15 Dermatologist-Approved Skincare Tips for the Best Skin of Your Life
We all dream of flawless, glowing skin, but with new products constantly hitting the shelves and the seemingly endless skincare advice out there on the Internet, it's not always easy to figure out the skincare routine that's going to work best for you. You know the basics — drink plenty of water, get enough sleep, and wash your face, but what about everything in between? Luckily, there’s no need to shell out tons of cash on any magical procedures or expensive creams to achieve flawless skin.
1. Use the correct cleanser for your skin type
For oily or acne-prone skin, a salicylic gel or benzoyl peroxide wash works great
For dry mature skin, use either a moisturizing glycolic or milky cleanser.
For skin with brown spots or melasma, use a brightening wash, such as an alpha hydroxy acid cleanser.
2. Don’t use too many products.
Layering on multiple skincare products all at once is a big no-no.
3. Moisturize both day and night.
The best times to moisturize are right after you get out of the shower and right before you go to bed.
4. Don’t touch your face.
Avoid touching your face is very important. It doesn't just spread bacteria and cause breakouts — it can lead to scarring, an increase in wrinkles and even the flu or other viruses.
5. Hydrate inside and out.
Every skin expert we spoke to emphasized the importance of hydration. A lack of water means less radiance and more sag. Choose products (cleansing, moisturizing, and anti-aging) that have hydrating formulas. And, of course, drink around eight glasses of water a day.
7. Exfoliate a couple times per week.
We lose 50 million skin cells a day, and without a little extra nudge, they may hang around leaving the skin looking sullen. To fight this, you should choose a product that is pH neutral so it doesn't dry as it exfoliates. And don't just stop with your face — the skin on your body needs exfoliation too.
8. Vitamins should go on your skin, too.
A balanced diet is important, but there's more than one way to give your skin vitamins. There are also topical antioxidants, which are serums and creams that contain ingredients that nourish the skin (think vitamin C cream !). These can really help to repair the skin from sun damage.
9. Get your greens.
Though it's tempting to grab a coffee the minute you wake up, choosing the right beverages can be a game changer. Drink a shot of chlorophyll every morning to brighten, oxygenate, and hydrate your skin. Drinking chlorophyll also helps drain puffiness by stimulating the lymphatic system, so it's also good for cellulite.
10. Maintain a healthy diet.
Your skin has a natural barrier to retain moisture, and essential to that is omega-3 fatty acid
11. Clean your makeup brushes regularly.
To fight infection and clogged pores, dermatologists recommend washing brushes once a week.
12. Wear sunscreen 365 days a year — rain or shine, indoors or out.
Many people feel they only need to protect themselves on sunny days or when visiting the beach. But the truth is that we need to protect our skin even when we're driving a car, flying in an airplane, or running errands. It's the daily UV exposure that contributes to the visible signs of aging. What kind of sunscreen is best? Choose a sunscreen with a SPF of 30 or greater — and remember that it needs to be reapplied every 2 hours.
13. Sun protection doesn't stop at sunscreen.
We're talking SPF makeup, sunglasses, and broad-brimmed hats. Preventing sun damage is a million times better for your skin than treating it after the fact.
14. Simplify your skincare routine.
Fad products and fancy ingredients are fun to try, and sometimes they work well
15. Sleep smarter.
It's not just about getting eight hours a night. Skin will also benefit from regularly using clean silk pillowcases. The material glides easily and prevents creasing and wrinkles . Silk is also easier on hair — it helps avoid tangles and breakage. Better hair and skin while you sleep
Food by skin: cosmetic actives from plants
Skin is the largest human organ, and it is often subjected to both solar and biological stresses. While some of the antioxidants we consume can end up in our skin, there are many reasons why we should explore better ways to deliver antioxidants to the skin. The major reason is that not all antioxidants can be eaten. They may be too unattractive to our taste buds or too difficult to absorb through our digestive system.
Even after decades of food industrialization, many plant antioxidants still go to waste. Often the food processing technology is not capable of picking up all the antioxidants. Other times, we do not want to include some valuable antioxidants in our food because they are difficult and unpleasant to swallow.
Therefore, agriculture-based cosmetic active ingredients are a promising technology for humans to further enhance their overall health. Key areas for technological advancement include:
Better harvesting of plant antioxidants through researching innovative extraction methods and utilizing plant materials that are unsuitable for the food industry.
Better delivery of plant actives to human skin through innovative cosmetic and delivery system formulation. One of the recent key advancements is to formulate a homogenous and uniform cosmetic layer on the skin surface to serve as a steady administrating reservoir of these actives during the entire time the cosmetic product is on the skin.
The essence of agriculture is humans obtaining energy by intaking and oxidizing carbohydrates, which are photosynthesized by plants using sunlight as a key component. However, burning carbohydrates for energy produces unwanted oxidative stresses in our body. As such, we have been trying to find ways to combat such excessive oxidative stresses. One proven approach is to seek food rich in antioxidants.
Deeply rooted in plant evolution, antioxidant molecules are produced in all farm plants and are plentiful in many agricultural food sources. This is because the plants, like us, rely on antioxidants. Plants use antioxidants to overcome two major sources of threats: solar oxidative stresses and biological stresses.
Biological stresses are commonly presented by animals, despite plants relying on them for help with pollination. A major reason why plants produce aromatic components is so they can attract animals to help them; however, animals may overeat plant fruits, and herbivores and pathogens may attack leaves and fruits, stopping the plants’ normal life cycles. Therefore, plants produce antioxidants so that they are less attractive to herbivores and pathogens. They also produce antioxidants with high chemical oxygen demand (COD) so that things cannot grow on them. Vitamin E is one example of such an antioxidant, and a lot of phenolic antioxidants function this way as well.
Human beings have been absorbing and using these plant antioxidants by eating the plants. We are all aware of the importance of a balanced diet rich in antioxidants; we live in an oxidizing environment, and our body produces life-sustaining energy by burning carbohydrates. Balancing the resulting oxidative stresses is critical to human health.