Do Not Underestimate the Value of Touch
In this series we are taking a more holistic look at how our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being is interlinked and interdependent. That means that how we are feeling, what we are thinking and what we think of ourselves is reflected on our skin, in our faces, on our bodies and through our posture.
It is important that we are good to ourselves and recognise that our faces need to be cared for emotionally, spiritually and physically. It is good to treat ourselves and have a holistically based skincare treatment regularly.
We live in a culture where touch is becoming less and less valued and we are touched less and less. Paradoxically, the virtual world has become more and more valued, whilst becoming at t he same time more and more isolating.
Being touched, through a professional skincare or massage therapist can help us reconnect with ourselves as well as physically working out the stresses we all carry around with us. Do not undervalue the healing powers of touch!
As skincare therapists we recognise the healing aspect of our work. At the Dermalogica Congress in Istanbul, Jane Wurwand, Founder of Dermalogica believes that skincare therapists have never been more important, as there has never been a time when we are all so disconnected from each other. How often do we touch each other with a loving heart? How often do you hug your friends and family rather than communicating over the internet facebook, myspace, or any other messaging virtual spaces, webcams, texts, telephone etc.?
Although these new forms of communication have their place, they should not replace our connections.
Jane believes that as a society we have hungry skin…hungry for touch. “We are the walking wounded of a touch starved society,” she says. Plus we are taught not to touch any longer, we are in fact taught to be a little afraid of touch, so we seek to fulfil our need to be touched elsewhere. Because we are touch starved we misinterpret our need and look in the wrong places, shopping and retail therapy, comfort eating, over eating and eating the wrong things, drinking alcohol.
“What we really need is human touch and nurturing. What we really need is a skincare therapist.” Jane believes, as I do, that as skincare therapist’s not only do we make our clients skin look better and increase their self esteem and consequently, their sense of self worth, but we also listen to them, hear them and most importantly, touch them and nurture them. As professional skincare therapist we are trained to touch people.
We believe that a small reaching out, can have enormous impact. One skincare treatment, I believe, literally can change your life. You allow yourself to be touched, you allow yourself to connect to parts of yourself that you’ve perhaps ignored by not looking after yourself. You allow yourself to nourish yourself.
Without that human touch we become more and more objectified, and we can objectify ourselves. Especially as women, we can become very caught up in our own objectification. Focus too much on criticising what we look like and we let our inner critic overtake ourselves. This is not good. And yet in my skincare practice I see beautiful people focused in the smallest skin issue.
They have amplified to such an extent it can become the main part of their negative self image. As a professional skincare therapist I believe in focusing on the positive and moving forward into healthier habits and maximising skin health. I will always tell my client the good bits about their skin, face, bone structure, as we don’t often allow ourselves see the good bits, or even accept a compliment. But we need to. We need to nourish ourselves by seeing ourselves in a loving, human way.
"The experience of being touched in a safe, non-threatening way is very powerful," says Jane , "and very healing. "
“I truly believe that what we do as professionals touches the well-being of our clients in a very deep way, far beyond making their skin feel and look better."
So put yourself first and try a skincare treatment today. See if it changes the way you think of yourself, and see yourself.
Fiona Harlowe is known as the “skin doctor”. She specialises in acne, rosacea, hyperpigmentation and aging skin conditions to regular complexion perfecting using a combination of high tech equipment, peptide packed products containing active plant extracts and holistic techniques.
Fiona Harlowe is a Skincare Expert & Laser Therapist who always gives free consultations. Fiona is one of the leading, authorised Dermalogica stockists on the Costa Blanca and is based at Vanilla, Villamartin. Call for your free consultation today on 96 676 5616 or 678 836 961.

Now here’s a car that I have a very soft spot for. Often called a jellymold, slated by the press when it was released in 1982. Designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément the Ford Sierra’s development code was known as "Project Toni".
On 21 September 1982, it succeeded the Ford Cortina, with its aerodynamic styling which was ahead of its time but many conservative buyers did not take fondly to the styling. Possibly for this reason and the fact that the smaller Escort was enjoying an increase in sales during the early 1980s, it never quite achieved the sales volumes of the Cortina or the Taunus, although sales were still strong, a total of 2,700,500 ware produced, mainly manufactured in Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, although Sierras were also assembled in Argentina, Venezuela, South Africa, and New Zealand.
The first Ford vehicle to have the bold new "aero" look styling was the 1981 Ford Probe III concept car. The good reception this received encouraged Ford management to go ahead with a production car with styling almost as challenging. This "aero" look influenced Fords worldwide. The aerodynamic features of the Sierra were developed from those first seen in the Escort Mark III — the "Aeroback" bootlid stump was proved to reduce the drag coefficient of the bodyshell significantly, which was a class leading 0.34 at its launch, though not as good as the 0.22 of the visually similar Ford Probe III concept car of the previous year.
At first, many found the design blob-like and difficult to accept after being used to the sharp-edged, straight-line styling of the Cortina, hence it picked up nicknames such as "Jelly-mould" and later "The Salesman's Spaceship" dew to it’s popularity of the mobile rep. Sales were slow at first. It was later in the Sierra's life that the styling began to pay off, ten years after its introduction the Sierra's styling was not nearly as outdated as its contemporaries, even though all major competitors had newer designs, although the Sierra had been tweaked on several occasions. The most notable changes came at the start of 1987, with a major facelift the addition of a Sapphire saloon. As other manufacturers adopted similar aerodynamic styling, the Sierra started to look more normal.
Early versions suffered from crosswind stability problems, which were addressed in 1985 with the addition of "strakes" (small spoilers) on the rear edge of the rubber seals of the rear most side windows. These shortcomings saw a lot of press attention, and contributed to early slow sales. Other rumors that the car hid major crash damage (in part true, as the new bumper design sprung back after minor impact and couldn't be "read" to interpret major damage) also harmed the car's reputation. This reached nearhysterical heights at one point with UK press making a report that Ford would reintroduce the previous Cortina model out of desperation. However, these reports were swiftly denied by Ford's overheads.
Styling was slightly different on the luxury "Ghia" and sporty 3-door "XR4i" models, which had a different front panel, with wider, double headlamps compared with the lower specified cars, and lacking their grille slats. After the model's mid-life facelift, the front without a grille became the standard look, although yet later a square grille panel would be re-introduced.
During the life of the car, two different styles of 3-door body were used. One with two pillars rear of the door, looking very much like a modified 5-door frame, as used on the XR4i, and a one-pillar design used on standard-performance 3-door hatchbacks but at the other end of the scale, it was the basis for the, and I’ve got to say here possibly my favorite car of all time, the very highperformance RS Cosworth. Ford decided to put a turbo onto the old trusty 20lt Pinto block and top it with a twin cam 16valve cylinder head designed by Cosworth Engineering of Northampton. That was back in 1984 and the engine produced a whopping 204 hp. But then there was the Sierra RS500.
Next week I will continue with the Sierra story, but until then, why do people who know the least know it the loudest?
Happy Motoring
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