I’ve moved on from the flawless made up face, to the flawless natural face. That means, healthy, radiant, youthful skin. So to get that, not only did i have to muster up a skincare routine, but that I had to adjust my entire lifestyle. I don’t like the words ‘anti-aging’ so much because, well, if you’re not aging it’s because you’re dead. Morbid right? Lol.
So! The important thing here, is to work toward getting and maintaining healthy skin. I’ve jotted down a couple things that I do daily that has helped me to maintain youthful skin and, y’all, it’s not much work at all. It might run you a hefty dollar, but when you stay getting compliments (not tooting my own horn here….ok well maybe I am) and you wake up every morning with supple hydrated skin, it’s way worth it.
For in-depth information on anything skin and skincare, I look to Stephanie Nicole, Gothamista, Dr Sam Bunting and This That Beauty. Amongst them, you’ll find a wealth of insightful information. But in the mean time, here’s how I achieve and maintain healthy, youthful skin.
1| Establish and stick to a skincare regime
You don’t need a 10 step routine that’ll cost you hours at a time. All you need is to firstly establish the type of skin you have (dry, combination, oily, sensitive, acne prone etc) and look for products and routines to suit that. This takes a while to research if you’re doing it on your own, but another route is to visit an esthetician for professional advice.
My morning and evening routines last all of five minutes with the occasional added steps here and there. It has a maximum of the same five steps, but my products may change depending on the needs of my skin at that point in time. Everyday I scan my face and decide what it needs. Is it breaking out? Is it dehydrated? or maybe it’s congested. It takes some time and it’s an ongoing process, especially if you live somewhere with changing weather, but with research and/or visiting a professional, you’d get the hang of things. And don’t forget to make it fun!
2| Use Acids and Vitamin C
These two steps are where I spend the most money. Acids chemically exfoliate you skin with some working on the surface while others work deeper into the pores. They help with making the skin more radiant, removes dead skin cells, un-clog pores, and makes life much easier for people with acne, black/white heads and oily skin.
These come in AHAs and BHAs. Again, check the gurus I mentioned earlier for more insight into acids and the hows, whys and whens. Vitamin C is an anti-oxidant (and is usually very expensive, ugh!) and it’s claim to fame is that it boosts collagen production and while it won’t replace your SPF, it minimizes sun damage that you may not be able to see. In layman terms, it helps to even out your skin tone, improves hydration and gives your face that beautiful, youthful look.
3| Avoid the sun like the plague
I live in tropical climate year round. There is never a day when the sun is not in the sky. To combat this, I work very hard to not be outside when the sun is the highest in the sky. On my side of the world, that’s between 10am and 3pm. If I do go outside, there is always a dash for shade. Using an umbrella comes in quite handy, but I find it annoying. Lol. But it’s whatever float your boat to make sure your skin is healthy!
4| ALWAYS use sunscreen
As we’re on the topic of sun, this is the main culprit of damage to the skin. Us folk with brown skin have this belief that we don’t need sun protection and that could not be farther from the truth. We ALL need sunscreen to protect our skin from those dangerous UV rays. Having sunscreen as a staple in your daily routine helps to keep away sunburn and decreases the chance of skin cancer. Not to mention these harmful rays prematurely ages our skin and nourishes those pesky wrinkles.
5| Use sunglasses
This is the easiest of all the steps. I no longer step outside during the day without sunglasses on. Why? Because it stresses out my face immensely when I’m forever squinting. Squinting can emphasize lines in the forehead, around the mouth and nose and definitely around the eyes. This is one area where you don’t need to spend tons of cash as you can find some really practical, pretty and funky ones almost anywhere. I love mine from Sunglass Warehouse. Lots of options, great quality, awesome prices.
6| Don’t sleep with makeup on
Blocked pores. Breakouts. Dust and gunk that settled on your face from throughout the day. Dry skin. That overall feeling of yuck! This can lead to inflammations, infections and other not so pretty stuff. If you want to maintain beautiful, youthful skin, just don’t do it.
On a side note, what you put in, you get out. So get enough sleep, ease up on the alcohol and smoking and stay as low stress as possible.
What about you? What are you secrets for youthful skin?
Thanks for stopping by!
PS ~ In Skincare – I Bought it But How Was it? and 10 Things I’m Loving – April
