“Who is the beauty icon that inspires you the most? Is it Sophia Loren? Audrey Hepburn? Halle Berry? Mine is Nosferatu, because that vampire taught me my number-one and number-two favorite beauty tricks of all time: avoid the sun at all costs and always try to appear shrouded in shadows.” -Mindy Kaling
Part four of our series focuses on moisturizers and sunscreen. Believe it or not, not all moisturizers and sunscreens are created equal. Not even close.
Moisturizers
Hydrate. Moisturize. Soothe your skin. All tag lines we get bombarded with. But how do you know which moisturizer is good and which one isn’t?
When your skin loses water, it gets inflamed. Ever been “hangry?” Same thing except a snickers bar won’t help. Your skin is made up of upwards of 60% water and it is easy for skin to lose that water. The truth is if your skin gets dry and irritated, your body will produce oil to compensate for the dryness. This can lead to clogged pores, acne, and premature aging. And nobody wants that, right?
When you look for a moisturizer, pay the extra couple of bucks and get something medical grade. Why? Because several moisturizers are comodegenic (pore clogging), have fragrances, dyes, and other filler materials that can end up irritating your skin even more. Instead, try moisturizers that are made for your skin type (oily, dry, sensitive, combo, etc) and ones that have antioxidants in them. The antioxidants can help reduce inflammation and fight things like acne, rosacea, pigmentation, etc.
Sunscreen
We talk a lot about sunscreen on this blog and for good reason. Did you know that many chemical based sunscreens absorb heat instead of deflect it? In recent years, a debate has emerged over oxybenzone and some potential health related issues alongside it. Oxybenone is one of the most common chemicals used in several sunscreens. Allergies and potential long-term health related issues may be associated with the use of oxybenzone. As a general practice, we as a company only sell physical based sunscreens with either zinc or titanium.The advantages to using physical based block is that they (zinc and titanium based products) deflect instead of absorb UV and infrared rays. This is especially important to those of you who have melisma, brown spots, and other pigmentation related issues. It’s also important to note that a chemical based sunscreen is better than nothing. Please keep in mind many dermatologists believe that 90% of aging is caused by the sun, so do yourself a favor and lather up!
Moving forward
Hopefully you are learning some new things at this point. So far, we have covered cleansers, peptides, retinols, moisturizers, and sunscreen. It can be confusing and we are always happy to help. Feel free to check out our personalized skin care quiz as it is built to answer questions! We still have a lot more to go, so stay tuned for our next anti-aging secret post. Thank you as always for taking the time.
To your anti-aging,
Team Reflect
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