Hi Everyone,

Tina here (+1 662 830 8246, info@nakedactives.com). Here is our latest blog, and Chapter 4 of our recently published book. As you might know, our sister company Terrain Publishing has published a book with Formule De Soin, with a few of our founders from Naked Actives. Every week, we will publish all 10 Chapters from this great read and published book. The title of the book is called Skincare Collective- Conversations with Friends: From all natural skincare to the impact of social media in the beauty industry.  Click the link if you want to buy the book. 

Chapter 1 of the Skincare Collective

Chapter 2 of the Skin Care Collective

Chapter 3 of the Skin Care Collective

Chapter 4 of the Skin Care Collective

Chapter 5 of the Skin Care Collective

Chapter 6 of the Skin Care Collective

Chapter 7 of the Skin Care Collective 

Chapter 4

A Discussion with Joe about Skin Cancer

Our team at Formule De Soin sat down for a discussion with Dr. Joseph Hayward, a senior medical physicist with the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton ON. Dr. Joe as he prefers to be called, works with patients who have been diagnosed with skin cancer. Although his title is formal his presence, energy and long flowing blonde hair are casual and welcoming. He is eager to share his wealth of knowledge.  

He also holds a faculty position at McMaster University. His faculty position allows him to do research on many different projects and in the past 15 years, his focus has been on skin.

Over the years at Juravinski, his focus has been on blood oxygenation levels for cancer treatment patients who receive radiation. Many of these patients may have damage to the skin similar to that of a sunburn. The skin is being damaged by the radiation going into the body.

At this time, radiation oncologists will give everyone the same amount, but Dr. Joe and his team hypothesize that based on different body types, some patients may be able to take more radiation than others. Because radiation on your skin affects others differently, a patient receiving that radiation will have redness to your skin after the procedure is complete. The theory behind this research is you may be able to increase or decrease radiation in cancer patients.

You can see that Dr. Joe loves to research and explore the why and how of things works. He also took the time to speak with our team about some of the trends that he wants to see.

Such things as a bigger focus on taking care of your skin when you go out into the sun. At the cancer center, he spends a large portion of his time, treating people for sun related cancers in spots that we normally don’t think to apply sunscreen such as the top of your head, ear, nose and lip

The focus should be to protect yourself with an SPF, apply often, stay out of the sun during the peak hours of the day and wear a hat and glasses. All great tips on keeping your skin from getting burnt.

Thoughts on more natural sunscreens

Dr. Joe’s thoughts around this topic are simple. Many companies take great care to ensure that the ingredients in the formulations are non-toxic. Especially in Canada, many companies need to prepare mountains of paperwork and endure long wait times for federal approval for skin care products.

When comparing natural products to products formulated in a lab we need to consider things like;

• Are the SPF levels the same?
• Is the time that it is retained on your skin the same?

If the SPF levels are not the same or you need to apply the products frequently throughout the day, is the natural product providing the same level of protection? Do your research before choosing what product you need.

Dr. Joe’s Skincare Routine

We asked Dr. Joe what his skincare routine consists of. It’s as simple as it gets. Because of his science and research background, he knows that our skin has beneficial bacteria living on it. It’s called your skin Microbiome. You can’t shower this away with just water and you typically wouldn’t want to. It helps keep your skin balanced and works along with your immune system to achieve optimal health. Dr. Joe uses shampoo on his long blonde hair three times a week and uses an all-natural soap for the rest of his body.

We could have spent hours speaking with Dr. Joe but to wrap the interview we asked him, What Advice Would You Give to Your Younger Self?

1. Not to be too concerned with your current journey. Allow yourself to broaden your horizons in other areas. Don’t be too focused when you’re young. Gather knowledge, explore and make a more informed choice
2. Don’t get stressed about getting things right
3. Always wear sunscreen

One take away from our chat with Dr. Joe is to be mindful of your lips and ears as people underestimate the amount of sun damage on their lips. Surprisingly people can develop some nasty forms of skin cancer on their lips from sun damage.

About Dr. Joe

Joseph E. Hayward obtained his Ph.D. in Lasers and Electro-Optics from the Department of Engineering Physics at McMaster University in 1993. His doctoral dissertation was titled "Spectral Properties of 1.3 µm InGaAsP Semiconductor Diode Lasers". He subsequently joined the Biomedical Optics Group at the Hamilton Regional Cancer Centre as a Research Associate to assist in the development of optical methods and instrumentation for the diagnosis, staging and treatment of cancer, as well as the monitoring of cancer treatments. In 1998, Joseph joined the Hamilton Regional Cancer Centre as a Medical Physicist. Currently Dr. Hayward is a Senior Medical Physicist and the Director of the Medical Physics Residency Program at the Juravinski Cancer Centre.  His current research interests include optical methods of monitoring radiation induced toxicities in skin and non-invasive strategies to identify the margins of malignant skin lesions. Dr. Hayward is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Radiology and the School of Interdisciplinary Sciences at McMaster University. He is also an Associate Member of the Department of Engineering Physics at McMaster University and the President of the Ontario Association of Medical Physicists.