When it comes to taking care of your skin, it isn’t really all about vanity, it’s about health. The condition of the skin can determine, from a glance, how healthy someone is. A warm glow, with great color, smooth surface, free of blemishes, tells us that someone is healthy. A red nose, splotchy cheeks, and red eyelids can tell us that someone is perhaps an alcoholic, because we know alcohol breaks down the small capillaries in the face and leads to a mottled, rough complexion, with the tell-tale redness that says, “my capillaries are bleeding” and they often don’t even realize that it’s that easy to tell.
Rashes and rough spots are symptomatic of underlying issues, as are discolorations and spots. Your skin is the suit that you wear each day. Your skin holds you together and provides a protective layer against the elements. It absorbs Vitamin D from the sunshine to help your body metabolize daily. Skin contains layers that house capillaries, these tiny blood vessels supply oxygen-rich blood to the vast outer reaches of your body. Your finger-tips, toes, eyelids, earlobes, and the tip of your nose all have tiny capillaries that supply oxygen to the skin located there. This blood supply is responsible for the tone and glow of your skin. This rings true for persons of any color. A person with dark skin that is not hydrated and lacks good blood flow will appear ashy and dull. Someone with a fair complexion will be paler with dull skin. Skin should radiate a warm glow that is apparent no matter what your skin color. Your skin contains glands within it that sweat, to function as a heating and cooling source – you skin is a radiator. Your skin can even absorb water through its cells and help hydrate the body through submersion. This brings us to the first of the 5 ways to get glowing:
Water
The human body is mostly comprised of water. Water is what keeps you functioning. Water is the basis of life itself. Each cell in your body is filled with fluid, of which water is a large component. Water makes up 50%-78% of your body, depending upon your age and how well you hydrate. Each function of the body requires water. Water helps the body break down food and move that food through the intestines, where it is absorbed into the body. Water is the catalyst which moves nutrients through your system, from one vital organ to the next. Water is a component of your blood, keeping it thin and circulating efficiently. Water also keeps the blood cool, which also acts as a radiator. Cooling the blood cools the body. Water flushes the kidneys and not drinking enough water can contribute to kidney stones, gall bladder stones, chronic constipation, dry skin, dandruff, and poor complexion.
Sunshine
Getting plenty of vitamins and minerals is important to keeping your skin healthy, as well as the rest of your body, but you can’t process vitamin D without enough sunshine. Yes, the body needs to be exposed to sunshine to activate vitamin D to work. Vitamin D is necessary for the body to be able to absorb magnesium, calcium, and phosphate. It’s also responsible for countless metabolic functions, and so is magnesium. If you aren’t getting enough sunshine to activate the vitamin D in your body, you won’t get a lot of health benefits, one of which is the enzyme activity that keeps your skin healthy. It should also be noted that you don’t want to expose your skin to too much sunlight. Remember that UVB rays can be dangerous and overexposure to it is a cancer risk, as well as encouraging sunburn. Use a good skin protection that helps block the dangerous UVB rays so that you can safely get a dose of sunshine without the risks of harming your skin. It is a balance, so be aware and be prepared.
Skin Care Routine
It’s important to have a regular skin care routine. Facial masks that help pull black heads, cleanse the pores, gently scrub to encourage sloughing of dead skin cells and regrowth of new ones – this is what causes you to glow, those brand-new cells. Your skin cells die rapidly and will look dull on the surface, scrubbing them away as gently as possible, because your face is extremely sensitive, will reveal the new growth cells underneath. Many people swear by facial brushes for this sloughing of the skin cells. Other people do dry brushing with a natural bristled brush over the entire body. This process will remove the dead skin cells and promote circulation, which helps to rejuvenate and promote the growth of new, healthy skin cells. Using moisturizers that won’t make skin oily but provide a balance of vitamin E or collagen, which promote hydration and nutrients that maintain healthy skin is important. Collagen is produced by our body and promotes new cell growth. As we age, our collagen production diminishes, and this is what causes dull, thin skin. Using collagen supplements will promote thicker hair, thicker nails, and fresher looking skin that resists tearing – a major problem of some people in their golden years.
Eat Well
What you put in your mouth is the fuel that you are providing your body, which is one of the most intricate and technologically advanced engines every designed. When one part of your system fails, the entire system stops functioning at peak performance. There’s quite a list of things to keep track of to have nice skin, eh? Water, vitamin supplements, nutrition, sunlight…. but all of these are links in a chain. When one of these links is broken, the rest of the links are disconnected and don’t function as a complete unit. The foods that you eat are the source that powers your engine, your gasoline. If you run cheap fuel, your system will get sluggish, develop clogs and result in a poorly functioning heart, or endocrine system (responsible for flushing out waste products from your body), or internal organs will begin to fail (liver and kidneys, or heart muscle). Everything that goes in your mouth can make you sick or make you well. It’s up to you how you choose to eat but eating well will provide your cells with the nutrients that they need to subdivide into new cells that are healthy and hydrated. In this way, you are feeding your cells so that they are in peak condition. Again, this will give you that healthy glow everyone is seeking. People who drink water tend to have far less acne and oils that build-up on the surface of the skin, which ultimately lead to blackheads and pimples. Water is part of the systems that flush and remove toxins that cause the underlying infections that cause pimples. Combined with proper nutrition and a skin care regimen, eating well ensures that your skin stays healthy and glowing at every stage of your life.
Cleansers
Skin care products on the market are not all created equal. Using a product that is gentle, yet effective at removing dirt, debris, and oil from the skin that clog pores is essential. You also want to provide nutrition and clinical support right at the source, so using the proper products for your skin type is especially important to ensure the nutrients to hydrate and feed your cells via topical application are also extremely an important part of your routine. CBD oils are one of the new products on the market that show amazing ability to promote cell growth and health. Full of rich omega oils, CBD products are gentle and effective for skin care. Using a skin cleanser that has salicylic acid will remove the layer of debris that exists on the outer layer of your face. This is a layer of muck, made of dead cell matter, oil, dirt and debris from the air around you, and germs. This ingredient is what comprises the active ingredient in most face creams worth their weight in salt.
It should also be noted that as we age, we can develop dark spots in our skin. Skin cancer, known as melanomas, can also develop. These should always be checked by a dermatologist or your doctor, who may refer you to a skin specialist. Don’t ever ignore a growth or a mole that suddenly changes shape or color. A dark spot that appears suddenly and seems to get larger should be investigated. Never risk your health and understand that no matter how great you are about taking care of your skin and your body, sometimes genetics will play a role in developing certain types of cancer. Skin cancer, if caught early and treated, is rarely a death sentence anymore. In fact, the odds are good that early diagnosis and removal will be a minor ordeal with no reoccurrence. Sun exposure is often the cause of melanoma that develops later in life. It’s common that when we are younger, we aren’t so concerned about sun burn and over-exposure. If you have ever suffered an awfully bad sunburn, the odds of developing a melanoma later in life are increased dramatically. Be advised, be prepared, and be vigilant. Cancer is treatable when caught early. That is the key. If you pay attention, you’ll catch those odd-looking moles, dark spots, and weird rashes. See a doctor, get it checked and make sure that you know what you’re dealing with. This is the best advice you can be given.
New Products
There are many new products on the market to help with facial care. Rotating brushes that help blood flow and to brush away dead cells are popular. Be careful using these. Some people have overly sensitive skin that doesn’t tolerate the brushing all that well. Oils marketed as “serums” are available and only require a few drops of this oil to be applied daily. Be sure about all the ingredients that are in these products. Sometimes allergies are a problem, so if you know you are allergic to certain things, make certain that these products do not contain anything that could cause you to break into a rash. Also, be advised that some things can be absorbed into your body and make you physically ill. Read labels so that you know what you are using.
New products can sometimes be misleading. Marketing tactics can make it seem like a product is the best that ever existed, when it is potentially the worst for you. The next person may not have the same experience, so only you can be the judge of how something works, but reading reviews isn’t a bad idea. Knowing the ingredients and interactions with allergies you have, or medications you use, is also important. Using products that are as natural as possible is always a good idea. This is probably one of the reasons that CBD oil product for the skin have become so popular, since CBD is a plant-based oil.
Some skin care products are tested on animals in laboratories. If this is not acceptable to you, do some research on product lines. If they test on animals, they are required to let consumers know. Consumers have a plethora of information available at their fingertips now, more than at any other time in history, thanks to the internet. You can view a company’s financial profile, business tactics, reviews, product lines and ingredients, and even what their stock is currently trading at with the touch of your cell phone screen and a good search engine. We live in the age of information. You can learn the science behind skin care and determine what is right for your skin type. There is no reason to settle for the same cream that your mother used.
If you want an overnight cream, a mask, a day cream, a once per week serum, a light that you sit under, an exfoliator, a smooth cream, a collagen cream, something to remove bags under your eyes, or simply a referral to a great dermatologist, you can find it online. The key is to determine what your problem areas are, find out what solves these particular issues, and then look for the products that will do this for you. Remember that skin is very different from one person to the next because everyone is eating differently and getting different vitamins. Some people find that they never have to use a skin care product to get a healthy glow because they drink a ton of water and eat very well. In fact, the group of people who seem to have the fewest skin issues are vegetarians. Take that into consideration when thinking about your diet and skin care. Your dermatologist will likely have a lot to say about the skin care products that they would recommend for you and are always a great source of information. If you don’t have a dermatologist, there’s no harm in making an appointment and getting a consultation if you feel that you need the extra help in finding a solution. Most people will find, in the end, that eating right, drinking enough water, and using dietary supplements to ensure proper nutrition is all that they need to get and keep that healthy glow.