I mentioned in my first blog that I was pretty much a skin care junkie from the time I was a teenager until now! I would always have some sort of routine when I was a teenager, but I was in my mid-20s when I had a regular skincare routine that I followed every day. You can ask any of my friends, they will tell you I never missed a day or night regardless of how tired I was and when I traveled, I needed a suitcase just for my hair and face products! Now, most people do not believe my age and I continue to take care of it every single day.
The younger you start a skin care routine, the better. It’s easier to prevent skin damage from the sun and environmental pollutants than it is to reverse it. However, it is never too late to establish a routine and start changing your skin! I tell my clients that I am like their personal trainer. They come to me once a month to get a facial treatment. If they don’t have a home care routine, it’s like starting over every time they see me, just as it would be to go back to the personal trainer and not working out the rest of the month.
Some of the benefits of having a routine include:
- It can slow down the signs of aging
- Once you establish a routine, it’s easier to maintain it
- It boosts confidence- when you look good, you feel good
- It keeps the skin healthy
- Taking care of your skin now can save you money down the road
- It may lead to making other healthy lifestyle choices
The basic steps of any skin care routine is to cleanse, tone, hydrate, moisturize, and apply SPF. It seems like a lot, but in reality, it takes maybe 5 minutes to complete.
- Cleanse- Your cleanser should be compatible with your skin type. If you have dry skin, you would want a milky cleanser and if you are acne prone, you may want one that has salicylic in it.
- Tone- Toning is good for two reasons: It helps to remove any dirt or makeup you missed from cleansing and it helps to bring back the skin to its proper pH.
- Hydrate- Hydrating products work by pulling moisture from the air or deeper layers of the skin and binding water inside the cells of your skin’s outer layer. Hyaluronic acid is a great hydrator in that it can hold 1000 times its weight in water! I like to call it the skin plumper upper!!
- Moisturize- Moisturizing products create a barrier to trap the water content in your skin cells and prevent it from escaping. Moisturizers seal the deal so to speak.
- SPF- Last but certainly not least is using a SPF of at least 30 for your face, neck and decolletage. Wearing makeup with SPF in it is not enough. Think of your makeup as an added protection from the sun. It should not be your main source of protection.
If you want to add more to your routine, you can always do so. Vitamin C is great for its antioxidant properties, peptides, stem cells and growth factors are amazing for their anti-aging properties, serums that have niacinamide, ferulic acid or tyrosinase inhibitors for pigmentation are all great additions to any routine. Many people enjoy using masks at home which are a great way to exfoliate or hydrate the skin depending on the mask. I also recommend enzymes or acids that help to exfoliate, but I do not recommend any physical exfoliators i.e. beads or using brushes. They tend to be harsh on the skin and can cause damage.
If you need help creating a skin care routine, please don’t hesitate to ask me. I want you to have the best skin of your life as well!!
Much love,
Jen
