In The Moment 03.2020

Words: Jessica Lacey

Fed up with f lare ups? Adapting your skincare to your

hormonal cycle can help to minimise blemishes

and keep skin at its radiant best

Know your

skin cycle

skincare

For some, it’s a random blemish or dried out

dullness, while for others it’s a full-on flare

up. “A drier skin type would most likely get

the odd pimple or two during their cycle,

whereas an oilier skin is more susceptible

to acne due to increased sebum production

but that isn’t to say that dry skin types

won’t also experience hormonal acne too,”

Brown explains.

Affectionately known as the diva hormone,

oestrogen gives you that sass and makes you

all woman. Skin loves oestrogen; it supresses

sebum production, reduces bacteria, boosts

hydration and also kick-starts collagen

production. So, in the menstruating phase

when oestrogen is at its monthly low, skin

is understandably at its worst. Fast-forward

10 days though to when you’re ovulating,

oestrogen takes the main stage and skin

is clear and glowing. You’ll likely be firing

L

ike it or not, we are all made of

hormones. But far from being the

inconvenient party-pooper crazy-

makers their bad rap might have

you believe, hormones are in fact

highly intuitive chemical messengers that

regulate our organs and tell our body how

to function. Oestrogen, progesterone

and testosterone are the three main sex

hormones that control the menstrual cycle

and, in the most part, they play an effective

balancing act, rising and falling in beautiful

symbiosis. But, as skin is an outward visible

manifestation of all that our body is going

through, it’s little wonder that what our

hormones are getting up to is often written

across our faces.

“Women most definitely have a skin cycle

relative to our hormones,” says skincare

expert and Pai Skincare founder, Sarah Brown.