My 10 skin care commandments

Yes, good skin care is important. very important. 
This is why I obey to my own 10 skin care commandments.

Our skin is the largest organ in the body and covers about 1.7 m2, which makes roughly 16% of our body weight.

Our skin assists us in regulating our body temperature and is one of the few organs that can regenerate itself by shedding approximately 50.000 dead skin cells per minute and creating a full new layer every month.

Day creme, sun protection, cleanser, night creme, booster, serum, contour gel, bb or dd creme, lotion, tonic, oil, shampoo, deodorant, make up … you name it, many are available as over-the-counter products.

There are a lot of healthy, organic, natural skin care options out there, and I am always looking for new ones that I can present on the blog. Check out my category ‘product review / skin care’! 

Ways of skin protection

But besides offering my skin the skin care products it needs, there are a few more things that I can to do to protect my skin, as it protects me.

Sun

Sun and light make us happy, and a sun kissed look is sexy. 

But overexposing to sun and light can cause serious damage to the skin with long lasting effects. Know how is key! Practise sun safety by limiting the time you spend in the sun, especially mid day. I for example avoid 12 to 3 pm and rather enjoy late evenings and sun sets on the beach. I wear a hat and protective clothing (check out Sundriven!) such as a kaftan.

Screen Shot 2016-06-27 at 11.18.01Alcohol

I love a glass of wine with a lovely dinner shared with friends once in a while, yet have drastically reduced my alcohol intake lately. I feel, that alcohol affects me in different ways (makes me tired, low in energy, makes my skin saggy etc).

The DermNet New Zealand Trust has released extensive information about the relation between alcohol and skin:
Skin conditions affected or caused by alcohol can be rosacea, psoriasis, dermatitis, skin infections, urticaria, allergies or allergy like symptoms, nail changes, hyper-pigmentation, jaundice, and even skin cancer.
More harmless side effects of alcohol can be facial redness, which is a persistently red face due to enlarged blood vessels. This appears because regulation of vascular control in the brain fails with sustained alcohol intake.
Flushing can also be a side effect of alcohol. It is due to acetaldehyde, the main breakdown product of alcohol. Acetaldehyde is thought to cause flushing by stimulating release of histamine.

10 skin care commandments
Smoking

One of the many side effects of smoking is said to be skin ageing, especially the facial skin. Theories include:
– Heat from the cigarette directly burning the skin
– Changes in the elastic fibres of the skin
– Narrowing of blood vessels (vasoconstriction), which reduces blood supply to the skin and can cause changes in skin elasticityfibres and loss of collagen
– Reducing Vitamin A levels and moisture of the skin

Diet

Replace fast food, salt, grease, sugar, too much processed food more often by healthy alternatives. Dr. Jessica Wu, creator of Dr. Jessica Wu skincare has written her own guide to eating for beauty, called ‘Feed your Face’, including how diet affects skin. On Forbes Magazine, she says:

“I tell my patients that what they put in their mouths is as important as the products they apply on their skin,” says Dr. Jessica Wu (dermatologist and creator of Dr. Jessica Wu Skincare), who’s written her own guide to eating for beauty, Feed Your Face. “Foods get digested and broken down into vitamins, minerals and amino acids that your body can use to build healthy skin. If you crash diet or eat highly processed foods, your skin won’t be as strong and supple as it could be. For example, if you don’t eat enough protein, you are depriving your skin of the amino acids that go into making collagen (which makes your skin strong) and elastic tissue (which makes it supple).”

Nutritional deficiencies especially lack of skin-important Vitamins such as A, B1, B2, C and Zinc can lead to malabsorption of food which can result in dry and less elastic skin.

10 skin care commandmentsStress

Do we not all look brilliant after those 2 weeks beach holiday? After we have spent our days taking endless time for healthy and fresh meals, relaxing in a hammock under the palm tree, being active with our favourite water sports, dancing away long summer nights… Stress does not suit our skin well, and our skin loves her beauty sleep.

10 skin care commandments

 

Keep your fingers away

During the course of a day, we touch a million things, and likewise a million bacteria sit on the skin of our hands of which some are bad. I try to keep them away from my face, as they can be the cause for impurities, outbreaks, herpes etc.

10 skin care commandments

 

Ingredients in skin care products

Check your skin care for no-go ingredients, such as parabens, paraffins, silicons, CIs (colour index), and formaldehyd. “sure enough Anja”, you may say now, “but I am no chemist, how can I detect those ingredients in my products?”. Well, one tedious way is to do your homework and learn more about those ingredients… the other – and much easier way – is to check out www.cosmeticanalysis.com. There is an interesting article on this blog called “ingredients carefully examined”, which explains more about this innovative service.

To me, ready-to-go cleansing wipes are a sure no-go as they do not cleanse properly yet can irritate the skin.

Kosmetikanalyse

Kosmetikanalyse

Oxygen

My skin needs oxygen which is from the inside only possible by a generous supply of fresh blood pumped into all blood vessels. This is easiest achieved by a vigorous walk, a lovely yoga class or any other activity that makes me happy. And from the outside by exposing my body to fresh air.


10 skin care commandments

Squeegee clean washing 

Careful what you want to wash off your skin: overly washing not only harms the PH level of our skin, but also removes millions of harmless bacteria that live on the skin, called the skin microbiota. These bacteria can help immune cells fight disease-causing microbes. Most outbreak such as pimples or acne are usually not caused by dirt, but rather by hormonal changes, sweating, humidity, maybe some medications and cosmetic ingredients.

10 skin care commandments

 

and last on my list of 10 skin care commandments is: Happiness

I believe that the best recipe for radiant glow is a happy mind, a healthy body and balanced spirit. Skin beauty from within!

10 skin care commandments

How do you protect your skin? 

keep your skin happy and healthy,

Anja Eva Keller Spa & Wellness Consulting