The pressure to look good has never been greater. And it changes all the time. It seems like it was just yesterday we didn’t even have snapchat filters!

But this constant need to look good, to look our best, and to be ever camera ready has created a pervasive, trickle down pressure. It’s omnipresent and as nice as it is to get complimented on the quality of your skin, or to get your picture “liked” on social media, it also has a way of making us feel bad about ourselves.

We can’t let this stress to be beautiful distract us from the very real necessity of being healthy. There is no sense mortgaging the future of our skin health for present good looks or quick fixes.

Your skin is more than just your face on display to the world. Think of it as a living organ that protects you from a hostile environment (UV, reactive oxygen species, pollutants) and keep treating it nicely so that it can keep doing this difficult job. As we age, our skin has a hard time keeping up with the demands we place upon it, just like the rest of our bodies. Don’t push it!

The Dos and Don’ts of Skin Kindness

• Do: Limit your exposure to the sun - Everything is a balance. We need the sun to be healthy, but too much is bad for us. When you’re getting some sun and reaping the rewards in terms of vitamin production, be aware of how much time you are spending in direct sunlight. Make sure to spend some time in shaded areas as well.
• Do: Wear sunscreen - Sunscreen isn’t just for summer or the beach! It’s a commitment we should be making to ourselves daily. Find a light moisturizing sunscreen that feels good to wear and apply it to your face, neck, ears and arms everyday.
• Do: Use a gentle exfoliator - Here is a perfect example of less-is-more. Gentle exfoliation can be as simple as washing your face gently with warm water and a soft washcloth. If you feel the need to do more than that, check out Skin Actives’ line of exfoliators which are designed for gentleness.
• Don’t: Exfoliate your skin with harsh acids and abrasive chemicals - This one seems like a no brainer, but it’s easy to get sucked into the more-is-more way of looking at the world. Some light exfoliation is fine, even healthy. But in order to maximize our skin health we should avoid over-exfoliating or pushing through with harsh chemicals for quick fixes.
• Don’t: Use alcohol based toners - Why? Alcohol is hard on our skin. It drys our skin and creates exactly the type of stress we are trying to avoid and repair! Whatever benefits we think we might be getting from toners are undone by the alcohol they contain. If you are going to tone, make sure that your toner doesn’t contain alcohol.
• Don’t: Use benzoyl peroxide or other products that will contribute to oxidative stress of the skin - Are we starting to sense a theme? There are lots of chemicals out there that we can use to blast our skin into submission. Benzoyl peroxide is one of them, you can find it at any store. And while you might get some results, it will be at the expense of your health. There are other ways to work against acne without exposing our skin to oxidative stress.
• Do: Be gentle on hair follicles of all sorts - Please understand: there are cells that produce your eyebrows, eyelashes and the hair on your head. Those cells can be damaged, or even destroyed. In the pursuit of great hair, don’t inadvertently send yourself in the opposite direction. Take care not just of your hair, but of the cells that create it! An active to look for: keratinocyte growth factor.
• Do: Nourish your skin with actives that it craves - Your skin needs food just like you do. When you apply a lotion, cream or serum, look at the label and make sure that the actives you need to be healthy are represented there. Actives you should be looking for include: Vitamin E, epidermal growth factor, Vitamin A, apocynin, essential fatty acids and more. Skin Actives Scientific prides itself on formulating active dense solutions designed for efficacy, not for so called “label value”.
• Do: See a dermatologist - When was the last time you saw your dermatologist? Did you know that doctors recommend seeing one once a year? As we age it’s especially important to make this appointment, as the overexposures of our youth may come back to haunt us later in life.
• Do: Find a skin care routine that works for you, and stick to it - So much of life is about consistency. The real takeaway here is that sometimes positive changes take a while to show. You’ll never get there if you don’t start, so start today! Work through your routine, finding what’s best for you. And when you do, stick with it. You may not see immediate changes today or tomorrow, but over time you’ll get to where you want to be: healthy!



We’ve got more tips and tricks for you as the year continues. If you are looking for something to read, check out the back catalogue of this blog’s posts. In previous installments we go into detail as to why the above are bad ideas. Look them up if you wish to understand more about the “how”, and check back here for more exploration in the future!