What’s Your Skin Type?
Your Skin’s Temperament and Constitution
Learning about the energetics of your skin can be important not only in choosing the right types of products to address your condition, but in making the right diet and lifestyle choices to address the underlying causes of your condition.
Skin is the largest organ in our body, and it is also an eliminatory (detox) organ that works in tandem with our liver, kidneys, circulatory and digestive systems to push toxins out of our bodies. When one organ is not working properly, another organ (like our skin) will uptake the burden. Thus a skin imbalance can indicate what’s happening with the overall body’s absorption, metabolism, and eliminatory processes. Likewise, correcting that imbalance will require corrective actions for the internal body system as opposed to applying beauty creams and tonics alone.
One easy way of understanding what’s going on with the body (and skin) is through observing its energetics, or its temperament and constitution. In relation to skin, the Western methodology of describing energetic states are categorized into these four categories:
Hot. This is inflammed skin that is characteried by redness, hot to the touch and/or itchiness. Skin tends to get burned easily or is prone to hives, welts, and bumps.
Cold. This is understimulated skin that has poor circulation. Skin tends to be cold, pale, rough and slow-healing. Blue or dark circles tends to form under the eyes.
Damp. This is congested, poorly draining skin where skin will appear swollen, sweaty and shiny by the afternoon. There are usually very visible pores. Skin can easily develops blisters, lesions on other “weepy” skin conditions. This type of skin is prone to fungal conditions.
Dry. Dryness is an indicator of poorly nourished, under-hydrated skin that can be indicative of imbalances in the nervous, digestive and urinary systems. Alcohol consumption, dry weather conditions, and chronic stress are common in people with dry skin. Skin feels tight, dry, itchy, and can get flaky. Nails tend to be brittle and prone to crepe-ing (fine lines/wrinkles).
Combination Skin
Skin can exhibit a combination of states between hot/damp, hot/dry, cold/damp, cold/dry.
Hot/Damp. Skin with both hot and damp conditions (inflamed and weepy) tend to be prone to acne and yeast infections.
Hot/Dry. Skin is easy to get sunburned. Peeling skin.
Cold/Damp. Edema. Slow-healing skin conditions with pus (e.g., diabetic ulcers).
Cold/Dry. Scaly, bumpy, necrotic skin.
Herbs for Your Skin Type
Note that you should always consult a medical doctor before undergoing any new herbal regimen for treatment of a medical condition. The herbs listed below are for educational purposes only. The recommended herbs below are based on literature from The Herbal Academy.
Bath salts made with Calendula officinalis.
For hot/inflammatory skin conditions:
Calendula (Calendula officinalis), tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum) aerial parts, aloe (Aloe vera) leaf, licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) root, St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) aerial parts, plantain (Plantago spp.) leaf, comfrey (Symphytum officinale) leaf and root, lavender (Lavandula spp.) bud, chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) chickweed (Stellaria media) aerial parts, meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) aerial parts, and marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) root.
Lavender’s calming and antimicrobial properties are ideal for treating acne and rebalancing the skin’s microbiome.
For hot/damp conditions with bacterial, fungus and yeast overgrowth:
Lavender (Lavandula spp.), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), calendula (Calendula officinalis) flower, chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) flower, meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) aerial parts, thyme (Thymus vulgaris) aerial parts, sage (Salvia officinalis) aerial parts, St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) aerial parts.
Not just for breakfast, oats can be used to bring moisture, calm and relief to hot, itchy skin.
For hot/itchy skin conditions:
Calendula (Calendula officinalis) flower, oat (Avena sativa) straw and seed, licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) root, and chickweed (Stellaria media) aerial parts.
Yarrow has cooling, drying and anti-inflammatory effects, making it useful for toning skin, tightening pores and depuffing in skin beauty applications.
For damp/porous skin conditions:
Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) root, goldenrod (Solidago spp.) aerial parts, meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) aerial parts, agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria) aerial parts, raspberry, (Rubus idaeus), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) aerial parts, sage (Salvia officinalis) aerial parts, and yarrow (Achillea millefolium) aerial parts.
Comfrey has a cooling, moistening effect that helps close pores, lessen healing time, and prevents scar formation.
For dry skin conditions:
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) root, comfrey (Symphytum officinale) root and leaf, and chickweed (Stellaria media) aerial parts.
Final Thoughts
Principles in Western energetics generally tend to balance out heat with cold, dry with damp, and so on. This is generally great for acute skin conditions. For instance, a sunburn is an acute condition that could be treated with a cooling aloe gel or chamomile compress. On the other hand, chronic skin conditions may have many underlying factors that involve your overall gut, liver, and/or circulatory health. There are also special considerations for aging skin, which has lost its luster and elasticity due to the body’s slowing process of regeneration and collagen production.
For taking care of chronic conditions and those that come with age, a holistic approach is best. This means:
Getting enough water and nutrients.
Optimizing your liver and kidney health by getting enough sleep, reducing stress, reducing alcohol consumption, and eating antioxidant-rich and supportive foods that are basically colorful fruits and vegetables, as well as reishi, oats, lentils.
Optimizing your digestion (aka gut health) by abstaining from certain inflammatory or constipating foods like excess sugar.
Optimizing your circulatory and eliminatory processes through adequate exercise and massage.
Use skin care products in addition to all of the above.
I hope you enjoyed this article. For more information about the herbs mentioned in this article, you can check out Bloom & Skye’s ingredients page.
In friendship and mirth,
Nelly
