How Men Can Take Better Care Of Their Skin And Slow The Aging Process With Chris Gibson

[00:00:00] Jeremy: It's one of your most important organs and you don't give it nearly enough attention and men, especially. Don't talk about it enough. No weirdo. We're talking about your skin, 

[00:00:08] Zach: today, we'll share some simple things you can start doing now to take better care of your skin so you can stay healthy. And so you don't end up looking like a leather suitcase.

[00:00:17] Jeremy: today on the fit mess.

[00:00:19] Chris Gibson: take a look at your butt and look at the skin on your butt. Because that's for most people been covered their entire lives and look at the skin that's been exposed. Your neck, your chest, your face, your arms, your hands. That is sun damage cause your butt aged just like everything else.

[00:00:33] That's sun damage.

[00:00:34] Zach: That's Chris Gibson. He's a skincare expert author of acne free in three days. And host of the popular Chris Gibson live show on YouTube today, we'll talk to him about how you can protect your skin. So you not only look great, but stay safe. Especially during the sunny summer season,

[00:00:50] Jeremy: But first I'm Jeremy.

[00:00:51] Zach: And I'm Zach we've spent years pushing ourselves to learn more about our own physical, emotional and mental health, and picked up a few coaching certificates along the way.

[00:00:59] Jeremy: But really we're two guys who got sick of our own shit and started making changes to be healthier, happier, and live more meaningful lives.

[00:01:05] Zach: And each week we talk to world class experts with advice to help you do the same

[00:01:10] Jeremy: Zach, in all the years, we've known each other and done this show. Skincare is something that I don't think we've ever actually talked about mostly because we, and probably a lot of men don't do shit about our skin until we're tired and old and leathery dudes and it's too late.

[00:01:23] And all of a sudden, we're trying to turn back time and look like we're 25 when we're pushing 50

[00:01:28] Zach: don't know what you're talking about. I've been moisturizing for weeks now.

[00:01:31] Jeremy: For over weeks. Congratulations. You've you're

[00:01:33] Zach: Well, actually months.

[00:01:34] Jeremy: ahead of the curve on this one. You're so you're taking care of your skin. Are you

[00:01:38] Zach: Actually. I am. But to your point, I didn't start taking care of it until , , a problem developed. It's actually been like seven years, but I just have a case of eczema on my right foot. And it was never that bad. Like my, you know, skin was just a little dry. , didn't bother me too much, but like in the last year, for some reason, it just like kicked into overdrive to the point where like a couple of my toenails fell off.

[00:02:00] I know it's TMI, so like I had to like start moisturizing my foot and, and doing all that stuff. And my toenails have grown back for the most part, but I was like, what the fuck? Like what happened? Like I hit past 40 and my body was like, Hey, here's something else you can go deal with.

[00:02:17] Jeremy: That's that's awful. I like most men. Did not really take care of my skin at all until a couple of months ago, really? Like I think it was around Christmas time. Uh, my wife was offering to get me something for Christmas, some sort of skincare routine. And I told her fine, good plan, make sense. 

[00:02:35] Zach: Hang on. Hang on. So, so did she, did she like outright say it and be like, so noticing a little decline and I need to step in to make sure

[00:02:46] Jeremy: She's she's either much more subtle than that. Or, uh, or it was just a coincidence where she was ordering stuff and was like, Hey, do you give a shit? And I was like, sure, I'll give a shit. But here's my rule. If there are more than two steps, I'm out, don't get me three bottles. Don't get me nine bottles. If, if I've gotta spend 45 minutes doing shit to my face.

[00:03:03] I'm just gonna get old. It's fine. That's part of the process. So two bottles, that's it, of course three bottles showed up and I only used two of them, but that's, that's just me.

[00:03:11] Zach: Well, that's, that's what guys do right.

[00:03:13] Jeremy: Right, right.

[00:03:14] Zach: Don't read the instructions and just figure it out on your own and go, oh, there's extra parts. Hmm. I wonder what those are for.

[00:03:20] Jeremy: Yeah, exactly. What's what's that third bottle? Uh, who's got time. 

[00:03:23] Zach: So the other interesting thing, my daughter started picking on me because she was like, dad, you have pimples on your forehead. And it was not pimples. It was like every time I got outta the shower and took a hot shower, like my forehead had like red marks on, it was just dry skin. I was like, what the F what the fuck is going on now? , interestingly enough, , my ex-wife introduced me to a store called lush years

[00:03:45] Jeremy: This is, this is where my stuff came from. Lush is the best.

[00:03:49] Zach: I get a headache whenever I go in the

[00:03:50] Jeremy: Oh, me too.

[00:03:51] Zach: too many smells, but I really do. They've got a, a cream called vanishing cream and then, , I got that and was like, it's a little itty bitty tub and it's like $50.

[00:04:00] And I was like, oh, oh my God. Um, but that actually works wonders. And like I was just using it on my forehead and saw the difference. And now it's like, I slather it all over my face every night. So.

[00:04:12] Jeremy: Yeah, I, I wish lush was a sponsor of the show because their stuff is great. It's, it's what I use myself. , but this whole conversation, we, we almost didn't even have the skincare conversation. , we had, , considered maybe doing something sort of dismissed the idea. And then randomly I hear from my brother, I'm just having a conversation with him.

[00:04:29] And he's telling me about all the skincare stuff that he was doing. And I was like, well, wait a minute. If he's doing something and I'm starting to do something, maybe Zach's starting to do something. Maybe we should do something about this. So I had to share my brother's story though, because I think it is a very common one.

[00:04:42] So I asked him to share what happened to him when he started taking care of his own face 

[00:04:46] I've spent my entire life not washing my face, not using any kind of lotion of any sort.

[00:04:51] Uh, and never thought this is something you would really consider until you my much, much, much, much older brother and much more handsome and much more handsome started washing your face with something because of something you heard on some ding-dong podcasts. So what, what happened? Why did you decide to start giving a shit about the way you're facing.

[00:05:12] Aaron: Well, uh, for a few reasons, , I heard on a few podcasts. They're all older guys. They're my age. I'm, I'm almost going to be 50 so that I know that's my next birthday. But listening to some other, uh, middle-aged celebrities, Rob Lowe's, one of them he's famously handsome and, and he talks about.

[00:05:32] You know, people say like, how do you do it on his show? And he would say, well, you know, he does have some products that he, that he makes or whatever, you know, that he sells. But, you know, I, I still believe that he has had a process over the years. Right. So he knows what to put on his face. Also, his wife is a makeup artist for celebrities.

[00:05:51] So, so I at least trust that he knows what he's talking about. Sure. Maybe he's selling some product, but, and then, um, Some other guys, one of them's Jason Bateman, they have a podcast, they were talking about stuff that they put on their face. So, and they're all like my age. I mean, Rob, Lowe's a little bit older.

[00:06:08] So I was like, you know what, it's never too late to start or is it, or is it, um, you gotta be careful because, uh, So, yeah, I went into the store and actually my, my friend who, who looks great and has been doing this, she, she just said, why don't you just try sunscreen?

[00:06:27] Right. Like just do that. And I was like, ah, sure. Yeah, yeah. But then again, hearing these, I looked at Rob Lowe's website and, or his, for his products. He had all this stuff. So I was like, but it was way expensive. Right. So I'm like, well, I'll just get these things, but at target.

[00:06:46] So I went into target and, um, I decided, okay, I'm going to get a face scrub. So, because it's in a brown. Container here. It means it's for men, of course, on every man, Jack. So it's for man. It's not a woman's thing. So I got that. And then, um, I also said sunscreen is good, but I ha I remember because when I was a teenager, I did have a retinol.

[00:07:11] So I was like, oh yeah, that's supposed to do something for skin. 

[00:07:14] Jeremy: That must be good. I've heard of it 

[00:07:15] Aaron: before. And it's called, this is the most important thing. Well, Man on it. Right. So forget it clearly, it actually has men. So on their, uh, age fighter, that's called age finder. 

[00:07:28] Jeremy: So you're advancing age. That's very important.

[00:07:30] I 

[00:07:31] Aaron: want that. I want that because I'm almost 50. And, and then, so I got that and then I was like, ah, but you know what? I really, what makes me look? The oldest is my eyes, right? It's like their little puffy got some rings. So I got L'Oreal's Revitalift eye cream and this one's clearly not for men, but I got it anyway.

[00:07:53] So I came home and I washed my face with my face scrub. And then, um, I put on my age fighter and then I, and then for bedtime, I put on my eye cream and then I went to bed and I did this morning and twice a day in the morning, wash my face, put on the. Did the eye cream then at night just washed my face into the eye cream.

[00:08:16] So, um, did that for like two or three days. And then all of a sudden, uh, man, it was off. I was not, I looked as old as ever because something went wrong. I wasn't sure what it was, but my face was swollen. It was very, very dry. It burns. Well, not even to the touch without touch burned. And my eyes were totally puffy and swollen.

[00:08:46] I was like, this is so ironic because I'm trying to look young and now I look I'm like, I may have done permanent damage either who knows, like, this is crazy. So yeah, my face was puffy and swollen and I had. Bad. And not only that I felt bad, it was kind of painful. Um, and so I stopped everything and haven't looked back, haven't looked back then I decided to do, because you know, this Jeremy, but people listening probably don't know this.

[00:09:15] I, I am a scientist. Obviously obviously. So I decided to, instead of introducing all three things at once, I would try one at a time and see what the thing was that burned me to death. So I stopped for like three or four days. I didn't do anything. I just went back to being the old, um, you know, basically as a sailor from 18 lady on the seas, the treating myself, And so then I introduced one thing at a time.

[00:09:42] So I actually, I just went, I abandoned everything, but the good old fashion Neutrogena, ultra sheer, , broad spectrum, 55. So just, just the sunscreen. Yeah. And it's, it's kinda it's it's um, It's the dry touch. So it's not so oily. So it's nice for the face. Like you wouldn't put this on your whole body cause it's, 

[00:10:05] So I just I've been doing this mostly, but then I slowly introduced the Revitalift because. , I know this show is about self care and it just felt good to do this.

[00:10:17] Like at night, putting this on my eyes, I was like, Hey, I'm even if it doesn't do anything, it feels like I'm taking care of myself. Right. 

[00:10:25] Jeremy: And that's, that's so important. And in all of this, it's just like taking that time to take care 

[00:10:29] Aaron: of yourself. Yeah. So this just felt good. I mean, it could have, I could have been putting in.

[00:10:34] Um, mud or whatever. I mean, it didn't have to, it was just the act of applying. It felt good. So, and you are just 

[00:10:40] Jeremy: putting it on your eyes. 

[00:10:42] Aaron: Just my eyes. It does say external use own way. So I have to be careful. Um, and the other thing I kept telling myself is no matter what, there's, I'm not going to look better.

[00:10:54] I'm just going to look old, slower. Exactly. Best case scenario. Yeah. 

[00:10:59] Jeremy: Yeah. It's not going to put 10 years back on your face. It's going to keep the next 10 from looking like. 

[00:11:05] Aaron: Right. Maybe if I'm lucky, so in any way, it wasn't the eye cream that was burning my face. So it was, it was good. Um, well then I I'm guessing it was the age fighter. Okay. Um, it has retinol and when I was a teenager and had something with retinol, and even though you're telling me there was maybe different types of retinol, but it, it also burned my face when I was a kid.

[00:11:27] So I'm guessing it was the, , age fighter, , with retinol. So, yeah, so that's my journey so far, I would say.

[00:11:35] Yeah, always good advice is just the sunscreen. Just make sure you do that even in the winter. even if you just did that, I think you're ahead of the. 

[00:11:45] Jeremy: was like

[00:11:47] Zach: off.

[00:11:49] Jeremy: fire.

[00:11:50] Zach: So Jeremy, I gotta come out and tell you another secret of mine. About my, my skincare. I was convinced the other day to go to a beauty bar and get a pedicure. , I asked my friend, like, do other guys do this? She's like, oh yeah, sure, totally. There there's always guys there, there was no other

[00:12:08] Jeremy: course there was no

[00:12:08] Zach: There was no other guy there. And when I walked in the door, I felt like I was walking into a saloon in the 18 hundreds, cuz everyone turned around and looked at me and was like, what's he doing here?

[00:12:20] Jeremy: he's lost. What's he doing here? Nice.

[00:12:24] Zach: but I got like the top of the line, , pedicure, which like included a foot massage and all of that.

[00:12:28] And. so of course, like I couldn't find my flip flops before I went, so I had to wear sneakers to get a

[00:12:34] pedicure. And like I had to put socks back on and I'm not kidding. Like I went to put my socks on. I was like, oh, these are gonna be hard to put on because my feet feel wet.

[00:12:43] They were not wet. They were just silky smooth. It

[00:12:46] Jeremy: Nice 

[00:12:47] Zach: was 

[00:12:48] Jeremy: Every penny worth

[00:12:49] Zach: It was nice. And I actually think I'm gonna go back on a weekly basis.

[00:12:52] Jeremy: weekly. Geez,

[00:12:54] Zach: we'll see.

[00:12:55] If I can get through the, uh, everyone looking at me, when I walk in the door, I'll go back weekly

[00:13:02] Jeremy: Well, once you become the regular then. Yeah. Oh, Hey, it's 

[00:13:04] old stinky feet, Zach.

[00:13:07] Zach: oh, no, no, no, no, no. It's gonna be something closer to, oh, it's that grief guy again?

[00:13:11] Jeremy: right here. Comes the per again.

[00:13:13] Zach: Exactly. Um, but I am learning in my old age that I have to take care of my skin. Getting a pedicure from my feet was taking care of my skin. The moisturizer on my face is taking care of my skin. The other thing that we can do to take care of our skin is to make sure that we have all the nutrients that we need 

[00:13:31] that's why I started taking athletic greens.

[00:13:33] I started taking athletic greens because I really needed to have a supple. That tasted great. Gave me all the things that I needed and I didn't wanna have to take 10 pills a day or spend all of my time cooking all the meals. I try and get my nutrients from food, but let's face it. We don't get everything we need every day from food.

[00:13:53] So athletic greens was a great solution for me. It tastes great. It gives me everything I need for more energy, better gut health optimized immune system. It has less than a gram of sugar. There's no nasty chemicals or artificial anything, and it actually does taste good. And for what you get, it's less than $3 a day.

[00:14:10] And right now is the time to incorporate better health and athletic greens is a perfect start to make it easy. Athletic greens is gonna give you a free one year supply of immune supporting vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athletic greens.com/fit mess.

[00:14:27] That's athletic greens.com/fit. Mess to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. That link will be on the show notes and it's plastered all over our website@thefitmess.com.

[00:14:39] Jeremy: 

[00:14:39] Okay. So we men especially need some help in this area. So we invited Chris Gibson on the show. He's a skincare expert. He's author of acne free in three days. Host of the Chris Gibson live show on YouTube. We started by asking him why skincare is so important.

[00:14:53] Chris Gibson: Your skin's got to last year, , So you are not here anymore. And it doesn't always work out that way for a lot of people that, you know, over the years, sun damage toxins, maybe too much sugar in the diet, maybe lifestyle was a little wild, it just kind of ignored the skin. And then we ended up with things like, , , skin tags, skin cancers, moles that are growing.

[00:15:14] And skin tears. So part of the whole skin health thing is that that's your largest organ on your body. It protects, you protects the internal stuff from external problems and it protects you from the environment. And so the healthier your skin.

[00:15:31] Okay. Different layers that compose it are the better and less trouble you're going to have getting through your later years now, you know, their skin conditions that start early. That's what happened to me like acne. That's how I got into all of this in the first place. , but the skin is usually a barometer of health.

[00:15:48] And it's also very resilient and it can repair itself given the opportunity. So, , it's an amazing time to be in skincare because there's a whole lot of technology that's being used now like red light therapies, uh, ultrasound radio-frequency therapy, things that go far beyond what a topical product could do, but at the same time are not a surgery are not invasive.

[00:16:14] So. You know, everybody got used to get bored with this. You've been doing this for 34 years and I'm like, hi, it's always changing. And we're always learning something. , so it's exciting to help people, , because now there are solutions that, if someone has issues with skincare products and their ingredients, that they have very sensitive skin and just everything bothers them, their analysis of alternatives that you can do.

[00:16:35] That don't require a topical product at all. So that's, it's kind of, I think, in the future, um, and maybe getting ahead of myself right now, but I think in the future, the topical products that we see are going to be the secondary part of the routine. Versus the primary. I think the primary is going to be some of these red light therapies, um, laser therapy, things like that.

[00:16:57] I mean, you can now take off moles and skin tags with a pin that you can use. It used to cost hundreds of dollars to go to the doctor to do that. You can do it at home. It's really changed a lot. 

[00:17:08] Jeremy: I bet let's talk a little bit about, you mentioned that acne got you into this and it 34 years you've been doing this, which is shocking because you only look about 34, which is amazing.

[00:17:20] So let's hear your story a little bit. What, what got 

[00:17:22] Chris Gibson: you into this? Yeah. , I had really, uh, well, two things. I had acne as a child, which is not unusual as itself, although it started pretty early for me. I'd really oily skin. , And I had problems early on that were not, , responding to antibiotics or anything like that.

[00:17:41] But topical products were, were bothering me, they're drying up my skin and causing more issues. So I really struggled with that. And, . They tell you you'll grow out of it. So you sorta hang on to that. Okay. Well maybe when I'm 18 or 19, that's all kind of go away. And the other thing that there were members in my family that had had it that had severe scarring.

[00:17:59] So the primary focus for my parents and the dermatologist that I was seeing was to prevent scarring. That was really. I think it wasn't so much to try to clear it up. All of that was obviously part of it. , so when that kept happening and I got in my, in my early twenties and I was getting the same thing when I went to the dermatologist, will, here's a prescription for, you know, antibiotics and we can do some TCA peels.

[00:18:27] They didn't have laser therapies in the eighties and early nineties like we do now. , and then dermabrasion was the. Alternative, which is very invasive. It's sort of where they stand your skin down, , to make sure they remove any that really the outer layers and you just sort of start over. So I took Accutane, which came out in 1982, , twice, um, scheduled for third time.

[00:18:51] I decided not to do it. And that's when I started digging into what is going on here. This is crazy. Why me, you know, why do I still have this issue? No internet. So I had to haul myself to the library and then to verbal stores and sort of worked my way through the process of learning how my diet was impacting it, how skincare ingredients were impacting it and which didn't even look anything close to at the time the medical profession National's approach to that problem.

[00:19:20] I was like, I went on to make a long story short. I went on a fast, took all the food out of my. , diet for three days, almost four days. And it went away. It stopped. Wow. And not only did the, the skin issue, the new breakout stop, the old breakouts clued up.

[00:19:39] The red marks that I had that are typical of people that have that ongoing situation were gone. So. I was fascinated and it became a subject that I really dove into. , and I still worked in the corporate world at the same time, social. I had two kind of things going on at the same time, not that unusual, really.

[00:19:57] , and then I wrote a book about it in 2002, , first, and then, uh, it kind of went crazy because it was something that a lot of people will recognize. In them, they had had those same issues. So I reached a whole lot of people here in the U S and Canada, which is how I got on TV. Canada is how I got a TV, but, , but also outside the U S is a big problem.

[00:20:20] And, and a lot of countries we're behind in the medical science still, , and in diet. And you could see as the Western diet sort of took over more and more refined sugars admitted into diets. , milks and cheeses that were treated with hormones, , we're affecting more and more people and their skin was reacting to that.

[00:20:39] So it was a big deal. And I got on television because of the. , book and it was just like a perfect storm. That was Murcia came out the thing with over use of antibiotics, which is something I was already talking about probiotics. I was already talking about that. So here was all of this stuff coming out, , and new products and I had.

[00:21:00] You know, wheeling and dealing that for 15 years, I got to go on television to talk a lot about it. And then of course, even then it was the fact that the way, the way I looked, I mean, not just, you know, at 40, when I was sitting in the room, waiting on the producer to come get me, , they would always be shocked that I didn't look for me.

[00:21:20] And those videos are on my YouTube channel. People go back and look at them and go, they're like 20 then. So, so I, I try to, help people solve what I call the skincare conundrum. And that is because it is the market is so oversaturated. There's a new. Celebrity driven skincare line every month, somebody comes out with something to cash in on that.

[00:21:46] , and it really does come down to ingredients in the products and their effectiveness for you and your skin type. So no one product is going to work for every single person. And I try to teach people that patience is the order of the day. Just like weight loss skin takes time to repair itself. If you're working on.

[00:22:06] So let's say anti-aging wrinkles, college and building. That's going to take a while college and takes months to form. And it has to move up through the skin. That's how our skin works. It starts way down and moves up the cells upward and outward. So, , patients, you know, and a lot of people will spend a whole lot of money on products and then toss them after like a week or two weeks.

[00:22:30] So I try to help people. Navigate all of that. And it truly, the YouTube channel started kind of as an acne resource, just because that's what I was known for. And then when I started talking about how old I was, people were like, okay, that's the YouTube and YouTube dumb. I'm a weird kind of outlier because I'm a guy talking about skincare over 50.

[00:22:56] But it's interesting because there are some very common things. Um, but there are also some really unique things that go on with people and. That preclude them using skincare products. So I've dealt with people that have had cancer that can't be exposed to certain chemicals, and I'm trying to help them figure out what to use and what not to use.

[00:23:19] And so it is a really wide range of folks that watch my stuff. Sure. 

[00:23:24] Jeremy: Crazy. I want to jump in on the part about, , you being the outlier, being a guy, talking about skincare, because I do nothing to take care of my skin. , my brother does nothing. He just started a skincare routine and was like, oh my God, I don't know what I'm doing.

[00:23:37] And my face is on fire. So what is it? What is it about guys? Are our guys just inherently lazy? Is there something that happens to us growing up? Like why don't guys 

[00:23:45] Chris Gibson: care culturally? It hasn't been really impressed On guys, , which is unfortunate because if you look at skin cancer, obviously men get it more way more often than women do.

[00:23:57] , we're outdoors a lot more play sports outside, and that was not pushed. , the only reason I did it is because it was part of what I needed to do to have clear skin. So I kinda got lucky in that way, but I, I think that, you know, it's just never been a part of the conversation. I've guys still using it.

[00:24:17] Just so for shower wash, washing their face of that. And so are some just use cold water, um, shaving, shaving to some degree you to buy a little cause you you're exfoliating your skin when you use the razor. Uh, but what happens is as guys, just like anybody else, when they get into their late thirties and forties, they go, what.

[00:24:43] Just happening to my skin because that's when all that stuff starts to show up. So usually the guys I get are they're guys in their forties and fifties, they've either gone and had skin cancers removed or they are not happy with their leathery looking skin now, or the wives aren't or their significant other isn't.

[00:25:01] , and the youthful components. People's children. And younger guys are more apt to get it. So the conversation inside the household started, you know, switch when like son's using all this stuff and I never used all this stuff, you know? So, um, and there, there are some inherent differences between men's skin and women's skin.

[00:25:25] guys come with a little more collagen, a little more, less than so, a little more resiliency to the effects of the elements, but in the end, the aging process of skin is the same for everybody. As sun damage, accumulates DNA gets screwed up in a cell and then suddenly you have age spot or hyperpigmentation or a growth of some kind.

[00:25:46] , and you're in a hurry to try to reverse all of that. I think guys have always sort of gotten the exfoliation thing guys. We're more likely to have the screen. You know, they're not always great. Uh, it depends on how they're made, but when it came to like hydration for your skin, sun protection for the skin, replacing things that we produce less of us, we get older, like peptides, all of that stuff is still pretty foreign to a lot of guys, but it's getting better.

[00:26:15] I mean, the skincare companies are formulating skincare lines just for men that smell like guy stuff and don't smell. Flowery or perfumey and, and I'm not a big fan of fragrance of any kind anyway, um, not knowing what your brothers getting tied does or what he's going through. But my guess is he went all in on something too much at once.

[00:26:37] Yeah. It sounds like, yeah, you usually, I re I tell people, start with a good cleanser, get that going and the moisturizer so that you have that going and making sure you use a sunscreen and that for a month or two, is going to help and then you can look and see what specific things are you trying to address.

[00:26:55] If someone attacks their skin with a bunch of stuff, it's going to ruin. The way it's supposed to, which is dermatitis. That's what that is staying a red break, small, tiny bumps.

[00:27:07] , that's all too much too quick for your skin to adjust to. It has to. 

[00:27:12] Jeremy: Yeah. You mentioned sunscreen a couple of times, depending on which corners of the internet you hang out in, some people will tell you it is toxic and it will kill you faster than any sun exposure ever will. And then others say you can't put enough on.

[00:27:23] So how, and I, I want to 

[00:27:25] Chris Gibson: run around the internet with the thing was a whack-a-mole and hit those people over the head. What 

[00:27:30] Jeremy: do we do? How do we 

[00:27:31] Chris Gibson: navigate? So there is some truth, as we know, and there's a root or kernel of truth in everything. So let's dissect this really quickly sunscreen is necessary because it helps your skin protect itself against UVA, UVB, light, and long wave light, which is the light that comes through a window or through your car, and damages your skin.

[00:27:52] You can take a look. I tell people, take a look at your butt and look at the skin on your butt. Because that's for most people been covered their entire lives and look at the skin that's been exposed. Your neck, your chest, your face, your arms, your hands. That is sun damage That's not aging cause your butt aged just like everything else.

[00:28:10] That's sun damage. And when people do that, they go, oh wow. And I go, that's why it's important. So. I don't like chemical sunscreens. This is that kernel of truth. There are chemicals like octinoxate and, , Oxy benzene. And there are a lot of chemicals. That can be hormone disruptive in certain individuals can be absorbed in the blood are harmful for our coral reefs and our ocean sea life.

[00:28:38] So I'm a big proponent of. , non-chemical or mineral sunscreens. The problem with mineral sunscreens has always been that they, , were greasy and white giggled, white cast all over your skin, the darker skin, the worse it looked, but now we have evolved the sunscreens to where we have blends, , with Ava benzos.

[00:29:01] Not one of the chemicals that gets absorbed, it's still chemical, but it will be mixed with the zinc. So that there's less of that, but you're still getting the reflective protection and the chemical protection. That's those blends. And then we have the full-out zinc, and, uh, titanium, oxide, sunscreens, and those particular ones are all reflective.

[00:29:22] But now they've learned how to formulate them with other ingredients and slight amount of potential. Okay, wake up pigment so that they don't look really white. And then there's sun screen clothing that you can wear. Sure. That's long sleeves, hats, gloves. So if you really can't take the sunscreen, you really don't like it.

[00:29:41] Or you're one of those people that is going to kill you is the clothing. I don't care. If you sit under an umbrella, you need to protect your skin. Even with the diligence that I have had, I have one. Photo aging on this side of my body than I do on this side because we drive right side of the road via the left side of my body has been , exposed, no matter which direction you're going, this continent you're exposed.

[00:30:09] So I have more visible photo aging, even. I don't have a lot, but there is, um, more on this side than the side. So. Even with sunscreen. Um, the other reason is that sunscreen doesn't just protect your skin. It also allows your skin to take the energy that it would use normally to try to protect itself from the sun and apply it to the general health of your skin, which is cellular reproduction, collagen production, uh, last and rebuilding.

[00:30:35] So when you energy. It's an inflammation has taken away from that it's able to work other places. So it actually can help reverse some of the aging that you have from the sun damage. When you use that. And 

[00:30:47] Jeremy: you're saying year round, whether it's December or July sunscreen, 

[00:30:51] Chris Gibson: everyday, where you live, you know, There's I hate to say this.

[00:30:57] I don't want to get in trouble. , if you look at I've lived all over our country, I've lived, you know, every Texas, the Southeast I'm in Florida. Now I live in Pennsylvania, in the Northeast for a long time. And there was the idea in the Northeast that you didn't need to wear sunscreen in the winter time.

[00:31:15] And if you take a look at the aging population, they have this really hard. Weathered look about their skin in general. And that is because the photo aging happens, whether it's the only time it's not happening is when it's dark, but the sun is gone and it's nighttime time. You are not getting any UV radiation.

[00:31:39] So, you know, it's important to wear it all the time. You don't need SPF 50. That's ridiculous. I don't like fifties are too thick. They're too greasy. They're too expensive. They're irritating. If you get them in your office. Uh, an SPF of 30. It's still really. Okay. You just have to remember to reapply it more often, but a, an SPF of 30 is going to be fine for all just about everybody.

[00:32:02] You just have to be mindful to use it. We have for the women who wear makeup and the reallocation is an issue. There are now translucent powder sunscreen. Like a setting powder where they can put that over their cosmetics with the little brush that it doesn't mess anything up, , and still protect their skin.

[00:32:19] So very important. 

[00:32:20] Jeremy: I was curious about that. The application part, the, is there a difference whether it's a spray on or more of your tradition? Like tube of 

[00:32:27] Chris Gibson: whatever. That's making sure that you're able to spray on. You still have to massage the material into this upper layer of the skin. So, so I think I kept think I covered the whole thing with that is there is some truth to the issues with sunscreens and certain chemicals.

[00:32:43] I don't like them. I don't use them, but at the same time, The whole thing about if you use sunscreen, you're never going to create vitamin D and that's going to kill you. That's ridiculous. There's no study out there and I've read them all that ever correlated that we get enough of that in our meals, whether you're a vegetarian or whether you eat meat, does our fish or whatever plant material.

[00:33:04] , if your doctor diagnoses you with a vitamin D deficiency, you can take a supplement. You know, I'd rather take a supplement than get skin cancer. So I'm always going to be the whack, the, with the baseball bag on tink. Yeah. 

[00:33:16] Jeremy: Yeah. You mentioned red light therapy. We've talked about that a little bit on the show.

[00:33:20] The people that we've talked to that, that preach red light therapy mentioned the idea of getting up and, and sort of being with the sun early in the morning, like big sun exposure to in at sunrise. Where do you come down on those? Is there a way to 

[00:33:32] Chris Gibson: say, yeah, I think you're going to get some sun aging, no matter what you do, if you do that.

[00:33:38] However, the low angle of the sun is the sunlight's. It's one of those like sunlight, it's beneficial to your body. In some ways, obviously we live on the surface. We're not in it when it live underground or underwater. So your, your body can handle a certain amount of sun exposure. It's got its own natural resources, uh, to deal with that.

[00:33:59] It's one of those things that just person's going to have to realize there there's pros and cons. It's like exercise, you know, people that, that are athletic and exercise way, way a lot. Create a lot more oxidation and free radicals. And they tend to look older, even though they may be in better shape than a moderate exerciser.

[00:34:19] So to me, that's moderate sunlight. , and if you're going to do that, just, you know, you run the risk of some photo aging, but it's certainly not going to be like somebody who laid down at the beach the whole life and never use sunscreen. 

[00:34:29] Jeremy: You mentioned exercise. I know, uh, you preach that and nutrition is a big part of a skincare routine. What do we need to know about combining. Nutrition and exercise to take care of our skin. 

[00:34:38] Chris Gibson: Well, yeah, there have been some studies that came out in October, which tell the story, which would most of us already know.

[00:34:44] And then that was that you could reverse biological aging by adding in moderate exercise and some changes in your diet and not a surprise. Right. Moderate exercise, being walking, swimming, playing with the dog, you know, not being sedentary, at least getting 20 to 30 minutes, 45 is better. An hour is awesome of just light activity where you're moving, you know, gardening, all that stuff fits that you don't have to go run marathons.

[00:35:11] But what it does is it helps your cells produce healthier cells We're basically a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy as we get older. So the better we take care of ourselves. , and our body and its functions. And the more we do to enhance that, the younger we are going to look and feel biologically.

[00:35:29] , so there were studies that came out independent study, no pharmaceutical companies involved, nobody had anything in it, except they just wanted to see what the difference was in test individual's diet, same thing, making sure that you get the full range of nutrients that you need.

[00:35:45] And if you can't get it from your food, making sure you supplement that, , vitamin K2 is a big thing right now. Finally, bigger thing longer. , , we hear about vitamin K one and blood clotting and that sort of thing. , K2 is harder to get you almost always have to get it in a supplement. , but what it does is it helps the body regulated, move the calcium around.

[00:36:08] So it keeps that out of your arteries and keeps it in your bones and in your brain cells and in your skin cells where it needs to be. So, especially for women, uh, who suffer more bone loss than men do. Very important nutrient of course, when we're talking nutrients like that, you need to talk to your doctor.

[00:36:25] If you're on medications, that could be a problem because Ks do have clotting ability. So if you're on blood thinners, you wouldn't want to go out and start taking a bunch of vitamin K two with D three, without talking to your doctor first. , however, for the general population and for most. It has been shown to really make a big difference in the aging process of the skin.

[00:36:45] As far as the photo aging process lines and wrinkles sagging, those types, typical signs of aging do respond well to vitamin K2 therapy, that spider veins, which is telangiectasia, what a pretty name, but yeah, so it helps with those. It, it, it just, it's very helpful and it's in very little supply in our, in our food.

[00:37:10] So it's, it's one of those things you have to kind of try and go get. And then of course, I chest to collagen peptides, a lot of controversy over that. Everything's a controversy these days, but collagen peptides are just amino acids. They're not actual collagen and. What happens when you take those, whether you had send your tea or coffee, or what have you, it helps replace the ones you're deficient in.

[00:37:31] So people that are having brittle nails hair, the typical things we hear, skin issues often we'll get relief from those people with joint problems. I know my mom, even years ago, when she was having those issues, the doctors had her on control and the collagen peptides, and it helped with her arthritis and her joint health.

[00:37:51] Um, so. Again, it's one of those things. If you're only going to get the benefit of the amino acids, you're deficient in, it's not going to be some miracle thing that you said it takes time. My test was eight weeks at generally. I did get some benefit from it that I was able to report on, but the benefit that's really started.

[00:38:08] 3 4, 5 and six months out. And that's just how our body works. 

[00:38:12] Jeremy: Is there a vegetarian way to, to get, obviously you can't get collagen, but how do you do that as a vegetarian? 

[00:38:19] Chris Gibson: Yeah, there are plant-based colleges.

[00:38:21] , there are plant-based themselves and rain, if. It depends on the type of vegetarian, you know, the type of diet you're following. There are Marine collagen peptides. So again, it's amino acids. They are easier gotten from, , animals because we produce. , hydrolyzed it's usually from bovine or cows.

[00:38:45] , but you can get other versions of that. It's just, you have to kind of do some research and read the labels very carefully because some of the things that they sell are supposedly going to help you produce. The college and peptides rather than actually be an amino acid that you're missing. So you can really read the fine print as we do on anything anymore to make sure that you know what you're doing.

[00:39:09] But yeah, there are, there are versions that are plant based. 

[00:39:13] Jeremy: So, so we're exercising better. We're wearing sunscreen, we're getting the nutrition we need. Now it's time to actually put something on my face, some sort of a topical, some other, maybe the red light therapy, whatever. Where do you recommend people start?

[00:39:25] What should we look for on those labels to make sure we're not doing something harmful? Okay. I'm 

[00:39:30] Chris Gibson: glad you put it that way. Cause it's much easier to avoid things. If the list is shorter, you know, denatured alcohol is very drawing. That's different than when you see an Ester Ester alcohol though. If you see alcohols that say that, um, those are.

[00:39:49] Alcohol's which are good for your skin. So it's the denatured alcohol sulfites, soul fates. , those are certificates that we find in detergents that can strip the scan of too much oil, , fragrance. We don't, I know in the U S we don't know what's in our fragrance because the FDA says, well, this is Franklin, and that's all they have to say.

[00:40:10] So you can usually suppose about synthetic, uh, but even essentially. No problem for some people. So I usually recommend it for everyone that has sensitive skin to try to stay away from any kind of fragrance, whether it's essential oil or synthetic or what have you fragrance-free is definitely the way to go.

[00:40:28] , beyond that, they're usually where this rolls into is the question, well then what do I actually really need? So you need a good face. So your skin type, if you are oily skin, then you want to clarify and clear foaming face wash to help lift off that extra oil. If you have dry or normal skin, you want to use a creamy type, face wash, maybe something was porridge oil or something, you know, glycerin based, oatmeal based.

[00:40:52] , so did you get the cleansing, but you don't dry your skin out before. And then you want to use a good vitamin C serum. And, , there are two types of those. One is an Ellis ScoreBig acid, which is unstable, which is a lot of the products that we hear about. Like the ordinary is a big thing right now they're 23% suspension.

[00:41:09] So Ellis square, Vic acid, , vitamin C serums are going to be stronger. So if you have sensitive skin, you want to choose a sodium. Ascorbyl phosphate and that will be listed on there. Usually a sensitive skin product will not be able to score pick acid, but vitamin C helps speed up cellular turnover helps.

[00:41:26] Correct. Some of the damage that's happened in the cells from the sunlight helps even in disperse out melanin. So you get rid of a spots of hyperpigmentation and just kind of gives your skin overall, even bright light. Very important peptides. As I said, peptides for skin coming in a topical, uh, we produce less of them as we get older.

[00:41:46] Um, if you have dry skin things like squalling and. Matrixial 3000, which is a peptide blend using products like, , the inky list is when I talk about, I really like theirs that helps hydrate the skin. The skin cells are actually able to use that and it helps produce collagen. And then of course, the king of them all, when it comes to topicals, we have not replaced as retinol, which is another controversial item.

[00:42:09] , Because it's vitamin a derivative, that's a, retinoid all the way from prescription strength, Retin a or knowing all the way down to your retinol moisturizers. And so the reason those are important is over the longterm, they do help reverse sun damage. They've done biopsies on humans, not animals, where people who have used as a year or two year and a half have seen a thickening of the collagen layer and their skin.

[00:42:32] So it's very helpful again, patients and you have to acclimate to it. So the skin. Has to get used to that. , the way quickly for people who are listening to the way retinols work tretinoin and your retinol moisturizers, they retinol with an O O L they go through a conversion process on your skin. So when you apply them, they turn into retinol that.

[00:42:51] Then the retinol, the hide turns into retinoic acid, which is actually what your body uses it. So the reason you can't just put retinoic acid, I'm just going to, as it goes rancid and gets bad very quickly. So we have to use these other vehicles. If you get retinol to hide, which you can now get in a serum for.

[00:43:09] You're skipping that one conversion and for people with sensitive skin, that seems to be very helpful. So it seems to be that conversion process that happens from the tretinoin or retinol into retinol, the hight, and then into retinoic acid, all of that chemical changing happening on the skins. Some people's skin goes, whoa, what is this?

[00:43:28] And reactions? Yeah, so that's helpful. And then we have a Gucci, all which is an oil that can give you similar benefits to red Mol without any of the side effects. So it does a similar thing to the cells. So there's a lot of things and that's new. That's a newer thing that we're learning. Alternatives to some of these products.

[00:43:47] So really comes down to you and your skin and your skin type and trying stuff. I always tell people to patch, test everything on the inner arm, the inner elbow, before you put it on your face, because that's easier to treat my 

[00:44:01] Jeremy: brother's listening. I hope Aaron, are you listening? 

[00:44:04] Chris Gibson: If you've not used a product before ingredients before you changed brands and the formulation is different, you need to patch that.

[00:44:10] So if it's a moisturizer, just put it on, leave it on. If it is a. Or some sort of treatment that would be washed off, you would follow those directions and wait 48 hours to make sure nothing goes on. With your skin, if it doesn't, you're fine. , uh, it 

[00:44:26] Jeremy: sounds a lot more complicated than the dish soap and cold water routine that some of your comments, this is exactly why 

[00:44:31] Chris Gibson: people still do.

[00:44:34] Jeremy: Awesome. Lots of great advice here, Chris, where can we learn more about you and your channel and all you have 

[00:44:39] Chris Gibson: to offer? Clearly the YouTube channel is the best resource cause there's a, for our, our 400 videos. So basically you can go to YouTube and type in Chris Gibson and that skin is. And uh, by videos pop up.

[00:44:50] So it's really nice. And then of course my blog is called skin so fabulous. You can just Google that. You just put that in the bar and it comes right up is only, only thing called that on the internet. But all of my contact information is on the YouTube channel and the video descriptions and on the about, so it's not hard to find me, it used to be, but 

[00:45:11] Jeremy: it's not anymore.

[00:45:12] So we'll have links to all of that in the show notes for this episode as well. Chris, thanks so much for your time today and your insights. We really appreciate your. 

[00:45:18] Zach: That was Chris Gibson, author of acne free in three days. And host of Chris Gibson live on YouTube. You can find all of those links in the show notes for this episode@thefit.com.

[00:45:28] Jeremy: lots of great takeaways from that interview. And even from my brother, as it turns out sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen, if you do nothing else that was talked about in this show, including getting a pedicure, where's sunscreen dummy like that, it's like the simplest thing you can do. And, and by the way, I will say I'm talking to myself here because.

[00:45:44] I fucking hate putting on sunscreen, not for any like, reason that it's dangerous or gonna kill you or just the process, right? Like if it's not in a spray, can that I can spray it on and walk away. Fuck the time. And the, oh, did I rub it in all the way? No, this takes long, like any, for me, anything where there's prep involved, it just, it just is a nightmare.

[00:46:03] , but this is something that is important that you gotta do. So wear the sunscreen. If you do nothing.

[00:46:07] Zach: You know, it's really interesting. Like this episode is really making me think that you're just

[00:46:13] Jeremy: Oh, I'm very lazy.

[00:46:14] Zach: you know,

[00:46:15] Jeremy: The less I can do the better. That's really what it comes

[00:46:17] Zach: you know, there's been no other episode where like, you're just complaining about, oh, I gotta do two things.

[00:46:22] Jeremy: Yeah. 

[00:46:23] Zach: I mean, like, 

[00:46:24] Jeremy: Because that's not important. It's not important to me. Right. Like if my knee hurts suddenly it's a priority. I, you know, I think I look pretty good. I'm doing all right for 45. So when I look in the mirror, I'm not thinking, oh, I need some skin, some skincare on there. So it's just, it, it's one of those things where I should be doing now.

[00:46:38] What I will wish I did in 10 years

[00:46:40] Zach: Wow. I mean, based on all this, I'm surprised you eat. Like I have to, I have to spoon the food into it, or I have to put the, the food, a spoon and put it in my mouth and chew and swallow. It's too many

[00:46:50] Jeremy: oh, no. I've I got that cut down to like three steps.

[00:46:53] Zach: Too many. All right. But the next point though, like, don't wait until you're 45 to give a shit about your skin.

[00:47:00] I mean, I'm giving myself credit cuz , I got in early at 42. Right. I started

[00:47:06] Jeremy: Young whipper Snapp.

[00:47:07] Zach: , but seriously, like don't wait until it's a problem. Just like start doing little things that will help you along the way. Cuz. Someday you're gonna be old. personally I'd RA I'd rather not have the leathery skin.

[00:47:17] Jeremy: Exactly. Uh, and the last one, and again, I'm talking to myself here, so listen in, if you like, but read the fucking labels on that shit. You might need an advanced degree to know what you're looking at, or you're gonna need to Google. Or maybe just ask your partner because they probably already know what they're doing because they've been doing this for 10 years, but you gotta know what's in that stuff before you just smear it all over your face. 

[00:47:37] Zach: Now that we've just spent the last half hour talking about putting cream on our face. I'm uncomfortable.

[00:47:42] Jeremy: Oh, now, now you're uncomfortable.

[00:47:47] Zach: It takes a little while for my discomfort to build up. I think that's what gets me in trouble. A lot is like shit comes outta my mouth. I don't realize that sh I should be uncomfortable until well, after I've said things.

[00:47:58] Jeremy: they've been published for all the internet to hear.

[00:48:00] Zach: Yeah. I'm okay with that though. That's fine.

[00:48:03] Jeremy: All right. Well, speaking of shit, coming out of your mouth, don't let the conversation end there. Join us in our Facebook group or you and fellow fit mess. Listeners can connect for monthly challenges, accountability to reach your goals and connection with others who are on a similar journey.

[00:48:14] That's gonna do it for this week. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you next week@thefitmess.com.

[00:48:20] Zach: See everyone.