Our skin is the biggest organ in the body and certainly gets our attention more than the others.  Our society is obsessed with perfection and anti-aging which explains the multitude of skin care products and procedures one can get. There are many out there who are more than happy to give you advice and sometimes it involves a pill, an expensive skin care ritual or worse a needle or scalpel. As a Functional Medicine provider my approach to skin care is no different than my approach to the health of other organs. First and foremost, we must look at the foundational contributors-sleep, diet, water intake, environmental exposures, etc. Often, we overlook these obvious contributors in hopes of finding the perfect cream or worse procedure, to give us the quick fix. As with other health approaches there rarely is a quick fix and long-term management must consider the foundational components as important in optimizing skin appearance. 

If you have never had a facial from Val then you are missing out. I am so excited to be with her here today to talk about skincare and get all of her secrets of course. We are so fortunate to have Val here at Thrive. She has an impressive bio. She initially started as a cosmetic makeup artist but in 2001 expanded into skincare when she became an aesthetician. She was the head of a day spa located in the Asheville are for over 13 years then in 2015 began working for Eminence, the leading organic skincare company. She worked as a training specialist training all of the aestheticians at prominent Eminence related  spas in the southeast.

But it was in 2017 that Val really changed paths as it was when she began working here at Thrive. Our connection to Eminence brought us together and we could not have been more fortunate. In 2018 Val experienced a life-changing event when she suffered from 3 strokes-luckily  while at work here at Thrive. While this was unfortunate in many ways it was also a catalyst for change. It was at this time that she developed a more holistic approach to her own health and ultimately to her skin care approach. Just like the approach in Functional medicine at Thrive Val focuses on the root cause of skin problems as your lifestyle shows up in your skins appearance. 

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