More people than ever want glowing skin. But achieving it can be elusive for many.
It seems that everyone on Instagram has flawless skin, but you can’t seem to get your skin to look clear, radiant and glowing. You’ve dropped a small fortune on skin care products and beauty supplements, but your skin doesn’t look any different. You feel totally disheartened.
How to get glowing skin is one of the most asked beauty questions. Most articles just promote products to buy. We’re here to reveal the truth behind what you need to do and how to do it. Now you can finally stop spending a small fortune on products that don’t work or actually make your skin look worse.
Here are some of the ways you can improve your skin so that it looks radiant. And best of all, your overall health will get a boost too.
1. Glowing skin doesn’t come in a single bottle or jar. It’s all about your total health, first and foremost. Start with correct nutrition. It’s not just what happens on the outside that matters. Overall wellness, gut health and nutrition are essential to skin health too. Ensure you follow a nutritious and varied diet that’s high in nutrients, including lean protein, lots of antioxidants, complex carbs and essential fatty acids.
Of course, you need to be ditching cigarettes and limiting alcohol. Keep hydrated by drinking adequate amounts of filtered water.
2. Keep stress under control. Ongoing high levels of stress cause your body to produce more of the stress hormone, cortisol, and this can increase in your heart rate and blood pressure, and put you at increased risk of many health conditions. Cortisol also increases inflammation and this can affect your health and your skin. Not only can it cause a flareup of existing skin conditions, such as acne and eczema, it can cause accelerated skin ageing. And it makes your skin look dull, tired and dry too.
3. Sleep is fundamental to your mental and physical health, but it’s also an overlooked beauty secret. Sleep allows the mind and body, including the skin, to repair themselves. The skin is the body’s largest organ and, like other organs, it needs time to rest and recover. During sleep, blood flow in the skin increases, UV damage is repaired and collagen is produced, helping to reduce hyperpigmentation and wrinkles. Seven to nine hours of quality sleep is needed each night.
4. One of the most inexpensive ways you can make your skin look great is to diligently follow sun protection practices. Did you know that UV radiation accounts for about 80% of skin’s visible ageing? It causes wrinkles, sagging, hyperpigmentation, rough skin and other issues, including skin cancers. Protect yourself from the sun as much as possible and make sure you apply a broad-spectrum high SPF sunscreen daily. The sun causes UVB and UVA damage and the effects are cumulative. Remember that even incidental sun exposure can result in premature skin ageing.
5. Exercise helps increase blood flow in the body. Our blood carries oxygen and nutrients to cells throughout the body to keep them alive and healthy. It also improves the drainage of fluids and the removal of waste products, including those damaging free radicals. Working up a sweat helps the body to better remove toxins and clear pores. But make sure you wash that sweat off to prevent breakouts.
Exercise also promotes the formation of new skin cells and the synthesis of collagen, making skin look bouncier, less wrinkled and glowing. And for added benefit, exercise reduces cortisol, enhances sleep and improves immune function. No wonder doctors sometimes prescribe exercise in the same way they would a drug!
6. Even if you do all of the above, your skin won’t look any better if you don’t properly care for it and use the right products. The right products are not necessarily the most expensive ones or those most promoted by social media influencers. Many beauty products make big promises, but don’t really deliver. Educate yourself to be able to read an ingredient label so you know which clinically proven ingredients to look for and which ones to avoid. In this way, you can improve your skin health and get results. There’s a lot of conflicting and incorrect information online, but authoritative websites and blogs such Skin Clinica can help you.
To get you started here are a few of our top skin care tips:
- Avoid harsh and irritating ingredients that can damage your skin barrier.
- Cleanse thoroughly each day using a non-drying cleaner to remove impurities, pollutants, makeup and sunscreen.
- Exfoliate, according to your skin type, to maintain cell turnover, improve tone and discolourations, and promote collagen production.
- Use an anti-ageing serum at night, such as a retinoid or peptide complex, to reduce visible wrinkles and sagging.
- Use a moisturiser to hydrate and protect the skin every day, even if you have oily skin. Choose a moisturiser that suits your skin type.
- Incorporate an eye cream. The skin around the eyes is thinner and more fragile than other skin and needs extra care using the right ingredients. Look for those that target darks circles, puffiness and fine lines.
- Wear a broad-spectrum high SPF sunscreen daily, as we’ve already mentioned.
Don’t be too impatient. To see results, you need to be consistent and give these changes enough time to have an effect. Your efforts will eventually pay off and everyone will be asking you why you look like you’ve stepped out of a day spa.
Stay positive, smile often and be generous. A happy, kind face always looks younger and more radiant, naturally.
