Beauty Perspectives: Skin & Mind with aesthetician Camille Fischer, Founder of Skin in Mind
“When you are you, you are Beauty”
- Camille Fischer
Today we sit down with Camille Fischer, aesthetician and founder of the Copenhagen based beauty studio SKIN IN MIND and talk about the connection of our mind and our skin, the benefits of a Face Yoga and Gua Sha practice and how we find a good aesthetician no matter where we live.
Tell us a little bit about your studio SKIN IN MIND and how you approach skincare
The studio is located in Copenhagen and it is built on the foundation of that when you are you, you are beauty. It is my belief that when we are connected to the essences of who we are our beauty will shine through our skin. In the process of healing and understanding the skin there are 3 aspects to consider. The body as the physiological/outer aspect, then there is the mind as the psychological/inner aspect of you and then the soul as the spiritual aspect. I believe that when we have all 3 aspects in mind when it comes to skin care we can reach a higher potential of healing.
Our skin is communicating with us all the time, how can we learn to listen better?
Be curious! In the process of getting to know your skin better I find curiosity very beneficial and helpful. For example you can ask yourself: how do I feel? What happened before my skin started showing different symptoms or changed in its appearance? Ask your skin what it needs. And be curious of what the answer might be. The answer might not come right away, but I find it helpful to sit still for some minutes, take a few deep breaths, connect with my heart, then place my hands (the hands are the ambassador of the heart) on my face and ask my skin what it needs.
A lot of the time we might know that the root cause of our skin issues runs deeper but don't know how to approach it. Any first step advice?
If you have had a skin concern for many years you would want to go back to the time before it all started and ask yourself what happened and how did the situation make you feel? You need to connect to the suppressed emotion that your skin is trying to communicate to you. In my opinion the root cause is often located in our emotions therefore I would advise you to start looking within.
How can a face yoga or gua sha practice benefit our skin?
Face yoga can help us to connect to and release certain feelings that our facial muscles are holding on to. Feelings that are not beneficial for us or our skin.
Both face yoga and gua sha helps to create flow in the muscles and the fascia and stimulates blood and lymphatic flow, which all helps to improve the state of your skin. An example could be breakouts around the jaw which can be caused by tension in the jaw muscles, because it causes stagnation and makes it difficult for the blood and lymph fluid to flow. By releasing the tension with gua sha to create flow it helps detoxifing the skin from within.
Also any type of massage, in this case gua sha, stimulates hormones that help us to relax which gives the skin the optimal conditions to thrive.
What does your current skincare & wellness routine look like?
My skin care routines are very intuitive, but they are always a mix of treating the surface of the skin, activating the muscles and fascia and some cooling down with lymphatic drainage. I have many different “tools” such as dry brushing, face yoga, cupping, gua sha, reflexology, kinesio taping, acupuncture, lymphatic drainage massage and most of them I do not only on the face, but also on the body. I do not do them all at once, but many of the things help me stay connected and make me feel great, therefore I like to do them as much as possible, because my wellbeing is very important to me.
An example of my morning routine could be:
Removing kinesio tape and doing face yoga in bed before anything else. Then dry brushing my face and body. Before I jump into the shower I apply a mild cleansing lotion, oil or balm to do a bit of massage. It could be cupping, gua sha or simply just using my hands. After the shower I moisturise my face and body.
2-3 times a week I do gua sha or cupping on my body after showering and also like to do different masks during the week when I feel like my skin needs a little extra.
When do you feel most beautiful?
I feel most beautiful when I am connected to the essences of what I am and I when I allow myself to be exactly who I am with no restrictions to what and how I think I should be. I guess you can say I feel most beautiful when I feel free.
Since not all of us are living in Copenhagen and can come visit you, what are your tips to finding a good aesthetician?
I would look out for someone who also has your mental health in mind when they are treating the skin. Someone who is interested in getting to the bottom of the issue and not only treating the symptom. Someone who knows that everything is connected and knows that if you really want to heal a skin concern you must include every aspect of who you are. Most important is that you go with your gut. Listen to what your intuition is telling you.
What are you currently reading?
‘Sexuality, self-development and tantra’’ by Neel Fasting (Danish).
Photo Credit: Skin in Mind.
Camille was interviewed by Isabelle Brockbals, Founder of &Spirit.