At 31 my skin is changing in ways I’d never predicted. It seems to be getting drier, I’m getting way more pimples than ever before, specifically around my chin, and it’s not looking as bright and firm as it did a few years ago.

After perusing countless retinol night creams and eye serums claiming to have the anti-aging answers I never knew I needed, and the kind of price tag that made me feel weary of taking a risk, I decided it was time for some legit professional help.

The urgency to figure out what exactly my skin needs to stay young and fresh for as long as possible led me to Natural Feeling Spa on 3rd st. in Los Angeles, a beautiful space with an eco-friendly design founded by esthetician Adina Diaz.

Aside from word of mouth about Adina’s astonishing knowledge and skill as an esthetician, what drew me to Natural Feeling Spa was the fact that they only offer 100% natural holistically crafted products.

“I’m very selective about my products,” admits Adina.

After a decade of working as a professional esthetician at a long list of places that included everything from high-end day spas to plastic surgery facilities where she felt her morals were being compromised, Adina went out on her own, opening Natural Feeling Spa in 2016.

“I was being asked at certain places I worked at to have girls as young as 18 to start looking into botox, it was against my morals and ethics because I don’t believe people should be told to do something without having alternative methods of preventative skincare before being pushed to do something so extreme,” Adina explains. “It’s nothing against people getting injections or laser treatments, but 18 I feel like you have so much to grow and to live… by just drinking more water and having a better skin care routine you can have better results, you don’t have to go so extreme. You can try different things first before going down that road.”

Upon entering Natural Feeling Spa I immediately felt at home. I went for a Pumpkin Facial and after that, a much needed consultation about what will make my skin happiest. The facial was nearly an hour long and a lot of treatments went into it (an in depth post about the facial step by step coming soon). After the treatment I felt completely relaxed overall, while my skin felt more alive than ever. Adina’s upbeat personality made the whole experience fun, but it’s her gentle precision coupled with her encyclopedic knowledge of everything skincare related that’s made her stand out as LA’s go-to skincare guru. After an hour with her I learned a lot– far more than I would have if I’d devoted another three hours to researching skincare treatments on the computer without professional guidance.

As a woman in our 30s our skin is changing and there’s no way around it– but there are things we can do to slow the aging process. On the most basic level, Adina says, “Everyone should have a good cleanser, a good exfoliant and a good moisturizer, those are a necessity. What’s really good to incorporate into your 30s is having a high potency serum, something that’s going to have an AHA, a BHA and an acid that’s going to help buffer out fine lines and wrinkles and help with some of the damage you did when you were younger.”

How the skin changes from our 20’s to 30’s to 40’s

“It’s a drastic change. In the 20’s we get away with going to bed with makeup on, we get away with going to bed at 4 am and waking up for an 8-hour shift and still looking good, once you hit the 30’s that really does change. The elasticity and the collagen starts to deplete. We start to get wear and tear from how way we treated our skin in our 20’s, it starts to show in our 30’s. Hormones change. All these things combined together, plus environment, plus stress levels are different in our 20’s versus our 30’s.

So the things you want to do in your 20’s are preventative. You really want to start at a young age, start drinking lots of water, do your L-Ascorbic acid, which is vitamin C, do your hyaluronic acid, these are things that are going to help hydrate and stimulate collagen without any down time and give you that extra boost for when you get into your 30’s.

In the 30’s it’s all about the acids, it’s all about retinol, glycolic, lactic, salicylic, all of these things are going to help with the cell turn over, so it’s going to help minimize enlarged pores, fine lines, wrinkles and help kill bacteria and just really give that extra boost that most people in their 30’s need.

Once you climb over to the 40’s then there’s a lot of damage that’s settled in so you really need to have a deeper treatment, doing chemical peels, microdermabrasion and really having a rigorous skincare routine, that’s going to go a long way.”

How Often Should We Get Facials In Our 30’s?

“With family, friends, work, life our budget can be tight, but ideally once a month. The cell turnover is about 27 or 28 days, that’s the natural process that your skin naturally sluffs off the dead skin cells. Living in a place, particularly like Los Angeles, California there’s smog, there’s dirt, there’s pollution, so it is a different kind of environment that we live in, we are exposed to more pollution and free radicals than in other places, so it’s really a great idea to stay on top of your skincare routine and do it once a month for good results– I like to say to people: If you want a six-pack you wouldn’t go to the gym once a week, you’d go every single day. If you want good skin you would do skincare every single day, have a good routine down, and then follow up by having good skincare treatments done.”

And If You Can’t Afford a Facial a Month? Adina has advice on that too:

“If budget is an issue, you want to have your arsenal at home, you want to have your little soldiers ready in the cupboard. A good mask goes a long way, and a good enzyme peel, a safe one that you can do at home will go a long way. There’s  a lot of peels that I sell, a wild blueberry that’s an 8% lactic, a raw cacao peel that’s a 10%, these are light treatments you can do on yourself that will help prolong the lifespan of the facial, and also address the issues at hand, so you get a  little bit more bang for your buck and also feel like that when you do have some dullness creeping up or some hormonal breakouts you can address it, you have the tools at home. When in doubt spend the money on good skincare and when you can indulge, go for the deeper treatments.”

But What Kind of Facial is Best for the 30’s? There are so many out there, how do I choose?!

Adina says, “The pumpkin facial is a go-to because there’s no downtime. It’s a light enzyme so it will eat away the dead skin cells, brighten, tighten and tone the area… It’s a really strong peel with a low pH so it will have a lot of effect on the skin, so a lot of people will do that before a red carpet event, a wedding, a speech, something where they want to have an extra glow to their skin. That’s a really good one for people to start with.”

**Again, this is the one I had, with the added boost of LED Light Therapy, and it is mind boggling how refreshed and active my skin still feels, and I left the spa 5 hours ago!

What Chemicals Should We Avoid?

Parabens
Aluminium
Aluminoxide
Dimethicone
Silicone
Mineral Oil
PEGS
Dyes and Fragrances

Adina adds, “Though some of these are ingredients are not on the ‘extreme’ toxicity level in the blood, they’re still going to be toxic and clogging. For example, dimethicone is not “toxic” in the blood stream, however it weighs on top of the skin not allowing anything to go in or.  It’s basically like wrapping saran wrap around your face or body, so when your sweating and have makeup on it literally cannot escape, so in my opinion when your skin can’t ‘breathe’ you’re aging your skin faster and it is toxic because nothing is able to be expelled.”

So What is the Take Away?

The things that worked for us (and the things we could get away with) in our 20’s change drastically once we hit our 30’s. The normal aging process causes our hormones to change, the cell turnover rate to slow and collagen production to drop--ahhh so are we doomed? Not by a long shot!

There are so many things we can do to keep our skin looking bright and youthful. On the most basic level it’s vital that you begin a daily skincare routine that works for you. Find a good enzyme cleanser, moisturizer and exfoliant. In order to help the cell turn over rate, find serums and moisturizers that include retinol, and a glycolic, lactic, or salicylic acid. If it’s within your means try to get facials every four to five weeks, and consult a dermatologist or esthetician to assess your skin type so that before you go spending hundreds of dollars on products, you can learn which ones are going to be the most beneficial for you.

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Adina’s been featured on Better Nutrition, Green Beauty Love, Wallace and James, Beauty Banter, The Carat Diet, Wella Bella, Coco Perez, Kuyam, Bond En Avant, HelloGiggles, West Hollywood Lifestyle, Beauty Style Watch, and The Organic Life Blog. Some of her celebrity clients include actress Sundy Carter (“Soul Plane,” “Bringing Down the House”), actress and TV host Vanessa Simmons (“Project Runway: Threads,” “Run’s House”), vegan chef and blogger Jenné Claiborne, body positive model Dana Isabella and more.

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Photos of Adina and Natural Feeling Spa are from a recent interview she did with Veritewoman.com which you can check out here: https://veritewoman.com/life-green-beauty-advice-from-las-favored-skincare-guru/