While you have your skincare routine and favourite products all sorted, there can be other factors that can easily be changed to your daily life to help your skin glow a little more.
HOT SHOWERS
So, you are frozen to your core and need to bump up your inner thermometer, or maybe you’ve just got in from a gruelling session at the gym where your muscles crave some TLC. Well, before you ramp up the temperature and step into the shower be aware long, hot showers strip the skin of its healthy oils. Your skin dehydrates quickly which can lead to itchiness. This also relates to your scalp and, therefore, drying out your hair. Those with dry skin and skin complaints will suffer the most.
RECOMMENDATION: Turn the dial down to a lukewarm setting. If this seems too drastic, maybe change it in increments until you get there.
ALCOHOL
Yeah, you’ve made it through Dry-January (more or less), and hopefully, you have seen your skin improve. Just in case you weren’t aware alcohol quickly affects your skin. As a diuretic, it dehydrates your skin, which then looks dull and extenuates those fine lines and wrinkles. Then, there’s the sugar content leading to breakouts if you are prone.
Most significantly, alcohol affects the way oxygen and other nutrients travel through your blood to your skin. For instance, Vitamin A is a powerful antioxidant that aids collagen production and, when this is impeded, the skin loses elasticity and its protection.
READING
Reading in poor light, squinting due to perhaps old prescription glasses or even that rare band of sunlight; all lead to additional frown lines and creases around the eyes. With the darker nights, you need good light to help make things easier on the eyes and you may not even realise you are straining to read or watch something. Continually doing this will encourage the additional lines to form, and deepen the crease.
Similarly, too much phone and tablet time can cause tech neck and the blue light can also not only weaken your eyes but cause photoaging on the surface of your skin.
You may not feel that these are going to make too much of a difference, and you absolutely will not see an immediate change in your skin, but give it a whirl and see for yourself, and try using our skincare diary to help you track the changes in your skin.
