The Three Most Common Mistakes with Skincare

Our skin is our largest organ. It’s living and breathing and it protects your internal organs from the invasive and dangerous elements of life: viruses, bacteria, pollutants, and harsh weather, and the sun.

Many people don’t understand or fully appreciate the role that our skin plays in our overall health and well-being. Most of us focus on the physical, which is how our skin looks, rather than the process of reaching and maintaining that appearance through healthy choices. Caring for the skin begins far before the surface layer. Ignoring this results in the most commonly made mistakes with skincare:

What you put in your body nourishes your skin

Good skin care starts with what you feed your body. Maintaining a well-balanced diet with foods packed with vitamins, minerals, and proteins can ensure our skin looks and feels good. It’s also important to avoid or decrease harmful or toxic substances like smoking or consuming alcohol. Many celebrities and models, like Noami Cambell, actually stopped drinking altogether, for the sake of their skin, claiming it keeps their skin youthful and wrinkle-free. Too much alcohol is known to dehydrate the skin, which makes the skin more susceptible to wrinkles.

Supplementing your diet can also improve your skin. Vitamin A, C and E are wonderful for the skin and work to maintain hydrated and a firm skin texture. Beyond that, the easiest way to change your diet to alter your skin is to drink more water, to keep your skin and body hydrated!

Neglecting your skin when you're young

Often, when we are younger, we forget about skincare as the worries of ageing have yet to cross our minds. However, it’s never too early to start a preventive skincare routine. The easiest way to prevent ageing early on, is it wear sunscreen every day, even on the days you do not think you need it. Truth is, the sun is always out during the day, so there is never a time where we don’t have to protect our skin from UV Damage. The sun exposes our skin to UV Rays, which slowly damage the skin and cause premature signs of ageing: wrinkles, rough skin, liver spots etc.

Another important way to care for your skin early on is to make sure the skin is always hydrated. You can do this by routinely moisturizing your skin, especially in colder weather or after cleansing the skin. Hydrated skin is less susceptible to wrinkles and fine lines.

Using skin care products that promise instant results

For the most part, if a skincare product is promising instant or unbelievable results, it’s likely a broken promise. Skincare results take time because your skin needs time to process and acclimatize to a new product. New skin cells take time to renew, meaning no product will change your life overnight.

Instead, it’s best to look for products with more realistic promises and go even further to investigate the ingredients list. To see for yourself if the product can live up to its skincare claims. Oftentimes products with simpler ingredient lists are better for the skin as they typically contain less irritating or unnecessary chemicals that can dry out the skin and cause further issues.