Help...How do I take care of my skin? By Bonnie Primm

Taking Care of Your Skin is its Own Reward
SKIN CARE
I’ve been thinking about why some
women care more about their
appearance than others. I think
some of it is inherited behavior, but for
many women, the problem is not knowing
what to do. Perhaps they do not
understand what is really happening to
their skin as it ages. By the way, caring
about your appearance is not a superficial
vanity. Good-looking and goodfeeling
skin is good health.
How well we age is due to many
factors. Surprisingly only 10% is due to
our genetics. Ninety percent of the
visible signs of aging is a result of
outside influences, which means we can
do something about it. This article will
help explain how you can slow down the
visible signs of aging. Devoting a small
amount of time to taking care of your
skin can make a huge difference, and
using the best products to help our face
and body age will reward us with beautiful
skin for years to come. I don’t think
this is a generation who believes in the
dignity of aging without looking great!
Perhaps you’ve cleansed your face
the way many of us were taught to, that
is, using soap and water, or Noxzema or
the drug store brand of facial soap.
Unfortunately, soap removes the protective
acid mantle of the skin for six
hours. I actually have friends who never
remove their makeup before going to
bed.To be honest, I would rather shop for
new shoes than peruse the department
store cosmetic departments and try to
understand the jargon, the combinations,
and, I hate to say this, the hype. Perhaps
the most obvious reason is there is so
much out there to choose and to try, that
it just gets time consuming and expensive.
Instead we head over to the shoes.
But there comes a time when you
cannot avoid what you are seeing: the
lack of freshness, grayness, dryness,
flaccid texture, larger pores, fine and
deep lines. It happened to me, and I
knew I had to do something. So, I went
to the back of local off-price stores and
found creams from France or spas and
thought this was the right thing to do.
Results were few, and unanswered needs
many.
I began to pay closer attention to
available products and learned a few
things that I’d like to share. All of us
need to cleanse, tone, and moisturize. It’s
best to avoid products made with
petroleum products (i.e., mineral oil),
fragrances and dyes, and animal products
or by-products. Mineral oil has a composition
of molecules that lie on top of
the skin and prevent the natural breathing
of the skin. Ninety percent of everything
we put on our skin goes into our body.
And, the toxicity in the air easily enters
our skin creating oxidation and aging.
Fragrances and dyes promote or create
allergic reactions, and they too are
absorbed. When properly formulated,
botanically based facial products are the
safest and purest type of ingredients to
use on your face and body.
Cleansing is your first step. What to
use? No soap—remember?—because
soap removes the protective acid mantle
of the skin. That’s what “squeaky clean”
means. Proper cleansing means removing
dead cells and stimulating new ones, as
well as dissolving excess oils and
impurities, and it should soothe and
condition.
Toning is important to achieve the
proper pH balance for healthy skin,
which is 5.5. Toners also remove
cleansing residue, restrict pores, and are a
tonic for the skin. Without the correct
pH, good skin products cannot do their
best work.
Moisturizing is a final step. Believe it
or not, even oily skin needs a moisturizer
to protect the skin and maintain moisture.
Moisturizers are meant to keep moisture
in and prevent dryness. (How long would
an apple last if it did not have its protective
peel?) Keep in mind that facial
moisturizers should not be applied to the
eyes because you do not want to plump
up delicate eye tissue or create sensitivity,
burning, or redness. To reduce
puffiness, use an eye cream with safe
astringents, such as watercress and
cucumber, and soothing ingredients to
firm and moisturize.
Some additions to the your skin care
regiment would include antioxidant
vitamin serums to feed your skin, scrubs,
and masques. Again, please make sure
these products are pure, safe, and
beneficial.
If we look healthy and attractive, we
feel good, and vice-versa. I personally do
not know many people who do not want
to look younger and be healthy for a long
time. Is it worth the time and money to
look and feel better, maybe even great?
Think about how much you spent on
that last outfit and how often you’ve
worn it. How many days a year do you
wear your skin? I can assure you, the
price of a few “pretties” is never worth
the price of skin that is not healthy,
glowing, and fresh looking.
Isn’t it time to bypass your family’s
history of skin care and start pampering
your skin? Do you really want to
wrinkle and dry up? With today’s
incredible skin care products, you
definitely don’t have to. ■
Bonnie Primm