The skin care routine steps you follow every morning and night matter…
Though it would be wonderful if having fabulous skin was guaranteed by having good DNA, your day-to-day habits have a significant impact on the quality of your skin you see in looking back at you in the mirror. But how can you best take care of your skin? Everywhere you turn, there’s an ad for the latest and greatest new skincare products, and every practitioner has their own opinion of what works and what doesn’t.
How to take care of your skin
When it comes down to it, your skin care routine is unique and personal to you. Here are some tips to help you sort through your options to identify what’s best for you.
Three main skin care routine steps
A solid skin care routine will troubleshoot the problem areas or concerns you have, while also enhancing your complexion to look its best. Your skin care routine includes three primary steps:
- Cleanse
- Tone
- Moisturize
These three key steps are your daily skin fortifying ritual to begin and end your day. In addition, you want to use sunscreen daily.
Cleansing
Our skin comes into contact with lots of dirt and pollution regularly. As such, cleansing is one of the most vital things we can do for our skin. Washing your skin with the right cleanser morning and night will help to prevent acne and avoid dullness and clogged pores.
The ideal cleanser will cleanse without stripping healthy and essential skin oils. When using exfoliating scrubs, use them gently and infrequently at about once a week. Also, avoid abrasive ingredients, like crushed walnut shells.
- Oily or acne-prone: Foaming liquid is best for oily or acne-prone skin. It activate with water into an airy foam to break down excess sebum and dirt from pores.
- Sensitive: Oil based cleanser is good for sensitive skin. Though it might seem odd to put oil on your face as a cleanser, just think of the notion that oil absorbs oil. The right oil, like argan, is moisturizing and lightweight. It’s also tolerated well and is non-comedogenic.
- Red, dry and/or eczema-prone: Lotion or cream cleanser include emollients like shea butter and glycerin to hydrate skin while wiring away dirt and other impurities.
- Mature skin: Melting balm is a salve that turns into a liquid when rubbed onto the skin. It can be soothing and used without water.
- Any skin type: Micellar water is a soap-free cleanser that has molecules that attract oil and debris without drying the skin. It’s a staple of French cleansing rituals, and there’s no need to remove it after applied.
Toning
Today’s toners have evolved from the 80s alcohol-based astringents that dried the skin out. Formulas today are milder and help other skin care products absorb better, balance the complexion, and deliver nutrients to the skin.
Toner can be applied with the fingertips or with a thin piece of cotton in the morning and evening after cleansing and prior to applying other products. Formulas with exfoliating acids, like glycolic acid and salicylic acid, should only be applied once a day or every other day.
Look for toners with the following ingredients:
- Hyaluronic acid
- Vitamin E and C
- Alpha and beta hydroxy acids
- Rose water
- Green tea
Though many professionals agree that toners are optional, they can be a great choice to mildly and gently exfoliate and treat the skin.
Moisturizing
Moisturizer helps to soften and moisturize the skin by preventing water loss through the outer skin layers. The right moisturizer can also complement our own natural protective oils and other important elements, like ceramides.
As we age, our skin gradually loses the ability to retain moisture, so it’s important to find the right moisturizer, and use it all year round. The type of moisturizer you purchase will be based on your skin type.
Here’s a breakdown for the type of moisturizer to use based on your skin type.
- Oily: Gel moisturizer is water based, lightweight, and quickly absorbs into the skin.
- Dry: Soft cream and cream are heavier than a lotion and are oil-based.
- Normal or combination: Lotion feels lighter than cream and heavier than a gel and typically absorbs well.
- Sensitive and inflamed skin: Balm has a heavier texture than cream and works much like a cream for extremely dry skin types.
Day vs. Night Cream
Daytime moisturizers are applied in the morning and have ingredients to protect your skin from free radicals and other environmental aggressors. Day creams often contain antioxidants to fight free radicals and sunscreen to protect against the sun. They typically have a lighter consistency than night creams do.
Night creams focus on repairing skin damage. They often contain retinol and other ingredients that help to speed up cellular turnover and reduce the appearance of dark spots.
Treatment Serums
Treatment serums can give your skin an added boost. You might need more than one serum to treat specific concerns. Also, don’t mix serums with your moisturizer, as it could weaken the serum’s ability to do the job it’s intended to do. Here are some ingredients you might want to look for, based on your skin concerns.
- Colloidal sulfur and niacinamide: These ingredients can decrease inflammation, which helps to calm irritation and redness.
- Hyaluronic acid: Also referred to as HA, hyaluronic acid prevents moisture loss by strengthening the top layer of your skin and hydration.
- Retinol, peptides, and vitamin B3: These three powerful ingredients stimulate elastin and collagen productions.
- Vitamin C: Vitamin C helps reduce dark spots and brighten skin with regular use.
Sunscreen Application
A broad-spectrum sunscreen with at least a 30 SPF should be applied daily, at least 30 minutes prior to sun exposure. From there, it should be applied every two hours. All exposed areas of the body should be covered with sunscreen.
Many moisturizers have sunscreen in them. Some sunscreens also include ingredients that treat targeted skincare concerns, like the SkinMedica Total Defense and Repair SPF 34.
When selecting skincare products, go with ones that have positive reviews and are proven to work. Though they can be pricier, medical grade skincare, like the SkinMedica line by Allergan, is backed my years of science and research.
To learn more about the best skincare products for your unique needs, schedule a DermaTouch RN consultation today.
DermaTouch RN offers minimally invasive and non-invasive treatments for men and women in Houston, San Antonio, Spring and Cypress, as well as the surrounding areas of Texas. We are the largest aesthetic practice in the Houston area, and all of our medical spa treatments are performed by a team of nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and aestheticians who receive continuing education to remain abreast of emerging treatments that benefit our patients. We invite you to learn more about our office before your consultation.
