As your body’s largest organ, your skin deserves an extra amount of care.
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It shields you from the dangers of everyday life, regulates your body temperature, keeps you safe from diseases and defines the way you are perceived by others.
There are many factors that can degrade your skin, like too much sun or too little essential nutrients, which can cause problems in your life.
Try these simple steps to enhance your skin’s quality and let your body shine.
Regulate Your Sunlight
The big, flaming ball in the sky is both your number one friend and enemy. Sunlight provides essential vitamin D, which promotes bone health, strengthens your teeth and supports the immune system. The sun also helps you maintain your natural sleep cycle, also known as the circadian rhythm.
Conversely, too much sun causes your skin to dry and crack and opens up the potential for skin cancer. The key is balancing your exposure and taking care to avoid the most dangerous time of day in the sun, which is usually mid-afternoon between 2 and 4 p.m.
No matter your skin tone, use UVA/UVB sunscreen to protect your skin from the sun’s harmful rays and note that the SPF is not the strength of the lotion, rather, it is the number of minutes the lotion remains effective in the sun. In other words, SPF 30 means that you need to reapply your sunscreen after 30 minutes.
Hydrate
Your skin’s flexibility and ability to regulate properly depends on your hydration. Try to drink six to eight glasses of water a day to ensure that your skin (and body) has enough water to maintain proper functionality.
Note that you also receive water from certain foods, such as oranges, cucumbers and lettuce, so add those types of foods to your daily diet because they count toward your overall water intake.
Moisturize
Likewise, hydrating the outside of your body can be very beneficial, keeping your skin soft. Dry skin types especially benefit from moisturizers and lotions to help prevent peeling and cracking.
People with dry skin can be especially sensitive to sunlight, cold temperatures and wind, and a good cream based lotion or moisturizer can lessen these effects. To increase your moisturizer’s effectiveness, apply directly after your shower while your skin is still wet and then pat yourself dry to lock in the moisture.
If you have trouble keeping hydrated at night, consider using a small humidifier in the room you sleep in.
Know Your Skin
Not everyone’s skin is created equally. People with oily skin don’t need to moisturize as much as people with dry skin and those with darker pigmentation can withstand more exposure to direct sunlight than those with lighter pigmentation.
Learn what skin allergies you have, as certain types of makeup can trigger these effects and potentially damage your skin (there are hypoallergenic and fragrance-free brands of makeup available).
Furthermore, if you have skin that is sensitive to makeup remover, try looking for a brand that is more PH neutral to avoid damage.
Clean It Up
Regularly cleaning your body is standard for most people, but you’re doing more than just making sure you smell and look great. The mechanical action of scrubbing combined with a good antibacterial soap is essential for keeping your skin free of dangerous diseases, such as a staph infection.
Those with oily skin can be more susceptible to pimples and blackheads, as they often have large pores. Try washing your face with a non-foaming cleanser and warm water twice a day to keep your pores clean.
And just because you have oily skin doesn’t mean you should stop moisturizing altogether; your skin can become dry underneath and will create more oil to compensate.
Avoid Pollutants
Cigarette smoke and other pollutants do more than affect your lungs and health; they can also damage your skin and clog your pores.
If you are in a situation where you can’t avoid exposure to these conditions, make sure to wash your body soon after.
Get Plenty Of Sleep
It doesn’t take an expert for you to know that sleep is good for you. Sleep is needed for your body (and your skin) to heal properly and rejuvenate after a long day.
Sleep also prevents unsightly bags from forming under your eyes.
