Are You Sabotaging Your Skincare?

Posted: Monday 24 October 2011 09:16am

You wouldn’t even think of painting over a cracked or peeling wall. Yet many women slap on moisturisers without prepping the surface of their skin. And what happens if your face is covered with a layer of dead skin cells or you use multiple skincare products in the “wrong” order? That expensive cream simply sits on the surface or doesn’t penetrate to the lower layers of the skin as effectively as it should. In other words, you are missing out on many of the benefits you bought a serum or moisturiser for in the first place. By following this easy 6 point strategy, though, it’s easy to correct bad habits that could be wasting a lot of hard-earning money.

SCRUB UP WELL
Exfoliating your face is mandatory to remove the thin layer of dead cells that builds up as part of daily living. As we grow older, this layer takes longer and longer to shed itself naturally, so extra help is needed to allow moisturisers and serums to penetrate further into the epidermis and the dermis, the top two layers of the skin. If they have to battle through an extra layer, anti-ageing ingredients can lose potency, too.

Scrubbing well doesn’t mean scrubbing hard. Although often called the “horny layer”, dead cells on the skin’s surface are microscopically thin. Your basic cleanser takes away oil and dirt, but to boost the absorption of your skincare it’s best to use a biological exfoliant such as Clinique Turnaround Visible Skin Renewer, from $68, or a scrub containing very small particles such as Avon Anew Clinical Micro-Exfoliant, $39.99, avon.com.au, or Nivea Visage Gentle Exfoliating Scrub with Provitamin B, $8.81, nivea.com.au. Do not use a scrub with large grains or you could risk stripping away natural oils and/or irritating the skin.

More…

• Serums to Re-Boot Your Skin
• Choosing Your Eye Cream Consistency

IN GOOD ORDER
One of the most frequent questions fielded by beauty editors is – Which skincare product should I use first? It’s a very important query, too. If you use a thicker product such as a moisturiser first, a light serum containing powerful actives won’t be absorbed as fully as it should be because the cream has created a barrier. Always use a serum first. Let it penetrate for five minutes and then smooth on a moisturiser or lotion. In this order, the moisturiser still acts as a barrier but it’s a good one this time that seals in the anti-ageing power of the serum.

DAMP, NOT DRY
For some reason the instruction to smooth body lotion onto damp skin pops up regularly, even on the labels on bottles or tubes. But it’s just as important to apply skincare products to still-moist facial skin for the same reason. Just after you pat your skin dry after cleansing or washing, the skin acts like a sponge to soak up creams and lotions much faster and more thoroughly that it does when it is dry. Damp doesn’t mean wet. After towel-drying your face, leave only 2 to 3 minutes at most before slathering on a serum, moisturiser or both.

LUKEWARM IS THE ONLY TEMPERATURE
Ask any man to nominate his idea of mild agony and it’s a safe bet that the answer will be – shaving with cold water. Warm water softens whiskers and causes pores to dilate, making it easier for the razor to glide smoothly and to avoid nicks and cuts. And using warm water also has a positive effect on skincare absorption. Blood vessels and pores widen as the temperature of the skin rises and the spaces between the skin cells enlarges. The result? The expanded surface allows creams, serums and lotions to be absorbed to the max. Be careful not to use hot water on your face – in the shower or from the tap – or you risk leaching away natural oils and developing broken blood vessels.

SUNCARE BOOST
Sun damage – not time or gravity – is the main cause of premature ageing. Yet even if you are religious about applying a high SPF sunscreen, you can still boost your level of sun protection by also using a serum or moisturiser high in antioxidants. How? The sunscreen absorbs UV rays and antioxidants scavenge skin-damaging free radicals caused by sun exposure and pollution. Using a good sunscreen and an antioxidant skincare product on a daily basis helps to prevent or delay premature ageing.

Always choose skincare containing powerful antioxidants such as resveratrol (grapeseed extract), green tea, co-enzyme Q10, coffeeberry or Vitamins C and E. Top Buys: Puretopia Pure Nutrition Essential Facial Serum with Antioxidant and Omega Oils, $24.95, mypuretopia.com, and Trilogy Age Proof CoQ10 Booster Serum, $43.95, trilogyproducts.com, or Natio Antioxidant Face Moisturiser, $17.95, natio.com.au.

SHIFT WORK
The major reason most skincare experts recommend using a night cream is because the skin repairs itself overnight. True. But there’s another compelling argument to incorporate a night cream or serum into your daily skincare routine as you get older. As we sleep, even without being covered by a doona or blanket, the temperature of the skin increases because less blood is needed by vital organs such as the heart and liver when the body is resting. The extra warmth and accompanying capillary dilation allows skincare products to be absorbed more fully, as it does when you apply a moisturiser to damp skin.

Night time is also the right time to to use skincare containing retinol, the only active ingredient conclusively proven to fight wrinkles, because it can make the skin photo-sensitive if exposed to the sun. Or use other products with more active anti-ageing ingredients. Good buys include: Dermalogica Overnight Repair Serum, $110, dermalogica.com.au, L’Oreal Paris Age Perfect Intense Nutrition Rich Repairing Night Cream, $34.85, lorealparis.com.au, and LACURA Renovage Night Cream, $19.95, ALDI stores.

by Elisabeth King

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