Good skin care is essential as the skin is the human body’s main defense against disease and infection. Knowing what to include in an effective skin care regimen can be confusing. This article contains some tips, advice and ideas to help you look after your body’s largest organ, your skin.
To best care for your skin, you should wash it at least daily. Some people will benefit from twice-daily washings. This cleans the dirt and oil off your skin and out of your pores before they can become clogged. It also washes away the toxins and pollutants that everyone is exposed to in their daily lives.
To keep your skin healthy it is very important to drink plenty of water. Doing so can help your body flush out the toxins that can clog up your pores and cause skin imperfections and acne. Drinking the recommended amount of water (approximately 8 glasses a day) is sufficient for skin care.
If you want your skin to be consistently healthier, develop a skin care routine and stick with it regularly. Most people follow a three-step routine: wash, tone, and moisturize. Some people skip using toner while others feel it freshens their skin. Whatever your routine, make sure it appears to suit your skin type based on how your own skin looks and feels in response to what you are doing.
Much is made of the petite jars of eye-related skin care products. Eye cream is a great example. However, next time you are at the department store cosmetic counter, feel free to walk right by the eye cream. Eye cream is nothing more than moisturizer with a slightly different consistency: ingredient comparisons show that they are basically the same. And unlike moisturizers, eye creams usually have no sun protection factor, which means the skin under your eyes is burning while everywhere else is protected.
One great thing you can do to clear up your skin, is to get out in the sun. If you go outside, the sunlight will give your skin the vitamin D that it needs. It will also allow your skin to get fresh oxygen. Don’t stay out in the sun too long though or you will burn your skin cells.
Whether your skin tone is light or dark, always use sunscreen on sunny days. Not only does over-exposure to sunlight cause skin cancer, it also ages your skin much faster. If you have an especially light complexion, avoid tanning too much. When you reduce your skin’s exposure to the sun, you will reduce years to your appearance.
If you are a man and tired of the burning and stinging of aftershaves, maybe you should try a balm instead. Aftershaves contain alcohol, which really sting if you happen to have nicks or cuts caused by shaving. You should opt for a balm that does not contain alcohol so that it soothes and heals your skin.
A useful skin care tip for the winter months is to eschew hot baths and opt for warm water instead. Very hot baths and showers tend to destroy the skin’s protective layer of lipids, causing a reduction in moisture. Adding baking soda or oatmeal to a warm bath can help soothe itchy, dry winter skin.
A lot of people suffer from very dry skin on their elbows. A great way to prevent your elbows from cracking and getting really damaged is to apply lotion to your elbows on a daily basis. If you do not take care of dry skin areas like your elbow, it can hurt very much and will look grey and dull.
A great skin care tip is to be aware of certain skin care myths. A common myth is that drinking a lot of water will give you great looking, healthy skin. The truth is, the amount of water a person drinks has little to no impact on how healthy their skin is.
Shaving your legs and bikini line can leave unsightly bumps on your skin. After shaving, quickly run cold water over your legs to close the pores and liberally moisturize after. Without proper care, your legs will appear red and bumpy with infected hair follicles. Another great way to take preventative care is to use body oil instead of moisturizer after you’re done shaving.
Better skin care with chocolate works well. While some characteristics of chocolate may be unpleasant, you can certainly enjoy the positive effects that it has on your skin. Powered with flavonoids, chocolate supplements your skin with more of those delightful chemicals that help block out the effects of harmful UV light.
If you suffer from allergies or skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis, you may want to try hypoallergenic skin care products. Hypoallergenic skin care products, are specially formulated for those with sensitive skin and provide all the cleanliness that regular skin care products offer, without the possibly of irritating skin.
One of the best things you can do to care for your skin, is to apply a lip balm with UV protection. Your lips contain extremely thin skin, which means they need extra protection from the sun. The use of lip balm will keep them from getting chapped and help prevent skin cancer from forming.
Be as delicate with your skin as possible. Avoid taking multiple baths or showers a day and when you do shower use soaps you aren’t sensitive too. Also, when you shave be careful not to press deep, treat your skin how you want it to look.
If you have really dry hands, make sure that you use a moisturizer with vitamin E or aloe. These two ingredients are extremely effective in reducing dryness on your hands and can improve your flexibility and reduce redness. Make sure that you do not apply too much, as this can yield a greasy residue.
As previously stated at the beginning of this article, good skin care is vital to stave of infections. Proper skin care can also make you look and feel more attractive and confident. So use some of the advice included in the tips in this article and see if you can get a glowing complexion.