Can you believe that spring will be here in a month? It feels like we were just celebrating NYE last week. With spring around the corner, is your skin ready? Let’s take a look at the top four ways you can get your skin looking young and bright for the upcoming season.
#4 Exercise
I know, this sounds like your new year’s resolution. But overall health is important to skin health. According to an article from Webmd, “ by increasing blood flow, exercise helps nourish skin cells and keep them vital. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to working cells throughout the body, including the skin.” Maintaining a healthy exercise regimen is important for many reasons regarding overall health but it also has the added benefit of keeping your skin look healthy too! When more nutrients and oxygen supply reaches your skin cells it can aid with regenerating collagen and long-term effects like veins/redness.
#3 Laser hair removal
Both men and women can do this. For ladies the obvious bikini area and legs are generally a no-brainer. For guys getting rid of the forest of back hair is a good move-- particularly for spring break and upcoming swim season. Getting laser hair removal can be a bit confusing. We wrote a full article about what to look for and how it works. If you have questions read the article here as it will answer a lot about the process.
#2 Increase the use of retinol
It doesn’t matter how old you are now. If you don’t have wrinkles at some point you’re going to get them. You can slow down the process and even reverse some of the effects of aging. In his book “The New Ideal in Skin Health: Separating Fact From Fiction” Dermatologist Dr. Carl Thornfeldt states, “Vitamin A and retinoids are known to modulate 1,200 of the 4,400 skin specific genes known to be involved in extrinsic aging.” Based on this fact we know retinol works. If you are already on it, now is the time to think about increasing the strength. If you haven’t started using retinol in your regimen now would be a good time to get started. Quick tip: A great product to start for retinol is Replenix’s All-trans-retinol 2X. One of the best parts of this product is you can move up in strength every couple of months and it has green tea which will help offset any inflammation caused by the retinol.
#4 Drink more water
I’m sure you have heard this many, many times. But it still rings true: most people don’t drink enough water. Yes, your double latte extra foam has some water in it, but not enough. According to an article published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, “our skin is 64.68% water.” If you then consider caffeine and alcohol are both diuretics (they make you go pee) you are losing water when you drink them. Easy tip: Visit your favorite outdoors retailer and buy a 32 oz Nalgene bottle. Fill it up at the beginning of the day and drink it as you go about your business. It’s an easy, cheap way to stay hydrated. Most public facilities have water available and a number of airports have free filtered water in their terminals.
Onto spring
The hope here is that you have learned some quick, easy ways to get your skin ready for spring. If you need some help getting started on the skin care front let us know. We build personalized skin care programs for both men and women. Should you wish to learn more about it, click here and take our skin care quiz.
To sunny days ahead,
Team Reflect
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