Thursday, October 30, 2008

What's The Best Age To Begin Skin Care?

By Andi Bradshaw

Maintaining clear, healthy skin is why you should bother and because prevention is easier than correction. Working as an esthetician, I know that most womrn understand the need for twice daily moisturizers, but many still don't realize the importance of using exfoliators and facial masks. Moisturizing provides under the skin benefits while twice weekly exfoliating gives you immediate topical results.

In your Teens and Twenties, you probably won't see any real signs of aging unless you've spent many long days in the sun. You can expect to see patches of dull or dead facial skin cells which result in a loss of your youthful, natural radiance due to uneven texture. At this age you'll need to be sure to use a sun screen.

Your THIRTIES will bring skin that begins to look tired and dull, and you'll begin to see tiny lines around your mouth and eyes and if you have oily skin your pores will begin to enlarge. Now you'll need to be sure your moisturizers have anti-oxidants because twice weekly exfoliating and twice daily moisturizing with those anti-oxidants is needed to keep your face and neck, youthful and healthy looking. If you're not using an eye cream, twice daily - you should be.

When you're Forty-ish, you'll experience a reduction of collagen and elastin in your skins cells; which holds the moisture that helps to keep skin firm. The lack of firmness results in a deepening of the fine lines you saw in your thirties and they'll become wrinkles. To help combat that effect, you should include anti-aging or lifting and firming treatments (collagen and elastin) to your twice daily moisturizer.

Every type of skin can depend on becoming dryer when you get to your Fifties, particularly when exposed to extreme climates. Dry skin is due to a loss of moisture and that loss translates to relaxed skin along the jawline and neck area, and those wrinkles become creases. That's why you'll need to add more hydration and vitamins to your list of anti-aging, lifting and firming ingredients in your hydrating products.

When you reach your Sixties or better, your skin will exhibit extreme loss of firmness as well as the appearance of those sun spots on your hands, face and neck. The skin that was relaxed in your fifties is now sagging skin. The creases above your nose, in your forehead and laugh lines will become furrows and spot dissolvers will need to be added to the strongest possible lifting and firming ingredients in you skin care routine.

This article describes what you can expect if you get to that age group and are not using skin care at all. Of course a little skin care is better than none, but with the above information you'll know what you need for your skin type and when you need more. Ultimately, using your full twice a day, skin care regimen will pay off with your skin always feeling firmer and looking younger than you really are. - 15485

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