Skin Care Tips For Your Face

Every single day of your life the skin on your face is exposed to the weather and to pollution which over time can take its toll on the skin. To keep the skin on your face looking youthful, radiant and healthy you're going to have to look after it properly and make sure it gets the right treatment both on the outside and from the inside.

Tips for caring for face skin on the outside

Some people are born with naturally healthy skin and can maybe get away with doing very little to care for their skin, however, eventually, time takes its toll so a good face care routine is still important. Others of course are less fortunate and have to deal with common skin problems such as blemishes, pimples, rashes, open enlarged pores, blackheads, white heads and allergic reactions to face skin products.

A good face care routine involves cleansing the skin to remove all the day's dirt and grime as well as make up and moisturising the skin to replace moisture that has been lost. Some people like to use toners on their skin too to remove the last traces of cleanser, make up, dirt and grime but if you have a good enough cleanser there is often no need to use a toner.

Moisturising the skin on a daily basis after cleansing the skin will help to keep replace lost moisture and keep the skin supple and smooth. Invest in a good quality moisturiser for every day use.

Skin that is dehydrated looks and feels dry to the touch, is dull, can have flaky patches and generally doesn't look as healthy as skin that is well cared for. Avoid using soap on the skin no matter what your skin type is but particularly if you have dry skin as soap can dry out the skin even more.

Exfoliating is one part of a skin care regime that is often omitted, however the process of exfoliating helps to remove dead skin cells and encourages healthy looking skin. There are various ways of exfoliating the skin but the easiest is to use a simple exfoliating scrub on a weekly basis. However, when buying an exfoliating scrub for the face make sure that it is one that contains only fine grains as course grains can damage the skin.

Use a sun screen if you need to be in the sun for any length of time. Although your skin needs a certain amount of sunlight in order to get the required amount of vitamin D, the sun is enemy number one for the skin. You just have to look and see what has happened to the skin of people who have spent many years outdoors or in the sun to see. The skin takes on a 'weathered' look and has many more lines and wrinkles than skin that has been protected from the sun.

Only use tepid water on your skin as hot water will dry the skin and encourage broken capillaries.

Tips for caring for your skin from the inside

Obviously the number one factor that you have to consider when caring for your skin on the inside is a balanced diet with a variety of different foods in order to get the right nutrients that your skin needs. Skin renews itself completely in around 28 days so anything you put in your diet is going to show up in your skin very quickly.

However, today we may think we have a great diet if we eat natural organic foods, avoid eating too much meat, have cut down on fat, have eliminated fried foods, and we make sure we get our five portions of fruit and vegetables on a daily basis as well as drink at least a litre and half of water a day.

Yes this could be considered a good diet but today we also have a problem in that this doesn't provide us with enough of the right kind of Omega 3 fatty acids that our skin needs which is only really found in fish so without an adequate amount of fish in our diet, our skin is going to suffer.

Unfortunately we are advised not to eat too much fish due to the toxins they contain but fish, particularly oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines and tuna, actually have one ingredient that our skin craves and that is the Omega 3 fatty acid known as Eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA.

EPA is anti-inflammatory, it thins the blood and helps the blood to flow more easily right throughout the body taking with it those nutrients that we need for health and for healthy skin.

Fortunately, you can take fish oil supplements that contain EPA and this will not only help promote healthy, clear, radiant skin, it also offers other important health benefits too as it can help prevent heart disease, arthritis and even depression. Fish oil is a natural mood booster. Interestingly, one of the first indications that you are not getting enough Omega 3 fatty acids in your diet is unhealthy skin, hair and nails.