When it comes down to preserving and revitalizing our delicate aging skin, prevention may just be the best and the most obvious cure. But if you’ve happened to of neglected your skin in the past, and as a result have sun damage resulting in a not so pleasant texture, then there are fortunately a few steps that you can take immediately to potentially reverse the effects of that aging skin. There are even some effective topical treatments that you can immediately apply at home which should dramatically improve the feel as well as the look of your skin. But what’s important is that you no longer neglect your skin any longer, and learn what and how to avoid what damages your skin the most.
Five Tips For Better Skin
If You Are A Smoker, Then Quit ASAP
Smoking is obviously documented to be very bad for your health, but it’s also extremely harmful to your skin because the toxins in the tobacco as well as the cigarette smoke itself instantly decreases the delivery of vital nutrients, thus increasing collagen breakdown. This will result in premature wrinkling of the skin.
Yes, it is understood that smoking is a bad habit and an addiction that’s difficult to break, but there are overwhelming studies proving that the more you try to quit, the more successful it will eventually be. That may perhaps be a ridiculous statement, but the average number of times a smoker attempts to quit is eight. So for yourself, it may take you four or five attempts to quit, or it may take you ten times, but if you don’t keep on trying, then you’ll obviously never get there.
Avoiding Excessive UV Light
One of the easier ways to make your skin look at lot clearer and younger is to minimize the exposure to UV light. So this will mean no more artificial sun tanning booths, prolonged direct sun tanning, and applying any type of harmful chemical based sunscreen. This is the basic rudimentary principles of general skincare, like properly brushing your teeth for good dental care.
But even if you’ve happened to done quite a bit of suntanning in the past, it’s really quite amazing how the skin is able to recover. So don’t shudder to think of some of the drastic things that you may of done in the past to get that glorious golden tan.
If you must use sunscreen, then it containing zinc is recommended for a couple of reasons. It offers excellent UVB and UVA coverage, and you can tell exactly how much you’re getting by the percentage that’s listed on the bottle. The general rule for zinc content is the higher percentage the better. Today, the majority of the sunscreens that contain zinc will look unnoticeable when applied. What seems to be the best balance is around 5 to 6 percent of zinc or higher.
Using Antioxidants For Skin Care
Antioxidants seems to be the current rage when it comes to better skincare, as there are now a handful of them available on the market. We are all aware of the benefits of antioxidants in our diet, as they protect us from cancer, heart disease, premature aging and dementia. While there is significantly less that’s known for their effects on improving skin, the basic theory is that antioxidants should absorb as well as remove particles known as free radicals, which causes direct disruption to the makeup as well as the operation of our cells.
As far as our skin layers goes, free radicals are known to cause the direct breakdown of collagen, the growth of unwanted abnormal blood vessels, and possibly disrupting pigment cells, which can potentially create pre-cancerous skin conditions.
Popular Types Of Antioxidants
• Coffee Berry, which is the discarded material which surrounds the coffee bean is high in antioxidants. It now has been formulated and made into a cream so it can be applied to offer protection as well as healing to the skin. This may potentially contain more antioxidants than any other topical cream treatment that’s available on the market
• Vitamin C, which is available in a water soluble solution, has been altered to be able to penetrate the skin when applied topically
• Vitamin E is also easily absorbed, but it is known to cause some allergic reactions when placed directly on the skin
• Green tea is also a well known and excellent antioxidant, but the active antioxidant ingredients however rapidly deteriorates to the point that all the values are gone by the time it’s applied on the skin. So it’s best to just drink green tea instead
Vitamin A Is Great For Better Skin
Vitamin A as a cream and thus applied topically, has proven for a significant number of years to help in improving skin tone as well as texture, while helping in balancing abnormal skin pigmentation.
Vitamin A cream is currently available with or without a prescription. Be warned however that there are a lot of Vitamin A based face cream manufacturers who will put in a drop of retinol in their face cream products, so they can claim it contains vitamin A. If retinol happens to be listed near the bottom of the ingredient list, then the quantity should be very small and most likely negligible.
Prescription based Vitamin A facial cremes can prove to be too strong for sensitive skin, so the application must be introduced gradually. At times, when doctors as well as their patients who are looking for quick results, can often apply way too much vitamin A and too frequently, and then they are disappointed because their skin suddenly becomes flaky or red and may look worse than it originally did to begin with.
When this happens, there’s really no panic as this situation can be easily resolved. Vitamin A cream is the only topical application that’s proven to be able to regenerate collagen. So what it does is it will thin out the outer layer of skin, which will make it look brighter. You should not panic regarding the skin thinning since what it’s actually doing is thickening the living layers, while thinning out the dead surface cells. You may find that Vitamin A may make your skin a bit more sensitive to the sun, so it’s advised you use the recommended sunscreens.
Vitamin A is also known to improve cell turnover, which will make the skin a lot more reflective to light, much like the skin of a child.
Using Alpha Hydroxy Acid or AHA For Better Skin
Movie stars and models has known for decades of the benefits of using beta and alpha hydroxy acids or AHA on their skins, so you should be considering it as well. This compound was actually used in the past but rediscovered sometime in the 1980s. We are now aware that AHAs are great exfoliates without the added risk of using much more abrasive treatments.
AHA’s will also improve hydration as well as allowing products to be able to penetrate a lot better. AHAs as well as BHAs works to eliminate dead skin cells and then promotes new skin cell growth. They are also known for being able to reverse signs of aging skin, such as brown skin spots and fine wrinkle lines.
Using hydroxy acids however will usually leave your skin a little sensitive to the sun, so be sure that you use a good sunscreen.
So the basics of maintaining excellent skincare is using a good ‘zinc’ based sunscreen as well as sun avoidance at peak times. When it comes to Vitamin A, it’s best to discuss it with your skincare provider, start slow and applying it properly will do wonders. Also look into hydroxy acids as well as trying out some antioxidants. There are a lot of different types of antioxidants that you can try out to see how your skin responds.
Choosing a reputable skincare line goes a long way. Make sure that they list all of the ingredients as well as their concentrations. Pharmaceutical grade ingredients will usually offer the highest grade as well as quality.