Dishing all things masculinity, self-development and selfcare with Geraldton’s “top bloke” Brenten Wellington. From the moment you meet Brenten Wellington you can tell that he’s a “top bloke.” The Kind of bloke you bump into at the pub and end up sharing a beer or two well past closing. The kind of bloke you'd hit up at 3 AM for a heart-to-heart—or, just as easily, for one of those no-words-needed, let’s-just-sit-here-and-chill kind of hangouts. And the kind of bloke I wish my cousin could’ve known in his younger years—because Brenten's more than just a top bloke. He’s the role model young men don't even know they need. We had the pleasure of catching up with Brenten, the mastermind behind ‘The Blokehood Project,’ a groundbreaking program that’s flipping the script on what it means to be a man today. It’s all about guiding young men through the ups and downs of growing up, helping them navigate that tricky path from boyhood to manhood with a healthy dose of self-discovery and a solid sense of self-worth. We dove deep into what makes this bloke tick, and why his approach to blokey self-care is exactly what we all need right now. Read on for the interview… or listen below for the podcast! Can you please start with your name and tell us a little bit about yourself and what your mission is?
So my name is Brenton Wellington, 34 years old and I developed the Blokehood project. My mission is to create safe environments for young men to explore masculinity and what it means to be a man. Amazing! That's so good to bring that to Geraldton. I think as a regional town, we really need that support for young men. Well, I think it's pivotal. I feel like, you know, masculinity is a real big hot topic now, and rightly so. I feel like it's an important thing for young men to grasp the concepts of what it what it means to be a man. You know, what purpose is in life, what an identity is, and then having mates and comradeship to do it with. Yeah, absolutely. Can you tell us, when did you decide that this was something that you felt like you needed to start doing for the community? Was there an initial spark or an event that inspired that? Yeah, definitely. It came from a place of real frustration. I'd gone through my own challenges in life. I was dealing with emotional things that I didn't know how to comprehend as a man and within myself. I just had no idea what to do when I started looking for answers, because I didn't want to suffer and sit in the pain any longer. So that's what kind of it forced me into the direction of personal development and finding ways to deal with emotions. I found a guy online through YouTube, a guy called Preston Smiles. And that was my first kind of introduction into personal development. From that point forward, it was kind of like I just immersed myself into personal development, understanding my own psyche and the way things work in the world. And that's where it kind of really hit me. I did a six-month coaching program with him, and then I kind of had gone through my own stages of what it mean and what purpose I wanted in life. I finished a degree in environmental engineering. I went into personal training. I've been crayfishing. I've done so many jobs, but I realized none of them were my purpose. This isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life. So, we started talking back in the coaching program and my mentor asked me what I wanted to do, but to be truthful, I really didn’t know. I told him “that’s what I'm paying you for! Please just help guide me and tell me what to do.” And essentially, he's like, well, “what do you piss off about? You seem pretty frustrated and agitated.” And I was “like, yeah, I'm extremely pissed off. I'm here at 25 and I'm figuring out the things that I needed to learn when I was a young man, at 16 or 17. Why hasn't anyone taught this to young men before?” It was an interesting conversation. And so that's essentially how the Blokehood project evolved. It began in frustration. I just wanted to teach young men everything I wish I had known at their age. Yeah. Frustration is a really popular or a common emotion for men, isn't it? Yeah. I think all of our emotions are valid, and there's a lot of power and beauty in anger and frustration and all these really raw, powerful emotions. It's okay to feel all emotions, but it's what men do with those emotions that is important. It's about our actions and behaviors and what we lead into after that, after feeling the emotions. So it's all right to feel everything. But we need to be able to use our emotions constructively and effectively, and that makes us more powerful men. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, sometimes our skin can have a really big emotional impact on us as well. We know that acne is something that a lot of men do experience. And it is one of the most common skin conditions that men can experience in commonality and severity as well. Have you ever experienced acne or some kind of skin condition that's impacted on your self-esteem before? Definitely. Acne throughout the years, I still get pimples and stuff now. Blackheads. It's something that I'm always conscious of, and it's like when they pop up or when they show up on your face, it hits you a little differently. It makes you feel a little less comfortable in your skin or, you know, a little less, at ease in public. So it definitely has an impact on how you feel. And I think it's really important that you do feel good in your skin. You do feel comfortable and confident in how you look and how you present yourself to the world. Because I feel like respect is a huge thing in our culture, and if we can present ourselves well, look well and respectable and go about that, it really has dividends in, in our overall life and how we feel. Self-love is a sign of self-respect. We can look after ourselves not only internally but externally. I think that is the biggest form of self-love and respect we can give to ourselves. Yeah, absolutely. How do you encourage men to start taking care of their skin for, especially those people who might think that it's not really very important or it's not something they should worry about? Well, I think men like to learn the hard way. I've had cancers cut out of my back and skin cancers burnt off my nose. And, I'm lucky that my face is probably more presentable than what my back looked like with the the big scar in my back from not looking after my skin. Like, there's a lot of guys that love being outdoors and even just having a good skincare routine to protect your face from the sun is massively important. And if we're putting things on our face, it's good that, you know, we're clearing that face up and protecting it for the future. That's right. It's not just about beauty. It’s about health too. Oh it's health. Yeah, definitely. And you do start to realize at some point, okay, it's time to start looking after these things, you know. And for me as well, I kind of grew up with a really youthful face. I had a kid's face or, you know, I grew up wanting to age quickly. Which I regret now because I wish I had protected my youthful face a lot, a lot more. But then there's also young guys that look a lot older and maybe should be protecting themselves and making themselves look younger. So again, it goes back to that respect. If we can look after ourselves, it’s a sign of more self respect. What kind of advice? Maybe top three things would you give to people or to men who struggle with their self esteem issues in relation to their skin? Hmm, I can give you one good one. We live in a world now where pain and suffering is not needed. I mean, it's great for young men to suffer and endure and go through tough times. But when you're concerned about things like your appearance, I feel like there is so many great professionals out there that can clear that stuff up. And generally, it's something simple or a simple routine or a new practice that you can implement in your life, and you can look 100 times better and feel 100 times more confident! Feeling confident within yourself just has such a big impact on the rest of your life. Simplicity is key, so seek help. And not only that, when we're seeking help, don't always get turned off by the first person you see. I feel like there's a lot of people and especially guys, who’ll go and work up all this courage to go and deal with something that they have some kind of shame or, embarrassment associated with and when they finally work up the courage to go and seek help, they go and see someone that might be the wrong person to see. They give them the wrong advice, or they don't do anything that's helpful and they just get discouraged so quickly and they go, well, I tried. I'm tapping out. You know, and that's not essentially what masculinity is. We want men to endure and get solutions and find the kind of the solution. So seek the professionals, get the good advice and don't give up. Yeah, definitely. And I've just got one more question. What are some other examples of self-care that men can investigate if they're wanting to start taking better care of themselves and maybe focus a little bit more on self-improvement? Exploring all avenues, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. If we can train our bodies and what we put into our systems, I feel like that has a huge impact on our skin as well. I feel like the healthier foods we eat, I noticed within myself as soon as I start binge eating or eating crappy, greasy, oily foods, my face will flare up. So physically looking after yourself. Emotionally, making sure you're getting enough sleep. Which all these things link to the health of our internal systems, you know. Internal health makes makes our external systems a lot brighter and healthier. And also, seeking that help and support when needed are all pivotal. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much. We really appreciated you coming to speak to us about yourself and your experiences and the Blokehood Project. So I want to give you a couple of seconds just to shout out to the camera. Yeah, easy. So I'm under the blokehood project, a program that Transformative Growth Institute runs. If you get the spelling right, you'll be able to find it pretty easy. It's transformative growth Institute.org. That's our website. You can contact us through that. Or alternatively, Instagram, Facebook, all through Transformative Growth Institute. That's the best way to contact us!
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Exozomes are one of the most exciting biological discoveries in the area of modern regenerative medicine.
DNA is like a blueprint for our cells. It expresses how cells should perform produce certain proteins and conduct certain functions to keep us healthy and acts as a kind of instruction booklet on how to replicate cells correctly when they reproduce. Basically, like the blueprint of life. So, as you can imagine the DNA of our cells is quite an import part about what makes us who we are and what keeps us working healthily.
While DNA does break down overtime due to our normal aging process, a number of external factors can increase damage to our DNA contributing to accelerated aging and other effects such as the potential to develop skin cancers. If Regina George’s thoughts are constantly spinning around in your head, you may be on the lookout for anything that can help make your skin pore-less and flawless. But unfortunately, the age-old idea that you can shrink pores using anything from a splash of ice-cold water to an egg-white mask is a rumour juicy enough to rival those found in the ‘burn book’ themselves. Each pore on the surface of the skin is actually an opening to a canal called a follicle. The follicle also contains a hair and an oil gland (sebaceous gland). Individual pore size is determined genetically and generally correlates with skin type, (eg generally oilier skin = larger pores) and unfortunately, you can’t make pores physically smaller or open and close them. Pores are more noticeable on parts of the face, like the T-zone (forehead, nose and chin) where the sebaceous glands are bigger and more oil in produced. Several other factors can also affect pore size. Dead skin cells and trapped sebum can fill pores to the max accentuating their size. Excess sun exposure from UV rays also breaks down the collagen that supports the structure of the skin keeping the pores tight resulting in larger looking pores. Similarly, the collagen loss that comes aging can also increase the appearance of pore size. And lastly, picking at or squeezing pimples can cause trauma to the skin, which may lead to scarring permanently widening the pores. However, there are certain things you can do to minimize the appearance of your pores which can help give your complexion a major boost. The best way to minimise pores is to keep them a clear as possible. Try to stick to noncomedogenic products and makeup and avoid clogging ingredients like petrolatum and mineral oil. Regular gentle cleansing can also help to keep the skin clean and free of excess oils and particles which may clog up over time. However, by far the best way to keep your pores as clear as possible is using a gentle, regular chemical exfoliant. While the word chemical may sound scary, chemical exfoliants are actually one of the gentler ways to exfoliate. Scrubs and other physical exfoliation methods such as facial cloths, brushes and tools are often very easily overdone and can over exfoliate the skin resulting in an impaired barrier and inflammation. Facial scrubs are also often larger in molecular size relying on the mechanical motion of scrubbing to remove dead skin cells on the surface, meaning that they can also sometimes miss particles trapped deeper in the pores. Chemical exfoliants, instead of mechanically removing skin cells gently dissolve the chemical bonds holding the cells together and can often penetrate deeper inside the pores to help unclog them. One of our favourite chemical exfoliants is Ultraceuticals Pore Refiner – a powerful blend of AHA, BHA, Willow Bark Extract and Niacinamide to refine the appearance of large pores, smooths skin's texture and improve overall skin luminosity and radiance. These ingredients also help to reduce surface sebum and exfoliate the dead cell build-up in the follicle decreasing breakouts and helping to fade pigmentation. In Clinic, Skin Needling is one of our most effective treatments to reduce enlarged pores. This treatment while sounding scary is anything but! It involves using a pen-like device to make thousands of tiny holes in the skin efficiently stimulating the skins wound healing response to increase collagen + elastin production to tighten and refine the skins texture. We can also infuse specialised serums into these micro channels which enhance this process further and helps deliver powerful ingredients easily to the deeper layers of the skin. Our top pick for enlarged pore sufferers includes our MG-CLR serum, containing Antimicrobial peptides and bio-compatible extracts to help clear problematic breakouts and enhance the visible complexion of skin troubled by acne, blackheads/comedones or open pores and oily skin. As well as our MG-RAS serum a powerful blend of antioxidants, vitamins, peptides and botanical extracts renowned for their anti-ageing effects including Retinaldehyde, which is considered the most active form of retinoid (Vitamin A) without a prescription to stimulate maximised collagen synthesis.
If you’d like more expert advise on how to reduce enlarged pores and attain skin even Regina George could be jealous of, we’d love to see you! Give us a call on 0899654737 or book your free skin consultation online today! - Skin x So, you’ve had a fantastic result post AFT IPL and your skin is glowing, rejuvenated, and looking as even as a baby’s bum, but what now? Pigmentation or sun damage is one of the most common forms of premature aging and skin concerns here in Aus and can return very easily if we don’t look after our skin properly post treatment. Correct aftercare in the long term, not just the days following the treatment can help to prolong results saving you significant time and money and keeping you flawless for as long as possible.
Foaming, gel, micellar, oil? A great cleanser is an essential first step to building a fabulous routine and can set you up for a future of beautiful skin, or a future skincare disaster. Yet while it may be simple, finding the best one within the seemingly never-ending skincare aisle can feel no short of overwhelming. But don’t stress, the Skin team is here to help you find the perfect cleanser for skin care success!
The Down-low on Makeup: Are Cosmetics Truly Cause for Concern When it Comes to Skin Health?22/7/2021 In the last few 100 years, makeup has come a long way from poisonous powders and pigments to something that has become a much-loved staple in many of our morning routines. However, makeup still holds a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to skin health. Gospel truths such as ‘makeup causes acne and clogs pores’ to ‘it also causes irritation and enhances aging’ have been thrown around by everyone and their mum for years, but is there any truth to these statements? And is going makeup free really the secret to perfect skin?
Tune in to any latest fashion show and you’ll most likely see the humble face mask standing proud and centre of any collection. Once only reserved as hot couture from the hospital hallway, they now can be seen on the runway from Gucci to Dior and beyond, as the pandemic has seemingly modified the mask into the latest must have trend. However, not all masks can be considered as stylish. Melasma, otherwise referred to as the ‘pregnancy mask’ is a very common skin condition that effects many people around the world and is something that makes us feel not so much like a supermodel.
Skin needling is one of the best skin treatments available on the market today. It helps to treat almost every skin concern from acne to aging to pigmentation. However, not all types of needling are created equal and the difference between an at home dermal roller and an in-clinic high-oscillating needling pen, can make an exponential difference in the health of your skin and the outcome of the treatment. Even though at home dermal rollers might sound like the best thing since sliced bread; they may not be all they’re cracked up to be. Various factors such as the ability to change the needle depth, mechanical action of the device, ability to sterilise or dispose of equipment, as well as education and understanding of the procedure, it’s interaction with the skin and aftercare, are the main differences between an at home dermal roller and an in-clinic needling pen. These differences make a huge impact to the quality of your results and the overall success of your treatment. While dermal rolling sounds like a fabulous, cheaper alternative for giving yourself at a home needling treatment, it truly can’t be compared with an in-clinic procedure.
Beach days, Christmas, summer barbies, and test match after test match; summer in Australia sure is debatably one of the best times of the year. However, while the hot weather makes for endless days of fun in the sun, the summer climate and festivities can be harsh on our skin. Airconditioning, excess sun exposure, chlorinated pools and salt water are very dehydrating to the skin, which results in dryness, redness, irritation and overall skin damage. Lollies, sweets, changes in our diet, an increase in alcohol consumption, as well as, the increased stress over the Christmas period, can also wreak havoc on our skin, causing breakouts, redness and inflammation. But before you hop on the next boat to Antarctica, don’t despair, there are plenty of simple tips and tricks that can help keep us flawless all summer long.
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