Have you ever looked in the mirror and felt like your skin had changed almost overnight? Breakouts you thought you’d left behind. Pigmentation. Dryness that no moisturiser seems to touch.

I know that feeling, because I’ve lived it. My own hormonal skin changes are the reason I work the way I do today, and why I truly believe the skin is the messenger.

I’ve worked in beauty and skin for over 20 years. Throughout that time, I’ve always been passionate about helping women feel confident in their skin. But my own journey with skin has been a very personal one.

Where my interest in skin began

My interest in skin health started long before I understood just how connected our skin could be to what was happening within us.

Having experienced PCOS and the impact hormonal changes can have, I know what it feels like when your skin affects your confidence.

After becoming a mum, I experienced pigmentation during pregnancy. That sparked an even deeper interest in understanding skin and how to support it.

For years, I focused on learning about products, treatments and how to get the best results for my clients. And I still believe there is a real place for good skincare and advanced treatments.

But then my own skin started to change.

When hormonal skin changes became personal

Looking back, I began noticing changes around 18 months before October 2024. Pigmentation. Changes in firmness. Dryness, inflammation and breakouts.

My skin wasn’t behaving in the way I was used to, and I couldn’t fully understand why.

These can all be hormonal skin changes, and so many women notice them in their late 30s and 40s.

At the time, I didn’t realise what my skin might have been trying to tell me.

October 2024: when my body said it was time to heal

Then came October 2024.

By this point, things had become bigger than my skin. I was experiencing gut issues, my inflammation markers were raised, and I found myself on the cancer pathway while doctors investigated what was happening.

Thankfully, it wasn’t cancer. But there were still unanswered questions about what was going on inside my body.

This was the point when something really shifted for me. I began to realise that my skin had been the messenger. It had been trying to get my attention, showing me that something deeper might be going on.

And by October 2024, it felt as though my body was screaming, “It’s time to heal.”

The things we carry

When I look back, I can also see that those years had brought a huge amount of emotional change and loss.

I had become a mum. I’d been through the breakdown of my relationship with my daughter’s dad. I lost my dad to cancer, lost my sister to suicide, and watched my mum go through cancer.

I had carried on through so much. Like many women, I kept going, kept doing what needed to be done, and kept showing up for the people around me.

But I started to think about what happens when we spend so long carrying things emotionally, putting ourselves last and simply getting on with life.

What we hold on to, the experiences we carry and the things we may never have fully processed can affect how we feel and how our bodies respond. These experiences can influence our nervous system, and may affect our hormones and, in turn, our skin.

Why I never look at skin in isolation

This is why I believe we can never look at the skin in isolation. We need to look at the whole woman and understand the bigger picture.

I’m not saying that every skin concern is caused by stress, trauma or hormones. But I do believe these things can be important pieces of the picture, and they deserve to be considered rather than overlooked.

For me, my skin became the messenger. It made me question what was happening beneath the surface, and whether there was more to my health than what I could see in the mirror.

It changed the way I looked at skin, not just in my own life, but in my work with other women too.

What this means when you come to see me

When a woman comes to me with pigmentation, adult acne, dryness, inflammation or skin that suddenly seems to be ageing differently, I need to look beyond the immediate concern.

I want to understand:

• when the changes started
• what else was happening in her life
• how she is sleeping and how she is feeling
• what her nutrition and digestion are like
• whether her hormones or lifestyle may have changed

Because two women can walk through my door with exactly the same skin concern, but what their skin needs may be completely different.

Why I became a certified menopause coach

This is also why I decided to become a certified menopause coach.

I wanted to deepen my understanding of what women experience during this stage of life, and be able to support them beyond their skin concerns alone.

I wanted to bring together my experience in skin health with a greater understanding of menopause, hormones and women’s wellbeing. That way, I can look at the whole woman and help her make sense of what might be happening.

Repair, regenerate, restore

My approach is about understanding the foundations first. Supporting the skin to repair, regenerate and restore. And choosing treatments that make sense for that woman and her skin at that particular time.

I still absolutely believe in treatments. I just believe we need to understand what the skin needs before deciding what to do next.

Because sometimes, the answer isn’t another product or another treatment. Sometimes, it’s taking a step back, looking at the bigger picture and asking ourselves a different question.

What has changed, and what might my skin be trying to tell me?

Maybe we need to understand more first

That is why I believe the skin is the messenger.

It may be the changes we see on the outside that first get our attention. But they can be an invitation to look a little deeper, listen to our bodies and begin understanding what we might need.

Because maybe we don’t always need to do more.

Maybe we need to understand more first.

If any of this feels familiar and you’d like to understand what your skin might be telling you, I’d love to help. You can book a Functional Skin Analysis here.

Jamie x

If anything in my story has brought up difficult feelings for you, you don’t have to carry it alone. Samaritans are there 24 hours a day on 116 123.