Do you ever find yourself wondering why you have to go through so much rigmarole just to maintain healthy skin? Can your daily skin care routine really be as simple as wash – rinse – repeat? Well, no. But your skin care routine doesn’t have to be overly complex either. Here are three basic skin care tips you should do each day to ensure that good-skin glow.
Skin Care Tip 1: Cleanse Your Skin
Regardless of where you live or what you do, your skin accumulates its share of grime, sweat, pollution, and dead skin cells that need to be washed off each day.
For most people, a daily shower or bath is all your body needs. Those who work outside or in jobs where there is an excess amount of sweat or grime may prefer bathing twice a day. But no more than that – over-washing your skin can disturb your skin’s natural balance and cause nasty things like dryness, itching, chapping, and rashes.
To cleanse your body, we recommend a mild, unscented soap with moisturizing properties. We DON’T recommend deodorant body soaps or antibacterial cleansers because they can be harsh to your skin.
When it comes to cleansing your face, that’s a different story. We’ve written several excellent blogs about this particular subject. Click here to read our favorite.
Skin Care Tip 2: Moisturize Your Skin After Your Bath or Shower
So many things we’re exposed to every day strip our skin of the moisture it needs to keep it looking and feeling good. Cold weather, hot sun, steamy showers, household cleaners – it all works against us.
That’s why everyone – even people with oily skin – need to add moisture back into their skin every day.
And the best way to lock in moisture is right after your bath or shower. Gently dry your skin (no rubbing!) and then pat on your preferred product. People with oily skin should use non-comedogenic products, which won’t clog pores.
In addition to moisturizing the outside of your skin, be sure to moisturize from the inside by drinking plenty of water each day. This will help keep your skin hydrated. Most experts recommend drinking 64 ounces of water each day, more if you work outside or sweat excessively.
Skin Care Tip 3: Use Sunscreen to Protect Your Skin
We know we harp on this all the time, but one of the most important things you can do for your skin is to put sunscreen on it. Regardless of whether it’s raining, snowing, or the sun is shining bright, NEVER leave the house without covering every inch of your exposed skin with a sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher, with UVA and UVB protection.
You see, even on cloudy days the harmful UV rays still pass through cloud coverage to penetrate unprotected skin. And if you’re on the water or around snow, the UV rays can also be reflected, which causes even more harm.
Three final words on the matter: Use sunscreen always.
Bonus Skin Care Tip:
If you’d like to get even more basic with your skin care routine, here are a couple of things you can do:
- Combine bathing and moisturizing by using a moisturizing soap.
- Merge your moisturizer with your sunscreen by choosing a moisturizer with an SPF 15 or higher.
If you’d like to learn more about skin care, visit our website, or click here to schedule an appointment.
Dermatology Associates offers a full spectrum of leading edge medical, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology services from offices in Savannah and Vidalia.
