Your face should reflect who you are – healthy, gorgeous, and confident. Even, smooth skin provides the best canvas for makeup application – setting you up to feel wonderful.

Whether you’re battling wrinkles, acne, or dullness, here are three natural beauty treatments we love that can help increase collagen production and make your skin glow:

• Dermarolling
• Dermaplaning
• Light therapy

Here we’ve pulled together what you need to know about trying these at home or with your professional beauty therapist.

Dermarolling

A positive treatment to boost natural collagen and elasticity in your skin, dermarolling (also known as microneedling) can help your skin repair scarring and reduce wrinkles and fine lines.

How it works
Dermarolling involves puncturing the skin with hundreds of tiny needles to slightly damage the outer layer of the skin in a controlled manner. In response to the trauma, your body produces up to 400% more collagen and uniformly heals the affected area.

Collagen is the natural component of our connective tissues and, for our face, it acts like a natural remedy for blemish scars, fine lines, and wrinkles. Because we start to produce 1% less collagen every year after we turn 20, it’s important to find alternative, natural ways to stimulate collagen production as we age.

Benefits
Remember that dermarolling itself isn’t the medicine; it’s your own collagen doing the heavy lifting to produce the results.

Benefits from this treatment include:

• Repairing scars
• Diminishing fine lines and wrinkles
• Improving the overall evenness of your skin’s tone and texture
• Reducing pore size

Using it at home
There are a variety of needle lengths, each targeted to different skin problems. It’s usually recommended to start with a .2mm needle, and health professionals don’t recommend using anything above a .3mm on your own.

Depending on the length of the needle, you’ll likely be recommended a specific timing regimen. This may start with once every two days, ensure you follow the instructions given with your device.

Follow health guidelines when using a dermaroller, including fully sanitising the product before every session.

Professional use
For deep tissue treatment, you may consider professional dermarolling. Under strict hygiene requirements, this treatment may involve using a longer needle (1.0mm to 2.0mm).

Although it can be extremely effective, a longer needle may be more painful. If you are looking for a dramatic reduction in scarring, professional dermarolling might be for you.

What we think
Dermarolling improves the health of your skin, makes you feel great, and doesn’t require single-use plastics. As a natural and sustainable solution to increasing collagen production, we’re a fan. Just ensure that you follow hygiene and process guidelines to avoid skin damage.

Dermaplaning

Also known as blading or microplaning, this treatment uses an exfoliating blade to remove the top layer of dead skin and vellus hair (a.k.a. peach fuzz) from your face.

How it works
Think of dermaplaning like a deep, even shave. A sterile blade is slowly pulled along your skin at a 45-degree angle to remove the outer layer of dead skin cells and peach fuzz.

Removing the dead skin cells from your face leaves an undamaged layer of glowing skin exposed. The effects typically last for about three weeks, after which your skin will naturally accumulate a new outer layer.

Benefits
Dermaplaning is great for instant glowing skin, but it can also help combat:

• Facial hair overgrowth
• Dry skin
• Sun damaged skin
• Fine wrinkles

Clearing away the outer layer of skin also helps provide a smooth canvas for applying makeup.

Using it at home
At-home dermaplaning wands are simplified versions of the blades used professionally, and though effective, they often can’t provide the same level of treatment.

If you want to try this at home, it’s recommended that you invest in a high-quality wand, and that you thoroughly read the instructions and keep everything clean.

Professional treatment
Professional dermaplaning is typically a quick and straightforward treatment. Your provider will likely ask you detailed questions about your skin type, discuss different options, and give you safety assurance.

As dermaplanning is removing the top layer of dead skin cells which can cause a dull apperance. The result is you will be left with a new layer of fresh glowing skin.

Going in for a professional service can help you understand exactly how the treatment works and what you can expect afterwards.

What we think
Dermaplaning is zero-chemical treatment, offering a natural alternative for uncovering smoother, brighter skin. We recommend a bit more research and consideration for dermaplaning at home, as there are some potential risks if not administered correctly.

Overall, dermaplaning is a simple way to develop radiant skin.

Light Therapy

A non-invasive treatment, light therapy involves exposing your skin to low levels of coloured light wavelengths to stimulate collagen production and treat skin conditions.

How it works
Red and blue light therapy are two of the most popular wavelengths to use.

Essentially, the light stimulates your skin to strengthen mitochondria, the powerhouse for your skin cells. With more energy, the cells function more efficiently, and they will start to heal themselves faster. Light therapy doesn’t damage your skin, the wavelengths travel through your skin’s surface about 5mm deep into your tissue.

Benefits
The two popular types of light therapy target different skin conditions.

Red Light therapy typically helps aging skin:

• Build collagen
• Strengthen and improve texture
• Increase hydration to support a natural glow
• Reduce wrinkles and fine lines
• Reduce sun damage

Blue Light therapy helps younger, acne-prone skin:

• Reduce outbreaks
• Kill bacteria that causes blemishes

Using it at home
The internet is filled with various light wands and masks, so choose one based on your desired light colour and what style of treatment is right for you.

According to a 2018 scientific study, the best results with at-home treatment encourage using light therapy for 20 minute sessions, three times per week. Results were evident after using the product consistently for three weeks.

Professional treatment
For treatment tailored exactly to your skin’s needs, seek out a professional light therapy service. They will look closely at your skin, and set out a treatment plan that will include multiple visits.

Because rebuilding collagen takes time, it’s important to continue light treatment for extended periods to uncover the skin you want.

What we think
Light therapy is a non-invasive treatment that improves the overall health and function of your skin – without using chemicals or relying on single-use plastics. If it’s right for you, light therapy can be hugely helpful to create a smooth, radiant base for applying makeup and bringing out your natural glow.

Watch our interview with Dr Hisham on red light therapy here.

Considering Beauty Gadgets

Anything that keeps your skin healthy, and your smile glowing, is a great beauty treatment. We chose these methods not just because they work well, but also because they don’t require the use of chemicals.

Use these treatments to support a healthy and gorgeous canvas for your skincare and for applying makeup.

For more information about sustainable beauty products, check out our Aleph natural makeup line.

We’re here to help! If you have any questions after reading this article, please contact us.