Wow, it’s been forever since I posted here! I thought a little post on aging was in order (as yesterday I got a color and cut, painted my nails and gave myself a teeth whitening and mini facial). I am 33 and trying, like most of you reading this to keep my youthful appearance. So, there are some very important things you need to know if you are trying to stay young looking as long as possible.

1. I can not stress this one enough, and I am always surprised to see how many clients are not using SUNSCREEN EVERYDAY. They care enough about their skin to come in for facials on a pretty regular basis, but for whatever reason they don’t understand how very important sunscreen is. I recommend an spf 30 physical sunblock (physical means it is primarily Zinc Oxide or Titanium Dioxide and it reflects harmful sun rays). I use the new ZinClear SPF 30 Nude…LOVE! Sun damage is the number 1 cause of external aging.

2. A topical antioxidant is like a multi-vitamin for your face. Antioxidants inhibit the inflammatory reactions that lead to aging. Some antioxidants I love are Co-Enzyme Q10, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Green tea and Grapeseed. There are lots of good ones out there. I have had a long time love affair with C-Lipoic Antioxidant Serum. It gives you a tingle sensation at first, but you get used to it. Antioxidants only need to be applied once a day.

3. Use a moisturizer my friends. Not a cheap one that will clog your pores (or an expensive one that will clog your pores). You need to protect and repair the barrier function of your skin. I am not saying to slather shea butter or cocoa butter all over your face. Also keep the body lotions on your body. I don’t like to hear that my clients are putting Vaseoline Intensive care on their face. If your skin is dehydrated, products will not penetrate to where they need to go. A best seller at Balance Skin Care (and my personal must have) is Revive Cream.

3. What is chemical exfoliation you ask? Well, ingredients like alpha hydroxy acids help to accelerate cell renewal, smooth out rough texture of the skin, and help the appearance of wrinkles. Exfoliation is one of my favorite things, and it is the gospel I preach to all my clients. A nice creamy Glycolic Cleanser is a good way to use a chemical exfoliator. I also like AHA creams that you leave on the skin. I am pregnant right now, so no Glycolic acid for me.

4. Did you know we can actually stimulate our collagen? Actifirm TS, ASC III and Alpha Hydroxy Acids and communicate to our dermal layer to stimulate the formulation of collagen. A good product for such stimulation of the dermal layer would be Collage Activating Complex.

5. Now for my very favorite. This is the product I would take with me (besides sunscreen of course) if I had to go to a desert island. I have been using this peptide product for 5 years straight and believe me, when I run out you can see it on my face. My wrinkles do come back with in a few days. What peptides do is influence skin to behave like younger skin. It helps with elasticity, expression lines, reducing puffiness and other helpful changes. I have to admit, I have a hard time getting my clients on my very favorite product because of the cost. At a little under $200 a bottle I can see why. However, I will continue to love and use Peptide Mobilizer until I find an even better miracle to replace it.

So that is my anti-aging rundown.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 5th, 2011 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Anti-Aging, Skin Care, Sun Protection, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.