The first step to skin care is to identify your skin type and then follow the prescribed medication and method to care for it.
If you desire a good skin, you really need to make a concerted effort towards the same. It should become a habit. Besides a healthy diet, composed of cereals, fruits and vegetables along with exercise and adequate sleep is essential for a healthy skin.
Do avoid going out in the sun and if you need to, begin using a sunscreen to protect your skin from getting damaged.
Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily, to keep your skin hydrated.
As a guideline your skin needs two staples: Cleanser and Moisturizer.
Other products might include-toner, exfoliator and eye cream or gels.
Avoid using more than three or four products daily to protect your skin from breaking out and reacting. Simplify your routine (it should not take more than 10 minutes to do twice a day) and use basic formulas.
The following is the basic skin care which a women can follow:-
This is the first step, in caring for your skin depending on your skin type. Throughout the day, sweat, grease, dust, stale make-up, dirt and bacteria tends to collect on your skin and needs to be removed.
Soap and water do tend to remove the impurities but are incapable of removing make up completely, hence proper cleansing is required.
Use water soluble emulsions or gels (with tepid-not hot water) or cleansing wipe pH -balanced soap-free bars.
While cleansing the skin with a cream, lotion or milk, it must be massaged into the skin with a light upward and outward movement, paying particular attention to the grease of the nose, under chin area, neck and ear lobes.
If using a cotton wool for cleansing moist if first or the day cotton wool will absorb the moisture from the skin. You might need to repeat the cleansing process 2-3 times until the cotton wool or tissue is clean.
As we proceed, you will learn about specific cleansing tips according to your individual skin types and also about various cleansing creams and lotions.
(a) Steaming:- Steaming is beneficial for cleansing all types of skin. It helps in cleaning the skin of all surface dirt, stimulates, the circulation and unclogs blocked pores.
To make steaming more beneficial you can add a tablespoon of herbs in the water. Herbs likelavender, thyme and rosemary can be used as stimulants while cleansing.
(b) Massage:- This routine consists of a thorough cleaning. After removing the cleanser completely, the next step that follows is massage. The purpose of the massage is to relax the facial muscles and stimulate blood circulation. The massage should not extend beyond 5-10 min and should be done with clean hands. Take care not to stretch your skin while massaging.
(c) Cold Treatment:- The last step that follows cleansing is application of ice-cold water or masks to draw out the impurities and close the open pores.
This purpose of cleansing varies with various skin types. You will learn about the specific cleansing type and products as we proceed in our beauty section. We will also inform you about easy tips and masks that can be prepared at home without making any extra effort.
Always follow the cleansing routine with toning done with a mild skin freshener, rose water or skin tonics. Toning removes the greasiness remaining from cleansing preparations, closes open pores refines the skin giving it a smooth clean texture.
Toning stimulates the blood supply of the skin and give it a fresh look the best toner is in fact cold water, other skin tonics are generally composed of infusions of herbs, flowers, vinegar, rose-water and witch-hazel. Avoid using strong skin tonics or astringents as they might dry the skin. Basically they are suitable for oily-skin type.
Toners improves skin textures.
All skin types need some type of moisturizing. Ideally used water based creams or emulsions if your skin breaks out a lot, try a lighter, oil-free moisturizer.
The best choice of a moisturizer is that which has a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of 15. Petrolatum, an ingredient used in many lotions and creams is an excellent moisturizer, because it helps seal in the skin’s natural moisture. Because moisturizers contain different ingredients, no particular product is best for everyone. You may have to try several before you find one that is most effective for you.
A light moisturizing emulsion is the most suitable type for young skin
Moisturizers work best only if they are applied everyday. Many moisturizing creams contain alpha-hydroxy acid (also present in milk, fruits and sugar) which might help diminish wrinkles.
To sum up begin by practicing these guidelines to keep your skin healthy and prevent it from becoming dry.
- Use warm (not hot) water for washing and bathing.
- Use mild soaps.
- Do not bathe for longer than is necessary to get your skin clean.
- Apply moisturizer immediately after bathing to prevent water loss from the skin.
- In winters, cover your hands and face by wearing gloves and scarf to keep in the moisture and protect against cold.
Protecting the skin from the sun needs to be an essential part of your daily skin care routine.Most of the UV light from the sun falls in two main wavelength bands: UVA & UVB.
UVA:- ages the skin, the rays travel far into the skin and start free-radical activity. These are responsible for cancers and certain skin sensitive reactions.
UVB:- burns and browns the skin (by triggering the pigment melanin) & can cause skin cancer. The UVB rays are even stronger than the UVA rays.
Although the damage does not show up immediately, but you need to understand that excesssun can be skin’s worst enemy. It is the main cause of premature ageing, of the skin. Pollution, dramatic temperature changes and harsh detergents can also damage the skin.
Guideline to Protect your skin from Sun
Long term exposure to the sun is one of the major cause of wrinkles, other being progressive ageing.
The skin begins to sag, as the elastic collagen fibers in the skin weaken, making the skin less resilient and supported.
After the age of twenty-five, regular facial massage helps to preserve the elasticity and resilience of the skin by improving the circulation of blood to the surface of the skin.
You can buy various collagen products to apply to the skin, but it has not been proved that collagen can penetrate the skin in sufficient amounts to restore your own collagen tissues.
Consult a dermatologist before choosing a product for use. There are other ways to remove wrinkles like injecting of collagen fibers to fill out prominent and fine wrinkles, removal of flabby skin by a plastic surgeon. But these are not permanent solutions and also need to be tested for sensitivity before you can be treated.
Although wrinkles are not medical problems, some people seem to resort to them. Thus, make sure the doctor who performs the procedure is qualified, trained dermatologist or plastic surgeon.