Skin Care Articles

Doctors advocate using the same skin care regimen daily. These routines don't need to be fancy or expensive, and can be used alone or along with a more serious skin care routine.

Optimize for Your Skin

The steps of the general regimen should be adjusted to fit your skin type. You should keep in mind that your skin type can change with the season, diet and age. For example, the skin can be be oilier in the summer and drier in the cold months. Menopause often brings about a change from oily or normal to dry skin. Conversely, a shift from a low-fat diet to one rich in certain fats (particularly essential fatty acids) may turn dry skin to normal. Skin pigmentation affects the degree to which you need UV protection. While the sun damages any skin, the damage is minimal in dark-skinned people. Conversely, light skinned people need to be careful about sun protection, i.e. minimizing sun exposure, choosing an the right sunscreen and applying it the correct way.

Progressive Medicines

For best skin care benefits, the basic regimen is usually insufficient, especially for people over 30. The addition of a well-selected product or 2 with wisely chosen, scientifically proven active ingredients will further improve your results. For secondary products to work well with your routine you must use them properly. In particular, if you apply products to skin that has not been cleansed, the effectiveness of active ingredients is decreased. If you cleanse, moisturize and then apply advanced products, the penetration of active ingredients may still be reduced because the moisturizer has occluded some the entryways.

Typical Treatments

A typical skin care system would contain the following steps: washing/cleansing, toning (optional depending on skin type), moisturizing and sun protection.

For most people, carrying out the routine two times a day is recommended. Some patients with dry and/or sensitive skin may do better with once daily washing/cleansing but moisturizing 2 or more times a day. Some dermatologists agree that exfoliation should also be part of a standard regimen. However, daily exfoliation may be unreasonable and could possibly lead to constant irritation in some people. Exfoliation once or twice a week is usually sufficient. People with fast natural epidermal turnover may need less or none at all.

One of the most valuable steps in the regimen can be safeguard from the UV rays, sun block should be used as the last part any day there will be exposure to the sun. It is always recommended to use a product made for protection from UV rays, however some people like to use cosmetics that contain sunscreen to save time.

The best time to apply secondary products is soon after you washed/cleansed, rinsed and slightly patted your skin with a towel, when the skin is clean, warm and still moist. Most of the secondary treatments contain some kind of moisturizing compound so the need for additional moisturizer is minimal. If it is required wait for the other products to do the job before adding anything.