6 Ways to Support Your Skin With Sleep and Hydration

Skincare and makeup styling by Lavonne Beauty. Photography courtesy of Lavonne Beauty.

With all due respect to serums, creams, and cleansers, there’s more to taking care of skin than a thorough skincare regimen. Considerable factors in wellness overall, sleep and hydration can have a significant impact on our complexions. Recently, we spoke with four scouted skin experts across the country about how rest and water intake affect the visage, and how we can harness their simple and powerful effects to put our best face forward. Read on for their recommendations, visit their websites for more information and to purchase products they recommend, and find a local skincare expert near you in The Scout Guide Directory.

Get your beauty sleep. It turns out that “beauty rest” isn’t just an expression. “We need sleep to repair and rejuvenate our tissue,” Keli Koniver, owner of Koniver Aesthetics in Charleston, South Carolina, says. “If we don’t have adequate sleep, our skin has a harder time repairing itself.” Jade Rossetti, owner, founder, and aesthetician at The Edit Skin Studio in Huntsville, Alabama, further explains that sleep is essential for optimum functions of our hormones. “Lack of it affects cortisol levels, which can throw off all other hormones and wreak havoc on the inside, which is reflected on the outside due to our skin being our largest organ,” she says. Lavonne Anthony, owner of Lavonne Beauty in Little Rock, Arkansas, shoots for a solid eight hours of sleep every night, allowing skin to rebuild its collagen, thus minimizing wrinkles and fine lines.

Make the most of your shut eye. Since our skin repairs itself when we are sleeping, it’s helpful to head into the night giving it the best possible advantage. Egle Menes, aesthetician and owner of Goodface Company in New Orleans, Louisiana, advises prepping skin before bed with a quality, ph-balanced cleanser to gently and effectively remove makeup and environmental pollutants, and following up with corrective products packed with active ingredients like vitamin A, peptides, and growth factors. Different people will have different skincare needs, so talk to a local expert about a personalized approach that’s right for you.

Drink up. Our bodies are made up of 80% water, so it’s not surprising that the experts we spoke with agree that the simple act of consuming H2O is key to having beautifully hydrated skin. The general rule is to drink eight glasses of water a day or, according to Rossetti, aim for half your body weight in ounces of water per day. To keep middle-of-the-night bathroom trips to a minimum, heed Anthony’s advice and drink your last glass of water two hours before bedtime.

Lock in moisture. Over the course of the day, our skin tends to lose moisture and hydration. To slow down trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL), Menes says, in addition to drinking plenty of water during the day, it’s helpful to use skincare products that help to lock in moisture. “My go-to morning products contain the strong antioxidant vitamin C, layered with ingredients like silver mushroom extract,” she shares. “Similar to hyaluronic acid, silver mushroom extract is 400 times more effective at retaining moisture and has been used for hundreds of years for its nutritional value and vitamin content.” Her favorite product with silver mushroom is Alastin Restorative Skin Complex, available on her website.

Eat hydrating foods. The winter months are some of the most dehydrating, but there are ways you can give your skin—and body—a boost by being mindful about your diet. First off, Anthony staves off illness, which is dehydrating, by boosting her immunity through foods rich in beta-carotene and incorporating ginger, garlic, and turmeric to help fight inflammation. To help retain her glow and lock in hydration, she turns to hemp and chia seed bowls, which are moisture rich, and she also regularly incorporates healthy fats via coconut oil and avocados.

Use a humidifier. The dry air of colder months is compounded by artificial heat pumped into your environment, resulting in combination that can be tough on the complexion. Rossetti supports her skin—and hair—during the parched winter months through the use of a humidifier. She recommends using one 24 hours a day if you can, but advises at a minimum placing one beside the bed to keep skin plump and hydrated while you sleep.

Consider IV therapy. “Giving nutrients systemically, as opposed to rubbing on topically, we can access the skin all over the body,” Koniver explains of the benefits of IV therapy with regards to skincare. “When we give nutrients intravenously, the absorption rate is higher, as they are more bioavailable and can get into our blood stream and circulate.” Popular IV treatments for skin include intravenous Vitamin C, Glutathione, and CoQ10.

TSG Tip 409 from Keli Koniver, owner of Koniver Aesthetics in Charleston, South Carolina; Jade Rossetti, owner, founder, and aesthetician at The Edit Skin Studio in Huntsville, Alabama; Lavonne Anthony, owner of Lavonne Beauty in Little Rock, Arkansas; and Egle Menes, aesthetician and owner of Goodface Company in New Orleans, Louisiana. Koniver Aesthetics appears in The Scout Guide Charleston. The Edit Studio appears in The Scout Guide Huntsville. Lavonne Beauty appears in The Scout Guide Little Rock. Goodface Company appears in The Scout Guide New Orleans.