Help your skin stay smooth and healthy as you get older. Tightness, fine lines, itching, and flaking are all skin woes we’d rather skip.
Keep time on your side with a few smart strategies that maintain beautiful, age-defying skin.
What makes skin dry as we age?
Dermatologist Sonia Badreshia-Bansal says fewer natural oils, sun damage, and decreased cell renewal can all lead to dry, rougher skin as we get older. Loss of hormones can also lead to drier skin. The skin doesn’t produce as much natural moisturising factor as it used to, and the top layers of skin become dry.
So what can you do today to help keep skin supple tomorrow?
Smooth on the sunscreen
The American Academy of Dermatology says that sun damage is the major cause of unwanted changes to the skin. The sun’s rays can be as intense in winter as in summer. The damage those UVA and UVB rays cause not only speeds up the skin’s ageing process, it can also lead to spider veins, age spots, wrinkles, and melanomas.
To protect your skin every day, use a sunscreen containing an SPF of 30 or greater.
Vitamin A is vital
Vitamin A is another weapon in your fight against dry, prematurely ageing skin. To help keep skin looking its best, a vitamin A cream is very important. That’s because creams enhanced with vitamin A can help prevent wrinkles and pigmentation. You can also give your diet a vitamin A boost by eating foods such as low-fat milk and cheese, eggs, leafy greens, oranges, carrots, and cantaloupe.
Amp up the antioxidants and healthy oils
Antioxidants are important to great skin because they slow down and may prevent the harm done to your body by free radicals. Free radical damage is one factor behind signs of ageing such as wrinkles and dry skin. Some powerhouse antioxidants that can help skin stay healthy include vitamins C and E, selenium, and coenzyme Q10, also called CoQ10.
You can find antioxidants in all kinds of good foods, including tangerines, sweet potatoes, papayas, peppers, citrus fruits, cherries, spinach, olives, and grapes as well as in light canned tuna in oil, cooked beef, whole wheat pasta, green tea, and sardines. Be sure to get essential fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6 in your diet to replenish your skin’s natural protective oils.
Moisturise, moisturise, moisturise!
To decrease the look of fine lines and wrinkles, you want to moisturise skin well.
Try moisturisers with glycolic acid, but you don’t need to get too stuck on specific types of moisturisers. Many products help trap in moisture and keep skin supple. Petroleum jelly, mineral oil, aloe vera, and glycerin can do the job.
Source: Web MD.