberg of this new world, but if I can offer just one tip today, take a fresh look at your skin care regime. Examine what ingredients are inside it. Are they natural? Are they really helping to restore and rejuvenate your skin, beyond its surface and beyond product marketing claims? Do they have any scientific validation, independent of the company’s own research and development? Are you getting the results you need? These are important questions to ask, as often we get stuck in a rut with the products we use and don’t know what else may be available that could produce better results.

I tell this story, about my skincare journey, by way of introduction to what I hope will be an insightful and explorative voyage into this world of health and aging.

It's all about redefining youth

For the next year, in this magazine, I am going to explore and challenge assumptions that maybe we have believed or taken for granted and uncover what modern science is now discovering, that age is cellular. That age is, in fact biological, not chronological, and really, has very little to do with how old we are on our next birthday.

Not only this, but that there are a range of innovative new products being made by companies who are redefining youth and, many lifestyle tips and strategies that we can do to look good, feel great and have natural, healthy glowing skin.

I would be really interested to hear your thoughts, comments and stories. Share them on the comment box below!

Visit the  Energise Life page to find out more about Natalie's work.

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