Your skin is the largest organ in your body. It is the first line of defence between you and everything around you, so keeping it strong and healthy can make you feel stronger and healthier on the inside too.
Your skin health is often a reflection of the habits you have so a lot of skin problems are preventable through adjustments in your day-to-day life, but sometimes you can use certain products to help catalyze those natural changes. These tips and tricks will run you through steps you can take to give yourself that healthy skin glow.
Get To Know Your Skin
When you understand whether your skin is on the oilier side or drier side, you can take steps to work out what products and treatments are best for you. Going to a body clinic for skin treatments can really sort you out because they can help you discover what your skin is lacking naturally, so then they can treat your skin so it is balanced out accordingly. Of course, you will need to keep up these treatments to maintain the balance so they will be able to provide product suggestions that can help. Going for a skincare treatment every day might be a bit excessive so you will just have to settle for doing it at home most of the time (unfortunately)!
Protect Yourself From The Sun
Although the sun can provide many great health benefits, such as increased vitamin D levels, you need to take steps to protect your skin from its rays, which damage skin cells. The short-term effects include sunburn and peeling skin (never a good look). In the long term, as well as causing wrinkles and age spots, these rays can sometimes cause skin cancers.
Don’t be worried too much though, going out in the sun in moderation is perfectly fine and there are many ways you can protect yourself. Always be sure to wear sunscreen with SPF, which you should apply generously and often (at least every couple of hours or more if you’ve been swimming or are a bit sweaty). Seek shade if you’ve spent a prolonged amount of time in the sun, and consider wearing long-sleeved clothing (don’t forget a wide-brimmed hat and some sunglasses to protect your eyes too). Do not use sunbeds either, the same harmful rays are used!
Don’t Smoke
Smoking has been proven to contribute to poor skin health. It restricts blood vessels which in turn limits oxygen and nutrients getting to your skin, which makes you look paler and means your skin is not getting what it needs to stay healthy (so premature aging of the skin occurs). Furthermore, the frequent facial expressions you make when you are smoking can contribute to wrinkles. It is not healthy for your body in general, so it is best to kick the habit, even if it is difficult to do – there is always time.
Stop Scrubbing
We’ve all been guilty of vigorously rubbing our faces sometimes. It gets more dirt off which could cause skin problems, right? Wrong! This can cause your skin to become irritated and can actually worsen acne. Treat your skin gently – wash it with warm water, particularly your face every morning and night. You can use a cleanser, which can help dissolve grime, by rubbing it into the skin in slow circular motions, before removing it with water. You will then want to pat your face dry (again, no scrubbing please).
Throw Away That Old Razor
If you choose to shave (wherever that may be) you should always exfoliate, then lubricate the area before using a sharp razor to remove the hair – this is best done towards the end of a warm shower. Then there’s the age-old debate of shaving with or against the direction of hair growth… This seems to be leaning towards the ‘with’ the hair growth if you are looking for healthy-looking skin, but it might not get a close shave like you were hoping for. In more sensitive areas (like your bikini line) you might want to start going ‘with’, and in other areas, you can stick with ‘against’.
Check Your Diet
You will be surprised by how much your skin is affected by what you eat. There’s a lot of research on this out there, but not a lot of it is inconclusive. For example, there’s a load of foods out there that are said to cause acne like milk, sugar, chocolate, carbohydrates – even nuts! But a lot of these claims don’t have sufficient evidence to say for sure; acne can be caused by a number of factors, not just certain foods.
So just be aware that foods can affect you in different ways and you might have to experiment to find out what works for you. You could try keeping a diary to document your symptoms and any changes in your body (including your skin health) – try adding or limiting specific foods to see what helps.
Chill Out!
Some skin conditions, such as eczema, can be caused when you are stressed. If you are going through a lot in your personal life, your body will produce stress hormones (such as adrenaline and cortisol). These can increase oil production in your skin glands, causing skin pores to become blocked and acne breakouts are more likely to occur. Other conditions may include rashes (hives) which can cause itchiness and pain.
Taking steps to reduce your stress levels can help keep your skin clearer and healthier. Exercising more, taking control of situations (by being more decisive), and practicing self-care can be just a few ways to help ease your mind.
As you can see, there are so many different factors to consider when it comes to your skin, from the way you shave to the way you wash your face. Some may affect you more than others but by managing each one, you can start to improve the health of your skin. So be kind to it, wear SPF, mind what you eat, and kick back and relax.