Anti-aging skin care information
made easy

Every time I flip through a magazine or watch the television, there is at least one anti-aging skin care advertisement that promotes fighting wrinkles, reducing eye puffiness or plumping up the lips. Your lifestyle, heredity and other factors can speed up the process of aging, thus giving your age away or making you look older than you are. Luckily, if you invest in a few great topical treatments you can indulge in the fountain of youth a lot longer than normal.

First, you need to know that anti-aging skin care products come in two main categories – wrinkle reducing and firming. If you want to firm and tone sagging skin, go for face creams with coenzyme Q10, wheat protein and green tea. If your goal is to minimize lines and wrinkles, look for alpha hydroxy acids, peptides, and vitamins A and C. Here's an introduction to alpha hydroxy acids!

Never Surrender to your Age - GreatSkin.com

If you are currently using a facial cleanser you may want to consider switching over to one that contains a hydroxy acid. A hydroxy acid is a skin rejuvenator that reduces fine lines and wrinkles. Lucky for you, there are three types to consider:

◈Alpha hydroxy acid (AHA): Alpha hydroxy acids are exfoliants derived from fruit and milk sugars. The most common are glycolic acid and lactic acid.
◈Beta hydroxy acid (BHA): There is only one - salicylic acid.
◈Poly hydroxy acid (PHA): A special type of AHA that includes less irritation (for sensitive AHA users).


I recommend using cleansers with hydroxy acids only when your skin needs it, and not before. Their goal is to correct the process of aging, and not prevent it, so please make sure your other beauty products are gentle to your skin. These acid extracts come in both natural and synthetic form, but it is better for you to use natural ingredients.

Use these acid products with caution: since they are helping your skin exfoliate by turning over skin cells, it’s not a wise choice to use it with a facial scrub with this product. Doing so will leave you with a rubbery-like (fake) complexion. Also, you will need to change your current moisturizer to a heavier face cream. You should apply it to your face in the morning right after cleansing. Allow it to absorb into your skin first before applying makeup. Get the rundown on anti-aging creams!

One of the most effective anti-aging treatments is vitamin A derivatives such a retinol or retinyl palmitate. If your skin needs major rejuvenation, ask your dermatologist if you are a candidate for the prescription vitamin A treatment of Retin-A or Renova. The Retin-A or Renova treatments are the strongest although the most irritating of the vitamin A options, and are only available by prescription.

Finally, the most important aspect to any successful anti-aging skin care regimen is sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or greater, at least once a day, every day. Ninety percent of all changes in skin are due excess sun exposure, so protect that skin!

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