Skincare – amazing tips and tricks every women should know

Skincare, what are the 5 basic of skin care? What is the best thing for skincare? How do I start a good skincare routine? How do I start a skin care routine? What is the secret to beautiful skin? Is skincare really necessary? Antiaging, How can I glow up? What should we apply on face at night? What makes face beautiful? 

How my skincare journey started?

As a kid my skin was milky pink with beautiful freckles over my nose and cheeks. Even through my teenage years i had quite healthy clear skin. Seeing my friends and classmates struggling with oily dull skin, with zits and acne I was so relieved that I was spared of the same… 

But when I was in early 30s suddenly my skin started behaving funky: it became more oily, I would get few pimples here and there, especially before my periods, which would go after few days, leaving sometimes pigmentation and tiny scars. In search of a solution, I would try to eat “clean”, use face masks, antibacterial face washes and lotions, even applying medical spirit. But nothing seemed to help, so I just stopped bothering about it: it was a minor problem after all. 

Same situation lasted for few years, seemingly it was better in springtime, aggravating in hot humid summers, then would almost go away in late summer till winters and then it would be a constant pimples with quite visible infection, which will appear, heal and clear up just for new ones to come.

By the time I was in late 30s my skin problem really started to worry me and people around: my chin and cheeks and sometimes forehead and nose were covered in whole bunch of pimples, which would cause lots of pain, redness, inflammation, swelling..I was trying to squeeze them, which was causing them to fill up with pus…urghhh…that was terrible.

The best thing for skincare

In a search of remedy I did every tip there was for skin care: liters of water daily, no junk/fried/sugary foods, tried to reduce my stress, had blood purifying medicines and syrups, tried tons of different kind of skin products…nothing helped. Even a little. Also due to hormonal changes and aging my skin became dull, I got many hyperpigmentation marks plus to those scars, that pimples and skin infection were leaving. 

The only thing I didn’t do is going to skin specialist, because I knew that they would prescribe a long course of antibiotics and probably a steroid, which will help temporarily to clear my skin, but would leave me with other health issues. 

So this battle with my skin condition lasted for few more years, my 40s came and it changed something in my perception of myself. I wanted to look good and young, to feel good about myself, so I decided to educate myself. I started looking online for mature skin care and problems this skin faces.

It seemed so complicated in the beginning, there were tons of products, that can be used to help my skin look better, clearer, younger! It took me a while to figure out what exactly works for my skin, but there are actually few things that are highly effective for everyone, not expensive and easy to incorporate into your daily routine. 

By the way, all those points about clean eating, drinking water and avoiding stress and would add proper sleep and regular physical activity are big ones in achieving good health and as a result a healthy beautiful skin. 

How do I start a good skincare routine?

As for skin care, number 1 for any age skin care must be sunscreen. Yes! Unexpected?! The research data shows, that the most of skin aging and damage comes from the Sun, so avoiding that should be a priority. Second most important skin care element in many skin problems (as acne, dullness, loss of firmness, wrinkles,) are RETINOIDS– derivatives of Vitamin A, which have the properties to help with all the above.

The tricky thing is that you need to incorporate them in the routine very slowly and gradually and once you do, you will see a magic: in few months your skin will become visibly clearer, brighter, plumper. Third- proper moisturizer. And those with oily skin need it too, just need to find the ones that will not cause even more oil production and will not clog your pores.  

What serums should I use on my face?

Other supportive skin care like ceramides, vitamin C, tranexamic acid, kojic acid, salicylic acid etc. are going to help to some extent but need to be chosen according to your skin problem. As above three “whales” of skin care are MUST for everyone, irrespective of age, skin type, race, skin color. I hope we are clear on that. 

I guess it’s enough for now to start and to understand. Later on, I’ll talk in detail about each step of skin care routine. 

So now I’ll talk a bit in details about skin care routine, it’s steps and difference of morning and evening skin care.  

MORNING  STEP WISE SKIN CARE ROUTINE 

How do I start a skin care routine? 

First step for skin care is CLEANSING, which is the common step for morning and evening skin care routine. For that NO REGULAR SOAP or SHOWER GEL  should be used! Only specially designed for face skin cleansers  with mild ingredients.

They can be gel like, foaming  or thick creamy ones, depending on your skin type. If you have oily prone to acne and blackheads skin then gel or foaming cleanser is the best, for dry, sensitive, aging skin creamy cleanser is way to go. 

After taking a little amount of cleanser with wet hands just rub it between palms till it makes a foam and apply over your face, gently rubbing to remove the dirt (usually in the morning skin is clean and requires minimum cleaning to remove the skin products you applied at night, but if you go to gym or exercise outdoors, then take this step thoroughly). 

After cleaning second step (which is optional) is TONING. Toners are water like solutions which contain some amount of oxidants, vitamins, sometimes anti-inflammatory ingredients, which should be applied directly on the skin or with the help of cotton ball. 

If you are young person with healthy dewy skin without any blemishes, acne or hyperpigmentation you can just apply moisturizer, which again should suit your skin type(dry, normal, oily, combination) and also take in account the season, because in summers our skin tends to be more oily and due to excessive heat and sweating requires light moisturizer, while in the winters we need more heavy ones. 

 But if you have skin problems like acne, hyperpigmentation, wrinkles, sagging skin third step will be application of so called “skin treatment “ ingredients, which in the morning are Vitamin C serum, salicylic acid, ceramides. 

Shortly about each ingredient. Vitamin C is powerful antioxidant, which protects skin from damage and also helps in building collagen- protein that keeps skin firm  and supple. Collagen production decreases with age, so vitamin C helps in keeping skin younger looking. It also has brightening property, helps to make even skin tone, decreases hyperpigmentation’s and scar marks. It can be used at any age. Vitamin C usually liquid like solution, which should be applied in small quantities on the skin. 

 Its important to add that all skin care should be done on the neck too.. people frequently forget this body part, but truth is skin of the neck is much more delicate and thin than face’s skin and ages much faster. So it’s vitally important to take care of your neck, as it can give away your age, if you don’t care after its properly. Also skin of our hands requires attention too, because our hands are exposed to sun rays, different soaps, detergents, washing powders etc and can age fast and can show our real age 

Salicylic acid serum should be used by people skin problems like acne, blackheads, inflamed or prone to infection skin. Again can be used for all ages people. Just apply it after vitamin C serum if you’re using one or after cleaning/toning your face. 

Ceramides are fats or lipids, which made up our cells. They help in maintaining skin barrier i.e. protects us from external factors like pollutants, toxins, germs. They help to retain moisture in our skin to keep it plump and youthful. With age amount of ceramides decreases, making our skin look dry and sometimes irritated. Ceramides are often present in most of moisturizes, creams, toners, so use of ceramides serum is advisable for older people with purpose of strengthening all above ceramides benefits.  

After you applied active skin treatment ingredients it’s time to apply moisturizer accordingly to your skin type and season i mentioned above. Last but very important step of morning routine is applying SUNSCREEN. I can’t stress enough the importance of this step, doesn’t matter even its clouds in the sky and no sun is visible or you go outside only for a minute.. apply sunscreen, always. There are 2 main type of sunscreens : chemical and physical, i will talk in details later. So this was our morning skin care routine. After that you can apply your makeup if you use it and don’t forget to reapply sunscreen every 3 to 4 hours if you are outdoors. 

EVENING STEPWISE SKIN CARE ROUTINE  

First step same as in the morning is CLEANSING. In the evening our skin requires more thorough cleaning as covered with  dirt, sweat, also make-up. For removing make-up i really love balms, which are kind of thick Vaseline like consistency, which you need to rub small amount between your dry fingers and apply over your face and gently work through all make-up and then rinse with water. It removes everything beautifully. And then just use your regular skin cleanser to remove everything else. 

Second step again can be TONING with the same toner you used in the morning. 

Now is time for active skin treatment ingredients like retinol, AHAs, ceramides. 

Retinol is derivative of Vitamin A and one is the most powerful ingredients when it comes to skin problems as acne, hyperpigmentation, scars, wrinkles, saggy skin, dull skin, very oily skin. The only warning is that it can be very irritating to skin and can cause redness, itching, burning feeling, dryness, peeling of skin, increased sensitivity to sun,  so should be incorporated very slowly and gradually into skin care, so the side effects are minimized and benefits are achieved. Should ONLY be applied at the night, as it photosensitive i.e. gets inactivated under the sun. 

For those, who have hyperpigmentation, dark spots, post-acne scars there are few ingredients like kojic acid, tranexamic acid, arbutin. We’ll talk about them some other time. 

AHAs or alpha-hydroxy acids such as glycolic acid, lactic acid, citric acid are chemical exfoliating agents ingredients , which help to remove dead layer of skin, making it look bright, even toned, younger, also help against acne, blackheads and fine wrinkles. 

Ceramides(we talked about them in the morning skin care routine) can be used at night to maximize their effects. 

After skin treatment ingredients we apply some moisturizer, there plenty of those specially to be used at night, they contain lots of good stuff for you skin. Again your skin type will decide which one will suit you the best. 

Note to remember: on the day you apply retinol, it should be the ONLY skin treatment ingredient you use, followed by moisturizer. Same goes with AHAs: after you applied AHA serum use only moisturizer.  

I know it seems a lot for the first time you read this, but believe me, it’s going to be easy to incorporate this routine in your daily schedule, will take hardly a couple of minutes. And in few months, you’ll start getting compliments about how beautiful, radiant and young looking your skin is.  

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