Your skin can reveal the stories of your life, from the fabled glow of pregnancy to the less-welcome spots that surface from sun damage. You hear a lot about how to protect your skin from the sun’s rays, but there are many other simple health moves that can keep your exterior in fabulous shape, decade after decade.
Don't have time for intensive skin care? You can still pamper yourself by acing the basics. Good skin care and healthy lifestyle choices can help delay the natural aging process and prevent various skin problems.
1. Protect yourself from the sun
One of the most important ways to take care of your skin is to protect it from the sun. A lifetime of sun exposure can cause wrinkles, age spots and other skin problems as well as increase the risk of skin cancer.
For the most complete sun protection:
Use sunscreen. Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15. Apply sunscreen generously, and reapply every two hours or more often if you're swimming or perspiring.
Seek shade. Avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun's rays are strongest.
Wear protective clothing.
Cover your skin with tightly woven long-sleeved shirts, long pants and wide-brimmed hats. Also consider laundry additives, which give clothing an additional layer of ultraviolet protection for a certain number of washings, or special sun-protective clothing which is specifically designed to block ultraviolet rays.
2. Don't smoke
Smoking makes your skin look older and contributes to wrinkles. Smoking narrows the tiny blood vessels in the outermost layers of skin, which decreases blood flow. This depletes the skin of oxygen and nutrients that are important to skin health.
Smoking also damages collagen and elastin the fibers that give your skin strength and elasticity. In addition, the repetitive facial expressions you make when smoking such as pursing your lips when inhaling and squinting your eyes to keep out smoke can contribute to wrinkles.
If you smoke, the best way to protect your skin is to quit. Ask your doctor for tips or treatments to help you stop smoking.
3. Treat your skin gently
Daily cleansing and shaving can take a toll on your skin. To keep it gentle:
Limit bath time. Hot water and long showers or baths remove oils from your skin. Limit your bath or shower time, and use warm rather than hot water.
Avoid strong soaps. Strong soaps and detergents can strip oil from your skin. Instead, choose mild cleansers.
Shave carefully. To protect and lubricate your skin, apply shaving cream, lotion or gel before shaving. For the closest shave, use a clean, sharp razor. Shave in the direction the hair grows, not against it.
Pat dry. After washing or bathing, gently pat or blot your skin dry with a towel so that some moisture remains on your skin.
Moisturize dry skin. If your skin is dry, use a moisturizer that fits your skin type. For daily use, consider a moisturizer that contains SPF.
4. Eat a healthy diet
A healthy diet can help you look and feel your best. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. The association between diet and acne isn't clear but some research suggests that a diet rich in vitamin C and low in unhealthy fats and processed or refined carbohydrates might promote younger looking skin.
5. Manage stress
Uncontrolled stress can make your skin more sensitive and trigger acne breakouts and other skin problems. To encourage healthy skin and a healthy state of mind take steps to manage your stress. Set reasonable limits, scale back your to-do list and make time to do the things you enjoy. The results might be more dramatic than you expect.
6.Pick the right products
Consider a prescription for a retinoid like tretinoin to minimize signs of aging such as uneven skin tone, wrinkles, and age spots, says Bobby Buka, MD, a New York City dermatologist. Dr. Buka also suggests skin-care products with botanicals such as feverfew or licorice root: “They have antioxidant activity to combat UV damage.
7.Quench the thirst
As your estrogen level drops and oil production decreases, skin can get thinner, drier, and often itchier. Bathing too often, with water that’s too hot, or with harsh or excess soap, can make things worse. Hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid gland), which becomes more common over age 50, can also cause overly dry, itchy skin, so see your doc to rule it out if you have other common symptoms such as fatigue, depression, unexplained weight gain, or muscle aches.
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