Good skin care — including sun protection and
gentle cleansing — can keep your skin healthy and
glowing for years to come.
By Mayo Clinic staff
Don't have time for intensive skin care? Pamper
yourself with the basics. Good skin care and healthy
lifestyle choices can help delay the natural aging
process and prevent various skin problems. Get started
with these five no-nonsense tips.
1. Protect yourself from the sun
One of the most important ways to take care of your
skin is to protect it from the sun. A lifetime of sun
exposure can cause wrinkles, age spots and other skin
problems — as well as increase the risk of skin cancer.
For the most complete sun protection:
Use sunscreen. Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen
with an SPF of at least 15. When you're outdoors,
reapply sunscreen every two hours — or more often
if you're swimming or perspiring.
Seek shade. Avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 4
p.m., when the sun's rays are strongest.
Wear protective clothing. Cover your skin with
tightly woven long-sleeved shirts, long pants and
wide-brimmed hats. Also consider laundry additives,
which give clothing an additional layer of ultraviolet
protection for a certain number of washings, or
special sun-protective clothing — which is
specifically designed to block ultraviolet rays.
2. Don't smoke
Smoking makes your skin look older and contributes to
wrinkles. Smoking narrows the tiny blood vessels in the
outermost layers of skin, which decreases blood flow.
This depletes the skin of oxygen and nutrients that are
important to skin health. Smoking also damages
collagen and elastin — the fibers that give your skin its
strength and elasticity. In addition, the repetitive facial
expressions you make when smoking — such as pursing
your lips when inhaling and squinting your eyes to keep
out smoke — can contribute to wrinkles.
If you smoke, the best way to protect your skin is to
quit. Ask your doctor for tips or treatments to help you
stop smoking.
3. Treat your skin gently
Daily cleansing and shaving can take a toll on your skin.
To keep it gentle:
Limit bath time. Hot water and long showers or
baths remove oils from your skin. Limit your bath or
shower time, and use warm — rather than hot —
water.
Avoid strong soaps. Strong soaps and detergents
can strip oil from your skin. Instead, choose mild
cleansers.
Shave carefully. To protect and lubricate your skin,
apply shaving cream, lotion or gel before shaving.
For the closest shave, use a clean, sharp razor.
Shave in the direction the hair grows, not against it.
Pat dry. After washing or bathing, gently pat or blot
your skin dry with a towel so that some moisture
remains on your skin.
Moisturize dry skin. If your skin is dry, use a
moisturizer that fits your skin type. For daily use,
consider a moisturizer that contains SPF.
4. Eat a healthy diet
A healthy diet can help you look and feel your best. Eat
plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean
proteins. The association between diet and acne isn't
clear — but some research suggests that a diet rich in
vitamin C and low in unhealthy fats and processed or
refined carbohydrates might promote younger looking
skin.
5. Manage stress
Uncontrolled stress can make your skin more sensitive
and trigger acne breakouts and other skin problems. To
encourage healthy skin — and a healthy state of mind
— take steps to manage your stress. Set reasonable
limits, scale back your to-do list and make time to do
the things you enjoy. The results might be more
dramatic than you expect.
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