You and your skin may not always see eye to eye. Sometimes it seems like whenever you want it to do one thing, it does the exact opposite! What many people don’t realize is that an ongoing, long term, commitment is necessary to obtain the great skin you’ve always dreamed of. Here are 15 tips on achieving beautiful, glowing, skin.
1) Know Your Skin Type
The first order of business is determining if your skin is oily or dry. You can make an educated guess on your skin type by looking at which areas of your face become oily or dry, as well as taking stock of pore size. Some people may have dry skin in the winter and oily skin in the summer.
Dry skin is characterized by red patches, a rough complexion, barely visible pores, and more pronounced facial lines. You may also notice that your skin cracks, peels, and becomes irritated rather easily. When skin is dry, it often feels tight after washing it. When tasked with dry skin, it is extremely important to consistently and constantly H&M: Hydrate and Moisturize. Dry skin is a skin type you should handle very gently. It is important not to aid in the irritation of the skin. Take shorter lukewarm showers and baths, use mild soaps, and try not to scrub too hard while bathing.
Oily skin can be extremely frustrating. Some patients with overactive oil glands experience acne on the face. However, oily skin has its benefits. It helps preserve the surface of the skin and leads to fewer wrinkles in the future. Oily skin is an exceptionally temperamental skin type. Stress, hormonal imbalances, or an increase in humidity can make symptoms skyrocket. With oily skin, it is important to be gentle with your face; even if you sometimes feel like scrubbing hard is the only way to resolve your situation. Avoid popping pimples, wash your face twice a day and after exercise, use a gentle cleanser formulated for your skin type, and look for noncomedogenic skin care products.
Keep in mind that your skin type may evolve over time with the change of hydration and elasticity in your skin as you age.
Here at The VEI Aesthetic Center, we can determine your individual skin type and set up a personalized skin care regime for your particular needs. Contact us for more information!
2) Hydrate
This one should come as no surprise. Hydration, and plenty of it, is beneficial for all aspects of your personal health. Drink a sufficient amount of water every day, 8 cups daily should be your goal. Water is important because it clears the toxins from your skin. It also aids in the transportation of oxygen and nutrients to your skin cells.
One way you can up your daily water intake, without forcing yourself to chug a glass of it every couple of hours, is to eat fruits and vegetables that naturally contain a high water content. Eating fruits such as cucumbers, watermelons, grapefruits, and oranges can be a tasty way to reach your daily hydration benchmark.
3) Eat Right
While eating right generally applies to maintaining your overall health, it also has a huge effect on your skin. Try to maintain a diet rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, protein, and high vitamin foods. Foods abundant in vitamins C and A are especially important to your skin health and can assist you in obtaining a natural glow.
Foods with high nutrient concentrations should be your new best friends if you want to obtain glowing skin. When we deprive our skin of nutrients it can look dull and lifeless.
Try and stay away from foods with a high fat and sugar content. Sugar can boost your insulin levels, which won’t allow your cells to keep a healthy balance. Foods that are fried and cooked with an excessive amount of oil will also do you no favors. If you are struggling with particularly bad skin, you may want to consider cutting dairy out of your diet. While it is debatable whether or not removing dairy from your diet actually helps, it may be worth a try if you struggle with persistent acne, oily skin, and enlarged pores. Dairy contains cow hormones. These hormones may stimulate the oil glands on your body, leading to oilier skin and larger pores.
Taking vitamins rich in fatty acids, such as fish oil and black currant seed oil, can also enrich the skin and promote healthy growth.
4) Rest Is Best
Getting enough sleep is among the most important things you can do to live a healthier life. Aim for at least 7-8 hours a night. If you are having trouble in realizing the importance of sleep, it helps to imagine your skin as an extension of your mind. If you wake up tired, your skin wakes up tired as well. Except, unfortunately, skin has no coffee-like product it can rely on to give itself a boost in the morning. A lack of sleep can leave you with sagging skin and pronounced eye bags, as well as pale and washed out skin.
5) Establish A Routine
Establishing a routine is beneficial to most aspects of life. This doesn’t change when it comes to skin care. Having a routine allows your skin to be comfortable and expectant of what products it will encounter each day.
While which products you use are important, the order you apply the products to your skin is equally, if not more, important. After you shower, use the products that contain the most active ingredients first to ensure your skin is receiving the full effect. You should also use thinner, water soluble, products first rather than your heavy products.
6) Choose The Right Cleanser
Cleansing is where your skin care routine begins. Dead skin cells, oils, dirt, environmental toxins, and cosmetic/makeup products collect and build up on your skin. Keeping skin clean can help reduce inflammation and acne breakouts, while also keeping your skin primed for your skincare routine. The ideal cleanser should remove dirt and excess oils, but leave behind your skin’s healthy moisture barrier that is needed to keep hydration in and irritants out. People with dry skin generally benefit from a non-foaming cleanser while people with oily skin may need a stronger, foaming cleanser.
7) Avoid Hot Water
One thing that may be hard to give up on your quest to obtain glowing skin is a steamy shower. While they may feel good, they are terrible for your skin. The heat from the water strips the skins natural oils. This leads to your oil glands working harder to replace those natural oils, and over-producing it as a result. The hot water also causes a mild burn. Your blood vessels try to fix the burn by dilating, which causes your skin to flush and turn red.
8) Pat Dry Your Skin – Don’t Rub Or Scrub
After washing your face, be sure to use a soft towel to dry your skin. Pat dry, don’t rub. Rubbing with a rough towel can further irritate delicate skin, especially when it is wet.
9) Expert Tips On Exfoliation
If your skin is a window, old skin cells can be compared to the dust and fingerprint smudges on it that prevent you from getting a clear view. A cleanser with a gentle chemical exfoliant, such as one that contains glycolic acid, is an excellent way to gently remove old skin cells while cleansing your skin.
The two main categories of exfoliants are physical exfoliants and chemical exfoliants. Physical exfoliants come in the form of brushes, small grains, or scalpels. These work to physically scrub the dead cells from the surface of the skin. Not all skin types should use a physical exfoliant. People who struggle with acne, rosacea, and allergies have sensitive skin and generally do better without a physical exfoliant.
Chemical exfoliants work by melting dead skin cells with glycolic and lactic acids. The best products for this situation will contain something called AHA, or Alpha-Hydroxy Acid. Another category of chemical exfoliants are BHA, or Beta-Hydroxy Acids. These products penetrate the pores to remove the oil and dirt that contribute to breakouts. Salacylic acid is an example of a BHA. Salicylic acid is a derivative of aspirin. It’s anti-inflammatory properties can be helpful in treating acne prone skin, but because it is related to aspirin, it should not be used in pregnant or breastfeeding women.
10) Moisturize And Hydrate
Certain water based products can also hydrate your skin from the outside. Hyaluronic acid is a type of sugar that can absorb 1000x its weight in water! When formulated properly, hyaluronic acid in skincare products can improve skin hydration, make skin feel suppler, and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. A spritz of a water based product in the morning after you wake up can reduce facial puffiness and leave you with glowing skin for the rest of the day.
11) Vitamin C Serums
While the properties of vitamin C are usually known as a common cold combatant, it also boosts collagen production, strengthens cells, and boosts the brightness of your skin. Vitamin C can be applied topically in lotions or serums, but not all Vitamin C serums are created equal. For Vitamin C to be absorbed into the skin, it needs to be correctly formulated with the right acidity. Ask us about a Vitamin C serum that works well with your skin type.
12) Retinol To The Rescue
Retinol is the champion of all anti-aging products. This is because it stimulates the production of new skin cells. Retinol also helps out in the hyper-pigmentation, dark spot, blemish scar, fine lines, and skin discoloration departments.
If you are thinking of starting retinol, you should know that it is a long term commitment. Although most products tell you that you will see results in just a few weeks; it may take around 3 months for the retinol to start actually having an effect on your skin. When starting out, you may notice redness and flaking wherever you apply the retinol. This shouldn’t last too long into continued use. However, if you are scared off by this, try going with a lower retinol percentage product, use the product every other day, or mix it with your moisturizer.
13) Sunscreen: Your Skin’s Superhero
The most important part of your everyday skin care routine, and a step you should never skip, is the application of sunscreen. While moisturizers and serums can help your skin immensely; sunscreen protects against harmful UVA and UVB rays which are the main causes of premature aging and wrinkles. Use a noncomedogenic or nonacnegenic sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 to ensure adequate protection.
14) Sensitive Skin Care
Sensitive skin comes in many different forms, but it has one thing in common: Inflammation. It is easy to understand why people who are allergic to many skin care products who suffer from redness, stinging, or rosacea are considered to have sensitive skin. Did you know that acne prone skin is considered sensitive as well? Many of our patients with sensitive skin do not realize that their skin is sensitive and have been using the wrong products for years. Treating inflammation can get your skin back on track and give you a clear, glowing complexion!
15) Cosmetic Skin Treatments
If you have tried all of the above and haven’t quite gotten that glowing skin you are looking for, or are looking for something a little bit quicker, give us a call. We offer multiple skin treatments including:
- IPL treatments to erase and improve: redness, broken blood vessels, and brown spots.
- Skin tightening
- Laser hair removal
- Skin resurfacing
- Botox
- Kybella
- Zo Skin Health
- And more facial fillers to restore contour to the face, soften wrinkles, improve dark circles under the eyes, create natural fullness in the lips, and improve the appearance of scars.