One of the most annoying problems adolescents and adults often face is the problem of pimples or acne, but with a good idea about how to prevent or minimize the effects, be on the know about skin care to prevent pimples.
Many people often get frustrated upon seeing that much- dreaded zit right smack in your face or a cold sore at the corner of your mouth as you wake up one morning, most especially when it appears during an important appointment or meeting about to take place.
But fret no more, since there are practical and effective ways to prevent a pimple from coming out and making your day.
Pimples occur when the skin pores are clogged with a oil called sebum, which is normally secreted by the skin to lubricate the hair and skin.
This is prevalent especially among adolescents as they enter puberty where hormones tend to overproduce sebum.
It is the face that is often suspectible to this condition since the face especially the forehead, cheeks nose and chin where many of the sebaceous glands producing sebum are found.
However, there are ways to prevent, better yet, avoid pimples from occurring or breaking out and here are some of the most common yet practical ways to prevent pimples or acne from breaking out.
Wash the face twice a day, most especially if you have just been subjected to dust and grime by using a mild soap and warm water.
Make sure to gently massage the face with circular motions and do not attempt to scrub, since scrubbing or even overwashing can irritate or damage the skin.
To further prevent pimples from coming back, also apply an over the counter topical ointment or cream with benzoyl peroxide, which will help decrease skin oil and bacteria.
Do not pop or squeeze out the pimple, no matter how tempting or irresistible it may seem, since it will only serve to cause more harm than good.
Popping a pimple will only tend to drive infected sebum deeper into the pore and result further in redness, swelling and even worse, scarring. If you feel the need to have it removed, see a dermatologist who can better get rid of it for you without the fear of getting infected or scarred.
Always avoid touching the face with your bare fingers, especially without sanitizing or washing your hands thoroughly, or allowing the face to come in direct contact with objects that would tend to collect sebum from other people, like the handset of a telephone or borrowing a facial towel, since it may cause your pimples or acne to become more irritated or infected.
If you often wear sunglasses or eyeglasses, make sure to keep it clean all the time, most especially parts of the eyewear that come into contact with the skin, since it could collect sebum that would aggravate pimples or acne.
For people who get acne on parts of their body, make sure to avoid wearing tight-fitting clothes that prevent your skin from breathing, thus further causing more infection. Also avoid wearing scarves, caps, headbands and any piece of clothing that would prevent the skin from breathing and may collect oil or dirt.
Always make it a point to remove makeup before going to sleep. Look for makeup products that are labeled “noncomedogenic” or “nonacnegenic” since these are formulated to prevent pimples. Dont hesitate to throw away old makeup that smells or looks different from when it was first bought.
Always keep hair clean and away from making contact with the face to prevent dirt and oil from clogging the pores.
Lastly, protect the skin from the sun. Although many believe that a tan can conceal acne, it’s but temporary and may even cause the body to produce extra sebum. Worse, too much exposure to the sun can increase the risk of getting skin cancer.
Always be on the winning edge in the war against acne and it does not take much to know these tips on skin care to prevent pimples.
Archive for June, 2010
It is a given fact that all living things age. Animals, plants, and most especially people go through this natural cycle of life. For some people, aging is considered as something dreadful because it affects the largest organ of the body, which is the skin. So, to avoid revealing ugly lines on the face, and wrinkles on the skin, proper skin care is a must.
Skin care is relevant these days because everybody wants to become beautiful. Everybody wants to remain beautiful and youthful for the rest of their living days. But since aging somehow affects a person’s physique and physical beauty, many people consider this as a threat to their mission of maintaining their beauty and vitality for a long time. To ensure that the skin will remain as youthful and vibrant as possible, now it the best time to know more on proper skin care.
Fighting Aging
Aside from drastic physical changes, some people also dread aging because it slows down their system that hinders them to do things that younger people can do, it affects memory, and it also affects overall composure.
But, since aging is a natural phenomenon, people cannot do much about it. If you are one of those people who experience the signs of aging this early and you would want to do something about, now is the time to take extra care of the major indicator of aging, which is the skin. Below are some tips for proper skin care that could help you wage fight the unpleasant results of aging.
1. Seek sun protection. Experts agree that protecting yourself from the sun’s damaging and deadly rays is among the best skin care that you can do. One way to do this is by using safe and effective sun protection. Studies show that 90 percent of facial aging is cause by the damage brought by UV rays and radiation. You can protect yourself from UV rays by applying sun block or sunscreen daily, wearing clothing that helps protect your skin from the sun’s rays such as long sleeves and pants along with wide brimmed hats, and by lessening your exposure to the sun especially in its peak hours-10a.m. to 2 p.m.
2. Quit smoking cigarettes. Many smokers do not realize it but the major reason for having dry skin is by smoking through the nicotine that their bodies absorb. To maintain good skin, you should be quitting smoking by now. Studies show that nicotine intake especially inhaled when smoking greatly contributes to the emergence of lines in the face, aging, and drastic changes in the skin’s texture as well as in its elasticity.
3. Load up on fluids, most especially water. By taking in lots of fluids, especially water you can maintain your skin properly moisturized. Drinking enough water daily helps aid skin hydration and healthy cell formation. Aside from maintaining the skin’s water balance, drinking water also helps in the removal of waste products in the body.
4. Eat well. One of the surefire means to proper skin care is balance your nutrition because the foods people eat affect greatly their overall health. To ensure that you will have a beautiful skin that is not prone to aging, have a healthy diet that includes fruits and veggies, lean meats and fish, with moderate intake of carbohydrates.
It is simply an eating lifestyle that balances the body’s weight, getting the correct nourishment and also ensures one of having healthy skin, which gives us the idea that skin care and healthy dieting must complement each other.
Healthy dieting plays an important factor in determining your overall health condition, and when coupled with physical activity, a diet regimen is a factor in establishing a balanced weight level and key to ensuring that you are incorporating your skin care routines and maximizing its effects.
One of the major reasons why people go on a diet is due to obesity, which increases the risk for cardio-vascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, kidney and liver problems, among many others, especially with skin care practice, since many internal organ conditions are mirrored on skin appearance and conditions, based on many research studies
One of the most glaring of which is how the skin appears dull or have dark spots, especially along the folds of the skin for obese or overweight individuals, with some also having dark areas on the nose, neck, elbows and knees.
These are alarming health risks that require one to go on a diet, not just for aesthetic purposes, but also for helping ensure that you are taking good care of your health.
But going through a healthy diet regimen can be a surmountable, even very difficult, task for many and it is important to get expert opinion on how to go about a healthy diet for optimal results.
Common pitfalls that accompany dieting is lack of time for food preparation, random food selections, food starvation or deprivation, skipping meals, diet medication and incorrect diet practices, which as we go back again, can be visible on skin appearance like wrinkled or loose skin, withered appearance, skin darkening and skin eruptions, among many others.
Healthy dieting should not be a difficult task, since it is not hard to seek expert or medical guidance on getting the proper nutritional information.
Try making use of the tons of nutritional information you find on food labels, since this will give you first-hand information about the nutritional values of the foods you include in your diet.
Todays technology allows us to break down components found in food and identifying each element and their corresponding values for nutrition, as well as allowing us to know how much we need to ensure we get balanced nutrition from these food groups.
Do not hesitate to subscribe to natural means of nutritional sourcing.
Fortified nutritional health supplements derived from fruit or vegetable extracts compared to synthetic vitamin or mineral sources provide better chances of you getting the right and natural source of nutrition.
You guarantee yourself with less risk from adverse effects with natural supplements compared to synthetic ones made from chemicals or artificial sources.
Condition yourself to follow through on your diet regimen and be motivated to follow it through positive feedbacking, since a hastily crafted diet regimen and a half-hearted decision to pursue a diet program could only last you a couple of weeks, or even just days.
Thus, long-term planning and a dogged determination to push through with a diet regimen is a vital key to a successful and healthy diet program.
Now the you see the correlation between skin care and healthy dieting, it is simply making sure that achieving optimal results with these two processes can surely not just work for the reason of making one look beautiful, but also enhance the quality of life.
Many people often ignore that the key to having healthy and good skin is oftentimes missing out on basic skin care regimen that you should know about and practice.
It is oftentimes understandable how people often tend to neglect the idea that skin care should also be part of their regular routine due to the daily grind of everyday work and living, however, many people deny the fact that this should still be a part of their regular routines.
Basic skin care should form part of a persons way of life, since having healthy skin is also a good way to ensure healthy living, which also contributes to ensuring preventive measures against health threatening conditions like skin cancer and other skin related diseases.
First skin care regiment to consider would be cleansing.
There are a lot of skin cleansers available in the market, especially drugstores and skin care centers, however, awareness should also be the responsibility of everyone before even going through this process.
Take for example the importance of knowing your skin type, which is key to also knowing which type of skin cleansers to use.
This is practically important since there are a variety of skin types that can be appropriate for specific skin cleansers as well, since using the wrong type of cleanser for the wrong skin type could cause more harm than good.
Among the most common skin types are oily or dry skin, for which varying levels also apply, which are often effects secretions of the skins sebaceous glands.
When in doubt about determining your skin type and what cleansers to use, you may seek the advise of a dermatologist to make you more confident about the cleansing regimen you are going to pursue.
Next would be exfoliation, which is the process by which dead skin is scraped off or removed from the outer surface, intended to clear the outer layer of the skin from prolonged exposure to dead skin cells that could impede the regeneration of healthy skin.
Among the most common exfoliation methods include, microdermabrasion, retinoids or chemical peels.
Microdermabrasion usually involves using scrubs, for which most believe should be done once weekly. But make sure to use scrubs composed of tiny grains, since coarse grains could scar the outer layer instead of just removing dead skin cells.
Retinoids on the other hand works by removing the top layer of skin cells, especially dead cells, and at the same time, promote the regeneration of collagen in the skin and works by preventing the rapid breakdown of the skins structural fiber causing fine lines and large pores as we grow older.
Last is chemical peel, which is a process supervised and administered by a dermatologist or licensed skin therapist, which provides better results compared to over the- counter chemical peel treatment kits.
Chemical peels usually take an hour or so, but can achieve maximum results of making the skin look younger and shave as much as five years off your face.
Lastly, always make sure to apply sunscreen, especially when you are constantly exposed to the sun.
This is mainly so because the sun can add years and even cause the skin to dry rapidly, causing wrinkles and can even bombard the skin of dangerous doses of ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer.
It is important to be aware of these basic steps since skin care is more than just leasing the eye with aesthetics, but essentially so since basic skin care you should know about is also a key contributor to a healthy and productive way of life.