Monday, March 2, 2009

The Routine of Good Skin Care

By Frell Johnson

Whether you realize it or not, personal skin care should be very important to you. It is something that we all should take pride in achieving. People look at skin care in different ways. Some may take the time to go to beauty parlors or a skin care specialist, others may think that splashing on some lotion or cream will satisfy the need. There are also those that think skin care is a monthly or yearly thing. Then you have the ones that go through a daily routine to make sure their skin is as healthy as possible. Considering the benefits of personal skin care, it is not that expensive. You just have to make sure that you choose the right products for your skin, and get yourself into a routine that you can work with. Basically that is the definition of skin care, consistently taking care of your skin to keep it healthy.

Skin Type should be determined before attempting to start your routine. There are different types of skin that require different products. Some may have oily skin, others may have dry skin. There are also many that have very sensitive skin. Determining your skin type is very important. Testing a product to make sure that it doesn?t irritate your skin is important also. After you have determined your skin type and tested different products to find what is right for you, it will be time to start your routine. Here is a basic routine that will suit most skin care needs for normal skin.

First of all, you will need to clean your skin; this process is also called cleansing. Cleansers are made up of three main ingredients, oil, water, and surfactants or wetting agents. The oil and the surfactants extract all the dirt from your skin and the water flushes it away, leaving your skin feeling cleaner than with other methods. You may have to try a few different cleansers to find the one that is right for you. Always use soap-free cleansers and luke warm water. Cold or hot water along with soap can really harm your skin. Over cleansing can harm it as well so make sure you do not over do it.

Exfoliation is the second step. Exfoliation is the removal of dead skin cells from your skin. Your skin is always producing new skin cells to repair itself but the old cells are left on your skin. So it is important to remove these. For normal skin, this process should be done four to five times per week, for dry skin try just a couple times a week. Exfoliation clears the path for moisturizes. Without this process the dead skin cells will absorb most of the moisturizer leaving your new skin cells unprotected.

The next and one of the most important processes in the routine is applying moisturizers to your skin. Not only do moisturizers add and seal in moisture to your skin, it attracts moisture also. You should be able to notice how much moisturizer your skin needs in about a week. Be careful not to over moisturize your skin. By doing this it can clog your pores and damage your skin instead of helping it.

The last process in the personal skin care routine is sunscreen. Dermatologists recommend that everyone where sunscreen every day, whether the sun is out or not. Many moisturizers come with UV protection built right in so you receive double benefits and one less step when you use them.

Once again, always test your products before using large amounts of them on your skin. Find out which products suit you best. What works for one may not always be the case for others. If you have severe sensitivity of the skin, check with your dermatologist first. Get their opinion before you start using any product. It is your skin, so make sure you take care of it. - 15438

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