Skin Care Smarts: From Retinoids to Ceramides Skin Regimen

Skin care creams and lotions are being advertised to women of all ages, beginning from teen ages. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that you need to cleanse, nourish and protect your skin. But some skin care facts haven’t made it into conventional wisdom.

Top dermatologists share five ways to tweak your skin care regimen to get you most radiant complexion ever.

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Why to Moisturize Your Skin

To fight acne, don’t forget the moisturizer, which improves skin’s ability to keep bacteria out and water in. Why is water important? Flaky, dehydrated skin is irritated skin, which sends distress signals to our immune cells, distracting them from healing the inflammation that can accompany acne.

Making things worse, the blemish-prone often over cleanse to the point of dryness, which adds more dead skin cells to those already clogging the pores.

To properly keep skin hydrated, wear a light, oil-free, water-based moisturizer. For extra oomph, choose one laced with a zit-fighting ingredient such as salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, retinol (nighttime use only) or azelaic acid.

Discover the power of acids! Take advantage of alpha hydroxy acid skin benefits in your skin care routine.

Find the Right Retinoid Skin Care Product

Vitamin A creams, known as RETINOIDS, are scientifically proven to help unclog pores, smooth wrinkles, lighten brown spots and improve skin texture.

The only hitch is that retinoids in prescription-strength form (which deliver the fastest results) can irritate the skin of first-time users and cause stinging, redness and peeling.

Acclimate your skin by using a retinoid just twice a week, with the eventual goal of applying it every night. Or build tolerance by starting with a less potent, over-the-counter form of retinoid: look for the words retinol, retinal, retinaldehyde or retinyl palmitate on the label.

Pumped into gels, serums and creams, these ingredients take a little longer to show benefits – up to six months. But by then you’ll be more than ready to graduate to their Rx cousins, i.e, the prescription Retin-A skin care.

Here’s my detailed post on all types of retinoids for your Anti-aging Retinoid Therapy and skin care routines. You will be a pro by choosing the right product for your skin well-being.

Load up on Vitamins for Skin Care at Home

Natural skin care tips are non existent without loading up on whole foods daily! Thus, add freshly made salads, entrees rich in veggies and fermented foods to cleanse, repair and nourish your skin from inside out.

A huge additional benefit of all of the above mentioned vitamins for skin care is their ability to fight skin pigmentation. Who doesn’t want their skin be bright and even and without any sun damage!

Add a Vitamin K to the group when you talk about vitamins for skin pigmentation, and you’ve got a huge reservoir of tools with potential for a healthy and bright skin. This vitamin really works well to speedily remove bruises and hyperpigmentation.

Examples of Vitamin-Rich Foods for Your Skin Health

• Indulge in Vitamin A Rich Foods: Sweet potatoes, kale, carrots, mango, spinach apricots, broccoli, butter, winter squash, eggs
• Enjoy Vitamin B Group Rich Foods: Asparagus, avocado, peas, bananas, chicken
• Eat Vitamin C Rich Foods: Kiwi, red peppers, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, guava, green peppers, strawberries, grapefruit, oranges, kale
• Foods rich in Vitamin D: Fish, fish liver oils, mushrooms, egg yolks
• Foods abundant in Vitamin E: Almonds, spinach, wheat germ, sweet potato, sunflower seeds, avocado, palm oil, butternut squash, trout, olive oil

Vitamin A of Animal Source is called RETINOIDS.
Vitamin A of Plant Source is called BETA-CAROTENE.

Like an alphabet soup, vitamins A, B, C, D and E call out from the labels of skin-care products. These antioxidant vitamins are naturally present in our skin, but they need replenishment to keep our collagen from being gobbled up by free radicals caused by UV light and pollution.

Each vitamin excels at something

• To build collagen and quell enzymes that destroy it, you’ll need Vitamin A
• Vitamin B Group (which includes B12, B3 or niacinamide, and folic acid) reduces inflammation, water loss and uneven pigmentation;
• Protect your skin against UV damage and improve skin texture with amazing and versatile Vitamin C
• Vitamin D is crucial for skin cell growth, repair and metabolism; and
• Vitamin E is an emollient that fights inflammation, i.e., skin irritations and redness.

To cover all the bases, make your products multitask by using a serum containing some of the vitamins and a moisturizer pumped with the others.

Examples of Skin Care Products to Feed Your Skin Daily

• Cellular Rejuvenation Serum
• Anti-aging Serum Complex
• Strawberry Rhubard Serum with botanicals

Look for Botanical Ingredients

By switching to cleansers and creams containing certain key botanicals, those of us with sensitive skin (a propensity to become blotched, red and irritated) might never have to reach for another tube of greasy hydrocortisone to calm an angry eruption.

The top six botanical ingredients that get the nod from doctors because of their anti-inflammatory, antiredness and anti-irritant properties include: colloidal oatmeal, feverfew, licorice, aloe vera, chamomile and turmeric.

Not only are these safe for sensitive skin and sufferers of chronic conditions like rosacea, their daily use will help prevent future flare-ups.

Say Yes to Ceramides in Your Skin Care Routine

Skin care at home can and should be of the quality, if not better, than in a professional salon. Using ceramides regularly can truly improve the skin texture and complexion.

A natural component of the top layer of our skin, CERAMIDES are fats that act like mortar to the bricks (cells) that form a wall to keep water inside the skin.

When this brick wall is well-preserved, the result is a glowing, well-hydrated complexion. During the winter and as we age, ceramide levels start to drop, shrinking the mortar and causing dry, inflamed skin. Clearly, you and I should have a defense mechanism to support our skin’s protective properties.

Fortunately, we can replenish lost ceramides with synthetic or natural forms, both of which are found in moisturizers. Obviously, choose the natural ceramides when it comes to your skin health.

Examples of Moisturizing Ceramides for Your Daily Skin Care Routine

• Ceramide Natural Organic Face Moisturizer, available HERE
• Hyaluronic Acid booster with Ceramides Serum, buy it HERE
• Daily Moisturizing Complex with SPF 30, buy it HERE

Eating Ceramides to Boost Your Skin Health

Ceramides in foods are one of the ways to support the well-being of your skin. Eating foods rich in phytoceramides is a sure way to wash the skin from inside out with the stuff that it loves.

Without doubt, ceramides in food options like spinach and beets, wheat germs and brown rice could be your food path to support the molecules that keep the skin firm.

TIP: Sometimes ceramides could be too rich for acne-prone or oily skin types. But, it does not mean ceramide products will clog your pours. You need to try and see it on your personal level.

To get your money’s worth, look for ceramides in the top half of the ingredients list.