Parvati Magazine December 2014/January 2015: Consequence/Beginnings | Page 42

BEAUTY

THE EFFECTS
of Estrogen

I

don’t know if there is something in the water but many of my clients, colleagues and
team have been asking a lot of questions about hormones lately. I think it’s important to
talk about hormones because while most of us understand how important they are and
how much they influence every action within our bodies, we know little about their nature
or how to balance them. So today I will be talking about a hormone that is very dear to
me: estrogen. I, myself, have high estrogen which makes my menses very irregular (did I
really just admit that?).
Estrogen has a lot of sex appeal because it is what makes women women. Estrogen is also
the hormone that decreases dramatically when we go through menopause so it is often
connected to youthfulness. This drop in estrogen has been said to accelerate signs of aging in our skin and has spurred much fuss about how we can artificially sustain it.
But while the idea that estrogen is connected to youthfulness is a very popular view
amongst beautologists, I think it’s very interesting to note that estrogen is actually responsible for breaking down collagen in our skin. Confused? Well, as estrogen breaks down
collagen, it also enhances the hyaluronic acid in our skin (hyaluronic acid helps our skin
hold water and promotes a smooth texture). This release in hyaluronic acid could be why
so many of us believe that estrogen is the source of youth when, in fact, collagen is prob-