Well with Arielle Lorre - 181: The Gut, Mind, Skin Connection with Dr. Whitney Bowe

Episode Date: June 29, 2022

In this episode, I chat with Dr. Whitney Bowe, a board-certified dermatologist to the stars, about all things skincare. Dr. Bowe takes a holistic approach to skincare which we talk all about; the gut-mind-skin connection; why what we're putting into our bodies is as important as what we're putting onto our skin; and how to rethink getting good skin. We also go into more skincare specific, such as skin cycling, products vs. procedures for 'turning back the clock', and what to look for in your products. Whether you're looking for better skin or a healthier overall system, this episode is fascinating!   Sponsors: Athleticgreens.com/blondefiles for a free 1 year supply of vitamin D and 5 free travel packs Clearstemskincare.com code BLONDE for 20% off Sakara.com/BLONDEFILES20 for 20% off your order Shipstation.com promo code BLONDE for a free 60 day trial Drinkkarma.com for more information   Produced by Dear Media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Go to your rise-adviseur or sunnycars. The following podcast is a Dear Media Production. Hey, welcome to the Blond Files podcast. I'm your host, Ariel Lorry, and I'm here to talk all things wellness. From how to achieve optimal health and well-being to the best beauty tips and everything in between, no topic is off

limits, and I'm bringing it to you real and unfiltered. I know there is so much information out there, so I'm here to help you navigate it all. Thanks for listening. Let's get into it. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. I always say this, but I always mean it. especially today, I have a really good episode for you. I am talking to Dr. Whitney Bow. She is a board certified dermatologist to the stars, and we're talking all about skin care. So the way that I was first introduced to Dr. Bo was through a girlfriend of mine who lives in New York and has flawless skin. I remember maybe like a year ago, I went to meet up with her to have coffee, and I was like, you got to tell me what your secret is here. And she said, it's the bow glow.

going to talk to Whitney Bo. And so I started following her back then. And I just found her content to be really informative, educational. So if you guys aren't following her yet, definitely do that. And she delivered in this episode. I remember when I was recording it, just thinking in my head, like, got to remember this to timestamp it for promo. Okay, now got to remember this to time. Like everything that she said just was so valuable. Also, since we recorded this, maybe about a month ago. I have been skin cycling, which we talk about in the episode, and using her new products. So the moisturizer and then the drops that you drink, which are delicious. And I absolutely love them. So you'll hear us talk about them in this episode. It's not an ad or anything. It just

happened to kind of coincide with the release of these products. And they really are incredible. She really cares a lot about the science and the research aspect of it, which I know we all appreciate. So anyway, in this episode, we talk about her holistic approach to skin care. We talk about the gut-mind skin connection. We talk about why what we're putting into our bodies is as important as what we're putting onto our skin. We talk about how to rethink getting good skin. And then we get into like really specific things.

So skin cycling, like I mentioned, products versus procedures for turning back the clock, what to look for in your products, whether you are looking for better skin or or a healthier overall system. This episode is so fascinating and, like I said, packed with so much value. So if you're a note taker, I would get out that pen and pencil or the notes app on your phone because there's so much here. And I hope you guys enjoy the conversation with Dr. Whitney Bow. All right.

Welcome, Dr. Bow. So happy to have you here. Thank you so much for having me, Ariel. This is so much fun. I've been really looking forward to this conversation. Me, too. So I have a friend who has been going to see you. And she was the person who first introduced me to you and your content. Obviously, her skin is

amazing. So I was like, I need to do whatever you're doing. She's got that boglow. I'm coming to New York in a couple weeks. And I'm like, I need to get that bog glow too. We actually put the bog low in a bottle. Yeah. It's coming to you. Yeah, I know. And I'm so excited about that. I was just telling you off off Mike that I just tried it. And I can't wait to hear about that. I think you're, Skin philosophy is very different. It's your very forward thinking, I think, when it comes to all of this stuff. And you have a different approach than a lot of derms. So why don't we just start by having you kind of introduce yourself to the listeners,

tell them a little bit about who you are and what you do and how you came to do it. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm, I'm Dr. Whitney Bow and I am a board certified dermatologist. So, you know, I'm a practicing dermatologist, meaning I do see patients in the office. and I treat, you know, a celebrities, a Grammy Award-winning musical artists, editors, producers, normal people. My practice has been capped for over five years, meaning I haven't been able to accept any new patients just because my wait time is very long, which is wonderful.

And it primarily just grew very rapidly through word of mouth. And I think really what sort of set me apart when in my practice compared to my peers was that I really do see the skin as a window into your overall health. So with my patients, yes, of course I offer them the most cutting-edge type. technologies and procedures, lasers, micrneedling, radio frequency micrneedling, fillers, Botox, et cetera. But I also take the time to really talk to them about their lifestyle, their nutrition, what do they eat for breakfast, how did they sleep last night?

What are their stress levels like and what are they doing to manage their stress levels? Because all of those things factor into your skin health, right? So if you're spending the money in the office with me on a procedure, you really want to get the most out of that procedure. And so I'm very evidence-based. My background is actually as a research scientist as well. So I've published over 40 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters. I've lectured internationally, you know, sharing my research, you know, at global scientific conferences. So when I combined my clinical experience, you know, treating over thousands of patients for over a decade,

you know, with my background as a research scientist, it really became clear to me that we needed to just completely rethink the way that we approach skin care. So Ariel, you know, when you're just putting a product on the skin or using products, even if they're the best products, even if they're, even if you're using them in the most deliberate and the most thoughtful way, it's inevitable that you're going to basically hit a plateau. You're going to, you know, sort of only be able to deliver certain results in your skin. And if you want to really push through that plateau, you want to just take your skincare to the next level, you really have to treat the skin three dimensionally, meaning you have to think about treating the skin from the inside out and the

outside in. And so I'm always thinking about the skin gut mind connection and how those are all intimately connected and very much reflected in your skin. Yeah. So I wanted to ask you, what are some of the biggest contributing lifestyle factors that can show up on our skin? Because I know for me, if I don't sleep, usually like eight hours, but if I don't get quality sleep too, I am like a raisin the next day. I mean, I look just same with dehydration, stress, obviously, like you mentioned. What are some of the maybe less obvious lifestyle factors that contribute to the way our skin appears? I mean, you nailed the bigies, right? So we know that our body functions so well when we stick to a rhythm and regularity in terms of the circadian clock.

The first thing that I do when I wake up in the morning is I go downstairs, I open up the front door and I expose my eyes to natural sunlight because the blue light helps to shut down melatonin production, that's sleep hormone production, and it sets my circadian clock for the day. And I try not to eat too late at night either or expose my eyes to blue light too late at night. you know, you need that nighttime ritual because we thrive. Like if you think about our ancestors, we really did follow the sun. We ate with the sun. We were awake with the sun.

We went to sleep when the sunset. And our body responds to that very, very well. And when we disrupt that natural circadian rhythm by staying up watching, you know, watching TV or on our iPhones and, you know, we're eating late at night. We're basically sending these signals to our brain that it's time to wake up, again, right? So we're really disrupting our circadian rhythm and we're not able to get that deep restorative sleep that our skin really craves. And there's beautiful science and actually, you know, published studies showing that even after one or just two nights of poor sleep,

whether it's quantity or quality, it shows up in the health of your skin in a measurable, quantifiable way. It's not just like, oh, I feel like I look tired. Like, no, you actually do. We can actually measure that. So I love that you talked about that because, you know, sleep is absolutely one of them. Stress levels for sure. We know that the mind skin connection is very real. And when you talked about dehydration, you know, the gut skin connection is very real. So, so let's go there because I think that that's really, really powerful. And the science coming out surrounding the gut skin connection is quite honestly just breathtaking. It's mind blowing, especially since the beginning of the human microbiome project. So when we have an imbalance of the bacteria in our gut, our gut microbiome,

when it's not in balance, something called dysbiosis. What happens is that the intestinal lining of the gut becomes, quote unquote, leaky. It becomes more permeable. And the inflammatory molecules that are supposed to stay within the gut, things like LPS, endotoxin, are actually able to penetrate through our intestinal lining into our systemic circulation. And it triggers this cascade of inflammation throughout our bodies. and in our skin. And so an imbalanced gut microbiome can show up in the skin as dehydrated skin. It can show up as sensitive skin where your skin just feels like you're just reacting to everything.

I'm breaking out easily. I feel like I'm stinging and burning. I have red patches. Right. Your skin's just like a diva all of a sudden. It can show out as show up as breakouts in the skin. Like all of a sudden, you're more likely to get little red bumps on the skin that mimic acne. It can lead to flares of acne, rosacea, eczema psoriasis, or it can simply just accelerate the aging process. When your gut is out of balance and your gut lining is not sealed and not healthy, you can have this low grade level of inflammation in the skin that you may not even notice in the mirror. It may not be something that like takes you to the dermatologist, you know, but it's this sort of low grade sort of boil. And that low grade chronic inflammation accelerates the aging process. You're breaking down,

collagen and elast and fibers faster than your skin can actually rebuild it. So you may just notice, like, why am I looking, why do I look like I've aged, you know, five years in the matter of, you know, a few months? And that's what happened to a lot of my patients during COVID, because one of the things that causes that imbalance of the gut microbiome is stress. If you are running a business, especially a small business, chances are you are wearing a lot of hats and it can be really hard to find time for yourself and focus on the things that really matter in life. So ShipStation gives e-commerce sellers like you more time to do what you really love, unless what you really love is managing every single detail of order fulfillment, which there probably are people who do enjoy that. But Shipstation

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area. So definitely go to their website and put in your zip code. For me, this week, they have this pink pistachio dream moose, which looks incredible. Chocolate muffins. They have five herb of pesto pasta, which is so good, rice and veggie summer rolls, and so much more deliciousness. So right now, Sakara is offering my listeners 20% off your first order. If you go to sakara.com slash blondefiles 20 or enter the code Blond Files 20 at checkout. Again, that's sacara.com, S-A-R-A-R-A-com slash blondefiles 20, to get 20% off your first order. Sikara.com slash Blond Files 20. Right? And we all experience that. I feel like it's me too. I'm sitting here like,

oh, it's me. Well, you, I mean, you follow such an amazing healthy lifestyle. Like, you know, what we talk about is so stress, stress, whether stress is from, you know, outside factors, you know, if you're just not, if you're not carving out time to breathe deeply or take a walk or, you know, sort of disconnect from social media or just be with friends, like things that really help you with stress. For me, it's doing a little bit of Peloton yoga, you know, and breathing and stretching. that's hugely impactful or going on a walk, you know, outside that really helps with my stress levels. But stress and nutrition are two of the biggest factors when it comes to creating that imbalance in the gut microbiome. And that's what shows up in our skin. So I'm a firm believer that what

we put on our skin absolutely matters. And, you know, I definitely, you know, believe in using the most, you know, scientific, beautiful topical formulations on the skin to really drive results. But you also have to think about nutrition. You have to think about the diet, what you're eating, and you have to think about your stress levels as well. This might be going off on kind of a little bit of a tangent, but I'm just curious, if somebody does feel like they're seeing these changes in their skin, they don't really have any obvious signs of maybe a gut dysbiosis, but they want to figure out what's going on. Is there any like testing that you can do where you can test like inflammatory biomarkers that would give you a little bit more of an answer or how do you navigate that or do you just kind of start assuming that you do have

dysbiosis and and kind of like altering your your lifestyle a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. And some of my patients, you know, will have GI symptoms. They'll have gas. They'll have bloating and digestion. But some don't. And it really just shows up in their skin or they're not even aware. You know, maybe they're, maybe they're not as regular as they thought they were. Maybe they have a little gas or bloat that it's normal. You know, and they really, it's just not something that they've noticed. And it's more just that they come to me specifically for the skin. You know, when it comes to sort of measuring those results, you know, I'm incredibly, as I said before, like science is my North Star. I deeply care about the science and measurable results. So, for example, when I developed my product line,

I was thinking about exactly the questions that you're asking. Like, how do we quantify this? How do we actually, you know, measure these changes over time? And for me, the main outcome, the thing that my patients care about, the things that my followers on social media care about, is how their skin looks, right? So, you know, obviously if you have enough of a GI disturbance that it bothers you enough, you're going to see a gastroenterologist, right? But people come to see me because they're seeing changes in their skin that they're not comfortable with, you know, and wanted to make sure that I was really measuring that outcome.

So when I developed the products and I put them to the test, one thing that I looked at was I wanted to measure the balance of the microbiome and the skin. And that's very new territory. You know, it's really, you know, I had to really be a pioneer in this space because we're just really learning, you know, what a normal skin microbiome is and everyone's microbiome is a little bit unique, right? It's almost like a fingerprint. And so what I did is I partnered with some of the top PhDs in molecular genetics internationally. And we use something called next generation sequencing technology, which is the most advanced form of an assay that can actually measure and really get a beautiful. beautiful clear picture of the microbiome in the skin and how it changes over time. And we were actually able to show that when you consistently use the products that I launched with, you know, with Dr. Whitney Boat Beauty that I just launched recently, if you consistently use those products every day for a 30-day period, we were actually showed that you could

increase the diversity of the balance of the skin microbiome. You could actually shift specific key strains on the skin, leading to a healthier balance of those skin strains. And then we also actually measured the changes in the skin. So we were able to show using very sophisticated imaging in clinical photography and software and algorithms that you can actually improve the texture, fine lens and wrinkles, uneven tone, like things that you would expect from like a prescription stirring threat. We were able to achieve those results in 30 days if you were really consistent with the regimen, which it was mind blowing, but in terms of, you know, quantifying that data. But for me, it's one thing to ask a survey.

That's what a lot of, you know, a lot of brands that, you know, that'll go to the extent of doing a clinical trial, they do what are called consumer perception studies where it's basically, it's a survey. It's saying like, do you feel like your skin is more hydrated? Do you feel like your fine lines and wrinkles are less pronounced? Right. And I think that that's important.

It's valuable to collect that data from the point of view like, oh, yeah, I feel like my skin looks better. But for me, I like to take it one step further and actually like measure those results, you know, using technology, using instruments. using tools. So the fact that I was able to really document that and measure it, and we're actually submitting it for peer-reviewed publication, it's that level of evidence. You know, it was, it was really very, very exciting. So, so, you know, I think that there's, there are markers. Your initial question, like, are there things that we can measure, things we can detect? Sure, there are sort of these,

you know, what I call surrogate markers like are, you know, should we be measuring certain inflammatory markers in the circulation or, you know, or measuring certain things that show that your tight junctions and your gut are not working properly. Like all those things I think are theoretically interesting, but it's not really what my patients care about. Like at the end of the day, what's a clinically meaningful result to people who are going to come to me or buy my skincare?

They care about how does my skin look after using products for 30 days, right? Like, do my wrinkles look better? Does my skin smoother? Like those are the results that people care about. So for me, those are the results that I set out to measure. I have been traveling on the go the past few weeks. So you guys know that I have been starting my day with AG1 from Athletic Greens. This is a total non-negotiable in my morning routine.

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athletic greens.com slash blonde files. Again, that's athletic greens.com slash blonde files to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. Since we're talking about skincare in this episode, let's talk about acne, specifically acne and aging. I think a lot of people don't realize that a lot of products on the market that treat acne can actually contribute to signs of aging. And that's why Clearstem was developed. So Clearstem is anti-aging, anti-acne, non-toxic skincare, all in one. There's no poor clogging ingredients, no hormone disruptors, in any of Clearstem's products. And they are designed to clear acne and stimulate collagen.

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So are the same things that can cause dysbiosis in your gut microbiome? Can those cause dysbiosis in your skin's microbiome? Yeah. So such a great question. And we're studying that now. So we know that an imbalance gut microbiome can actually lead to changes in your skin microbiome as well. And interestingly, one of the ingredients in the Bow Grow, which is the microbiome balancing elixir that I have, which is the water drops, the ones you actually add, their water enhancing drops, you add it to your water, your sparkling water, your sip on it throughout the day. One of those ingredients is a pomegranate extract. It's a polyphenol that's actually been shown that if you take it by mouth in a clinical study that was done and it was published peer reviews. scientific PubMed publication, and it showed it could actually change the balance of bacteria on your skin. And we actually, you know, showed that again in our own clinical studies. So what's fascinating

is you can change your skin microbiome balance by changing your diet, by doing something is simple. I mean, I changed nothing else in those clinical studies. I didn't tell those people to cut out carbs or cut out high glycemic index foods or, you know, add healthy fats to their diet. or, you know, add more fruits and vegetables. I literally, the one thing that I said was just add, you know, one to two dropperfuls of O'Grow every day. And that was, you know, done in a third-party testing facility, you know, overseen by a separate unbiased dermatologist.

And we were able to demonstrate that by changing that, by just adding that one thing to your diet, you can actually change your skin microbiome. So there is this link. You know, the gut microbiome, when it's out of balance, it can affect the skin in two different ways. It can affect it more indirectly through your immune system. Because if you think about it, our gut lining, our gut is lined by about 70 to 80 percent of our immune system. 70 to 80 percent of our immune system is

literally housed right outside of our gut lining. It's called the galtz, the gut associated lymphoid tissue. And so if you think about these trillions of microscopic organisms that are inside your gut, our gut microbiome, there's this single thin, layer of gut epithelial cells. And then there's all of this, this immune tissue right outside. It's, it's your microbiome talking to your immune cells every single day, back and forth, back and forth. So when your gut microbiome is out of balance, your immune system starts to get confused. It starts to get triggered in ways that are unnecessary. It's constantly like fighting a battle that it doesn't need to fight, right? So by rebalancing the gut microbiome, you can calm down your

immune system. And when your immune system, you know, even though most of it's housed outside the gut, when your immune system is revved up, it sends out these tiny molecular signals that travel throughout your entire body through your bloodstream and they can enter your skin. So even though it seems like it would be localized into the gut, it's having these, you know, these effects on very distant parts of your body, which is why I try to emphasize, like, it really all is connected. You know, you can't, when I was training in medical school, we had, you know, everything was in its own silo, right? It was like the GI system was separate from the, you know, the skin system was separate from the nervous system. And then now we're learning that you can't just isolate things

that way. That's not the way that the body works. It really is all connected. So yeah, so it's fascinating. But there are many different ways that the gut microbiome are directly and indirectly. linked to the skin microbiome. Okay. So say you have a new patient. I know you're not taking anybody, but say I walked into your office. Okay. So I'm in my 30s. I have a healthy lifestyle. My skin concerns would be like maybe a little bit of dullness, maybe some fine lines, some occasional breakouts. What is the first thing that you do when you're treating a new patient? Yeah. Understanding that everybody's different. The first thing that I do is I tell you to bring in a bag of your products that

you're using on your skin because, you know, I think about outer skincare and inner skincare, right? There is what you put on your skin and then there's what you put in your body. So I absolutely want to see, you know, what, what are you using? What are the products that you're using and how are you using them? I specifically am a firm believer in something called skin cycling. And when I started talking about skin cycling, it's skin cycling is the way that I explained to my patients how to get the most of their evening skincare routine. Because the same way, you know, if you go to the gym every day

and you do the exact same routine every day, say that you're doing like heavy weights and you're doing biceps. You're not going to do heavyweight bicep, a regimen like that in the gym every single day or else you're going to end up injuring your biceps. They're not going to have time to recover, right? It's the same thing with your skin.

You need to cycle through your active ingredients at night if you really want to get the most out of them and maintain that healthy barrier of your skin. So in the evening, when I talk about skin cycling with my patients, it's a four-night cycle. It's exfoliation night is night one. Retinoid night is night two. And then I have recovery night, followed by recovery nights. So two nights of recovery nights where we're not using any irritating or potentially

irritating acids or retinodes. And you're just focusing on intensely nourishing and hydrating ingredients that are going to rebalance skin microbiome and repair the skin barrier. So I talk to my patients about skin cycling. I talked to them about their morning routine. So we cycle at night, but our skincare routine in the morning is consistent every single day. You want to just cleanse pat dry, use a vitamin C antioxidant serum, followed by a moisturizer, followed by sunscreen, and then makeup, you know, if you choose to use makeup.

And so we talk about, we talk about that first. And I look at their products. I see, you know, what are the ingredients in their products? What are the clinical studies done behind those products? How are they using those products? Are they cycling or they not cycling? what are their underlying skin conditions, what are their goals? And we'll sometimes tweak the skin cycling regimen and products based on that particular

person's exam based on their goals. And then I talked to them about what I call inner skin care, which is like, what are you putting in your mouth? So diet, you know, what are they eating? What are they drinking? And we'll talk about all of those factors as well. So that's really how I initially would approach the skin. You guys know because I talk about this all the time, but I'm always looking for alternatives

to just drinking plain old water. I love finding really good kombuchas and other drinks, but something that I didn't realize is that the vitamins and probiotics in premixed drinks and kombuchas actually deteriorate over time. So I found this brand, Karma Water, and they're amazing because they store the probiotics, vitamins, antioxidants, and adaptogens in a patented protective push cap That infuses the ingredients just seconds before drinking, basically ensuring that all nutrients are delivered at peak potency to deliver the greatest health benefits to you. Ever since I got that stomach bug when I was traveling and ever since I got COVID, which also affected my stomach. I have been trying to get all the probiotics and this is such a good way to get them. You're getting two billion cultures per bottle.

I really love the watermelon wildberry and I love the tropical coconut as well. And with karma water, you're actually getting 10 times more probiotic cultures than you're getting in yogurt, which can, of course, help aid in digestion and help boost metabolism and immunity. So definitely check them out if you are looking to boost your water game. They currently have two lines. They have the karma probiotic water and they have karma wellness water. They're each formulated to deliver distinct wellness benefits and a variety of natural tropical flavors. They are also vegan, non-GMO, gluten-free, lactose-free, as well as free of preservatives and artificial colors and sweeteners. Karma Wellness Water contains 110% of seven essential vitamins plus nourishing antioxidants and adaptogens,

which help the body adapt to mental and physical stress, and it can also help to soothe inflammation and reduce fatigue. Karma water is distributed nationally and available on Amazon. So for more information, visit drinkcarma.com. That's drink karma, k-a-r-m-a-com. And do you think that what is your philosophy on like medical grade skincare versus maybe like drugstore? Is it all beneficial or does it really just depend? So medical grade is it's a little bit of a marketing term.

It's not like a universally accepted definition for medical grade. But when people say medical grade, I think the intention there is that you're using clinically active ingredients, a clinically active concentrations to deliver meaningful results. And in my opinion, something that's medical grade should be put to the test using clinical studies in the final formulation. Unfortunately, right now, there's sort of this thing that happens in the beauty industry where even these sort of medical grade, you guys are listening,

but I'm giving like air quotes over here, medical grade products, you know, will rely on what's called ingredient supplier data to make their claims. So they'll make these very compelling claims. Like, oh, it repairs the skin barrier.

It boosts hydration. It improves fine lines and wrinkles, etc. Actually read the fine print. It's based on one single ingredient in that formulation. So if you ate two hard-boiled eggs for breakfast every day, that's not the same thing as eating two slices of cake every day that are made with two eggs.

One is the ingredient and one is the final recipe. And that's the same thing when it comes to skincare. If one single ingredient has been studied, you know, by the ingredients supplier to deliver X, Y, and Z results, you as a brand really, it's very, it's not really the highest standard, in my opinion, to that extrapolate. those results to the final formulation. So for me, you know, when I think about medical grade, at least the way that I defined it for my brand is that I wanted to put each final formulation to the test in a clinical study using the final formulation, not a single ingredient,

but the final formulation. So the product that you are holding in your hand is the one that delivers the results that I'm claiming that it results, that I'm claiming that it does. You know, so, so for me, medical grade is a little bit of a nuanced term. It's the same thing with clean, right? There's just words that are thrown out there. And, you know, I think that different people can define them differently. So just internally, I just might, my standards for those definitions are are very, very rigorous. What do you think are the worst things for skin? I'm looking at your skin right now. And I know that you have like a prophylactic approach, right? But have you always been that way? Have you, you look like you haven't been in the sun. like in the best way ever. Oh my gosh. It's amazing. I'm like quite the opposite. Quite the opposite.

So I'm 43. And when I look back at my wedding photos, I got married at 24, my husband is adorable. He is a spine surgeon and a total alpha male. I needed a really confident guy because I was not going to be a yes wife. So when I look back at our wedding album, my skin had so much photo damage. I went to tanning salons every week. in high school. I'm not even kidding. I really did. I believed that there was such thing as a base tan that was somehow good for my skin. I was like, oh, UVA tanning. That's good for your skin.

You know, only UVB is bad. I mean, I brought into all of that. And so I would just bake out in the sun and I would go to the tanning salons. And my skin was quite the mess, as you can imagine, but I entered residency. And I remember, this is so funny because it released to something we were talking about offline. But I remember when I first learned about retinoids, and I got so excited. I'm like, oh, my gosh, these are amazing what they do for the skin. I can't wait. So I just went to town. Like every, I feel like every first year dermatology resident goes through this experience where we slather on the retinoid like every night. And then the next week we come to work and all the like senior residents just laugh at us because we're just red and flaking and peeling and stinging and

burning and our face is like literally falling off. And they're like, yeah, you just started retinoid. No idea what you're doing. You totally overdid it because you can use it a couple nights. No problem. And then it's like the next week that your skin goes crazy. Right. So, you know, so I obviously learned how to use skin care appropriately. I did a bunch of fractal lasers. I did a bunch of chemical peels. Like I certainly had to like, you know, turn back the clock, mer sure in a lot of different ways. And I am a huge. huge advocate of sun. I love being in the sun. I have a 10-year-old daughter. She loves being in the sun. We have a beach house that we love going to. It's right on the water. You know, we're on the water,

paddleboarding and kayaking all summer along. But at the same time, I'm careful. You know, so I put on my sunscreen. I reapply my sunscreen. I wear a broad-rimmed hat. You know, I'm still, you have to live. It's a balance. Like the benefits that I get from a health standpoint, from a mental health standpoint from being outdoors is not worth, you know, the, the, the stress of saying, oh my gosh, what is it doing to my skin? So it's all about a healthy balance. And I know, you know, some dermatologists would yell at me for saying that, but I really do feel like that's a healthier approach to life. And my skin shows that if you, if you are careful, you know, there's a way to strike that balance. You can do it. I want to hear about some more of the things that you did to

help erase that photo damage. I'm going to say I was. I was. the same way. People ask me, like, do I have any regrets in life? None except for, like, a very unhealthy addiction to tanning beds and being as tan as possible in high school and a little bit in my 20s because that was like cool back then. Now it's not. But I did the same, like fractal, fractal face, chest, shoulders, arm, whatever, IPL, peels. Are there other other little tips or tricks that you have? So, so first of all, you, you are clearly a successful. story. So you were absolutely magnificently beautiful. And the skin really has, the skin is smart. It can actually repair itself quite nicely if you start just protecting it. So I know you,

you and I both had sort of undo some of that damage. And, you know, we, we did go the procedure route. But you can really do it using skincare too. A lot of my patients come to me for injectables and they come to me for lasers and resurfacing. And I explain to patients, you know, when it comes to injectables. Like there's no such thing as Botox in a bottle. There's no such thing as filler in a bottle. Like if you're looking to, you know, really like, you know, help with under eye circles that are clearly because of fat loss and collagen loss, no eye cream is going to magically do that. Like, you're going to need to put a little filler there. You're going to need to get a blephroplasty, whatever it is, you're going to probably, you know, if they're really deep enough and it's really

from shadows, you know, because of loss of volume, you're going to have to go a procedure out. It's very hard to mimic that using a skincare product. But when it comes to lasers and chemical peels. I disagree. I actually have seen and witnessed in my own patients that even without lasers, even without microneedling, even without in-office chemical peels, if you do use proper skincare and you protect your skin every morning and you skin cycle, you can actually achieve the same results that you can get from a laser at home. It may take a little bit longer. You have to be a little bit more patient and you have to be very thoughtful and very strategic. Like the skin cycling is game changing. I know a lot of patients who suffer from

malasma, hyperpigmentation, and they'll start using, you know, their exfoliating acids every night, twice a day. And oftentimes, unfortunately, the products say to do that. You know, it's used twice a day. And it actually does more harm than good. They're like, my dark spots are worse. You know, I'm, I'm even more sensitive to the sun than before it. And now that everything's looking even drier. My fine lines are even more pronounced because they're overusing their retinoids and they're damaging, you know, they're leading to more inflammation because they're damaging their skin barrier. They're not respecting their skin barrier. And then when we start skin cycling and they start really protecting their skin every single

morning with a powerful vitamin C antioxidant serum followed by a moisturizer, followed by a broad spectrum sunscreen, you can actually turn back the clock. This skin has an amazing ability to repair itself and to actually, you know, show quote unquote, to hate the word anti-aging, but to actually combat some of those signs of photo aging, you know, simply by allowing it to function at its optimal capacity. So it can absolutely be done. And I know that you have amazing content on your TikTok and Instagram, and I'm sure it's different for everybody, but are there any products that you can recommend like a vitamin C, a retinoid, or, you know, a glycolic? Or is it just different depending on,

each person's needs. I do. And I do recommend a lot of those different products on my social media channels because, you know, depending on it does differ, depending on how, first of all, how experienced you are in skin care. You know, have you already, you know, used a retinal or a retinal? You know, it's more about your type of skin. Are you oily? Are you a combination skin? Because then you can tolerate a little bit more aggressive treatments. And you may even be able to tolerate something that's, you know, got a different blend of acids than somebody who has rosacea or eczema, you know, so I do, I do share different recommendations, but I can give you a couple of rules of them. You know, so in general, so for example, for your morning skincare routine, so you really want

to just have a single cleanse. You know, I think there's there's a time and a place for double cleansing. Double cleansing is when you first use like an oil based cleanser and then you follow it with a water based cleanser. In the morning, you should be taking your makeup off at night. So in the morning, you should really only be just removing whatever skin care you put on the night before. There's no reason to double cleanse. And double cleansing can be a little bit more stripping of your skin than a single cleanse. You want to reach for a gentle water-based pH-balanced cleanser. A good way to test that it's pH-balanced is you can actually buy these little pH strips on Amazon.

And they're cheap. They're usually used to like test urine or other secretions. And you just, if you're using like just a cleanser and a pump, you can pump it out and just dip that strip in there and compare it to what it says on the side of the box. You want your cleanser to be slightly acidic or neutral. So where people go wrong is that they'll use cleansers or soaps that are alkaline. So if something is basic or alkaline, it's very, very damaging for your skin, your skin barrier and your skin microbiome.

So your cleanser is really, really important. So in the morning, you want a gentle, ideally a water-based, pH-balanced, meaning neutral or slightly acidic cleanser. And then you want to pat dry, then you want to put on a vitamin C serum. Now, I have done extensive testing of all the different vitamin C serums out there. And what's really intriguing me lately

are the more stable forms of vitamin C. So in the past, we used to really rely on something called L-Asorbic acid. L-asurbic acid has, yes, it's got a mountain of evidence behind it, showing that it helps brighten the skin. It helps the fine lines and wrinkles. you know, it acts as a powerful antioxidant. It's got so many benefits in the skin. But the problem

is that allisorbic acid as an ingredient is very, very unstable. And in most formulations, by the time that you're halfway through the product, the bottle, it's not even active anymore. It's not, you're not even using anything that's doing anything. And sometimes it's even irritating. You'll, you'll sometimes see that the product changes color. You know, sometimes you'll see that it just looks a little bit different when you pump it out or when you drop it out. But that's something to look out for. So there's these newer forms of vitamin C that are incredibly attractive to me. And the science is very impressive.

They're more stable forms. So tetrahexyl-desol, assorbate is one of them. 3-0-ethyl acylacalic acid. I'm sounding like a total nerd right now. But like they're basically like more stable forms of vitamin C that have been shown to, you know, be potent and stable. And then the other thing about vitamin C is that you want to make sure that it's in an airless pump that's opaque. And that's really tricky because a lot of vitamin C serums come in these droppers. But every time you open it up, it's being broken down by the oxidation of those products

is being exposed to oxygen. What are two things that break down your product, oxygen and light? So if you can either see through the packaging to the product, that's not a good sign, right? Because I mean, the light can get in there too and break it down. Or if you're opening it up, say you have a jar or a dropper. And every time you open it up, it's being exposed to oxygen. It's breaking down that product over time. So, you know, and then when it comes to the moisturizer, obviously that that was really why I ended up developing BoGlo,

because I wanted a moisturizer that I could recommend to everyone with any skin type for using morning or night that fit in beautifully with skin cycling. And, you know, I think it's really more about like not just individual ingredients, but the final formulation. So whenever I'm making product recommendations, I'm looking to see, you know, what are the ingredients, what's the final formulation, and what is the clinical testing behind them?

And, you know, unfortunately, there's not a ton of products out there that really sort of deliver on all fronts in terms of really, you know, coming through for people who have sensitive skin and also being incredibly powerful and effective and really driving those results. So, but I do share lots of specific product recommendations on my Instagram and on my TikTok.

It's like a total rabbit hole. You can just go through, especially TikTok, so many good videos, so much good content across both platforms, of course. What are some of the biggest skincare mistakes that you think people make? So overcleansing and probably, you know, what I spoke about before using like an alkaline cleanser, you know, is a common mistake. And a lot of the natural soaps tend to be very alkaline. So you to be really careful about that. Another big mistake that people make is that they over exfoliate the skin. And so if they're using an exfoliating serum, say one with like, alpha or beta hydroxy acids and they're using it morning and night or they're using it every night. You know, that's a great way to completely disrupt your skin barrier and, you know, and create inflammation and actually like do more harm than good. Right. So those are probably like two of the most common mistakes that I see. I also see that there's a lot of this sort of like throw the kitchen sink at your skin approach

right now. It's, you know, especially this like, there's this trend towards like a la carte skincare where it's like you're just looking at each product has one ingredient or one key ingredient. and you're just layering like product after product after product. And it have so many patients who come in and their skin's just a mess because they're trying to be cosmetic chemists. They're trying to put the ingredients together themselves and, you know, they're mixing and matching and they end up, you know, causing a lot of issues doing that.

You know, so I think it's better to have a more simple approach with simple, very effective products. And then what are some of the biggest skincare myths that might be out there right now or trends that you're seeing that are not really valid. Well, so one of the trends that I recently responded to on TikTok, I love, I love the duet feature where you can, you know, see what's going out there. And you're like, oh my gosh, please don't do this. It was actually a nasal spray, like the same way if you guys have allergies and you use like a, you know, a nose spray to help with allergies. It's a nose spray that creates a tan from the inside out, which seems very,

like you and I would be like, like, right, our 20 year old selves are like, what is that? Oh my God, sign me up. So, but unfortunately, you know, these ingredients are not very well studied and they potentially can affect your hormones. They potentially can even stimulate what are called melanocytes in your skin, which are pigment producing cells, which are also the cells that when they start to divide uncontrollably can lead to something called melanoma, which is the most deadly form of skin cancer. So although theoretically really interesting, I love the concept of, oh my gosh, you know, put something in my nose, spray it up my nose and, you know, I don't have to go out in the sun. You know, right now those just aren't really safe. And so, you know, we're seeing that went viral on TikTok just recently and I responded to that one. So as a former drug addict and a former tan addict, that would have been right at my alley. Exactly.

something up my nose. That's kind of this is incredible. Yeah, and I think it's an appetite suppressant too. Like for so many reasons, right? It's just like, oh gosh, guys, stay away from this. And yeah, I almost feel like it's my civil duty to be active on TikTok. It's so funny because I started TikTok and I remember like, I was like, I don't dance.

Like, I don't know how to like do these transitions and these edits. I don't know what sounds are trending. I know what I don't. So I just like sat up my camera. but I was seeing these like horrific things. I was like, I have to respond to this. I have to like educate and empower these people and, you know, and tell especially like the younger generations that are making mistakes that like I know

if I were them. I look back and be like, oh, gosh, I still regret that. So I started just sort of having these like boring, you know, TikToks or I was just looking at the camera and just like talking, right? Like I was talking to my friend. Like I had no idea what actually was happening on the platform. Like I was totally uncool. And the channel just like exploded, right?

So I just, you know, had a bunch of press interviews for the product launch. And just on like half of the press titles when they were covering the launch of the brand, it was like, you know, TikTok's most famous dermatologist or the TikTok's, you know, most well-known dermatologist. And it's so funny because I just remember like I still don't really know what I'm doing on TikTok. I still I'm sort of just like standing there and saying, you know, just trying to educate. But without any idea of, you know, my daughter will look and me just like, that's just so not like TikTok mom. Like you need to let me do the dance and you need to do it this way and then you need to do

the transition. Like we're using the green screen right mommy? You know, like I have no idea what I'm doing honey. That's my favorite kind of content on TikTok though. Like I go on there to learn something. I mean, those are the rabbit holes that I go down. I went down like Discovery Channel rabbit hole today learning about like some, I don't know, they were at the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean. And I'm like 10 videos deep. Like I don't even, it's not something that I'm normally, even interested in. Yeah. And they're like bite-sized digestible pieces of content that like you can just, you,

you literally can go down that rabbit hole so quickly because you just, it keeps you wanting more because you're getting like just enough of a nugget to be like, ooh, ooh, let me go a little bit farther. Yeah. And if somebody presented all the information all at once, you just tune out. Yeah. Well, yeah. And I think, I think it's also like, I don't know if our attention spans have gotten that much

shorter or if it's made it. But yeah, it just works. Chicken or the egg. So tell everybody about your skincare line because it just launched yesterday, I want to say. Yes, I'm so excited. So Dr. Inibo Beauty, it's been, you know, over two years in the making to create the formulations. Obviously, the concepts behind the product line have been evolving over the last decade. But I started formulating the two products that I launched with over two years ago. And it took me 17 iterations to nail BoGlo, which is the moisturizing cream. And it took me

11 iterations to nail the elixir, which is the water enhancing drops. So these, I launched with a very foundational product pair, meaning I wanted a product that everyone could use every single day to really sort of set them up for success. You know, we talked about the skin

barrier. We talked about the imbalance of the microbiome of the gut or of the skin. And if your gut microbiome or your skin microbiome or your skin microbiome is out of balance, no matter how good your other products are, you're never going to be able to benefit from them, right? So the first step, the most foundational step, the cornerstone of your skincare routine, is going to be to find a really great moisturizer that's going to repair the skin barrier, rebalance the microbiome, and work synergistically with something from the inside out

that's going to help to do the same when it comes to your gut. So I developed Bow Glow with Bow Grow. It's a synergistic pair of outer skincare plus inner skin care. So all of my products that are going to be coming out are really thinking about the skin gut mind connection and pairing that outer skin care with that inner skincare. And I test them individually, but I also test them together to demonstrate that they actually work even better if you use them together as a system. So BoGlo is a silky, luxurious, lightweight, but fast absorbing moisturizer. It's very intensely nourishing, as you experienced last night. You know, but it actually layers beautifully underneath makeup. Like I wanted something that really could be used in the more. morning as part of your morning routine, but also be nourishing and hydriding enough to be a standalone moisturizer at night. And so that one, it's got a powerful blend of prebiotics, postbiotics, squaline, seramides, hyluronic acid. And it's been clinically proven to repair the skin barrier using an instrument called a two a meter. We lifted transepidermal water loss and actually

measured that in just one hour after the application, you can actually repair your skin barrier, which is amazing. And then we paired it with the Bow Grow microbiome balancing elixir, which are these vegan delicious drops, they're water-enhancing drops. You just shake it up very well. You add one to three dropper folds into four ounces of water or sparkling water. It initially is the sort of deep blood red color because it's this beautiful blend of polyphenols. Polyphenols are the plant-based bioactive compounds that give plants their bright colors. So if you think about like, you know, the red of a pomegranate or the blue of a blueberry, you know, those are polyphenols. And so when you were a kid, when, you know,

when you tried to mix the rainbow, you know, and you had like your water colors and you mixed all of them together, and you ended up with sort of like this very intense purple color. That's the color of the elixir. But when you add it to water, I'm holding it up so you can see it because we're looking at each other. You guys can imagine it. It looks like a rosé color. You know, it ends up, I think it reminds me. I used to drink like kiwi strawberry snapple when I was a kid, like way back in the day, right? And so it's, it's, it's, It's just, it's very, it's got like subtle notes of pomegranate berries and lemon. And it basically, we learned just recently the science has been exploding surrounding polyphenols

and how they not only act as antioxidants, but they actually act as prebiotics, meaning that they they actually balance and nourish your gut microbiome. And so when we tested them together, we found that we were actually able to, you know, improve skin texture, the fine lines and wrinkles, you know, the uneven tone. And it's really that combination of the products because either one alone would never be able to accomplish that. It's that synergistic system that really works together to really drive those results. Yes. And we were talking before we started recording that I used the moisturizer last night. And so far, so good. I'm going to be using it morning and night now. And I can't wait to try the

drops too. So I like to ask my guests at the end, one thing we should stop doing and one thing we should start doing. Okay. So first again. So one thing that we want to stop doing is we want to stop eating refined processed comfort foods, such as things that have what's called a high glycemic index. So I am a big believer in diversity in the diet. I'm always talking to my patients about adding foods, not taking foods away. I think that we should try to, you know, eat the rainbow as many brightly colored fruits and vegetables and plants as we possibly can. But the one exception to that rule is these refined, highly processed foods have been linked with inflammation. And we actually have shown that in, you know, in clinical studies that even people who have

like really severe acne, when you actually switch them from a high glycemic index diet to a low glycemic index diet, you can significantly clear up their acne and the inflammation in their skin without doing anything else, without any other prescriptions or topical products or anything else. So, you know, I'm a huge advocate of trying to, you know, eat a very, like, heavily plant-based diet. And I love healthy fats. You know, I love avocados and olive oils, et cetera, and salmon. I'm a huge salmon lover. So I'm not about restriction, but the one thing that if you are thinking about diet and you want to make one change that we know is going to really, you know, significantly impact the skin. It's to cut out that refined sugar, that processed, you know,

refined carbs from your diet. That's going to make a huge change. One thing to start doing. So one thing that you want to start doing using your skincare is definitely using, BoGlo and BoGro every single day. So I think that, you know, one of the things that we talked about before is, came back to that, that idea of sort of getting back that circadian rhythm. Your circadian rhythm is so important for your overall health. So much of our skin repair happens while we're sleeping. It's an incredibly restorative, reparative time when our skin is actually very hard at work. And so I love the idea, you know, when I tell my patients just to wake up, open the door, walk outside and get some sunlight, some natural sunlight.

you know, into their eyes. Don't look directly at the sun, but, you know, just just step outside and just for a few moments even, you know, just take in that sunlight. It really helps to set your brain and your hormonal system into that healthy circadian rhythm that is going to set you. It's going to make you feel more awake and alert throughout the day. And it's going to help set you up for a more restful and restorative evening as well. And the same way that we want blue light in our eyes, temporarily when we wake up, we want to block that blue light from entering our eyes at bedtime. So whether that means wearing like blue light blocking glasses or putting your devices on night shift or using, you know, certain types of bulbs in your bedroom that are a little bit more warm and

red. You know, that's, think about it when we were, years ago, we used to camp out by a fire, right? And the fire, that sort of red, warm light, that is going to put you in that deep restorative restful sleep. So just being respectful of our circadian rhythm and our mental health, I think is such a huge part of, you know, supporting our skin health as well. I love that. Well, tell everybody where they can find you and find your skincare and all of that. Absolutely. So I just launched the product line.

It's at Dr. Whitney Bow Beauty.com. I'd love to see you guys there. It's not just about shopping. We have a tremendous amount of educational resources there as well under Durham Scribbles and DWB Skin Dex and Greening Glossaries, blogs, just so much information for you guys. And then also I'm very active on social media. I have over 350,000 followers on my personal channel, which is at Dr. Whitney Bow. We just launched a brand channel at Dr. Winnie Bow Beauty.

And we have the same handles on Instagram. And I absolutely love my Instagram family and community. They've been so incredibly supportive and instrumental in shaping so much of what I've learned over the years as well. So I'd love to see you guys there as well. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. I hope you enjoyed that episode. if you liked it, and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe.

It goes a long way, and it's actually the best way to support the show. Also, if you want to see more about each episode, you can head over to The Blonde Files podcast on Instagram. I'm always posting about each episode there or over on my personal page at Ariel Laurie.