Three simple steps for beautiful skin

No matter your age, a quality skin care regimen is absolutely necessary if you want to have beautiful skin right through your senior years. Just using a product is not enough. Use these three simple steps everyday to help your skin start looking its best.

1. Cleanse - but gently. Too many professional skin care products strip your facial skin of the natural elements it needs to keep your skin soft and supple. Using a mild cleanser with a very light, delicate scent that won’t leave your face feeling tight and dry. For damaged, wrinkled skin, a moisturizing cleanser or cream cleanser is best.

2. Exfoliate - Many exfoliating products using sand or walnut shells can be too harsh to use daily - try to find a gentle exfoliating product – a natural clay or organic oatmeal. Natural skin care products tend to be less irritating and will not only exfoliate the grime and pollution of the day from your delicate facial skin; they also moisturize, soften, and increase your body’s collagen and antioxidant production.

3. Moisturize - Use a quality skin care moisturizer each morning after cleansing. Excellent high quality moisturizers not only replace vital moisture in your face but also leave it supple and smooth. Additional moisture will also supplement the antioxidants your skin needs to produce to stay looking healthy and young. If you use a moisturizer with a built in sunscreen, it will also help protect your face from sun damage throughout the day.

No matter your skin type or shade, proper sun protection is mandatory if you want to prevent wrinkles and age spots. Wear sunscreen, even on cloudy days and in the winter. Use a good quality, high-SPF sunscreen. Sun damage is the single most important cause of premature aging. Cut out skin-damaging habits like smoking, excessive drinking, and tanning booths.

If you are prone to sensitive skin or allergic reactions, such as stinging, burning or redness, you should stop using those products immediately and avoid products that contain the following ingredients:

· Avobenzone

· Benzophenone

· Butyl methoxydibenzoyl methane

· Isopropyldibenzoylmethane

· Methylbenzylidene camphor

· Octyl methoxycinnamate

· Para-amniobenzoic acid (PABA)

· Phenylbenzimidazole sulfonic acid

If you want to age gracefully, there are two big don’ts. First, don’t allow your skin to burn. Second, don’t smoke. Baking your skin for that “St. Tropez” tan may seem harmless when you are younger, but waking up in your thirties and forties with numerous wrinkles is a common and avoidable fate.