4 Important Skincare Habits To Start In Your 20s For Flawless Future Skin!

*4 Important Skincare Habits To Start In Your 20s For Flawless Future Skin is a guest post.

Do you find yourself wondering —or even worrying, about how to take care of your skin in your 20s?

If so, you’re in the right place. Because it’s never too early to start an anti-aging skincare routine, and I’m here to help!

In fact, as you enter your twenties your skin begins to transition. You may experience sudden skin conditions such as acne breakouts or dehydration. It’s around this time that the skin begins to age.

The signs of this aging won’t be visible to you now. This typically begins in your 30s and 40s depending on skin type and genetics. Therefore, your skincare habits today matter!

Now, I’m not saying you need a 10 step skincare routine. Far from it. I believe that healthy skin is the result of a combination of; understanding your skin type, a simple skincare routine, a healthy diet, regular exercise, and a positive, happy outlook on life.

Have you heard of raw honey? Raw honey, such as from websites like Gold Bee is really beneficial to our health and is used to treat various conditions. It has antibacterial properties, helps with inflammation, speeds up wound healing, and acts as a dietary antioxidant. In addition, it can help people with issues such as coughing, diarrhea, stress, food poisoning, and others. Adding raw honey to your diet is such a simple way of ensuring a healthy diet to better your skin.

This truly is all you need to achieve and maintain healthy, glowing skin. 

Here are 4 simple skincare routine tips you can start today:

1. THE DOUBLE CLEANSE

Your bedtime cleanse is by far the most important step in your skincare routine. Removing the day’s dirt, makeup, excess oil and other pollutants from your pores creates a ‘clean slate’ that allows the rest of your skincare products to penetrate the deeper layers of skin. Where they do their best work!

What Is The Double Cleanse? 

This two-step process involves the oil cleansing method followed by a water-based cleanser.

STEP 1:  Use cleansing oil or balm to break down makeup, oil, and impurities that cause congestion (blocked pores). Use small circular motions to massage oil or balm into a dry face and neck for 1-2 minutes. Remove with warm water and a muslin face cloth. *This is a perfect time to breathe and release any stresses from your day.

STEP 2: Now wash your face with a cleansing gel or face wash. This step removes all traces of make-up and pre-cleanser from your pores. Now your skin is prepared for the rest of your evening routine.

How To Choose Oils For Oily And Acne-Prone Skin

Don’t be afraid to use oils if you have combination, oily, or acne-prone skin. I know you may have avoided them like the plague but, did you know that natural botanical oils can help to balance your skin?

It’s true, plant oils are made up of the same stuff as human skin —Lipids and Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs).

One of the causes of acne is an imbalance of Essential Fatty Acids. Meaning your skin has low levels of Linoleic Acid (Omega-6), and high levels of another fatty acid called Oleic Acid (Omega-9). 

This imbalance makes sebum (your skin’s natural oils) thick and sticky leading to clogged pores and breakouts. It also means your skin’s oil production is in constant overdrive!Plant oils with the correct fatty acid ratio —high in Linoleic Acid and low in Oleic Acid, can help to naturally balance your skin and prevent acne.

These oils have the correct fatty acid ratio for acne-prone skin: 

• Prickly Pear Seed Oil
• Safflower Oil
• Argan Oil
• Hemp Seed Oil
• Grapeseed Oil
• Evening Primrose Oil
• Pumpkin Seed Oil
• Borage Oil
• Squalane

2. HYDRATION

As I mentioned earlier your skin may become dehydrated in your 20s. So upping the hydration in your skincare routine is really important to your future flawless skin! An easy and inexpensive way to do this is by adding Hyaluronic Acid serum to your routine.

Hyaluronic Acid Serum

It’s never too early to start using an anti-aging serum, and hyaluronic acid (HA) is a great one, to begin with.

HA serum can make your skin plumper and dewier —times ten! This gel-like molecule is found naturally in the human body but is particularly concentrated in your skin. It’s classed as a humectant, which gives it the unique ability to attract water like a magnet improving skin hydration and elasticity.

HA serum is well known for its volume-boosting and wrinkle-smoothing effects on the skin. It’s also suitable for all skin types and ages. Apply it in your morning or evening routine, or both —after toner and before day/night cream.

3. NIGHT CREAM

A common question I get asked is “why do I need a day cream and a night cream?”

And the answer is very simple —because beauty sleep is actually real.

While you sleep your skin is very actively going through cycles and processes such as cell renewal, trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL), and the shedding of dead skin cells. 

This is a prime time for your skincare ingredients to get to work. Hence the importance of night creams and overnight masks. 

Night cream is formulated with certain emollient ingredients that create a barrier on top of your skin. This acts as a shield protecting your skin from losing too much moisture while you sleep and becoming dehydrated.

Night Creams For oily And Acne-Prone Skin

Emollients can be highly comedogenic (pore-clogging). One way to avoid this is to choose a balancing and lightweight cream. This type of moisturiser will contain non-comedogenic emollients but still moisturise your skin and prevent dehydration.

Natural non-comedogenic emollients to look for in a night cream:

• Evening Primrose Oil
• Grapeseed Oil
• Sunflower Oil
• Rosehip Seed Oil
• Apricot Oil
• Hemp Seed Oil
• Mango Butter
• Kokum Butter

Synthetic emollients to look for:

• Cetearyl Alcohol
• Cetyl Alcohol
• Lanolin Alcohol
• Coconut Fatty Acids

Silicones that may block pores:

• Cyclomethicone
• Dimethicone
• Cyclopentasiloxane

Avoid these ones:

• Petrolatum
• Mineral oil
• Paraffin

4. SUNSCREEN

My number one tip for flawless skin as you age is to always protect your face from the sun. This is because UVA rays cause DNA damage to skin cells and affect the protective functions of your skin.

Sun Damage

As you can see UVA rays are longer than UVB rays and therefore penetrate deeper into the skin. They have the ability to travel through all 3 layers of the skin:

• The Epidermis – the outermost layer
• The Dermis – the ‘scaffolding’ layer
• The Hypodermis – the fatty layer

The dermis is where your collagen and elastin live. These protein fibers are the structure (scaffolding) that holds your skin up keeping it strong and healthy.

Too much sun exposure damages and weakens your skin’s ‘scaffolding’ causing it to collapse!

Just like natural aging, sun damage won’t be visible now. But, it will begin to show up as fine lines, wrinkles, loss of elasticity, and an uneven skin tone as you age.

Choose Your Sunscreen Wisely

It’s also important which sunscreen you choose —mineral or chemical.

In the past three years, there has been a rise in reports of sunscreen harming coral reefs and marine life. The U.S. Virgin Islands is the latest in a growing list of travel destinations to announce a ban on all imports and sales of sunscreen containing oxybenzone and octinoxate.These ingredients can also be harmful to us humans. This is why I highly recommend choosing mineral sunscreen.

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Other habits to help you achieve your skin goals include going to bed earlier, drinking more water, creating a diet high in antioxidants, and regular exercise. Being a happy, kind, and positive person can also do wonders for your looks!

How do you take care of your skin? Do you follow any of these steps already?

Bio

Gabrielle Richens is a skin expert and clean beauty blogger. She helps women improve the health of their skin by cutting through the beauty marketing jargon to understand exactly what’s in their skincare products. Empowering them to feel more happy and confident going makeup-free! Her skincare advice has been featured in WeAreFeel.com, Swift Wellness, Clean Beauty Gals, and Lady Style Magazine. Join The Rich Skin Club for more skincare solutions.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therichskinclubx/  

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If you have enjoyed this post, why not pop over to Gabrielle’s Etsy shop, RichPrintables. She has a really helpful Ultimate Skincare Planner and has very kindly given my readers 50% off. Simply click this link or apply the code “KDREPORT50” at checkout.

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