
DYK, Sunscreen Isn’t The Only Way To Protect Your Skin From The Sun?
Not that we’re saying sunscreen isn’t important. It is. It SO is. But couple your daily SPF with these other sun safety tips and you can be happy knowing you're doing everything you can to protect your skin from the sun.
While we love the sun and, well, couldn’t survive without it, studies show that sunlight is the number one cause of external skin aging. Now, we don’t like to point the finger, but this means almost everything you hate about your skin – fine lines, wrinkles, rough texture, lack of firmness, dark spots, enlarged pores, the works – is primarily down to sun damage. Dang.
We constantly bang on about the importance of applying a broad-spectrum SPF 30 sunscreen daily and make no apologies for it. But today, we’re here to give that particular lecture a temporary rest because we want to talk about all the other things you can do to protect your skin from the slings and arrows of the sun.
Make the below a top priority this summer (along with your essential SPF, of course) and who knows, you might ward off those visible signs of premature aging just that little bit longer.
Apply Topical Antioxidants
As we’re sure you’re aware, we’re massive fans of topical antioxidants here at TruSkin. And one of the main reasons we love them? Sun damage control.
Exposure to the sun is one of the biggest causes of free radicals – those pesky compounds which love to do a number on your skin, destroying important proteins and causing what’s known as oxidative stress. Oxidative stress spells major bad news for your skin as it leads to the breakdown of collagen and elastin, resulting in lines, wrinkles and premature sagging.
The good news is antioxidants fight tooth and nail against free radicals to limit harm and keep your skin looking awesome for as long as possible. Studies have shown that two of the best antioxidants for sun protection are vitamins C and E. And more good news: we combine these two free radical-fighting powerhouses with hyaluronic acid in our Vitamin C Facial Serum. Apply it underneath your moisturizer and sunscreen daily to really amp up your protection game. But remember, antioxidants do NOT protect your skin from sun burn so don’t think applying a vitamin C serum makes you invincible from the sun. It does not.
Avoid Direct Sunlight Whenever You Can
Nothing beats lounging outside on a hot, sunny day. Actually, add a frozen margarita into the mix and now we’re getting somewhere. But sitting outside in the direct, midday sun? So not good for your skin. Shade always trumps sun, hands down.
Depending on the density and coverage of your chosen shady spot, sitting in the shade protects you from around 15 percent of UV light. Granted, this doesn’t sound like a lot, but when it comes to looking after your skin, we say every smidge of protection counts.
Look for a tree to sit under when picnicking in the park, or remember to take an umbrella if you’re going to spend a day out in the sun. And when looking to buy a new beach umbrella or awning, make sure you look for The Skin Cancer Foundation's Seal of Approval which guarantees the fabric has reached the minimum requirements of 30 UPF (ultraviolet protection factor).
Wear Protective Clothing
Did you know what you wear can also have an impact on your level of sun protection? Plus, clothes don’t wear off like sunscreen as an added bonus. Simple choices like wearing loose fitting clothes, long sleeves or densely woven fabrics such as denim or wool are way more protective for your skin than tight, stretchy or sheer clothing.
Also, according to The Skin Cancer Foundation, dark or bright colors are way better than lighter tones because they help absorb UV radiation before it reaches your skin, adding further protection from sun damage.
Finally, don’t forget a good, tightly-woven hat that doesn’t show too much light through it (you can always check this with a flashlight). A 3-inch brim around the entire circumference is optimum, but if you’re a baseball cap kinda gal, think about adding some kind of drape over your neck and ears to protect those delicate areas.
Don’t Forget Your Sunglasses
Looking after the skin around your eyes is arguably even more important than the skin on the rest of your face. How so? Because this area is thinner and more delicate meaning it’s much less efficient at protecting itself from environmental damage. Also, between 5 and 10 percent of all skin cancers are found on the eyelids. Big warning, right there.
Protect your eyes by wearing sunglasses all year round (even on cloudy days) and choose those that are 100 percent effective at blocking both UVA and UBA radiation. And remember, dry, dehydrated skin around your eyes will age you up super fast so always apply a hydrating eye cream twice daily. Try Hyaluronic Acid Eye Cream which, on top of HA, contains hard-working antioxidants and age-defying ingredients like plant peptides, panthenol and botanical oils.
Think About Your Diet
Last but not least, up your sun protection from the inside out by making a few smart healthy eating choices. Laden your diet with antioxidant-rich fruit and veggies like kiwis, berries, citrus fruits, tomatoes and broccoli and snack on almonds, walnuts and seeds to up your levels of omega 3 essential fats which help reduce UV-induced inflammation.
Studies have also shown that foods which are high in beta-carotene may also play a part in protecting your skin from sun damage. These included sweet potatoes, bell peppers, carrots, spinach and butternut squash.
(Don't forget, however, none of these steps are as important as regular sunscreen. Always, we repeat, always protect your skin with a broad-spectrum SPF 30 lotion or moisturizer as the final step in your morning routine)
More About This Article

Georgia Gould
Georgia is an award-winning beauty writer who has been in the business for over 20 years. British-born, she began her career as a magazine beauty editor in London before moving to San Francisco, CA in 2012 where she now continues her love as a freelance writer and editor. As well as her editorial work, Georgia has created content for many high-profile beauty brands, including Clarins, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, Simple and TRESemmé. Her passions include retinol (obviously), golfing, skiing and walking her beloved Schnauzer, Dave.
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Realistic skincare goals are the bomb. Because there’s always room for improvement when it comes to the look and feel of your skin.
Let’s get one thing clear. Striving for skin perfection is not something we subscribe to here at TruSkin. Better skin? Sure. But perfect skin? Hell no. In fact, does that even exist outside Hollywood movies and retouched glossy magazine covers? Probably not.
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve what you’ve been blessed with. That’s just human nature. Whether you’re done with your dull, lackluster skin or totally over your monthly breakouts, these are the kind of skin issues we can get on board with. Because wanting better things for your skin is realistic. It’s also attainable – especially when you’re armed with the right tools and a side of skincare knowhow.
On that note, read on for five of the most common skin goals – plus how to flip them into reality…
Skincare Goal #1: Glowing Skin
Dull skin that lacks radiance hits us all at some point. And whether it’s a temporary, day-after-the-night-before blip or a more long-term grievance, dull skin is usually related to one big issue: dehydration.
Dehydration can be a problem for any skin type – dry or oily – and it happens when your skin isn’t retaining enough moisture. Not to be confused with dry skin, which lacks sebum, dehydration occurs thanks to things like cold weather, stress, a lack of sleep, poor skincare choices and surprise, surprise, sun damage. Basically anything that screws up your barrier function and compromises your skin's ability to hold onto water.
But dehydration isn’t the only reason your skin might look kind of sad. Poor cellular turnover can also be an issue. Healthy, adult skin has a turnover rate of around 28 days (give or take) but as you age, this gets longer as your skin cells become sluggish and dead ones hang around longer than necessary.
To help get your glow back, we recommend two important things. First, increase your skin’s moisture levels by applying a hydrating serum twice daily. Try one that contains ingredients like hyaluronic acid or aloe vera. We love Hyaluronic Acid Serum when our skin is feeling thirsty.
Second up, add a little gentle exfoliation into your skincare routine. Our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is a great choice because it contains citric acid, a chemical exfoliator that helps dissolve the bonds that bind dead skin cells together.
Skincare Goal #2: Smaller-Looking Pores
Pores are kind of annoying, we agree. But they’re actually super important for your skin to function so don’t give them too much of a hard time, OK?
Your body has two types of pores: those that produce sebum (oil) and others than produce sweat. Oil-producing pores are tiny little openings found at the top of your hair follicles where they release sebum to moisturize and soften the skin.
This may sound innocent, but the problem starts when your sebaceous glands produce too much sebum than your skin really needs, causing your pores to stretch and become blocked. This is very common for oily and combination skin types, but here’s the thing – your pore size is determined by genetics which means that, no matter what you do, you can’t physically shrink them. However, there are many things you CAN do to help strengthen and firm your skin, and simultaneously help keep your pores in decent shape.
Keeping your skin clean and your pores clear of excess oils, makeup, sunscreen and the like is your most important play, but don't go too nuts. Gentle is the key. Try our new Tea Tree Super Cleanser+, followed by Ocean Minerals Super Toner for a pore-kicking cleansing routine that won’t strip your skin completely dry.
Skincare Goal #3: Less Visible Wrinkles
As the most common signs of aging, fine lines and wrinkles are a bugbear we all have to face at some point. And while it’s easy to say, ‘don’t worry about them,’ it’s much harder to actually put that into practice.
Lines and wrinkles usually appear on and around areas of the face that experience repeated muscle movement. This is because repetitive motions like laughing, frowning and smiling cause weaknesses and dips in the skin which, as your skin matures and it loses valuable proteins, don’t bounce back like they used to.
Once wrinkles start to set-in, they’re pretty tricky to eradicate with skincare products alone, but the best way to keep them at a minimum is to look after your collagen levels. And this is where the mighty retinol steps in.
Retinol is the gold-standard of skincare because it actually ‘communicates’ with your skin at a cellular level, encouraging it to rev up collagen and elastin production, accelerate cell turnover and neutralize skin-damaging free radicals. Pretty good stuff.
Try applying our awesome Retinol Facial Serum nightly (after patch testing, of course) to improve the appearance of your fine lines and wrinkles – and to help stop new ones from forming!
Skincare Goal #4: Fewer Breakouts
Pimples, spots, zits, breakouts, whatever you call them, welcome they are not. So annoying, then, that acne is the most common skin condition in the US and affects around 50 million of us every darn year!
Acne rears its ugly head (pun absolutely intended) when your pores get blocked up with an excess of sebum that mixes with dead skin cells and bacteria. Thanks to genetics, you’re either susceptible to acne, or you’re not. But plenty of other triggers can contribute to the frequency and severity of your breakouts. Hormones – yeah those again – are a major trigger, as is stress.
Obviously you can’t miraculously change your genetic makeup but there are plenty of skincare ingredients and helpful tricks for treating and controlling your breakouts. Our absolute go-to is Tea Tree Super Serum+ which combines tea tree oil with salicylic acid and niacinamide to create a powerful, yet gentle way to balance your skin and deal with unwanted pimples. Tea tree is one of the best ingredients for acne as its anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial AND way less irritating than things like benzoyl peroxide. What’s more you only need to apply it two or three times a week to see experience visible results.
Skincare Goal #5: A More Even Skin Tone
Fed up with dark spots that are totally killing your skin’s mojo? Dark spots, aka hyperpigmentation, appear when your skin produces too much melanin which is the pigment that gives it its color. The three main triggers are your hormones; skin trauma like a bite, burn or pimple; or the sun.
We like to blame the sun for all manner of things where the skin is concerned. But this is totally legit for it really does have a lot to answer for. Dark spots included. Even if the sun wasn’t the original trigger, the sun makes any dark spot so much worse in the long run.
This is why protecting your skin from the sun’s evil rays is the single most important thing you can do for dark spots and patchy skin. Broad-spectrum sunscreen is a must (hi there SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C) but don’t dismiss antioxidants, either, which have a very clever way of neutralizing free radical damage and shielding your skin from cumulative photodamage. Our go-to is always vitamin C which not only protects your skin from damage but also helps to fade the appearance of uneven skin that’s already come and bitten you on the butt! Try our classic Vitamin C Facial Serum twice daily, swapping it out for Vitamin C Super Serum+ two or three times a week, to really hit dark spots where it hurts.
AcneGood News! Your Skincare Goals Just Got Closer
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Big news, people: we have not one but two brand new collections of healthy aging skincare products to shout about. And boy are we gonna shout!
Aging is a funny business. Most of us hate our lined forehead or crow's feet, but when you think about it, mature skin that shows signs of a wear and tear should be a badge of honor. You’re 50… 60… 70… 80… whatever, and this means you’ve lived for many, many years. You have so many stories to tell and you have the wrinkles to prove it. What an awesome privilege!
However, as fabulous as it is to be alive and well as the decades whizz by, it’s human nature to crave for the skin you had at 25. But life isn’t like that. We all age. And we should accept and celebrate that.
As skin ages, many things happen at a cellular level. Most importantly, your collagen and elastin levels deplete which makes your skin thinner, weaker, less springy and more susceptible to the visible signs of aging. Sebum production also slows down making your skin feel drier than it used to. Then there’s all the other stuff like ceramides, hyaluronic acid and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) which work together to help keep your skin hydrated, protected and moisturized. Yeah, they all go south too.
As if natural aging wasn't enough to deal with, it then gets turbo boosted by, well, life. UV radiation is obviously the biggest culprit here, but other things like stress, diet, environmental pollution and lack of sleep all play their part in the rate at which your skin ages.
It's no wonder, therefore, that your poor skin starts to look less perky as you mature. So, give it a break – it’s endured a lot.
Celebrating your age is all well and good, however, but you want your skin to be as healthy as possible, right? Thankfully, there are many ways to help soften the blow of aging skin. Sunscreen, of course, is the major one. Then there’s the rest of your skincare regime which should include a gentle cleanser, facial serum, eye treatment and moisturizer at the very least. Granted, we have plenty of fabulous and extremely effective options that cover all these bases. We know that. You know that. But still, aging is important business and we’ve always felt like we were missing some seriously targeted products to help you age healthily and optimally.
Well, good news. Our scientists and developers have been working hard for many months to create five new healthy aging solutions to help maximize your skin’s potential as it matures. And yes, we know that five new products are a lot to take in, but don’t panic as they’ve been split into two collections – Collagen to help prevent and tackle the early signs of aging, and Longevity which works on correcting the existing signs of aging skin and protecting it from further damage.
So let's give a warm welcome to aging skin’s new BFFs…
The Collagen Collection
For Proactive, Healthy Aging Prevention
Did you know, your skin starts to produce around 1 percent less collagen every year from around the age of 20? Of course, everybody is different and you may be one of the lucky ones who manage to hold on to their full whack of collagen until much later. But the truth is, collagen depletion will happen eventually. And that’s a crying shame for the look and feel of your skin because collagen is an important protein that provides a foundation for healthy skin, acting like a brick wall to give it strength, structure and support.
Looking after your collagen at an early age is a great way to ensure your skin matures beautifully and naturally. And this was the exact thought process behind our NEW Collagen duo – Firming Collagen Day Lotion and Smoothing Collagen Serum.
Each patent-pending product is crafted to help strengthen your skin’s barrier function and comes packed with science-backed ingredients like vegan collagen peptides, ceramides, green algae and superfruits. Each of these ingredients were specifically chosen to fortify the skin, enhance firmness and shield your skin from environmental nasties. Everything you need when the early signs of aging start to appear.
Read more about the new Collagen products here…
The Longevity Collection
For Corrective, Healthy Aging
No matter how much you try to eradicate fine lines, wrinkles, dark spots and sagging skin before they appear, they’ll eventually get you in some way, shape or form. And if your skin is already showing signs of aging you’re going to love our NEW Longevity collection which includes three corrective healthy aging products: Renewing Longevity Moisturizing Cream, Depuffing Longevity Eye Cream and Rejuvenating Longevity Serum.
Formulated to help slow down the aging process of your skin, these patent-pending formulas not only help protect your skin against UV and blue light damage but they work hard to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles that have already appeared. And all this comes without the powers of the mighty (but often irritating) retinol.
As you know, retinol is the gold standard of the anti-aging world and has decades of proven research under its belt to show what a total baller it is for increasing cellular turnover, strengthening the skin’s supplies of healthy collagen and thus improving the tone, texture and hydration of your skin. The issue is that retinol can be a real headache for some skin types, making it dry, itchy, red and uncomfortable.
So, what’s the alternative? Well, we’ve packed our new Longevity products with what the internet is coining ‘nature’s alternative to retinol,’ – bakuchiol. Bakuchiol is a botanical extract that’s derived from the leaves and seeds of the babchi plant. It’s been used in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine for years to treat the skin and has more recently been proven to show similar anti-aging benefits to retinol – minus the irritating side effects. Gentle, non-irritating, ideal for morning and nightly use AND great for all skin types (even sensitive) bakuchiol is making a real name for itself right now.
All of our Longevity products harness the power of this incredible, natural powerhouse and combine it with other science-backed ingredients like snow algae and lingonberry stem cells. What’s more, clinical studies on these products are already showing fantastic results with 90 percent of users agreeing their skin’s roughness and dryness improved after 12 weeks *.
Read more about the new Longevity products here…
We can’t wait for you to try out these new skincare formulations. So what are you waiting for? Add to cart, now ;)
* Bakuchiol study conducted through Sytheon Ltd. Individual results may vary and are not intended to replace personalized skincare advice from a qualified healthcare professional.
SkincareSerious About Aging Skin? Then You Need To Try These!
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Realistic skincare goals are the bomb. Because there’s always room for improvement when it comes to the look and feel of your skin.
Let’s get one thing clear. Striving for skin perfection is not something we subscribe to here at TruSkin. Better skin? Sure. But perfect skin? Hell no. In fact, does that even exist outside Hollywood movies and retouched glossy magazine covers? Probably not.
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve what you’ve been blessed with. That’s just human nature. Whether you’re done with your dull, lackluster skin or totally over your monthly breakouts, these are the kind of skin issues we can get on board with. Because wanting better things for your skin is realistic. It’s also attainable – especially when you’re armed with the right tools and a side of skincare knowhow.
On that note, read on for five of the most common skin goals – plus how to flip them into reality…
Skincare Goal #1: Glowing Skin
Dull skin that lacks radiance hits us all at some point. And whether it’s a temporary, day-after-the-night-before blip or a more long-term grievance, dull skin is usually related to one big issue: dehydration.
Dehydration can be a problem for any skin type – dry or oily – and it happens when your skin isn’t retaining enough moisture. Not to be confused with dry skin, which lacks sebum, dehydration occurs thanks to things like cold weather, stress, a lack of sleep, poor skincare choices and surprise, surprise, sun damage. Basically anything that screws up your barrier function and compromises your skin's ability to hold onto water.
But dehydration isn’t the only reason your skin might look kind of sad. Poor cellular turnover can also be an issue. Healthy, adult skin has a turnover rate of around 28 days (give or take) but as you age, this gets longer as your skin cells become sluggish and dead ones hang around longer than necessary.
To help get your glow back, we recommend two important things. First, increase your skin’s moisture levels by applying a hydrating serum twice daily. Try one that contains ingredients like hyaluronic acid or aloe vera. We love Hyaluronic Acid Serum when our skin is feeling thirsty.
Second up, add a little gentle exfoliation into your skincare routine. Our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is a great choice because it contains citric acid, a chemical exfoliator that helps dissolve the bonds that bind dead skin cells together.
Skincare Goal #2: Smaller-Looking Pores
Pores are kind of annoying, we agree. But they’re actually super important for your skin to function so don’t give them too much of a hard time, OK?
Your body has two types of pores: those that produce sebum (oil) and others than produce sweat. Oil-producing pores are tiny little openings found at the top of your hair follicles where they release sebum to moisturize and soften the skin.
This may sound innocent, but the problem starts when your sebaceous glands produce too much sebum than your skin really needs, causing your pores to stretch and become blocked. This is very common for oily and combination skin types, but here’s the thing – your pore size is determined by genetics which means that, no matter what you do, you can’t physically shrink them. However, there are many things you CAN do to help strengthen and firm your skin, and simultaneously help keep your pores in decent shape.
Keeping your skin clean and your pores clear of excess oils, makeup, sunscreen and the like is your most important play, but don't go too nuts. Gentle is the key. Try our new Tea Tree Super Cleanser+, followed by Ocean Minerals Super Toner for a pore-kicking cleansing routine that won’t strip your skin completely dry.
Skincare Goal #3: Less Visible Wrinkles
As the most common signs of aging, fine lines and wrinkles are a bugbear we all have to face at some point. And while it’s easy to say, ‘don’t worry about them,’ it’s much harder to actually put that into practice.
Lines and wrinkles usually appear on and around areas of the face that experience repeated muscle movement. This is because repetitive motions like laughing, frowning and smiling cause weaknesses and dips in the skin which, as your skin matures and it loses valuable proteins, don’t bounce back like they used to.
Once wrinkles start to set-in, they’re pretty tricky to eradicate with skincare products alone, but the best way to keep them at a minimum is to look after your collagen levels. And this is where the mighty retinol steps in.
Retinol is the gold-standard of skincare because it actually ‘communicates’ with your skin at a cellular level, encouraging it to rev up collagen and elastin production, accelerate cell turnover and neutralize skin-damaging free radicals. Pretty good stuff.
Try applying our awesome Retinol Facial Serum nightly (after patch testing, of course) to improve the appearance of your fine lines and wrinkles – and to help stop new ones from forming!
Skincare Goal #4: Fewer Breakouts
Pimples, spots, zits, breakouts, whatever you call them, welcome they are not. So annoying, then, that acne is the most common skin condition in the US and affects around 50 million of us every darn year!
Acne rears its ugly head (pun absolutely intended) when your pores get blocked up with an excess of sebum that mixes with dead skin cells and bacteria. Thanks to genetics, you’re either susceptible to acne, or you’re not. But plenty of other triggers can contribute to the frequency and severity of your breakouts. Hormones – yeah those again – are a major trigger, as is stress.
Obviously you can’t miraculously change your genetic makeup but there are plenty of skincare ingredients and helpful tricks for treating and controlling your breakouts. Our absolute go-to is Tea Tree Super Serum+ which combines tea tree oil with salicylic acid and niacinamide to create a powerful, yet gentle way to balance your skin and deal with unwanted pimples. Tea tree is one of the best ingredients for acne as its anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial AND way less irritating than things like benzoyl peroxide. What’s more you only need to apply it two or three times a week to see experience visible results.
Skincare Goal #5: A More Even Skin Tone
Fed up with dark spots that are totally killing your skin’s mojo? Dark spots, aka hyperpigmentation, appear when your skin produces too much melanin which is the pigment that gives it its color. The three main triggers are your hormones; skin trauma like a bite, burn or pimple; or the sun.
We like to blame the sun for all manner of things where the skin is concerned. But this is totally legit for it really does have a lot to answer for. Dark spots included. Even if the sun wasn’t the original trigger, the sun makes any dark spot so much worse in the long run.
This is why protecting your skin from the sun’s evil rays is the single most important thing you can do for dark spots and patchy skin. Broad-spectrum sunscreen is a must (hi there SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C) but don’t dismiss antioxidants, either, which have a very clever way of neutralizing free radical damage and shielding your skin from cumulative photodamage. Our go-to is always vitamin C which not only protects your skin from damage but also helps to fade the appearance of uneven skin that’s already come and bitten you on the butt! Try our classic Vitamin C Facial Serum twice daily, swapping it out for Vitamin C Super Serum+ two or three times a week, to really hit dark spots where it hurts.
AcneGood News! Your Skincare Goals Just Got Closer
read more -
Realistic skincare goals are the bomb. Because there’s always room for improvement when it comes to the look and feel of your skin.
Let’s get one thing clear. Striving for skin perfection is not something we subscribe to here at TruSkin. Better skin? Sure. But perfect skin? Hell no. In fact, does that even exist outside Hollywood movies and retouched glossy magazine covers? Probably not.
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve what you’ve been blessed with. That’s just human nature. Whether you’re done with your dull, lackluster skin or totally over your monthly breakouts, these are the kind of skin issues we can get on board with. Because wanting better things for your skin is realistic. It’s also attainable – especially when you’re armed with the right tools and a side of skincare knowhow.
On that note, read on for five of the most common skin goals – plus how to flip them into reality…
Skincare Goal #1: Glowing Skin
Dull skin that lacks radiance hits us all at some point. And whether it’s a temporary, day-after-the-night-before blip or a more long-term grievance, dull skin is usually related to one big issue: dehydration.
Dehydration can be a problem for any skin type – dry or oily – and it happens when your skin isn’t retaining enough moisture. Not to be confused with dry skin, which lacks sebum, dehydration occurs thanks to things like cold weather, stress, a lack of sleep, poor skincare choices and surprise, surprise, sun damage. Basically anything that screws up your barrier function and compromises your skin's ability to hold onto water.
But dehydration isn’t the only reason your skin might look kind of sad. Poor cellular turnover can also be an issue. Healthy, adult skin has a turnover rate of around 28 days (give or take) but as you age, this gets longer as your skin cells become sluggish and dead ones hang around longer than necessary.
To help get your glow back, we recommend two important things. First, increase your skin’s moisture levels by applying a hydrating serum twice daily. Try one that contains ingredients like hyaluronic acid or aloe vera. We love Hyaluronic Acid Serum when our skin is feeling thirsty.
Second up, add a little gentle exfoliation into your skincare routine. Our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is a great choice because it contains citric acid, a chemical exfoliator that helps dissolve the bonds that bind dead skin cells together.
Skincare Goal #2: Smaller-Looking Pores
Pores are kind of annoying, we agree. But they’re actually super important for your skin to function so don’t give them too much of a hard time, OK?
Your body has two types of pores: those that produce sebum (oil) and others than produce sweat. Oil-producing pores are tiny little openings found at the top of your hair follicles where they release sebum to moisturize and soften the skin.
This may sound innocent, but the problem starts when your sebaceous glands produce too much sebum than your skin really needs, causing your pores to stretch and become blocked. This is very common for oily and combination skin types, but here’s the thing – your pore size is determined by genetics which means that, no matter what you do, you can’t physically shrink them. However, there are many things you CAN do to help strengthen and firm your skin, and simultaneously help keep your pores in decent shape.
Keeping your skin clean and your pores clear of excess oils, makeup, sunscreen and the like is your most important play, but don't go too nuts. Gentle is the key. Try our new Tea Tree Super Cleanser+, followed by Ocean Minerals Super Toner for a pore-kicking cleansing routine that won’t strip your skin completely dry.
Skincare Goal #3: Less Visible Wrinkles
As the most common signs of aging, fine lines and wrinkles are a bugbear we all have to face at some point. And while it’s easy to say, ‘don’t worry about them,’ it’s much harder to actually put that into practice.
Lines and wrinkles usually appear on and around areas of the face that experience repeated muscle movement. This is because repetitive motions like laughing, frowning and smiling cause weaknesses and dips in the skin which, as your skin matures and it loses valuable proteins, don’t bounce back like they used to.
Once wrinkles start to set-in, they’re pretty tricky to eradicate with skincare products alone, but the best way to keep them at a minimum is to look after your collagen levels. And this is where the mighty retinol steps in.
Retinol is the gold-standard of skincare because it actually ‘communicates’ with your skin at a cellular level, encouraging it to rev up collagen and elastin production, accelerate cell turnover and neutralize skin-damaging free radicals. Pretty good stuff.
Try applying our awesome Retinol Facial Serum nightly (after patch testing, of course) to improve the appearance of your fine lines and wrinkles – and to help stop new ones from forming!
Skincare Goal #4: Fewer Breakouts
Pimples, spots, zits, breakouts, whatever you call them, welcome they are not. So annoying, then, that acne is the most common skin condition in the US and affects around 50 million of us every darn year!
Acne rears its ugly head (pun absolutely intended) when your pores get blocked up with an excess of sebum that mixes with dead skin cells and bacteria. Thanks to genetics, you’re either susceptible to acne, or you’re not. But plenty of other triggers can contribute to the frequency and severity of your breakouts. Hormones – yeah those again – are a major trigger, as is stress.
Obviously you can’t miraculously change your genetic makeup but there are plenty of skincare ingredients and helpful tricks for treating and controlling your breakouts. Our absolute go-to is Tea Tree Super Serum+ which combines tea tree oil with salicylic acid and niacinamide to create a powerful, yet gentle way to balance your skin and deal with unwanted pimples. Tea tree is one of the best ingredients for acne as its anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial AND way less irritating than things like benzoyl peroxide. What’s more you only need to apply it two or three times a week to see experience visible results.
Skincare Goal #5: A More Even Skin Tone
Fed up with dark spots that are totally killing your skin’s mojo? Dark spots, aka hyperpigmentation, appear when your skin produces too much melanin which is the pigment that gives it its color. The three main triggers are your hormones; skin trauma like a bite, burn or pimple; or the sun.
We like to blame the sun for all manner of things where the skin is concerned. But this is totally legit for it really does have a lot to answer for. Dark spots included. Even if the sun wasn’t the original trigger, the sun makes any dark spot so much worse in the long run.
This is why protecting your skin from the sun’s evil rays is the single most important thing you can do for dark spots and patchy skin. Broad-spectrum sunscreen is a must (hi there SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C) but don’t dismiss antioxidants, either, which have a very clever way of neutralizing free radical damage and shielding your skin from cumulative photodamage. Our go-to is always vitamin C which not only protects your skin from damage but also helps to fade the appearance of uneven skin that’s already come and bitten you on the butt! Try our classic Vitamin C Facial Serum twice daily, swapping it out for Vitamin C Super Serum+ two or three times a week, to really hit dark spots where it hurts.
AcneGood News! Your Skincare Goals Just Got Closer
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