Skin Care Introduction

Skin Care Introduction

Regardless of your skin type, a daily skin care routine coupled with healthy lifestyle choices can help delay the natural processes associated with aging and keep your skin looking healthy and radiant for years to come. In this chapter, we provide four basic steps for skin care introduction. These include cleansing, serums, moisturizers, and sunscreens.

Cleansing

In order to maintain personal hygiene and beautiful skin, a daily cleansing routine is highly encouraged. An effective cleaning routine will remove oils, dirt, and bacteria from the skin. It enhances your appearance, and help you achieve a sense of freshness. Cleaning should be done no more than twice a day and should not leave your skin tight after washing. As this is an indication that you have removed the skin’s natural oils. For most skin types, cleansers such as Cetaphil and Banila Co.’s Clean It Zero work very well.

Serums

Serums are skin care products applied to the skin after cleansing but before moisturizing. The purpose of a serum is to deliver high concentrations of powerful anti-aging ingredients. Such as vitamin C, growth factors, peptides, and retinoid directly into the skin. In doing so, serums are a greater tool for targeting specific skin care concentration of active ingredients, serums tend to be a little pricier. Before using a serum, we highly recommend consulting with a cosmetic dermatologist to determine what type of serum would be right for you.

Moisturizers

The purpose of a moisturizer is to increase water content in the skin. There are two main ingredients found in an effective skin moisturizer: occlusive and humectants. Occlusive function to prevent water from escaping the skin, while humectants draw water into the skin. Which creates a slight swelling effect of the outer layer of the skin, which in turn gives the perception of smoother, less winked skin. Examples of occlusive include mineral oil and petroleum jelly. Common humectants include glycerin, sugars, and sodium hyaluronate.

Sunscreens

Of the skin care strategies provided in this chapter, the adherence to proper protection from the sun is perhaps the most important. By taking the appropriate protective measures and avoiding excessive time in the sun, you will be making a significant difference in your future health and appearance.

Despite what we know about the hazards associated with excessive sun exposure. The incidence of skin cancer has steadily increased over the past decade, accounting for approximately 8000 yearly deaths in the United States.

To protect your skin, we recommend applying a sunscreen with at least 30 SPF for lighter skin and 45 SPF for darker skin. As it takes time for sunscreen to become active, we advise using about 15 minutes before heading outdoors.

Because sunscreens cannot effectively block all ultraviolet rays. So we advise wearing protective clothing and hats to lessen the effects of sun exposure.

Aside from cleansing, moisturizing, the use of anti-aging ingredients, and sunscreen. We recommend making healthy lifestyle choices part of your skin care regimen. Eating a healthy diet, managing stress, and not smoking will all affect how you look and feel.