It doesn’t have to be a new year for you to resolve to take better care of your skin. Here are a few of our no-brainer good intentions you can stick to forever!
1. Wear Sunscreen Every Day. Every. Day. Basic but effective, no skincare toolbox should be without sunscreen. If you make no other commitment to your skin this year, decide you’ll apply sunscreen every day, regardless of the season or whether the sun is shining. Studies show it has the greatest impact in preventing accelerated aging and skin cancers. We recommend a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher (try our non-chemical, reef safe, physical sunscreen.) A broad-spectrum product means it protects against the harmful effects of UVA rays, (which contribute to premature skin aging), and UVB rays, (which cause sunburn). Blue light exposure from computers, tablets, TV’s and phones have been shown to have a negative impact on the skin, so a daily moisturizer with SPF covers all those bases as well.
2. Don’t Sleep in Makeup. Besides staining your pillowcases and sheets, going to bed with your makeup on is a sure way to wake up with clogged pores, aggravated breakouts, eye inflammation or infection and irritated skin.
3. Streamline Your Products & Your Skincare Routine. Make this your personal skin care promise for spring 2022 - streamline and organize your skin care products. If your cabinet looks like a chorus of “99 serums and creams on the wall,” it’s probably time to thin the herd. Be realistic about what you have and what you actually use. Any skin care routine can feel overwhelming with too many products. Not to mention the fact that often using too many products can lead to irritation and inflammation. Consider tossing products that contain the same actives and definitely anything that has expired. Scale back to the basics - cleansing, moisturizing, and sunscreen, and add in just one or two of your favorites like a serum or eye treatment.
4. Don’t Pick. Sometimes you just can’t help it, but you KNOW it causes damage to your skin. Scarring, infection, further spread of blemishes or rash conditions are just a few of the gifts that keep on giving when you pick!
5. Add Retinol and Vitamin C. Consider adding these targeted products to your skincare routine if you’re not using them already. Vitamin C serum (along with your sunscreen of course) can be used for prevention in the morning and retinol at night for repair treatment – they both have very beneficial skin results. Vitamin C helps minimize the effects of free radical damage (A type of unstable molecule created during normal cell metabolism. Free radicals can build up in cells and cause damage to other molecules, such as DNA, lipids, and proteins.) and is a powerful antioxidant with skin brightening properties.
Retinol is still the gold standard for minimizing the visible signs of aging and restoring skin texture and tone. It can make your skin more sun-sensitive, so use at night only, and start with no more than 2-3 times per week until you test your skin’s reaction (flakiness, redness, or irritation).