Your skin is your body’s first line of defense and protection against everything around you. The skin on your face is the first thing people see when they look at you. If you are healthy, that usually means that your skin is healthy too and this is a major source of beauty. Every choice you make, every day, has an effect on your skin. This includes things like where you go, what you eat, how you have been feeling; mentally and emotionally. All these things play a role on the overall health and look of your skin.
How Food Affects Your Skin
If you want good skin, we suggest watching what you eat. Certain foods affect you in different ways. As your skin ages, you need to make sure that you are adequately replenishing its vitamin C. This helps keep skin youthful looking. It is also beneficial to stay away from fatty foods and foods high in carbohydrates. Doing so will help your skin age well and look radiant! If you don’t already have a healthy diet, changing it will help clear up your skin. Look for foods that are rich in antioxidants. These can be found in things like fruits, veggies, and fish. Antioxidants help to protect your skin and aid in the production of collagen, which helps skin stay firm and wrinkle free. To avoid breakouts, there have been some studies that suggest that if you eat complex carbohydrates, which includes whole grains and pastas, and avoid dairy products because they can be linked to breakouts.
Vitamins, Vitamins, Vitamins!
We cannot stress enough that everyone needs to be consuming the proper vitamins in their diet, whether it’s from eating foods rich in vitamins or taking supplements. It’s good to be using creams with vitamin C in them, but utilizing it as a food is the best way to use vitamins to their maximum potential. Foods like oranges, lemons, and grapefruits are high in vitamin C, and they taste super yummy! Combining oranges with your vitamin C face cream and mineral selenium will help protect you against the sun. These can even help in reversing wrinkles and discoloration in the skin.
Exercise Your Skin Problems Away
There is no downside to exercise. It helps you mentally, physically, and your skin! When you exercise, more specifically through cardio, this helps to improve circulation throughout your whole body. When your body is properly circulating blood, it nourishes your skin. The blood being carried around your body will bring more nutrients and oxygen to the surface of your skin. This helps your cells produce more collagen and in doing so, fights against wrinkles! If you are worried about your sweat clogging your pores, there’s nothing to worry about- it won’t. One thing you can do is wash your face right after a workout and try not to wear really tight headbands. These are known to trap sweat and will irritate your skin.
It’s Not Called Beauty Rest for Nothing!
If you have ever had a bad night’s sleep before, you probably noticed the effects on the way you look. When you don’t get enough sleep, this can cause things like pale skin, dark circles under your eyes, and puffy eyes. It is recommended that adults get around 7-8 hours of sleep per night in order to be well rested. The way that you sleep at night also matters. If you sleep on your side and always have your face buried in a pillow, that will create wrinkles on your face. If you sleep on your stomach, you might notice that the bags under your eyes are worse. The best position to sleep in is on your back.
Being Pregnant Will Change Your Skin
You might be relieved to know that you are not alone for getting stretch marks during pregnancy. As many as 90% of women will get these at some point in their pregnancy. Sometimes they will even fade after you have your baby. If you want to try and avoid getting stretch marks, using moisturizer can help prevent or improve the look of stretch marks. After you give birth, it is safe for you to use things like prescription vitamin A or get laser treatments to get rid of the marks. Another thing that women get while pregnant is acne. Bet you thought you left acne behind in high school! This is caused from the surge of extra hormones coursing around in your body. To try and avoid breakouts, we suggest washing your face once in the morning and once at night, combined with using oil-free moisturizer. We recommend consulting a doctor before using any acne products while you are pregnant.
Over Production of Melanin
Another name for this is melasma. These are the darker patches you see on the skin. Some women develop these while they are pregnant or if they are taking birth control pills. Melanin is what gives skin its particular pigment of colour. When you have an overproduction of melanin, this causes the darker spots. Luckily, for some women, these spots will fade after giving birth or when they stop taking birth control pills. You can prevent dark spots on your skin by wearing sunscreen all the time and staying out of the sun, when possible. If you find that your melasma is not fading by itself, you can help reduce the colour of it by getting professional chemical peels, or using topical prescriptions of either hydroquinone, retinoids, azelaic acid, niacinamide, kojic acid, or hydroxy acids that will lighten the dark spots. The best way to avoid dark spots is to avoid the sun, especially after any chemical peel or topical prescription medication.
Protect Your Skin from the Sun
Even if you don’t bask in the sun, you probably still have some sort of sun damage. As much as 90% of all skin damage is because of the sun’s rays. The more time you spend in the sun, the higher your risk is of developing skin cancer. One way to protect yourself is by wearing broad spectrum sunscreen. Look for the ones that have a SPR of at least 30 or higher. You can also look for products with ingredients such as titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, or avobenzone in them. Sun rays are the strongest between the times of 10am and 2pm. Try to avoid going outside during this time. When you need to go outside, be sure to put sunscreen on any exposed skin, wear a wide brimmed hat, sunglasses, and long sleeves.
Aging Skin Care
When we grow and age, things like our skin change with us. As we age over the years, our skin can’t produce as much collagen as it used to. This causes the elastin that holds out skin tight to start to loosen, causing wrinkles. Your skin cells are also slower to reproduce themselves and we don’t lose the skin cells as fast anymore. If you want to give a little helping hand, use some exfoliation products to help get rid of the dead skin, wash your face with a non-drying soap, and moisturize a lot. You can even use over the counter retinoids. This will help to reduce fine wrinkles. Another thing you can do is ask your doctor about prescription versions, which will be stronger. But the biggest recommendation we have is to stay out of the sun!
Coffee as A Face Mask? Or Just A Drink?
All caffeine is diarrhetic and dehydrates you and your body. This can cause your skin to dry out. However, one study found that if you put caffeine on your skin, it will help reverse the effects of sun damage and even lower our risk for certain skin cancers. But we must say that this study was only done using mice, so you can take it as you like. However, there are some studies being done to see if it has any effect on humans.
Don’t Drink Too Much
Alcohol consumption is bad for your body as well as your skin. Since alcohol is a diarrhetic, it makes you dehydrated from losing water. Being dehydrated will cause dry skin. Alcohol will also dilate blood vessels, causing things like red flushed faces. If you drink too much, too often over the years, these blood vessels can permanently become dilated, making the skin stay red. Red wine has also been known to trigger episodes of rosacea.
No Smoking!
Smoking is the second leading cause of early wrinkles and dry skin, the sun being the first. It has been seen, under a microscope, people as young as 20 getting wrinkles from smoking. How this happens is that smoking actually reduces the blood flow to your skin. This aids in the breakdown of collagen, the thing that helps keep your skin firm and tight. When you have less collagen, it simply means you have more wrinkles. When doing the same motion over and over again, like pursing your lips to smoke, sooner or later, those will turn into wrinkles from overuse. There is no way to reverse the wrinkles caused by smoking. The only thing you can do is stop smoking in order to stop further skin damage and wrinkles.
Wash Your Face
Your skin is the front-line defense against all the things in the air around you. This means it comes in contact with things like car exhaust, cigarette smoke, smoggy air, and all other forms of pollution. This is why it is imperative to keep your skin clean and healthy. Your skin is unique, so depending on its specific needs, whether it’s sensitive, oily, dry, or a combination of these, this will determine exactly how you help keep your skin clean and healthy. You might need to cleanse your face with a gentle wash or soap used for sensitive skin. Or you might exfoliate almost every night in order to help get rid of dead skin cells. Whichever method you use, always make sure to apply moisturizer after, to keep your skin hydrated. Even if you have oily skin, you still need moisturizer, just look for ones that are oil free.
Winter Is Harsh Outside and In
When the weather becomes cold and winter sets in, this brings flakey, dry skin. It’s even known to make rosacea and eczema worse. Unfortunately for us, it’s not just the cold weather outside that is drying out skin, but the dry heat we are using inside also affects us. One thing you can do to combat the dry heat inside is to use a humidifier to put moisture back in the air. Other things you can do is make sure to drink a lot of water continuously throughout the day, and continuously apply moisturizer. These little things will have a big difference on your skin this winter. Also, remember to always put-on sunscreen when you go outside, even in the winter, the sun’s rays still get through.
Summer Skin Care
The safest way to acquire a tan is through sunless self-tanner or a bronzer. Don’t be fooled when using these products, most don’t have any sunscreen in them so they aren’t protecting you from the sun. The best way to protect yourself from the sun is to use broad spectrum sunscreen that is water resistant. Apply this on any skin that is exposed to the sun and make sure to reapply throughout the day. We would recommend reapplying at least every 2 hours, if not more frequently. There is no such thing as too much sunscreen, so when in doubt, reapply! When it’s hot and humid, it’s best to use oil-free moisturizer, unless you have severely dry skin. Doing this will help you avoid breakouts during the humid summer days. Also, if you go swimming in a pool, it’s a really good idea to rinse off when you are done. Doing so gets rid of the chlorine on your skin.
Traveling Skin Care Tips
The last time you were on a plane, you might have noticed that shortly after boarding, your skin started to feel tight and dry. This is due to low humidity in the cabin that gets recirculated throughout the plane. Luckily, we have the perfect skin care travel plan! Step one, drink lots of water! We know plane bathrooms are no fun, but your skin will thank you for it. Step two, moisturize before you get on the plane, while you are flying, and once you land. Make sure you have a travel-sized bottle in your carry-on. Step three, no makeup! Happy flying!
Lighting Is Everything
Lighting is a very powerful tool; it can completely change the way you look. If you are looking at yourself under fluorescent light, your skin will look more yellow or red. If you look at yourself under incandescent light, your skin will look softer and imperfections will disappear. To see this for yourself, you can use mirrors that have these varied lights. You will notice which ones offer you the best skin appearance. It’s important to find a happy medium when wearing makeup under these lights. This will help you not look sallow or overdone when you move under different lights. When the lighting is lower, go more dramatic!
