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If you want to keep your youthful skin appearance, you need to know why your skin starts to change as you age. I have listed some of the most important things that affect skin appearance and some of the ways to prevent the skin from aging too fast. The sooner you start applying these ideas the longer you will keep your youthful appearance.

As you age here are some of the changes that will occur:

* Your top skin layer, epidermis, becomes thinner and more fragile

* Your skin becomes drier, since oil glands produce less oil

* The number of blood vessels decreases in your face and throughout your body. Blood brings nutrients to your skin cells, giving your skin a healthy and rosy look

* Less skin cells are repaired or replace quickly

* The sun and pollution start to show their effects on your skin by breaking down collagen and elastin, which give your skin its elasticity.

* Your good or bad diet starts to show it effects on your skin. Your bad diet did not provide the nutrients your skin needed to be flexibly, hydrated, oxygenated, and healthy.

* The un-healthy skin products you have been using start to show their bad effects on your skin.

Now, you can see that skin beauty is dependent on what kind of food you eat, how you have exposed yourself to the sun and pollution, and what chemicals your facial and skin products have. Excessive exposure to the sun and pollution will damage your skin and accelerate its aging appearance - age spots, blotches, wrinkles, roughness, sagging.

Here are some things you can do to slow down the aging skin.

* Use sunscreen every day - You can slow down wrinkle formation and even prevent it, if you use sunscreen early in your life. Use sunscreen that contains Zinc Oxide. It is better then those that have Titanium Dioxide. Daily, use a broadband SPF 15 and for heavy out door sun activities use SPF 30. If you wear makeup, put your sunscreen on first.

* On hot days and even when it is overcast use your sunscreen and a hat. Stay in the shade when possible.

* Keep away from highly polluted areas and don't smoke. Smoking changes the elasticity of the skin fibers leading to rough and wrinkled skin.

* Get enough sleep. Your skin repairs itself when you sleep.

* When you sleep, don't sleep with you face into the pillow.

* Drink plenty of water. Your skin loses water during hot days and needs plenty of water to keep hydrated. Water is found in raw fruits and vegetables. Sodas, sugar drinks, tea, (except herbal teas) coffee, or milk are not water. Rotate between buying and drinking Reverse Osmosis and Distilled water.

* Minimize drinking alcohol. Alcohol can lead to spider veins and broken capillaries. It also causes your skin to become dehydrated.

* Eat more fruits and vegetables. They provide plenty of antioxidants, which protect you from sun and pollution damage.

* Take an antioxidant supplement, which should include up to 2000 mg of vitamin C. You may have to take the Vitamin C separate.

Start using these ideas and you will see improvement on your skin. This improvement may take a few months to appear on your skin. Be patient and persistent and you will be rewarded with good skin appearance.

About Author Rudy Silva:

Rudy Silva is a Natural Nutritionist. If you want more exciting ways to really keep you skin beautiful or to get beautiful skin go to: http://www.for--you.com/SkinCareTreatment

You don't have to save the joys of pampering your self on special occasions. We can simply set aside time to pamper, renew and recharge ourselves on regular basis.

Our skin is an honest mirror to our inner health, beauty and well being. If we indulge in great deal of unhealthy food, it shows first on our skin. Wholesome eating and drinking plenty of water with adequate dose of exercise will exhibit a healthy glow on our skin. Use of natural gentle ingredients such essential oils, cold pressed unscented oils and hydrosols soothe, nourish and radiate a healthy, glowing complexion.

Consider your skin type while making aromatherapy beauty products for beauty regime at home. Facial consists of cleansing, toning and moisturizing. On occasion, you may add a gentle exfoliation and mask for luxurious pampering. Listing down step by step guide for "At Home Facial" with recipes

- Start with cleansing your skin with a gentle cleanser. Give your self a light steam treatment to unclog the pores before facial. Use fingertips to move upwards in circular movements, gently stimulating the skin and removing excess oil and grime. Rinse with warm water and pat excess moisture with a soft towel.

- After cleansing routine, tone the skin to ensure the pH balance. Apply the toner with soft cotton pad. Avoid rubbing and sensitive area around the eye. Saturate the pad and pat it over the face and neck area. Apple cider vinegar is the best toner to ensure optimal pH balance for the skin.

- Now your skin is ready to be moisturized with host of soothing ingredients. To seal the moisture, apply oil using patting motions when the skin is damp from applying the toner. For oily areas, apply once. For dry areas apply twice with an interval of 2-3 minutes between applications. Moisten the skin with water or toner in between applications to seal the moisture.

Home made recipes for cleansing, toning and moisturizing.

- For a rose cream cleanser, combine 1 tbsp sour cream, 1 tsp rose hydrosol and 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil. Stir well and apply to face and neck areas. Note - this cleanser should be used within 2 days.

- Tone up your skin with 1 cup distilled water, 1 tbsp dried green tea leaves, 1tbsp dried chamomile flowers, 1 tbsp rose hydrosol, 1 tbsp Aloe Vera gel and 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar. Heat the distilled water until boiling. Remove from heat and add green tea, chamomile flowers. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes and then strain. Add the remaining ingredients and stir and shake well. Store in clean bottle and use within 3 weeks.

- For aromatic moisturizing oil, combine 3 tbsp each of jojoba and rose hip seed oil, 2 drops each of rose, geranium and palmarose essential oils and 3 drops lavender essential oil. Stir well to combine all the ingredients and store in clear, clean bottle for use.

About Author Sharon Hopkins:

Sharon Hopkins is the webmaster of http://www.skin-care-at-home.com/. The site provides information on natural skin care with the help of home made skin care recipes and tips on skin nutrition. Read up on giving your self any time home facials with home made recipes.

This question has troubled many. If you have dry skin, did you do something wrong? Is it harsh climate? Bad skin care products? Well the experts have put their heads together to give you a list of things thought to be responsible for causing your skin to go from normal to dry. What are these things?

As you travel along the road of life, your body goes through certain specific changes that modifies the way it processes nutrients, repairs itself, and fights foreign bodies. So it should go without saying that the again process has something to do with the relative dryness of your skin. It is said that as you age, your sebaceous glands go through a change. Your sebaceous glands secrete oils that keep your skin soft and moisturized. As you age, the numbers of available sebaceous glands in your body that provide oil begin to decrease in number. This is a natural process, but it leads to your skin not getting the oil it needs, thus developing a drier nature than it had when you were an infant.

Also as you age, different processes are taking place. Your skin begins to develop an inability to retain its liquid contents. So as the moisture in your skin evaporates, it leaves behind a dry ground that leads to many of the irritating and possibly damaging effects you experience as you wish you could itch that red patch into a blood spot. Please note that itching a dry skin patch will only result in repeatedly stressing that area and leaving it open to infection. This condition can lead to other harmful and disfiguring maladies best left alone. So if your skin itches due to dryness, you should gently clean the area and apply a hypoallergenic moisturizer.

There is also the possibility of heredity. Did you realize that your skin condition could be passed down through the genes that also gave you brown hair? So if you have blood relatives that suffer from dry skin or maladies such as eczema or Psoriasis, you stand a good chance of developing these conditions yourself. Do not waste time blaming your parents. With proper early diagnosis and treatment, dry skin and even the conditions mentioned can be out under control or eliminated, even if you suffer from the extreme condition of Ichthyosis. Ichthyosis is a condition where your skin begins to scale in shapes similar to the scales that cover the fish that you intend to cook for dinner tonight.

You must be sensitive to your environment before your skin becomes sensitive to your environment. If you wash your skin too often, too much cleanser can strip your skin of important nutrients and oils. Do you live on the prairies where rain is an odd occurrence? Ambient moisture or lack of it can have a huge affect on your skin health. Dry skin arises, of course, in a dry environment. Test the humidity of your home. If it is overly dry, you may want to install a humidifier. If the dryness exists outside, you may want to consider carrying water with you to replenish the moisture escaping from your pores. Do you worship the sun, lying out for hours at a time, seven days a week? Well, beyond bombarding yourself with rays that reek havoc with your free radicals. You also cause your moisture to evaporate due to the heat. It is not just the heat, but also the sun tanning your skin. This tanning process requires moisture replenishment and if you are unprepared you can end up losing damaging amounts of skin moisture. Again, it would be recommended to carry water with you always. Or better yet, avoid the sun whenever possible and use sunscreen whenever you are exposed to its rays.

All of these things can cause dry skin, but with a simple regimen of product use and prevention; you can have beautiful healthy skin for the rest of your life.

About Author Louise Forrest:

Keep YOURSELF looking great with these great Skin Care Secrets from http://www.naturalelements.co.uk/ In seconds you can access 36 beauty topics that will keep you looking younger and more radiant You can now get the very latest information on Dry Skin by subscribing with RSS.

Nowadays, there are a lot of options available towards getting that youthful glow for your skin. From the most complicated of plastic surgeries, to a simple face lift or chemical peel - there are about a hundred options that one can choose from to remove dead skin cells and get rid of that old, wrinkled look to give your spirits a lift and your morale a boost.

1. Skin Damage

When we go out and get exposed to sunlight, the outer layer of our skin gets damaged and dead skin cells remain embedded on our skin, resulting from the dirt that gets stuck to the pores. Thus, as we grow old, the skin looks more dull and lifeless. When you add the acne scars, freckles and other facial blemishes, you really would like to have an option to restore that youthful glow that only movie stars seem to exude on screen, no matter how old or young they are.

2. What Is A Chemical Peel?

If you would not like to go for the surgical and more complicated procedures such as face lift and plastic surgery, chemical peel is definitely an option for you. There are three basic types of chemical peel that you can choose from, depending your individual need and skin type. Basically, a chemical peel is a procedure wherein the dead skin cells and the damaged outer layers of the skin are removed. There is that chemical word in the term because a chemical solution is used to smoothen or even out the texture of the skin. Eventually, the chemical applied causes the skin to peel off, hence the term chemical peel. This is typically done on the face, neck or hands. The procedure also enhances your overall look by removing the damaged outer skin layers. This is applicable and recommended for people with uneven skin tones, for people with wrinkles and facial scars from pimple/acne, and for people who just need to improve their skin texture.

3. Mild Peel

This procedure removes the superficial skin layer. This is the most skin-friendly type of peel and may be performed on all skin types. It is used to treat simple acne and pimple scars and uneven skin pigmentation. The chemical peel involves a dilute acid solution, which normally stays on the skin for a few minutes. After the chemical has been applied, the skin is neutralized with water, then the solution is wiped off. This type of peeling procedure produces a light peel, and will result to a smoother and brighter-looking skin and improved skin texture.

4. Medium Peel

This procedure goes a little beyond the superficial layer of the skin. After the treatment, the person undergoing the procedure will experience a sun-burned look and the skin might look chafed. The chemical solution stays longer on the skin, as compared to mild peels. This is applicable for people with more sun-damaged skin types, and can treat wrinkles as well as uneven skin pigmentation.

5. Deep Peel (RARELY USED)

As compared to the mild and medium-depth peel, the chemical used for this type of peeling goes through several skin layers. This can treat more pronounced skin pigmentations and wrinkles, as well as pre-cancerous growths. Moreover, this has more medical complications and considerations so it is better to consult a medical professional before undergoing a deep chemical peel. The procedure will definitely take a longer time, about more than an hour, for the chemical applied on the affected skin to take effect. However, the results are more glaring than the first two types.

After the treatment, whether you opt to go for a mild, medium-depth or deep peel, the person who underwent the procedure will experience redness of the skin. This will be followed by scaling, then peeling. The number of days that the skin will peel depends on the strength of the treatment. It is also important to avoid sun exposure after undergoing the chemical peel procedure. Finally, it is always good to consult a medical professional before undergoing any procedure, to be on the safe side. It is better to know every detail about the treatment that you would like to undergo, so that you would know how your skin would be treated and what to expect right after the treatment.

About Author Paul Graham:

For more great chemical peel related articles and resources check out http://chemicalpeel.skincarehq.com