As we age, we begin to understand the importance of taking care of our bodies. The same goes for our skin. To care for our skin means to enhance its healthy appearance.
Sun Isn’t As Healthy As You Think
The biggest thing you can do is protecting yourself from the sun. Think about it-yes your skin is at the mercy of everyday elements, but the most inevitable is the sun. Before you protest, saying you barely have enough time in your morning routine to do your make-up, most moisturizers and foundations carry a small percent of SPF so in one step, you’re done. If you’re going to be outside for an extended period of time, remember to reapply. Do so at least every two hours and consider even more if you’re swimming or perspiring more than normal.
Nix Bad Habits
Smoking takes a large toll both inside your body and out. It causes wrinkles, making you look older than you actually are. Smoking affects blood vessels, restricting blood flow which affects the oxygen and nutrients your skin gets. This bad habit also damages collagen and elastin, leaving your skin feeling saggy and dull instead of firm and youthful.
Improving your diet is another step you can adopt to help out your skin. A balanced diet of grains, proteins and vegetables are good for your body and help with the appearance of skin. Stress is another manageable factor to get a hold of. Stress can take a toll on the appearance of your skin and cause lack of sleep, which also affects how you look.
Be Kind
A large part of taking care of our skin begins in the bathroom. A step that we almost always fail to complete that leaves our skin in harm’s way is the lack of sunscreen we use. Applying sunscreen or a product with it should be one of the first things we do before walking out the door. When it comes to washing our face, we all have a preference to the temperature we like to use, but should we be using a certain one? It seems to make sense that hotter water will open up pores to get out more dirt and grime, but if it’s too hot, it will only strip skin of its natural oils. Next time, avoid turning the handle all the way and wash your face with warm or lukewarm water instead.
Take the same kind of gentle thinking and apply it to your cleanser. If you are someone that feels they need a strong cleanser to wash, especially if you have trouble with acne, think twice about the strength of the cleanser you are using. Stronger isn’t always better. A mild cleanser will still take care of bacteria and dirt and still leave the essentials that are healthy for your skin.
Steps to Take After Cleansing
What we do after cleansing is just as important as cleansing itself. Reaching for the towel, some of us can admit that we scrub as hard as we can until it’s dry. But all that scrubbing is abrasive to skin and can even rub it dry natural moisture. Think gentle and pat it dry.
Depending on your skin type, it may feel dry after cleansing. Many of us take that as a sign we did a good job cleaning our skin, but we are actually harming it by washing away moisture and nutrients that should stay on our skin. This brings us back to why we don’t always need as strong of a cleanser as we think. Regardless of how mild a cleanser is that we try to use, it’s up to us to restore any moisture our skin needs to be healthy. The best way to do that is to find a moisturizer that matches your skin needs and apply it after cleansing. And of course, it’s an added bonus if you apply one with an SPF.
There are many things that can wreak havoc on our skin that involve more than how we wash it. Take steps to better get control over your daily life and skin routine and you will see how much easier it is to maintain healthy skin, which will leave you feeling great about how you look.
The article was written by the skin care experts at DorMauri.com.
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