I have posted a lot of skin care ingredients
in my past blog posts, each of these ingredients sounds wonderful, isn’t
it? But which one to use? —if you were
like me, you must be asking the question.
Here is my rule—including anti-oxidant, anti-aging agent, moisturizer and sunscreen in your daily skincare regime and mixing the “fancy stuff” into the weekly facial
routine.
Here are the four fundamental ingredients
you should include in your daily routine:
Anti-oxidants: Anti-oxidants are both protective and
preventive when it comes to aging. Make
sure you get enough anti-oxidants onto your skin through topical skincare
products and through your diet. In my
case, I use a bland of essential oils loaded with phyto-antioxidants and
Vitamin E as my daily skincare serum.
Through the diet, black berry is my favorite fruit (ok, I admit that I
do load the fruits with wiped cream) and of course I chug on green tea all day
long.
Vitamin C is a great antioxidant but the compound is not stable
(easily oxidized) in air. So it is hard
to formulate a stable homemade Vitamin C formulation. I include a Vitamin C mask as my weekly
facial routine. For each mask, I load
about 2grams of Vitamin C into a mix of various herb powders. The choice of the herbs depends upon my skin
condition. Please refer to my previous
posts for the therapeutical use of herbs in skincare.
Anti-aging ingredients: If you are reading my blogs, you should use
anti-aging ingredients. I wrote such “dry”
and scientifically oriented posts—it is very hard for me to imagine a teenager
reader in my readership J.
(But, hey, you are welcome to surprise me!). One of the most well-researched anti-aging
ingredients are retinoids such as retinoic acid (active ingredient in the
prescription cream, tretinoin) and retinol.
If you want to make your know retinol A product, you should be able to
buy the active ingredient from the web.
Try to formulate an oil based bland and use dark and air-tight container
for your product as the active ingredient is not stable. I use both homemade blends (for home use) and
store bought retinol products such as RoC’s retionol products (when traveling).
Moisturizers: In addition to looking good and feeling
healthy, well-hydrated skin facilitates the absorption of nutrients into the
skin. Always start with drinking plenty
of water (or, if you are like me, tea!)
Go easy with the sugar, salt and alcohol as these ingredients dehydrate
the body. For topical application, use
a mix of moisturizers in your routine.
For daily moisturizing, I apply a toner including about 15% of glycerol
(one of the oldest moisturizing ingredient) on clean face and seal with a blend
of moisturizing essential oils as my skin serum. On top of the skin serum, I layer on a
sunscreen. I don’t make sunscreen
products at home—the store bought one that I have been using for years is a
CeraVe brand product by Valeant pharmaceuticals. CeraVe products include ceramide, which is an
essential ingredient for skin’s natural moisture barrier. Several years ago, I involved in a business
deal that required me to do a lot of research on CeraVe products—I liked what I’ve
learned and have been using the products ever since. Can’t say the same for many other commercial
products.
Sunscreen: There is really no
need for me to say more about sunscreen here.
I am sure that the concept has been “imprinted” into your brain through
mom’s nagging—at least in my son’s case.
So, listen your mom—use a sunscreen.
Your skin will thank you.
Thanks a bunch for reading!
Connie
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