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To perfect your skin, the right regimen makes all the difference, whether you're treating breakouts, wrinkles or redness. Below are 15 simple and effective rules to live by for smoother, healthier looking skin - no matter what your age. Incorporate these simple rules into your lifestyle and your skin will look brighter, feel silkier, and appear more youthful in no time.
15 Simple and Effective Rules To Live
By
For Smoother, Healthier Looking Skin
1. Use sunscreen (at least SPF-30) every day to prevent premature aging. Sunscreen gives your skin a much needed break from defending itself against the harmful effects of the sun. Even while you are sitting in the shade, you are still being bombarded by age promoting rays, so use sunscreen. The “time off” will allow your skin the opportunity to repair and undo any existing damage.
2. To get your preferred anti-aging product to work its best you must get your skin wet, very wet. So, if you want your face scrub to exfoliate a little more than usual, do it at the very end of your shower.
3. Always use your ring finger to pat in eye cream . Since it is generally the weakest finger, it is also the most gentle.
4. Prescription-only retinoic acid formula products such as Retin-A, Tazorac, and Renova can rejuvenate skin like no over-the-counter cream can. It will take about six to eight weeks to see results and the difference in most people is truly spectacular. If prescription medication isn't your style, try products such as Revitol's AntiAging System.
5. If you find that retinoic acid is too skin-sensitizing, as it is for some people, the next strongest ingredient that is available over the counter is retinol. Help Me by Philosophy has a powerful retinol, but if that is still too strong for you, try Neutrogena's Healthy Skin .
 6. Avoid eating too many sweets. Too much sugar in your diet promotes glycation - the cross-linking of proteins and sugars to form non-functioning structures in the body. The process of glycation disrupts collagen production and its results can be superficially seen as unsightly wrinkled skin. Less superficial and more serious implications include many age-related chronic diseases such as: type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and sensory losses such as deafness and blindness. This range of diseases is the result of the very basic level at which glycations interfere with molecular and cellular functioning throughout the body and the release of highly-oxidizing side-products. So avoid the sugar and take products that help combat the glycation process. Glycation inhibitors include benfotiamine, pyridoxamine, amino guanidine (sold as Pimagedine), carnosine and aspirin; it is also believed that alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl-l-carnitine can also reduce glycation damage.
7. Get plenty of sleep. Did you know that your skin does most of its repair-and-refresh work at night while you are sleeping? Don’t think that lack of sleep only shows up as dark circles under your eyes. It also shows up on your face as dullness initially, and then graduates to wrinkling, sagging, and even breakouts as you continue to lose sleep. So, the next time someone tells you that they need to get their beauty rest, they may just mean it.
8. Take supplements. Do they work? Who knows? They might, and that's why you should take them. We are not referring to "miracle pills" here, instead focus on essential daily nutrition that your body needs. Since few of us can actually eat as much youthifying salmon as all of the experts say we should, be sure to take supplements containing omega-3, -6, and -9 oils. And while you’re at it, take a daily multi-vitamin
 and eat foods high in antioxidants as well.
9. Cold contracts, heat expands. To really bring down puffiness throw your eye cream in the fridge. If that’s too much of a hassle, use an already-frosty cool version. Also, it will extend the life of the product.
 10. One word: Peptides. Peptides re-texturize your skin and minimize lines, making your skin feel smoother and look brighter. As an added bonus, they don’t irritate at all. How is this possible you ask? Simple, peptides stimulate your cells to produce more collagen. Collagen, along with soft keratin, is responsible for skin strength and elasticity, and its degradation leads to wrinkles that accompany aging. Peptides equal collagen, which in turn equals firmer, tighter skin.
11. Don’t smoke and if you do, stop now. Besides all the health risks (cancer, emphysema, etc.), smoking ages your face faster and more effectively than the sun.
12. Apply moisturizer liberally before makeup. It really makes a difference; especially if you live in a cold or windy climate (cold and wind dehydrate your skin). Moisturizers hydrate your skin, making it plump up and look and feel smoother. Also, the moisturizer can serve as a primer for your makeup and extend its wear time.
13. Try not to overdo it on skin treatments. If you find that you have, use an anti-inflammatory product to calm your skin and bring it back to normality.
14. If you have dark circles, redness, or puffiness under your eyes, a tinted under-eye moisturizer is the perfect cover-up. Use it under a concealer if your trouble is severe or alone if it’s not too major.
15. Keep your sunglasses on. Besides the cynical benefit of camouflage (you know you were thinking it), sunglasses help shield and protect the delicate eye area that is often first to wrinkle and sag from more sun damage. Using an eye cream with SPF 15 helps as well.
What you put in and on your body can affect its aging process. If you want your skin to have that youthful glow follow the above 15 simple and effective rules to live by for smooth, healthy looking skin - no matter what your age. By incorporating these simple rules into your lifestyle, your skin will look brighter, feel softer, and appear more youthful in no time - without spending a fortune.
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