The other day I took my very dirty car to get it cleaned and I was watching the men hard at work.  I saw a man drying the hood of my vehical and only a few seconds later wipe the sweat from his forehead with the same dirty rag.  My immediate reaction was “Oh gross”.  I sat there thinking that many of us treat our skin the same way.  We are looking for a way to give our skin a refreshing feel and find quick comfort in a dirty rag.

One of the main things I tell my patients is consistancy and patience.  If you are looking for results whether it be clearing acne, improving elasticity, or brightening your skin tone you have to be consistant with your routine.  Don’t give your skin that dirty rag for a quick fix; it will be worth it in the end.

Good Skin Care: Why is it so important?

Our skin’s functions are too numerous to go through in detail now.  It is important to know that our skin protects us from the external environment, acting both as a barrier and a filter between ‘outside’ and ‘inside’ our bodies.

The skin helps in regulating our body’s temperature.  For example, when we have a fever or when we are physically working hard, we tend to sweat, which is the body’s way to lower the temperature.

The skin also protects us from harmful substances entering our body, and it eliminates many toxins introduced through ingestion. This helps take the workload off our liver and our kidneys. The skin also breathes and plays a major role in our immune system and keeping us healthy!

These are just some of the important functions of our skin.  Taking care of your skin is vital not just for your outer beauty but for preserving your inner health as well.

Skin care is more than just skin deep. Your skin is a living, breathing organ of your body and like every other organ in our body, it needs to be fed from the inside.

Good nutrition: Keep it simple and fresh. That is the best nutritional advice I can give.  Fresh fruit and vegetables contain so many of the nutrients we need to maintain our health. Keep the diet varied – don’t eat the same old, same old… risk a new veggie – one you haven’t tried before – you just might like it …

Adequate rest and relaxation: Don’t work yourself to an early grave – it’s not worth it. Make sure you get the “beauty” sleep you need.

Sufficient water intake: This is a BIG one. Our body simply needs water to function. Water is necessary to keep cells from dehydrating and to help in eliminating toxins from the body. If you are not drinking enough water every day your body will take it from where ever it can called dehydration. You will experience dark urine, dry lips, dry flaky skin, parched mouth, cracks on your tongue, premature wrinkles… and the list goes on. So, drink up or shrivel up – it’s up to you.

So what does all this have to do with skin care?

What is the point of putting expensive products on your skin to improve it, when you do not give it the stuff in needs on the inside? The cells that make up your skin need the right nutrients for proper growth and development. You can help your skin by using good quality skin care products, but you have to support this from the inside as well. Only in that way can you expect to get good results from proper skin care.

So what is proper skin care? Here are 3 basic steps for taking care of your skin from the outside:

1. Cleanse and Condition

2. Hydrate and Tone

3. Moisturise and Revive.

Cleansing the skin may seem obvious and I know, you do know how to use soap – wrong! Using soap is one way to make your skin dry-out quicker. Most soaps remove the natural oils of the skin, change the natural pH levels and do nothing to remove the dead layers of your skin, which can block your pores and lead to blackheads and pimples. The skin produces oils and acids to help it function, to protect it from loss of excessive moisture, to form a barrier… etc.  The best move for your skin is to stay away from soaps and detergents.

Using a gentle ‘scrub’ will remove the dead skin cells and this in turn will promote better blood circulation and help your skin to breath.  However, over use of this can scrub off the healthy layers creating “unprotected” skin.

The next step is to hydrate and tone the skin.

Well, you’ve just removed the dead skin layers, rubbing the skin with a specially formulated cleanser, and now it’s time to remove the residue, sooth the skin and prepare the skin for getting a good feed of nutrients from the moisturizer and/or sunblock.

Preparing the skin for the moisturiser is similar to preparing a surface about to receive a new coat of paint. You wouldn’t just paint over a wall that hasn’t been cleaned and prepared for the new paint, would you? It would be a waist of time and money… taking care of your skin is the same. You first get rid of the old layer of paint, than you give it a primer and finally the top-coat.