1. A good cleanser-I know we have all heard this before, but your cleanser matters! Getting your makeup off and the oil and dirt from the day is important to prep your skin for serums and creams you should be using after cleansing. A popular "trend" right now is double cleansing, but did you know that if you remove your makeup with a wipe or makeup remover and then wash your face with a cleanser, then you essentially are already double cleansing. The whole point is to make sure that you aren’t sleeping in any residual makeup and that your nighttime creams have the best chance of absorbing onto a clean palette.
But wait-where does exfoliation come in? Well, for many, it’s part of the cleansing step. I have a favorite face wash that I use, and it is an exfoliating cleanser. Are you ready for this? Proactive I have been using it since college, and I really love that I never have breakouts, which means I have fewer blemishes on my skin. I am not sponsored by Proactive, I just really love what it has done for my skin. If you get stubborn breakouts, this face wash is something you may consider.
2. A good hydrating cream: If I could go back to my 20s, I would smack myself across the face with some face cream. I think one of my biggest skincare whoopsies is that I thought I didn’t need to use face cream because I had oily skin (yes, past tense). I thought creams made me more oily. And yes, in general, having oily skin protects you from wrinkles more than if you have dry skin, but a cream is still very necessary! Think of all skin care as maintenance. Wouldn’t you rather keep that 20-year old skin looking fresh and youthful instead of trying to pedal backwards to erase fine lines in your 30s and 40s? Yeah, Me too. I wish I read this article in my 20s.
3. Tretinoin: Alright, alright, I get it. Tretinoin is likely all over your IG, TikTok, and #SkinTok, but what is it really and is this a new miracle cream? Tretinoin is a retinol cream. Retinols are topical vitamins A that come in a variety of formulations, some of which are available over the counter and others (such as Tretinoin) that require a prescription. what makes it a prescription is the concentration of the product. Retinol/vit A helps in cell turnover, meaning that with months and years of use, it can increase the collagen and elasticity of your skin, decrease fine lines, and lighten blemishes. It sounds amazing! Why isn’t everyone using it? Well, some just don’t know about it, some know but don’t know how to use it correctly, and some can’t use it due to pregnancy. So I will do a separate blog on Tretinoin and how to use it, so if you are interested in adding this step to your regimen, please read the Tretinoin blog.
4. Sunscreen: You know what else I'd slap on my face in my twenties? A hefty dose of sunscreen. Was it just my school that judged how good your spring break was by how tanned you were when you returned to class? Who else had a free tanning bed in their college apartment complex that they utilized before going out every weekend with their girlfriends? It was almost a competition to see who could get the best tan, and in order to achieve that beautiful glow, sunscreen was frequently left out of the equation. "Big NO." Not only does sunscreen help fight wrinkles and age spots, but it also helps protect you from skin cancer. Melanoma is a beast and you do not want to meet her. I will leave it at that. If you take nothing else from this blog, no more tanning beds and no more being out in the sun without sunscreen.
5. Botox: It was bound to happen. I can’t do a blog without mentioning the magic of neuromodulators! Ah, Botox. This little injection eases the fine lines around your eyes, smooths your forehead and takes away the frown lines between your brows. But how does it do it? Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, and Jeaveau are all neuromodulators that act on the muscle to weaken it. When injected in the right spots, it can take years off your look by decreasing the movements that wrinkle your skin. If you raise your brows, do wrinkles form on your forehead? Neuromodulators would relax that motion so the wrinkles don’t form. So what does this mean? Botox is PREVENTATIVE. It prevents your skin from forming deep lines that are due to muscle movement. What else does this mean? If you already have deep wrinkles that are present at rest (not lifting your brows or furrowing them, or squinting your eyes- just your natural face resting), then Botox may not get rid of those wrinkles, as Botox targets the MUSCLE and not the wrinkle itself. If the wrinkle is present when the muscle is relaxed, paralyzing the muscle will have minimal effect on that stubborn wrinkle. If Botox is something you want to try, I do not recommend waiting until your 60s to try it. By then, wrinkles have already formed, and you will not get the full preventative benefit from your treatment. However, if you do have some wrinkles already, Botox can help soften them.
So what have we learned here? Botox is part of your skin care. It prevents you from creasing your skin and maintains your youthful skin for future years. We would love to see you in our MediSpa to help you achieve this!