Tune In: Skin Care & Facial Massage Tips From A Facialist Called "The Queen Of Skin" 

If I'm going to get skin care advice, I might as well get it from someone who has been dubbed "the Queen of skin," no? The UK-based facialist and author Abigail James joined me on this week's episode of Clean Beauty School, to discuss the benefits of facial massages, psychodermatology, and the gut-skin-stress connection. 

It's a fascinating episode, full of insights about how deeply intertwined mental health and skin health are—and most importantly, what you can do to help your skin should stress be getting the better of it. 

As we discuss a lot at mindbodygreen, stress deeply affects the skin. It can worsen acne, break down collagen, and inhibit circulation. 

"There's a very well-documented, scientifically proven connection between what is going on in our minds and what is then presenting on the skin," says James. "During times of duress, our body will actually naturally want our blood flow to go to the internal, essential organs because it's in that stressful situation. Our skin gets left out from that nutritional flow."

This is actually a very important survival mechanism for the body. The problem arises when the body is under chronic, prolonged stress, which is an unfortunately common occurrence in our modern environment. When the skin is regularly depleted of blood flow (and all the nutrients that come with it), it can't rejuvenate itself as readily.

In addition to improving blood flow to the skin, facial massage also addresses muscle tension under the skin. 

Facial muscles play a huge role in facial aging. For example, they can contribute to facial asymmetries, which tend to become more dramatic with age. Or areas where we hold tension, such as the jaw, can pull at the skin, resulting in sagging over time. 

Fitness routines require consistency in order to see results—things don't happen overnight.

"If you were going to go to the gym, you wouldn't expect to go once a month and get a result. So when we're working with muscles and tissue [like you do during facial massage], we need to think along those lines," says James. "If we can get into a regular routine of something—definitely on a weekly basis but ideally every other night—you are going to get a better result."