Having a skin care regimen can help keep your skin looking healthy and young, and reducing signs of ageing. To get the most from your regime, choose a cleanser and moisturiser based on your specific skin type.
But oilier skin needs both an oil or a balm cleanser as well as a gel cleanser so that makeup is removed and pollution is cleaned off while also allowing pores to be cleared, at the same time as product is absorbed properly. In contrast, dry skin needs an intensive moisturiser to replace lost natural hydration levels and help smooth away fine lines.
Cleanse
A good anti-ageing skin routine should start with cleansing your face every day to help get rid of pore congestion due to dirt, oil and impurities and breakouts.
Finding a cleanser that suits your skin type is key – you want it to be hydrating enough to feel comfortable, but also efficient enough to do its job, so if you have oily skin your best bet would be a gel or foaming cleanser free from drying alcohols and parabens.
For dry skin, a creamy cleanser boosts hydrating fats to replenish your oil reserves, while keeping skin at the right pH balance. Make sure yours is fragrance-, mineral oil-, SLS- and phthalate-free. If you’re looking to even out dull-looking skin, use products that contain retinol, vitamin C and hyaluronic acid – all of which stimulate collagen production.
Exfoliate
New cells form deep in your skin all the time and arrive at the surface over that time – your annual 28-day skin cycle. As you get older the skin exfoliation process slows down, making exfoliation a crucial tool in maintaining young-looking skin.
Exfoliation can be achieved either by using a physical scrub or a chemical exfoliant. The physical tools, like brushes or sponges, are much coarser and can be more irritating to the skin than the liquid acid exfoliants that help to break down dead cells without any irritation.
You should use both of these methods as a skincare regimen, but going overboard may annoy the skin and redness can occur. For the best results speak to a dermatologist or trained aesthetician about how often to exfoliate.
Serum
Yet you’ll notice that face serums, often cost more to buy than creams but contain more active ingredients that might provide benefit to your skin than many face creams of the past do. Antioxidant serums – such as L-ascorbic acid, otherwise known as Vitamin C – neutralise the free radicals that are damaging your complexion when out in the daylight and are also brightening to dull skin!
After cleansing, using a serum that’s packed with acids such as glycolic acid helps to resurface and smooth skin, while adding something like niacinamide can help to even out pigmentation, too. After half a day of full makeup, it slowly begins to drift off of the face.
Oily complexions could experiment with serums that contain astringents such as alcohol or witch hazel, which help to strip away sebum and shrink enlarged pores, and for those aged skin types, serums with retinol might facilitate slight reduction of fine lines and wrinkles, while boosting collagen production. (Although, it goes without saying, you should consider the specific serum’s efficacy based on your type.)
Moisturize
A good anti-ageing beauty regimen will help keep your skin looking young and healthy at any age. Many anti-ageing products should be customised to your skin type, so read the ingredient list and choose formulas made for you, while avoiding anything that irritates your skin.
Daily use of natural moisturiser with aloe vera, shea butter, hyaluronic acid and rosehip oil can help prevent signs of ageing, while a good moisturising serum (along with facial massage, aids circulation, lymphatic drainage and collagen formation) can reduce them too.
Other essentials to bear in mind when designing your anti-ageing skincare regime are to maintain a healthy diet, rich in fruits and veggies, and containing plenty of lean proteins – this helps maintain a healthy complexion, but most importantly keeps it well hydrated; don’t smoke and avoid too much exposure to the sun; and always get plenty of good rest, so you don’t end up looking like you haven’t slept for a week.
Massage
Often touted as a luxury spa treatment, massage is also a science-based technique for healthier skin that glows with good health. Massage perks up the health of skin by boosting the delivery of nutrient-rich blood and oxygen to facial tissues.
Greater blood flow flushes the skin of dead cells and augments regeneration so that the whole complexion appears renewed and more youthful.
Facial massage can help diminish the wrinkles stemming from certain facial habits: the furrow lines formed by squinting or concentrating make you look stern, while scowl lines in the forehead are created by puckering your brows. The perennial joy-wrinkles ‘crows feet’ at the outer corners of the eyes, meanwhile, are the result of unsuppressed pleasure or laughter. These types of wrinkles form in the skin from repetitive contraction of particular facial muscles. Gentle, consistent facial massage calms down contracted facial muscles to minimise the lines they form, and after a while it can also reduce puffiness and dark circles under your eyes, add radiance and glow to your skin and, by stimulating your glands of Sebaceous production, yield you higher levels of natural oil, which promotes a healthier balance and moisture for your complexion.