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Unlike first apartments, purses, and clothes, your skin is with you for a very long time: forever! It’s the largest organ we have, and it deserves to be treated as such. Which means we’d better be nice to it, or we’ll pay the price (think: age spots and wrinkles).
Luckily, there are so many simple ways to ensure your skin receives the TLC it deserves. If you start by educating yourself about your skin type and what ingredients will work best, trust me — your skin will thank you.
Don’t be afraid to adjust your skincare routine as you age, or if you notice your favorite products aren’t doing what they should be doing to keep your skin in tip-top shape. I adjust my own routine all the time! As a mom in my thirties, I’m all about gentle foaming cleansers and a good anti-aging eye cream. It’s the ultimate skin kindness!
So let’s learn how to show our skin how much we love it, shall we?
Learn Your Skin Type
First thing’s first, figuring out your skin type is crucial when you want to find the perfect products. Below are the five main skin types:
- Oily
- Dry
- Combination
- Sensitive
- Normal
If you’re unsure where you fall on the skin type spectrum, here’s how you can figure it out.
Wash your face with a gentle cleanser to remove all makeup and dirt. Pat your face dry and leave it completely bare — no moisturizers or serums. Wait about an hour, and leave your face alone (no touching!).
After an hour, check out your skin and see what it looks like: quality, texture, oiliness, redness, etc. You’ll be able to best determine what type of skin you have this way.
Super Skincare Ingredients
The right skin care regimen isn’t complete without the right products. Now that you’ve got your skin type squared away, let’s talk ingredients: acids, peptides, retinol, oh my!
Here’s the rundown on a few of my can’t-live-without, highly recommended ingredients.
- Acids
- Hyaluronic – For dry or dehydrated skin, you’re going to want to make hyaluronic acid your new best friend. Acid for dry skin may sound counterintuitive, but trust me on this. This mega-moisturizing ingredient is a humectant, which means it sits on the surface of your skin and grabs moisture out of the air, holds it, and delivers it to your skin to absorb for deep hydration.
- Salicylic – For acne-prone skin, salicylic acid can be a wonderfully productive ingredient. It’s a beta hydroxy acid that cleanses and unclogs pores by breaking up dead skin cells and loosening up blackheads to zap blemishes.
- Glycolic – Glycolic acid gives skin a mild peeling and exfoliating effect. All this means is that the top layer of dead skin cells is gently removed. This encourages cellular turnover so your skin produces new cells and rebuilds collagen and elastin, which brightens and tightens your skin.
- Peptides – Peptides help revitalize skin by retaining firmness and reducing the appearance of wrinkles. They’re a specific kind of protein, and proteins are the fundamental building blocks of skin. Peptides help skin remain intact and firm.
- Retinol – Retinol isn’t anything to mess around with, so if you’re considering adding it to your skincare routine, make sure you’ve talked with your dermatologist or esthetician. It has the power to help accelerate skin renewal and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, and age spots for firmer, smoother skin.
Treat Yourself
If nothing else, everyone deserves to treat themselves once in a while (or more, but that’s just my opinion!). Not everyone can get to the spa regularly, however, which is why I love doing an at-home spa day.
This means facial masks, acne treatments, a relaxing bath or shower, and pampering yourself with your favorite skincare products. Cucumber slices under the eyes never hurt anyone, either!
Your pantry is a cornucopia of ingredients for effective, all-natural DIY spa treatments. Avocados, honey, salt, sugar, coconut oil, coffee grounds, and chocolate can all make for wonderful masks, body scrubs, and exfoliants.Take a look around your own cupboards and refrigerator and see what you come up with!
You’re In Your Skin Forever
Loving your skin means understanding it, adapting to the changes that come with age, and figuring out what products work best.
Aside from the right products and treatments such as getting skin tightening in Nashville, TN or ThermiSmooth treatment in Oklahoma City, OK, however, are three incredibly important things: diet, exercise, and sleep. They’re the trifecta of TLC for your whole body, including your skin.
Eating the right foods that contain vitamins and nutrients can benefit your skin tenfold. Same goes for exercise – it stimulates blood flow, which is great for your skin. And sleep — well, it goes without saying that rest and relaxation are nothing but beneficial. Getting enough shut-eye can help combat stress, acne, under-eye circles, wrinkles, and the list goes on.
I hope I’ve given you a few tools to help you figure out the best way to show your skin the love it deserves, and to keep it looking and feeling beautiful for the rest of your days!
About the Author
Alana Mitchell is the day spa owner at Skincare by Alana, beauty/skincare expert, and licensed esthetician. Skincare by Alana is a popular online skincare shop for famous brands like Rhonda Allison, Eminence Skin Care, TRIA Age-defying Laser and much more. She doesn’t believe in beauty products that are not tried and researched, rather she is excited about natural organic day spa treatments that work. She would love to share skin care & beauty tips on her Skin Care Blog.
