True Radical Honesty From Our Community

If you're an SPF-all-year kind of person, hats off to you. But if you're not quite there yet, hopefully we can change that by filling you in on the dangers of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.

If only the sun made your skin as happy as your heart. But as delightful as it is to feel the warm rays of sunshine on your skin, the perils of what’s going on just below the surface are simply not worth it.
 
The truth is, as far as your skin is concerned, the sun is the enemy. If you suffer with dermatitis or rosacea, you’ll be well aware of how heat from infrared radiation can irritate and inflame your skin. And don’t even get us started on prickly heat which occurs when blocked pores trap sweat under your skin, causing blisters and bumps that itch and burn like crazy.

No fun at all.

But the sun isn’t solely about heat. For where there is sun there is also sunlight. And along with sunlight, comes ultraviolet (UV) radiation – the biggest cause of premature skin aging and skin cancer. Let us explain…

What Is UV Radiation? The Science Bit

The sun is split into many forms of energy called the electromagnetic spectrum. Most of the electromagnetic spectrum is invisible to the naked eye and thankfully the earth’s atmosphere protects us from exposure to a lot of the harmful stuff.

But even the light that does reach the earth, which falls mainly in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum, has its pros and cons. Infrared radiation creates heat, visible light encompasses everything you see and ultraviolet radiation? Well, other than providing your body with vitamin D which, granted, plays an important role in bone and muscle health, its effects are mainly bad. And they all concern your skin.

But first, it’s important to understand the difference between the three types of UV radiation: UVA, UVB and UVC. Bear with us for few more science facts and then we’ll move on: promise.

The Difference Between UVA, B and C

UV radiation is split into three types of rays with various wavelengths. UVA rays have the longest wavelength and are able to penetrate right through the atmosphere. UVB rays have slightly shorter wavelengths which means that some get absorbed by the ozone layer, but most work their way through. And then you have UVC rays which are the shortest of the lot and are completely absorbed by the atmosphere. Phew.

This makes your main concerns UVA and UVB rays.

Due to their longer wavelength, UVA rays penetrate right through clouds and windows which means two things. 1. They’re present all year round, and 2. They can still get you, even when you’re inside. Their wavelength also allows them to penetrate deeper below your skin’s surface into the dermis where they can have disastrous effects, producing skin-damaging free radicals, upsetting collagen and elastin production, indirectly harming DNA and accelerating the visible signs of aging such as fine lines, wrinkles, sagging and discoloration.

UVB rays, with their shorter wavelength, are often filtered by clouds and only penetrate the outer layers of your skin. But this doesn’t mean they’re any less damaging. Far from it. In fact UVB rays are responsible for causing redness, sunburns and directly damaging DNA. They’re also thought to be the root cause of most skin cancers.

Protecting your skin from both UVA and UVB radiation, therefore, is super important. In fact, it could not be more important.

How To Protect Your Skin From UV Damage: Your Sun-Safe Checklist

1. Make Sunscreen Your Top Priority

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sunscreen is one of the most important ways to shield your skin from damaging UVA and UVB radiation. But it’s not enough to grab any old formulation, slap it on your skin and hope for the best. You must also ensure these important details are always top of mind…

• Understand Your SPF: Sunscreens must have an SPF (sun protection factor) which denotes how well they block out UVB radiation. SPF 15 blocks around 93 percent with anything above that adding just a small amount of extra coverage. It's generally agreed, however, that SPF 30 is the sweet spot because most of us don’t apply enough product! But remember, SPF only speaks to UVB protection, not UVA. This means you must always look for formulations that are labelled ‘broad-spectrum’ to ensure you have sufficient protection from both. Good news: Our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen checks both boxes.  

• Don’t Scrimp: Speaking of your application, to help you get the protection that’s promised on the bottle, you should apply a good two tablespoons to your body and a nickel-sized amount for your face. And if you’re in the sun for longer periods of time? Then make sure you reapply every two hours at the very least.
• Know That Waterproof Sunscreen DOES NOT EXIST: According to the FDA there is no such thing as waterproof sunscreen because they're always going to eventually wash off. Sunscreen can be water-resistant for 80 minutes at best, so check your product before hanging around in a pool for hours.
• Go Mineral, All The Way: The FDA currently deems just two sunscreen ingredients as safe and effective – zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. These are mineral sunscreens that sit on your skin and reflect UV radiation before it has a chance to do damage. This is why our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen has been formulated with non-nano zinc oxide. Because it’s the best!

2. Cover-Up & Embrace Shade

Broad-brimmed hats, sunglasses, long-sleeved shirts, pants and maxi skirts are great for providing protection from UV radiation so try to cover-up whenever you can and especially during the midday sun. UV radiation is at its strongest between 10 am and 4 pm when the sun’s rays have less distance to cover.

Also, make the shade your BFF. Good shade from dense trees, walls, large rocks or an umbrella can protect your skin from around 15 percent of UV light. And that’s not to be sniffed at.

3. Avoid Tanning Beds Like The Plague

The sun isn’t the only source of UV radiation. Tanning beds use fluorescent lightbulbs that emit a huge amount of UVA radiation, with a little UVB thrown in for good measure. What’s more, studies show that this type of artificial UV radiation can be up to three times more intense than natural sunlight.

Add to this the fact that most people don’t apply sunscreen before jumping on a tanning bed and this whole sorry affair is asking for trouble.

Say NO to tanning beds. End of.

4. Love Your Vitamins

Exposure to the sun causes free radicals which, as you know, love to ruin your skin, destroying important proteins, breaking down collagen and elastin and making your skin age up lightning fast.

Thankfully, antioxidants are to free radicals what Batman is to the Joker. A total killjoy. Antioxidants like vitamins C and E neutralize free radicals to limit their damage and help keep your skin strong, supple and resilient. We combine these two free radical-fighting powerhouses in our Vitamin C Facial Serum which makes this a great morning treatment to apply underneath your moisturizer and sunscreen to amp up your protection game.

5. Check Your Skin

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, one in five Americans will develop melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, in their lives. What’s more, the majority of these cases can be attributed to UV exposure. We repeat: protect, protect, protect...

It’s also vital to regularly examine your skin and specifically your moles. When caught early, skin cancer has a 98 percent cure rate, so if you notice anything that looks suspicious you should immediately get it checked out by a skin specialist or doctor. Not sure what a suspicious mole looks like? The Skin Cancer Foundation has a great guide here to help you detect the warning signs.

Because, sure, it's extremely important, but summer is not only about SPF, SPF and more SPF…

When we talk of summer skincare, the first thing that always springs to mind is sunscreen. And rightly so. Protecting your skin from that fire ball in the great big sky is one of the most important things you can do for the health of not only your skin, but your entire body. The hard truth is that the sun is accountable for between 80 and 90 percent of external skin aging (ouch!). And not only does it break down important proteins in your skin (hello collagen and elastin), accelerating wrinkles and dark spots but, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation, UV radiation is the number one cause of skin cancers. In fact, around 90 percent of nonmelanoma skin cancers are associated with exposure to the sun.

Scary stuff, right?

Knowing how to protect your skin from the damaging rays of the sun is an important skincare lesson. Feel like you’re not quite on the ball? Well, we’re not going to go into it today because all you need to know is right here. Instead, we're here to talk about everything else involved in summer skincare because warm weather brings a whole slew of other challenges for your skin.

Thankfully, there are many ways to up your summer skincare game to ensure your complexion stays looking fabulous all the way through fall…

1. Level Up Your Cleansing Routine

Why: Hot, steamy days mean one thing: sweat. You have between two and four million sweat glands all over your body, a large number of which are found on your forehead on cheeks. This means your cleansing game needs to be on point to ensure your pores are kept clean and clear.

How: Gel or foam face washes that contain deep cleaning ingredients like activated charcoal, tea tree oil or salicylic acid are great for the summer months. We’re currently in love with our new Tea Tree Super Cleanser which is refreshing and leaves your skin super clean. Cleanse your face every morning and more importantly, every night (when you’ll be at your sweatiest!) using lukewarm, never hot water. And make sure you get right into your hairline as this area is particularly prone to breakouts in the summer.

PS: Cleansing your body every evening is also super important if you’ve been slathered in sunscreen all day.

2. Avoid Pore-Clogging Ingredients

Why: While we’re on the topic of clogged pores, it’s not just sweat you need to worry about in the summer. Excess oils, dirt, debris, sunscreen and makeup can also get jammed in your pores, leading to breakouts on your face and body.

How: Again, regular cleansing is key, but to help keep your pores clear in the first place, try to also use non-comedogenic products across your entire skincare routine.

'Non-comedogenic’ is the term used for ingredients that are unlikely to block your pores. Rich butters and heavy oils, for example, are awesome for locking moisture into your skin and protecting your barrier function. But, they are not non-comedogenic. Far from it. Instead, look for lighter moisturizing ingredients like jojoba oil and shea butter, as well as hydrating gems such as glycerin and hyaluronic acid. You’ll find all of these in our awesome Retinol Moisturizer. And yes, contrary to popular belief you CAN use retinol in the summer.

3. Exfoliate (In Moderation)

Why: Another way to keep summer breakouts at bay is to exfoliate more often than normal. Exfoliation increases cellular turnover and rids your skin of dead skin cells which are not something your pores want to deal with on top of everything else.

How: Over-exfoliating your skin is never wise and it’s one of the biggest issues derms have to deal with. However, if you’re going to up your game, now’s the time to do it. Just tread carefully. Think two or three times a week rather than every day and switch out harsh scrubs containing skin-damaging fruit shells or nut pieces for a gentler product like Ocean Minerals Super Toner which contains naturally exfoliating glycolic acid.

4. Make Friends With Antioxidants

Why: The sun is one of the leading causes of free radicals in the skin. And as innocent as they sound, free radicals have zero redeeming qualities. They’re basically unstable molecules that damage your skin by trying to bind themselves to important proteins and DNA. This causes a process called oxidative stress which weakens collagen and elastin and ages you up in no time. The good news? Antioxidants to the rescue! These little skincare geniuses bind themselves to free radicals, preventing them from damaging all the good stuff in your skin.

How: Antioxidants are awesome all year, but they’re especially important in the summer when you spend more time in the great outdoors. If you’re looking for the cream of the crop we recommend bringing out the big guns, namely vitamins C and E. This antioxidant double act not only reduces oxidative stress, but helps prevent dark spots, reduces the appearance of fine lines and works hard to boost collagen production. Apply just a few drops of Vitamin C Facial Serum every morning after cleansing and before moisturizing to get your daily quota.

5. Don’t Stop Believin'... In Moisturizer

Why: Moisturizing may feel counter-intuitive in the warmer months when your skin feels sweatier and oilier than normal. But here’s the thing, natural oils and sweat do not keep your skin hydrated and moisturized. In fact, the summer heat can dehydrate your skin which will make your skin produce even more oil than normal. And that’s what we call a vicious beauty circle. Thankfully, the solution is simple: continue to moisturize to hydrate your skin, promote cellular turnover and protect your skin's important barrier function.

How: Choose lighter products that won’t clog your pores or make your skin feel heavy and sticky, and look out for moisturizers that are high on humectants. Humectants are ingredients like aloe, hyaluronic acid and glycerin which draw water to the surface of your skin to help keep it hydrated. Try Hyaluronic Facial Serum each night before bed, followed by Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream to moisturize and recharge your skin while you sleep.

Finally, of course, you should continue to apply a daily broad spectrum SPF30 to any exposed skin.

But we hope that goes without saying by now...

Eating chocolate and greasy fries won’t necessarily give you pimples, and a week in the sun won’t make them vanish, either. But there are certain things that really can help prevent and treat acne breakouts. Here, we’ve rounded up ten of the best…

Acne is the most common skin woe in the whole of the United States. Not dark under eye circles, not sun spots, not even wrinkles, but acne. According to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), it affects up to 50 million Americans every year, and around 15 percent of women are plagued by some form of acne during their adult lives.

Sigh.

If you’ve had acne on and off for most of your teenage and adult life, you’ll have heard every last trick about how to avoid breakouts. Most of which were probably complete BS. So, we’re here to set the record straight once for all with our guide to the most tried and trusted ways to keep acne under control. 

1. Don’t Pick

The world’s fascination with popping pimples shows no signs of going away (thanks mainly to dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee, aka Dr. Pimple Popper!), but attempting this at home is rarely a good idea. Sure, squeezing that white top might be hard to resist, but it can trigger inflammatory responses in your skin which can delay healing and potentially make your pimples worse.

Picking and prodding zits also introduces a bunch of new bacteria to your skin and quite frankly, it has enough to deal with already. Finally, if all that wasn’t enough, popping pimples creates trauma to your skin which can lead to scabbing, infections, pigmentation and scarring. Don’t do it. Just don’t.  

2. Keep Your Skin Clean

A primary cause of acne is blocked pores that get clogged up with oil, dirt and dead skin cells, and then become inflamed or infected with bacteria. This makes cleansing your skin twice daily extremely important – especially at night after sweat, sebum, makeup and sunscreen have built up on the surface of your skin.

Try our new Tea Tree Super Cleanser + which is ultralight, super refreshing and mega calming. It also douses your skin with a powerful blend of nature’s blemish-controlling superstar, tea tree oil, and our ultimate secret weapon for breakouts, MSM.

3. Wash Your Hands

While we’re on the subject of cleanliness, don’t underestimate the power of clean hands. Of course, you’re far too disciplined to pick at your pimples (see above), but even touching your face or leaning on your hands spreads unnecessary dirt, oil and bacteria all over your skin. It’s a tricky habit to kick because it’s usually an unconscious move, but the least you can do is wash your hands regularly to minimize the after-effects.

4. Keep Everything Clean

Not to keep banging on about cleanliness, but there’s more… Towels and pillowcases can also harbor bacteria if they’re not laundered regularly, so make sure you change these out on a weekly basis. And perhaps consider using a fragrance-free detergent if your skin tends to be reactive.

Also, wash your makeup brushes twice a week (especially if you wear makeup daily); shampoo your hair often to avoid oils from your hair transferring to your face, and wipe down your smartphone with a hand sanitizing wipe as often as you remember.

5. Use Retinol

Retinol is an anti-aging given, but it’s also a powerful tool for acne-prone skin. How so? Well, retinol helps unclog your pores by stimulating collagen production and encouraging cell turnover. It also promotes healing and, by keeping your pores clear, can help other skincare or topical acne medication penetrate more effectively.

Introduce Retinol Serum into your evening routine a few times a week and apply it to cleansed skin before moisturizing – you won’t regret it.

6. Wear Sunscreen

This might not be one of the most well-known anti-acne tricks, but it’s important, so hear us out.

In addition to the obvious protection from UV damage, sunscreen reduces redness and can help skin avert post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (those dark spots that pimples often leave behind). It also reduces the likelihood of your skin becoming dry in the sun which keeps sebum balanced and under control.

So there you go, sunscreen for acne – surprisingly important. Just remember to avoid heavy, pore-clogging sunscreens that can cause breakouts or make the pimples you have even worse. Instead, try our new SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen which is sheer, lightweight and oil-free.

7. Moisturize… But Do It With Care

Acne often goes hand-in-hand with oily skin which can get forgotten about when it comes to moisturizing. It’s a huge mistake to skip this vital step, however, no matter how oily or pimply your skin may be. If you fail to moisturize your skin, the surface will become dry and your sebaceous glands will overproduce oil to compensate. Cue excess oil which can block your pores and make acne worse.

Your best bet is to hydrate with a light serum like Hyaluronic Acid Serum, then follow with a non-comedogenic moisturizer that’s less likely to block your pores. Oh, and make sure you do this day AND night, especially if you use harsh acne treatments that dry out your skin.

8. Avoid Over Exfoliation

Scrubbing your face feels great, but it’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make, particularly if you’re prone to breakouts.

Exfoliation is great for boosting cell turnover and keeping your pores clean and clear, but too much can cause redness and inflammation – something you definitely don’t want to encourage if acne is already making your skin both of these things. Stick to once a week max, or better yet, allow chemical exfoliating ingredients like salicylic acid to gradually do the job for you.

9. Manage Your Stress 

As with seemingly everything, when it comes to acne, stress only makes matters worse. Research has pointed to a direct link between stress and acne, thanks to stress-related hormones like cortisol encouraging your sebaceous glands to produce more oil. Cortisol also reduces your skin’s natural levels of hyaluronic acid which makes your skin more dehydrated and further triggers sebum production. All this excess oil is a veritable playground for bacteria to breed and acne to worsen.

Of course, keeping stress under control is no mean feat, but breathing exercises, yoga, or taking a short walk each day may help clear your mind. Go for whatever form of relaxation suits you and helps take the pressure off, even if only for a few minutes. And remember to get your seven or eight hours of quality sleep while you’re at it. Sleep is SO important.

10. Strike Down Inflammation, Inside and Out

As helpful as skincare tips may be, acne is often an inside job rooted in internal factors influenced by diet and hormones. While addressing these triggers is an important part of getting chronic acne under control, it’s also key to hit back at topical inflammation. This beauty baddie not only exacerbates breakouts, it can increase the likelihood of hyperpigmentation and scarring, so it’s especially critical to diminish it as much as possible.

To help do this on the daily, look for skin saviors with anti-inflammatory clout like vitamin C in the form of sodium ascorbyl phosphate, as well as MSM and aloe, all of which have a reputation for mitigating inflammation and blemishes alike. You can find them teamed up in our Vitamin C Serum, as well as across several other TruSkin formulas—because we know how invaluable these good guys can be for all skin types.

Fine lines and wrinkles, dark spots and dry, dehydrated skin: three of the most common signs of aging skin, right there. So, let’s see what we can do to keep them to a minimum, shall we?

Skin aging happens to us all. Literally, every one of us. And while you can’t press a button and stop time (if so, we’d take age 32, please!), you can, for sure, take control of the rate at which you age – to a certain degree, of course. Looking after yourself with a healthy diet and regular exercise is a given. But what else can you do to specifically target your most niggling skin bugbears? Here, we take a look at three of the most common signs of aging skin…

1. Fine Lines & Wrinkles

What They Are: Fine Lines and wrinkles can crop up on your skin pretty early on in life. They happen when your skin’s support network (collagen and elastin) breaks down as you age, causing your skin to become thinner, weaker and less resilient. Kind of like deflating a balloon, your skin loses its plumpness, feels less taut and starts to wrinkle. Lines and wrinkles are usually most prevalent around your eyes, mouth and forehead where your face is the most expressive.

What Causes Them: Father Time is obviously a major factor here, but it’s not just getting old that breaks down collagen and elastin fibers. Exposure to the sun also speeds up this process like lightning. As does smoking; a poor diet that’s laden with salt, sugar, processed carbs and bad fats; environmental pollution, and repetitive facial movements such as smiling, laughing, frowning or squinting.

What You Can Do: One of the most important ways to prevent lines and wrinkles is to look after your skin’s barrier function through gentle cleansing and regular moisturizing. Your skin’s barrier is its outermost layer that protects it from external nasties, while reducing moisture loss and transporting essential nutrients and hydration to the underlying layers of your skin. This barrier is super important for the look, feel and health of your skin, so ensure you moisturize regularly, never over-exfoliate and cleanse gently twice a day, avoiding skin-drying chemicals and scorching hot water.

What To Use To Target Fine Lines & Wrinkles: Topical antioxidants are a joy for dealing with the signs of aging, and when it comes to those pesky lines and wrinkles, you can’t go wrong with Retinol Serum. Proven time and again for being one of the most effective ingredients for improving collagen synthesis and cell turnover, retinol is the boss when it comes to softening crinkly skin. And we don’t say that lightly.

2. Dark Spots

What They Are: Possibly even more frustrating than lines and wrinkles are those dark spots that seem to come from nowhere as you hit your 30s and beyond. Otherwise known as hyperpigmentation, dark spots occur when your skin’s production of melanin (that’s the pigment that gives your skin its natural color) goes awry, creating patchy areas of dark skin in all the wrong places. Dark spots can appear anywhere on your body but are commonly seen on your face, shoulders, chest and hands.

What Causes Them: Three things: the sun, hormonal fluctuations or some kind of skin trauma/injury like a bug bite, acne spot or eczema. These all interfere with the melanin-synthesizing cells in your skin (melanocytes), causing them to over-produce melanin which then gets unevenly distributed in the epidermis. The result? Blotchy, speckled skin.

What You Can Do: Exfoliation is a great way to remove dulling dead skin cells at a surface level, allowing for all the fresh, untarnished stuff to make its way to the surface. Chemical peels are great for this if you want something hardcore, but don’t dismiss at-home exfoliation which can also reap great results with patience and dedication. Just don’t overdo it or you could cause irritation, redness and an unnecessary thinning of the skin.

What To Use To Target Dark Spots: As well as being mildly exfoliating and a go-to for fighting off damaging free radicals that form in the skin thanks to sun exposure and pollution, studies have shown that vitamin C can help inhibit melanin production at a cellular level. This is great news for anyone looking to improve dark spots. Try our fan favorite Vitamin C Serum.

3. Dryness & Dehydration

What They Are: Similar… but very different, dryness refers to a lack of oil in your skin, whereas dehydration indicates a lack of water. Also, dry skin is a skin type that you’re born with, whereas dehydration is a condition anyone can experience.

What Causes Them: As you get older, the dermis and underlying layers of your skin get thinner and more fragile which makes it harder for your skin to retain moisture. Couple this with the natural loss of ceramides, hyaluronic acid, fats and lipids and it’s no wonder your skin becomes drier and more dehydrated. Your sebaceous glands also slow down through age which might be music to the ears of oily skin types, but for everyone else this is a one-way ticket to unwanted dryness.

What You Can Do: Fight back and make moisturizers, facial oils and hydrating serums your BFFs. Moisturize your skin after every cleanse, and choose products that contain both humectants (to help boost moisture content) as well as emollients and/or occlusives (to create a seal over your skin and help lock all that moisture in). Also, try to avoid using hot water on your skin which can strip all the healthy fats and oils away, causing further dryness and dehydration.

What To Use To Target Dryness & Dehydration: You can't beat a well-rounded formula like our Hyaluronic Acid Serum for boosting much-needed moisture in dehydrated skin. Hyaluronic acid is naturally present in your skin, but as you hit age 20 it tends to beat it faster than you can say 'pass the moisturizer'. Our awesome serum helps counteract natural HA loss and also lavishes your skin with aloe, glycerin and botanical oils to help dryness as well as dehydration. Just remember to apply moisturizer on top to make sure all that skin-loving moisture stays there.

Finally, there’s one other small but seriously important skincare trick for helping to prevent ALL of the above. You probably know where we’re going here, right? Yes, sun protection.

Excluding the natural aging process, the sun is responsible for between 80 and 90 percent of all visible signs of skin aging. Lines, wrinkles, dark spots, dryness, dehydration, the works. So, as well as using an awesome facial treatment that’s targeted to your specific concerns, you must always apply SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen every morning. No excuses, no arguments.

Skin in total freak-out mode right now? Then it’s time to de-stress and give your poor complexion a break.

Stressed skin is one of life’s vicious circles. First, emotional stress sends your hormones out of whack, making your skin dry, oily, itchy or break out. Sad times, indeed. Then, to add insult to injury, you get the 'pleasure' of having to deal with cruddy skin and, heck, that just ruins your self-esteem and makes you feel even more stressed. As we said, a vicious circle.

It’s true, emotional anxiety has a massive impact on the look, feel and health of your skin. This is because when you feel stressed, your brain stimulates the release of various hormones (cortisol, to name just one) which upset the equilibrium of your body, disrupting your immune system, wreaking havoc on your skin’s barrier function, interfering with the healing process and triggering all sorts of problems, mainly irritation and inflammation.

If this is ringing too many bells in your head right now, chances are your skin and, more importantly, your emotional wellbeing are crying out for some much-needed TLC. Not sure where to start? No problem, we’re on it…

1. First, Try To De-Stress Your Mind

Chilling the heck out is easier said than done, but reducing (or at least attempting to reduce) your levels of emotional stress is a major step to mirroring the same effects for your skin. If things are all too much at work, for example, speak out, delegate tasks or learn how to say no. According to the Mayo Clinic, asserting yourself in the workplace – or, in fact, any situation – is one of the best ways to de-stress because it reduces internal conflict and helps you more successfully manage everyday life.

You could also keep a journal. It’s amazing how much of a relief it is to write stuff down and get things off your chest. And if you’re worried someone might get hold of your pent-up thoughts? Easy, write them down on a scrap of paper instead of a proper journal, then when you’re done, you can toss it in the trash.

Of course, these are just a couple of the many ways to help manage stress. There are many tricks for calming your mind and improving your emotional wellness, so if life is kind of overwhelming right now, please make sure you seek professional advice to identify its causes and help you learn to cope.

2. Practice Some True Self-Care

Can you honestly say you’ve been looking after yourself recently? Maaaybe… but probably not. The thing is, exercise and a healthy, balanced diet are awesome stress relievers.

Exercise stimulates endorphins which are known as ‘feel-good’ chemicals for good reason. Hint: they make you feel good! Try to up your levels of daily physical activity as much as possible. You might not be up for a 10-mile run at 6 a.m. every morning, but small things like a brisk walk, gardening, swimming, cycling or even doing some household chores will get those endorphins pumping and help lift your mood.

Yoga and pilates are also awesome stress relievers because they help dial back your sympathetic nervous system. This is your body’s ‘quick response’ system which produces that pesky stress hormone, cortisol. If you can, try to combine a mixture of heart-pumping exercise with more relaxing, muscle-strengthening activities for a complete, all-round regimen.

When it comes to your diet, too much sugar, salt, processed carbs and fried foods are absolute devils on your skin, causing harmful free radicals that break down collagen and accelerate inflammation. Instead, feed your skin with stuff it loves – namely antioxidant-rich fruit and veggies, oily fish, nuts and lean protein. Oh, and as tempting as it may be to deal with stressful situations with coffee and doughnuts, try not to make this a habit.

3. Give Your Barrier Function A Break

Your skin’s barrier function is its uppermost layer – the very top of your epidermis, which acts like a security guard to protect you from the outside world. It works super hard to stop moisture from getting out and nasty irritants from getting in.

When your skin is suffering, this is a sure-fire indication that your barrier function has been compromised. Many things contribute to this, not least of all stress itself, which depletes your skin’s natural production of healthy oils and alters its pH level.

Your skincare routine also has a vital role to play here.

Harsh cleansing with chemical-fueled products can completely strip your protective barrier of important proteins and lipids, so this is a massive no-no, for starters. Cleanse gently with mild, sulfate-free formulations like our Vitamin C Brightening Cleanser and only ever use lukewarm, never hot, water to wash your face.

Another thing: don't forget to moisturize after cleansing, which is VITAL for healthy, stress-free barrier function. Dryness is seriously damaging to your skin’s barrier, leaving it vulnerable to transepidermal water loss (TEWL) as well as external aggressors like pollution, UV radiation and the like. Choose smart, all-round moisturizers that combine ingredients to not only help draw water into your skin (eg. aloe, glycerin and hyaluronic acid) but also lock moisture in (eg. shea butter and stearic acid). Vitamin C Brightening Moisturizer is always a great shout.

4. Think About Everything You Put On Your Skin

Bombarding your skin with active ingredients like retinoids and glycolic acid can be way too much for some skin types to cope with. Sure, these ingredients are awesome for tackling lines, wrinkles, dark spots and acne, but you can most definitely have too much of a good thing.

If your complexion is feeling totally out of whack, it’s worth looking at your routine to see if it contains too many active ingredients that are potentially fighting against each other or are simply proving too potent for your complexion. Pare back on treatment serums (you really only need one in the morning and one at night, anyway) and consider dropping down your usage to two or three times a week. You never know, this could easily de-stress your skin with very little effort.

On the flipside, ingredients to include in your routine are those crammed with calming, hydrating or soothing benefits. Aloe, vitamin E and niacinamide are three that immediately come to mind and – bonus – you’ll find all of these ingredients in our Niacinamide Facial Serum. Just saying.

5. Optimize Bedtime

Getting your beauty sleep is essential for the health of your skin because overnight is when it repairs and heals itself from the slings and arrows of the day. Skip too many zzzs and your skin misses out on all that vital time in which collagen production ramps up to boost regeneration and antioxidants kick in to reduce damage and revitalize your skin.

As you know, eight hours of sleep is the recommended amount (or somewhere between seven and nine hours, according to the National Sleep Foundation) but it’s not all about quantity. In fact, the quality of your sleep is just as important.

To totally boss your best night’s sleep, ensure you nail this checklist:

• Go to bed at roughly the same time each night.
• Don’t go to bed hungry, full or having just drank a ton of caffeine or alcohol.
• Ensure your bedroom is dark, quiet and at a comfortable, slightly cool temperature.
• Avoid using your phone, laptop or tablet for at least an hour before bedtime.
• Take a few deep breaths as soon as you get into bed to lower your heart rate and make you feel relaxed.
• Gently cleanse, tone, treat and then moisturize your skin with Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream to give your skin the best chance to rejuvenate itself.

Finally, remind yourself how well you’re doing at life – every single day. And when you look in the mirror, try to see the good stuff. A positive outlook on life is absolutely priceless for stress-free skin.

Who’s in the market for fresh, revitalized skin for spring? The real question is who isn’t?

If your skin is screaming ‘tired, worn-out and kinda lackluster', the good news is (hold on, there’s some good news?) you’re not alone. Google searches for ‘how to get naturally glowing skin’ and ‘how to keep skin younger and glowing’ continue to trend, proving that when it comes to covetable skin, freshness and radiance are everything.

Which figures. After all, fine lines, wrinkles, pimples and dark spots immediately appear less obvious if your overall complexion looks good. Refreshed, clean, glowy skin also knocks years off you, and don’t even get us started on how simply looking more wide-awake makes you immediately feel better and more raring to go. Oh, the power of being happy in your own skin…

So, how can you up your radiance game? Well, exfoliating your skin with a gentle scrub or rinsing your face with cold water are decent places to start. But to really get ‘under your skin’, if you will, and reap lasting benefits, you should think about incorporating some kind of active ingredient into your daily routine. Specifically, one that’s known for accelerating cell turnover and loaded with skin-renewing powers.

So, just what are these masterful ingredients? Let’s see, shall we?

Retinol

We could go on for weeks about the benefits of retinol on both aging and acne-prone skin (don’t worry, we won’t), but when it comes to skin renewal, we do have a few things to say. First, retinol is the best. And second? Well, do you need a second?

A derivative of vitamin A, retinol gets converted into retinoic acid when absorbed by your skin. And it’s this retinoic acid that works hard at a cellular level, kickstarting collagen and elastin production, boosting cell turnover and stimulating blood circulation to help make your skin thicker, firmer, stronger and brighter.

Of course, every silver lining has its cloud and retinol is a potent little beast that needs to be used with caution and care. The number one rule is that any new retinol product should be patch tested first to check for adverse reactions. Then, and only then, should you introduce it slowly into your skincare routine, starting with once a week and building to daily as your skin acclimates. This helps avoid irritation and gives your skin time to adjust to turning over at a faster rate.

Looking to refresh and revive your skin long-term? Then retinol has to be top of the list. It just has to.

Try: Retinol Facial Serum

Glycolic Acid

Exfoliating acids are another must for fresh, renewed skin and if you’re looking for the absolute queen, look no further than glycolic acid.

Glycolic acid is derived from sugar cane and belongs to a group of acids called alpha hydroxy acids, or AHAs. When applied to the skin, AHAs work by softening the bonds between dead skin cells, which encourages them to slough away more easily and make way for the newer, healthier cells underneath. Kind of like physically exfoliating your skin with a scrub... but minus the effort!

By improving desquamation (the fancy term for the shedding of dead skin cells), glycolic acid also stimulates cell regeneration, making your skin look and feel way better over time.

Glycolic acid has the smallest molecular size of all AHAs, making it one of the most effective and potent exfoliating acids out there. It’s trusted by pros and often used in chemical peels, but you can also find it in lower concentrations in loads of skincare serums and treatments. But remember, just like retinol, glycolic acid packs a punch, so it should always be applied with caution.

Try: Ocean Mineral Super Toner

Peptides

Peptides are a bit trickier to get your head around, but bear with us because they’re an absolute must for skin renewal.

Made up of short chains of amino acids, peptides help your skin produce proteins like collagen and elastin. How so? Proteins are similarly comprised of amino acids, which allows peptides to act like little messengers, searching out depleted proteins and ‘telling’ your skin to produce more collagen and elastin where it needs them most. Think of peptides as building blocks for the structure, firmness and elasticity of your skin.

There are hundreds of peptides out there – some of which are awesome and some which, frankly, aren't even close. Good ones to look out for are Matrixyl 3000 and palmitoyl tripeptides, which have been proven to boost collagen production in aging skin. Studies have even suggested that Matrixyl 3000 has the potential to almost double the amount of collagen your skin produces. Impressive stuff, don’t you agree?

Try: Peptide Anti-Aging Eye Gel

Vitamin C

You’re probably aware of how much we love vitamin C here at TruSkin HQ. After all, our entire skincare range stemmed from our award-winning Vitamin C Serum, which continues to be a fan favorite. And rightly so.

Vitamin C is one of the most researched and trusted antioxidants in skincare, but it’s so much more than a free radical neutralizer and fighter of environmental (cough, sun) damage. Of course, all this is super important for the feel, look and health of your skin because nixing free radicals helps keep your collagen and elastin levels at their peak, which simultaneously maintains efficient cellular turnover. But vitamin C has another trick up its sleeve for giving your skin that extra glow factor. And this is its ability to inhibit melanin production.

As we’re sure you know, melanin is the pigment that gives your skin (as well as your hair and eyes) its unique color. Sun exposure ramps up melanin production, which is why you tan. However, melanin can get a little out of whack sometimes, producing dark, uneven spots known as hyperpigmentation: bad news if fresh-looking skin is your mojo. Vitamin C helps keep melanin under control by inhibiting tyrosinase, an enzyme which catalyzes melanin production. Clever vitamin C.

Try: Vitamin C Brightening Moisturizer

Niacinamide

Otherwise known as vitamin B3, niacinamide is one of the gentlest active ingredients in skincare. But don’t let its gentle nature fool you because it more than holds its own when it comes to strengthening, renewing and energizing your skin.

Like vitamin C, topical niacinamide is another hardworking antioxidant that keeps skin-damaging free radicals in check. It also increases ceramide production in the uppermost layers of your skin to help strengthen your barrier function (very important, btw) and improve your skin’s resiliency. Ceramides are waxy lipids that work like glue to hold your skin together, keeping toxins out and moisture in. Like most of the good stuff in your skin, your natural levels of ceramides deplete as you get older, which is why boosting production is so important. In a nutshell, more ceramides = better hydration and fewer issues like dryness and itchy skin.

Niacinamide has also been proven to help brighten skin, although exactly how it does this is still not entirely known. Ooh, a mysterious one, we like that.

Try: Niacinamide Facial Serum