I look at skin daily and noticed a trend back when I was working at a male spa. Most of my clients had a lot of broken capillaries and redness all over their face. I started asking skincare routine questions and noticed a trend... The majority of them all washed their faces in the shower - hot shower - directly on their faces. I know it feels good to have a hot shower and the most popular myth is "my pores feel tighter". What if I told you that the hot water from your shower causes the same damage as the sun or worse! Our bodies are able to handle it more than our faces but with time, the face becomes sensitized. This is a skin condition that is hard to reverse and can require laser treatments. When the face is closest to the showerhead as opposed to the rest of the body, with time, the hot water will start to break the skin capillaries and it can lead to rosacea and sometimes hyperpigmentation. Also, water is very dehydrating so the "tight" feeling you feel in the hot shower is really lack of moisture. No one likes to hear this when I tell them, but I'm not asking you to give up your hot showers and take cold ones. You could continue showering like you normally would, just avoid hot water directly onto your face. Instead, with your wet hands, int the shower, cleanse your skin. This gives the hot water time to cool down by the time it reaches your face.
Serums are like vitamins for the skin
Not enough people wear serums because they don’t know how to wear them or they don’t know how they work. A common mistake people make when wearing a serum is NOT allowing it to penetrate long enough before putting on something else (i.e. moisturizer or SPF). Waiting a few minutes after applying a serum allows the serum to penetrate into the skin. Serums are made ofsuch a small molecule, they are designed to penetrate deeper than creams. (This means that you put a serum on first before your moisturizer if you didn’t already know that).
Surprisingly, a lot of people don’t know that you can also use more than one serum. You can and that’s one of my favorite things about serums. You can layer them based on consistency. So lighter weight (water based) first then heavier serums (hyaluronic acid based) then cream based serums (heavier serums that feel like a lightweight moisturizer). You have to also consider the active ingredients in the serum to layer accordingly. If your are using a prescription, I would recommend applying the prescription at night and a non-prescription serum in the morning.
There is a serum for every skin condition. Serums can be used to anti-age at any age. I recommend a vitamin C serum if you’re new to serums. If you’re not new to serums, try a serum with peptides to stimulate more collagen and elastin. When it comes to serums, you are never to young and never to old to start using them!
SPF 365 days a year
Believe it or not there are still people out there who won’t wear sunscreen. They won’t wear sunscreen because they don’t like the way it feels on their face. When I tell them sunscreen has come a long way, people find it hard to believe me. SPF should be fun! Long gone are the days where chemical sunscreens where the only option and you had to put a thick layer of it on your face (Neutrogena SPF150+). The FDA regulated this a while back so nothing over SPF 50 is allowed to be sold in the U.S. We now have so many options than we have had in the past. My favorite sunscreens are physical sunscreens with built in moisturizers. This means that you only need to apply one product on your face – now you have sunscreen and a moisturizer voila! Most people do not reapply sunscreen, which is what you are supposed to do when out in the sun. A great suggestion for that would be to keep a sunscreen powder handy. Sunscreen powders have a built in brush and sunscreen powder in the handle. What a great idea! The thing about SPF is that you have to apply it every day rain or shine, snow or thunderstorms, it must be applied. Another thing people are loving is sunscreens now are oil-absorbing, have a matte finish and are surprisingly not greasy,thick or heavy. I’m not a big fan of sunscreen in your makeup. The SPF 15 or 20 is really like a SPF 7 or 10, so do not rely on getting the full protection.
Let me know what sunscreen you like to use?
Do I need eye cream?
It still surprises me that some people don’t use an eye cream AT ALL and some people ONLY wear eye cream. This is the truth!
Some people cannot wrap their heads around the importance of wearing eye cream…let’s see if I can convince you. Most of the time I hear, is it really that important? YES! Why? Well one main reason is that the eye area is the thinnest part of your face and it will be the first to show signs of aging. Yipes! What this means is that other people will always know how old you are based on your eye area. This is serious people, if you’re not wearing eye cream, start now!
A couple of important things to keep in mind with your eye area is, try NOT to constantly rub your eyes, it loosens up the surrounding skin and can lead to wrinkles and loose skin. Be super gentle. Also, try to sleep on your back instead of on your side, I know its hard and you can’t help it, but try this and I swear it will help fine lines. Very gently apply your eye cream for a few seconds with your ring finger. If the eye cream is not too irritating, rub it around your entire eye area.
Something is better than nothing when it comes to choosing your eye cream. I personally make sure my serums are applied first around my eye area followed by a hyaluronic acid eye cream with peptides.
Peptides are your friends
I was first introduced to my Peptide friends over 20 years ago. I was amazed at how effective they were on mature skin. I hear about Peptides here and there but not as much as I should considering how many people I meet that don’t know about them. Peptides are proteins that are delivered into your skin by using a serum or a cream. I prefer my peptides in a serum because peptides can penetrate deeper and can be more effective. There are different types of peptides. Some peptides are even known to work like a topical Botox! I make sure I use Peptides daily all over my face in a serum, night cream and eye cream. I will admit, I am Peptide obsessed!
Peptides are important in skin care because they send signals for more Collagen production! Yay! We like looking plump and juicy as opposed to wrinkled! Sadly, collagen like all things will come to an end, so we must act now!
The change will occur at such a cellular level that patience is a virtue. Be patient with peptides, because you won’t see a dramatic change right away, but you will. One day, you will start to notice less lines and healthier looking skin. It is important to know that if you stop using Peptides, the amazing affects of the Peptides will discontinue. This is why skin care is a multi- BILLION dollar industry!
I strongly suggest for you to start reading skincare labels like you would read food labels. It’s a good idea to know what you are putting in your body.