While spring is technically here, the unpredictable weather can mean temperatures are as unstable as a pregnant woman’s hormones. You should, therefore, ensure that you provide your skin with the extra care and protection it needs to stay balanced, soft and healthy-looking.
Here are a few simple and easy tips for keeping your skin healthy.
- Picking the right skin care products for you – the importance of good skin care products cannot be emphasised enough! Your skin requires regular nourishment and care to keep moisturised, healthy and in a relatively good condition. Ingredients such as panthenol, aloe vera and bisabolol can help keep skin smooth and soft while also reducing redness and soothing irritation. If you wear make-up regularly, make sure you choose products which aren’t going to further dry your skin out (a lot of make-up can be a moisture suck!). Opt for specialist make-up brands like Schrammek which combine both beauty and skincare. It only makes sense to stick with make-up products which provide you with both coverage and nutrition. Here, skin imperfections can be both treated and covered.
- Maintaining a balanced and nutritious diet – the importance of a healthy and balanced diet is so often underestimated when it comes to skincare. In order to stay fit and healthy, your body requires a regular and balanced intake of a number of nutritional substances. These include fibre, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, proteins and others (special nod to Omega-3 fatty acids). As the health of your skin depends significantly on you daily intake of such substances, deficiencies in any of these areas will often result in a lacklustre condition of your skin. Excessive consumption of alcohol, processed and fatty foods (as well as caffeine, but I am going to ignore that one) should be avoided as they often have a negative effect on the health of your skin.
- Quit smoking – Smoking is possibly one of the worst things (if not THE worst thing!) you can do for your overall health and for the health of your skin. Not only does it cause irreparable damage to the lungs, it also clogs the arteries and aggravates the blood flow. Ultimately, this leads to tired-looking, prematurely-aged, loose and wrinkled skin.
- Drink lots of water!: Particularly in the Summer months, try to drink plenty of water to stay healthy and to keep your skin hydrated. Drinking between eight and ten glasses of water per day is optimal for helping to flush out any toxins and bacteria that can otherwise weaken your overall health.
- Regular exercise: Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you need to incorporate Jillian Michaels-esque hours of exercise into your daily routine. Simply keeping active by doing some form of exercise several times a week will help your skin out. Medium to heavy exercise causes you to sweat which opens your pores and increases blood flow to the skin – all highly beneficial for your skin. The only rule to remember here is to cleanse your skin well after exercising to avoid a build-up of excess oil and dirt in pores which may lead to blemishes.