Skin Care and Bathing

Love the Skin You"re In with these Great Skincare Tips and Products!

Our skin is the largest and most important organ we have - it protects every other function within our body. Therefore, skincare protection is important, and sometimes critical. Those that have discovered the best skincare products and regimens have discovered the secret to longer lasting, natural beauty. Anti-aging isn"t so much preventing the onset of age as it is improving, protecting and promoting your skin"s optimum health at any age. Having some fundamental knowledge about your skin care needs can be valuable, producing more remarkable skin than you"re used to.

True skin care is based on the principle of keeping the balance of water and natural oils inside the skin, as well as keeping it protected from external elements. The foundation of caring for your skin starts internally with diet and nutrition essential for your body type and lifestyle. Then using cleansing, toning and barrier creams help correct external problem areas, such as unbalanced oils, skin tone spots or blemishes, and help keep skin hydrated and protected from abrasion. Skin can vary greatly in its sensitivity in areas, and finding the best products for your regimen is a huge benefit.

Because we so easily see our skin on a daily basis, we can spend so much of our time searching for what helps maintain it. While facials can be great, the best ways to care for it are right in your own home with the following time-tested tips:

Eat a healthy diet regularly composed of nutritious fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains, and plenty of water every single day. The hydration of your skin is achieved by the water you drink and the water contained in fruits and vegetables.
Don"t sabotage the long-term health of your skin by taking on or continuing unhealthy habits. Smoking and drinking alcohol dehydrate your body - organs such as your liver, kidneys and skin are affected when these habits remove the necessary water from your body. And while you may enjoy tanned skin, regular tanning will put your skin in danger of early onset of wrinkles. While you may enjoy the effects of tanning for a while, you"ll wish you would have considered the long-term effects - chances of looking older than you are greatly increase for regular smokers, drinkers, and tanners. Wear the highest SPF sunscreen you can find on the exposed parts of your skin when out in the sun!
Exercise to get your blood flowing properly. Starting a regular heart conditioning exercise routine early in life helps keep several aspects of your health, including your skin, fit for far longer. If you haven"t started an exercise schedule, it"s never too late to start! Even starting now will benefit your body, and your skin will gain a healthier tone caused by the additional blow flow through your body.
Skincare companies provide many products for skin - many of them great, and many of them not-so-great. As with anything, it"s best to do both primary and secondary research. Ask friends or search online review boards for people who have similar skin concerns as yours. You can find a lot of valuable details on how products sold in the stores really work. You can also find great information on natural or homemade products that work just as well or better, if you don"t want to invest in pricey skin care products. Once you find a product to try, you can determine whether it works well for your particular needs or not. Here"s a big hint about the soap you may be using: Most soaps that we use contain sulfate salts that dry out our skin. Find a more natural soap that doesn"t contain sodium laurel sulfate in it, for example. You can do more research on the many types of drying salts included in most cleansing products. They get you squeaky clean, but they will overdry your skin immediately and over the long term. If you do use a soap that contains a sulfate or other salt in the ingredients, use a highly moisturizing product such as Coloplast Sween Protectant Cream to prevent against dry skin.
Find a skincare routine that works for your skin type (balance, oily, dry). A routine can include anything from cleansing, toning, exfoliating, microdermabrasion, moisturizing, and don"t forget the sunscreen! You can use either a standalone sunscreen, or a moisturizer that contains sunscreen in it. For oily or acne-prone skin, a toning agent may work well for your routine. For facial blemishes or help with wrinkles, a microdermabrasion system may work for you. You can perform a microdermabrasion in your home yourself instead of at a costly beauty spa. Whatever products work best for your particular skin needs, a regular routine will get you results quicker and more consistently.
Keep trying! Your skin is unique - even different from others who have similar skin challenges. Your body is composed of a different balance of internal chemicals, and while a product may work well for one person, using a little less or more may work for you, or not at all.

The challenge is to embrace the journey of determining your skin"s particular needs, and potentially rediscovering its needs as you age or as your lifestyle changes. The beauty of our skin is that, like everything else about us, it continually changes.

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