Anti-aging Beauty Regimen

by Caroline D.
(Ohio)

At first, it’s merely a few laugh lines around your eyes, then tiny wrinkles appear around the mouth. Gradually, eyelids begin to droop and a double chin shows up suddenly. As inevitable as the aging process may be, there is a great variation in how people will look at different ages. Everyone wants to look like Megan Fox even at their 30s, but a few people take the preventive measures to maintain youthful looking skin and complexion.

Two factors determine how your skin ages: genetics and sun exposure. To some extent your skin’s appearance is predetermined by genetic traits inherited from your parents. Moreover, fair-skinned people are more likely to age faster than darker-complexioned people. Fair-skinned people are also more prone to skin cancer from sun exposure. The reason behind is the fact that they have less pigment to protect them from the sun’s UV rays and are more vulnerable to photo aging.

Photo aging generally plays a bigger role in your skin’s appearance than your chronological age. Skin can age much faster as a result of too much exposure to the sun as well as the gradual damage of long-term sun exposure.

But how fast your skin ages depends on whether you stay out of the sun and use sunscreen religiously. Other skin saving strategies include not smoking, controlling and maintaining your weight, and aiming for good health always. It’s like anything and everything else. If you wait until the damage is done, it’s quite hard to turn it around.

For many women, the first sight of wrinkles sends them off directly to the cosmetics counter. Fortunately, some products show promise in counteracting the damaging effects of the sun. Moisturizers containing AHAs or alpha hydroxyl acids shed off old skin cells revealing new, young skin. They may even reverse some signs of photo aging. These moisturizers can also increase elasticity and lighten age spots. Every woman should start using AHA moisturizers and sunscreen in their late teens. A study has shown that most skin damage happens before one even reaches the age of 20.

By the time you reach 30 or 40, you should routinely expect your face and body for potentially cancerous lesions because you’re now susceptible to developing skin cancer. If you see that you already have extensive wrinkling, you can now use Retin A at this stage. It diminishes fine wrinkles, lightens and smoothes skin and age spots. It cannot increase elasticity or erase deep wrinkles, however. For first time users, you may expect some itching and redness but it should subside after a few weeks.

At 50, you may expect some sagging especially around your jowls and deeper wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. Wrinkles are really more noticeable if you’ve spent a lot of time under the sun over the years. Some say that aging women would have to put up with being slightly overweight for a better-looking face. The extra fat should act as a filler for collapsed, sagging skin.

To put it simply, avoid the sun as much as possible. Drink lots of water for skin hydration. Use appropriate skin care products containing AHA. Choose a sunscreen with at least an SPF of 15 and make sure the sunscreen also guards against UV rays. Maintain ideal weight.

Live healthy and happy.