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If you're like most people, a weekly facial does not fit into your budget, let alone your hectic agenda! However, healthy, glowing skin doesn't have to be the exclusive possession of those who can afford professional skin care. Developing a routine that keeps your skin clean, hydrated, and protected will make you look your best. A good daily skin care routine shouldn't take more than 10 mins a day.
Here is a list of some steps to help with your daily skin care routine and keep your skin looking and feeling healthy, clear, and youthful.
Determine your skin type and pick appropriate products:
- Normal - Skin is velvety, with small pores and no visible acne
- Oily - Skin has enlarged pores with shiny patches. Frequent breakouts may occur on the face, back and arms
- Dry - Skin has very small pores with possible dry and itchy patches. The cheeks, arms, legs & chest may be very dry
- Combination- Skin is dry across the cheeks and oily on the forehead, chin, and nose
- Sensitive- Skin is either oily or dry with irritated and itchy patches. Skin may be blotchy with frequent breakouts
If you're not sure what type of skin you have, ask a Ttree2success professional. N.B Body skin may be a different type to facial skin.
Once classified, you should choose our specially formulated products for your particular skin type and use in your daily routine.
The three steps in your daily skin care routine:
Step 1 - Cleansing
For the face, use our gentle eye make-up remover. Next use the facial cleansing agent particularly for your skin type. Those prone to breakouts may wish to use our medicated range of products. First, splash your face with warm water to open the pores. Apply cleansing product to the skin in gentle upward strokes (to avoid stretching the skin and aggravating wrinkles), then rinse thoroughly with warm water. Finish with a splash or two of cold water to close the pores. This routine is exactly the same for the body.
Step 2 - Toning
Follow cleansing with our facial toner to remove any residual greasiness still left on the skin from your make-up or cleansing product. It also closes pores, stimulates circulation and gives the skin a porcelain-like quality. Apply the toner with a cotton ball, using the same gentle, upward strokes that you used to apply your cleanser. Only those with very oily skin need to use a body toner.
Step 3 - Moisturising
All skin types, even oily skin, need a moisturiser everyday. But, like toners and cleansers, we provide a range of different types of moisturisers for different types of skin. All of our products are hypo-allergenic, free of perfumes and chemicals that can cause skin irritation and contain a sunscreen and are not tested on animals. Moisturiser should be applied to the face in upward strokes.
Feeding the Skin
A critical step required for healthy and glowing skin is to eat a balanced diet containing plenty of Vitamins A, C, D and E. Vitamins C and E help to prevent skin damage from free radicals which can cause visible lines and wrinkles. Vitamin C also helps the body to produce and maintain healthy collagen levels. Vitamin A helps to prevent sun damage and Vitamins C and D help with skin healing.
Common Foods that Contain Vitamins A, C, D & E
Vitamin A Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables, dark green leafyvegetables, whole eggs, whole milk, and liver
Vitamin C Citrus fruits, tomatoes, broccoli, green peppers, melon and strawberries
Vitamin D Only a few foods naturally contain significant amounts of vitamin D, including fatty fish and fish oils. Milk is usually fortified with Vitamin D. Exposure to sunlight is another source of vitamin D.
Vitamin E Vegetable oils, nuts, and green leafy vegetables and many fortified cereals
Essential fatty acids found in vegetable oils, some fish and nuts help to nourish and hydrate the skin to promote a glowing complexion.
It's also important that you get enough sleep -- 8 hours a day -- and find at least a little time to exercise. Improving circulation improves the complexion; just a 20 minute daily walk can keep skin luminous.
During our early adolescent and teenage years, most of us rarely think about our skin and the ageing process that will one day affect the condition and appearance of our skin. However, after our early 20s, ageing changes will begin to show up in the skin; changes which will progress as we age into our 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.
It's never too late to begin taking care of your skin and protecting it from future damage. Although your skin will continue to age, you can take precautions and use our specially formulated products to help keep your skin looking healthy, refreshed, and youthful.
How Does Skin Change With Age?
As we approach our 30s, our body's production of collagen and elastin (two substances that give the skin firmness and elasticity) begins to slow down. The collagen and elastin also begin to loosen and unravel which results in skin that sags and has poor elasticity.
At the same time, fat cells beneath the skin may begin to disappear. With the loss of this supportive fat, collagen, and elastin, plus the pull of gravity, the skin begins to sag and form wrinkles. The skin also loses the ability to moisturise itself and retain moisture with age, leading to drier skin with possible itchy, irritated patches.
With age also comes the appearance of those familiar lines and wrinkles that we associate with older skin; frown lines (those between the eyebrows) and crow's feet (lines that radiate from the corners of the eyes) as a result of small facial muscle contractions.
We offer a range of fabulous beauty and nutritional products to help to take care of your skin and slow down the ageing process.
Your Habits, Your Skin
In addition to the natural processes that occur as we age, other long-term habits can cause serious damage to our skin.
Sun exposure is the most damaging external factor that affects the condition of our skin and is the primary cause of prematurely ageing skin (called photoageing) and skin cancers (including melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma). In fact, many of the features we associate with aged skin are actually caused by sun exposure, and not by the natural ageing process. Photoageing can cause a number of skin conditions, including:
- Fine wrinkles
- Liver spots (a.k.a. age spots)
- Dilated blood vessels
- Roughened skin
Smoking cigarettes is also harmful to the skin. Smoking causes the blood vessels in the top layers of the skin to narrow (constrict), which reduces the blood supply, reduces the amount of oxygen available to the skin, and reduces the removal of waste products and dead cells. This process contributes to the reduction in collagen and elastin and prevents Vitamin A from bonding with skin cells to repair skin damage, leading skin to have a greyish or bluish cast and a leathery texture. Smoking also restricts circulation, taking away the rosy blush of young skin. The facial expressions smokers make when smoking may also cause wrinkles, with wrinkles appearing around lips pursed around a cigarette and around eyes that squint to keep out smoke.
Common Signs of Ageing Skin
When skin ages and accumulates damage from sun and other habits, a number of skin conditions may result including:
- Lentigines - Also known as "age" or "liver" spots, lentigines are flat, brown spots that usually show up on the face, hands, back and feet. These spots are not dangerous (and are not a sign of liver disease). If, however, you notice a dark, flat area with irregular (not rounded) borders, see a dermatologist to ensure that it is not a melanoma.
- Bruises - Older skin bruises more often than younger skin and takes a much longer time to heal. Bruises that don't heal after a week or so should be seen by a dermatologist.
- Wrinkles - As skin becomes less elastic, it begins sag, particularly around the eyes, mouth, forehead, and cheeks.
- Telangiectasias - Often called "broken capillaries," telangiectases are visible, dilated blood vessels in the face, usually caused by sun damage.
- Actinic keratoses - These are rough, warty, reddish or brownish growths, caused by sun damage and are often a precursor to squamous cell carcinoma (skin cancer).
- Cherry Angiomas- These are red, protruding growths on the body caused by dilated blood vessels. They are harmless and occur in about 85% of those over middle-aged.
- Seborrheic Keratoses - These are brown or black raised spots, or warty growths on the skin's surface.
Keep Your Skin Looking Younger
It's best to start protecting your skin during childhood, however, anyone at any age can begin to take the necessary precautions to help protect the skin, keep it looking young and healthy, and hopefully slow down the affects of ageing. Some tips:
Minimise Sun Exposure - Minimising sun exposure is the most important thing you can do to protect your skin and keep it looking young. Wear our sunscreen of at least SPF 30 when outdoors and protect the face with a hat. Avoid sun exposure from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, which is the most hazardous time for UV exposure.
Protect Skin From Dryness - Ageing skin can be dry, flaking and itchy. Use a moisturiser immediately after bathing.
Drink Plenty of Water - Drinking water throughout the day ensures proper hydration of the body and helps to reduce skin dryness. Doctors recommend drinking at least 6-8 glasses of water every day.
Eat a Healthy Diet - Eating a healthy, balanced diet will benefit your body as well as your skin. Fruits and vegetables help to prevent premature skin ageing since they contain many antioxidants.
Exercise - Exercise promotes capillary functioning which can decrease premature ageing and increases oxygen to the tissues which keeps skin looking young and healthy.
Stop Smoking - Stopping at any age reduces further damage to skin.
Dry Skin, Eczema and Psoriasis Tips
Use a cleanser twice a day rather than soap to adequately clean the skin without stripping it of all of its natural oils.
A toner will help to remove any residual make-up and dead skin cells, as will an exfoliating scrub. Removal of dead skin cells will allow enhanced penetration of moisturisers, optimising their benefits. Don't use a toner or an exfoliating scrub without a moisturiser, as alone it may exacerbate dryness.
Particular attention must be paid in cooler months to moisturisation, especially if outdoor sports or occupational activities lead to exposure to harsh wind and cold temperatures.
The key to moisturisation is frequency of application - a regiment that utilises morning and evening moisturiser is important.
The under-eye area is particularly vulnerable and sensitive to dryness. This will accentuate the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Faithful emolliation will diminish this.
Richer emollients will provide more prolonged protection - a layer of our speicalised rich moisturiser range will help prevent evaporation of water from skin cells by its protective coating.
While you are caring diligently for your face, do not forget body skin, which experiences the same problems with dryness as the face. Low temperatures and humidity, indoor heating, dry, recycled air and outdoor exposure can create tough, scaley areas.
What Is Acne?
Acne is a skin condition that occurs due to the over-production of oil by the oil glands of the skin. The oil that normally lubricates the skin gets trapped in blocked oil ducts and results in what we know as pimples, blackheads, and white heads on the surface of skin. Sometimes it also includes deeper skin lesions that are called cysts.
- Pimples are small skin swellings that sometimes contain puss.
- Blackheads are dark formations on the skin due to an accumulated mixture of oil and cells in a blocked skin pore.
- White heads are small flesh-or white-coloured bumps due to skin pore blockage.
- Cysts are closed sacs beneath the skin or deeper that contain fluid or semisolid substances.
The areas of the skin that are most susceptible to acne are those areas that contain the largest number of oil glands. For example, it is estimated that there are 2,000 oil glands per square inch on the forehead alone. The face, chest, shoulders, and back are the areas with the highest population of oil glands. Acne commonly occurs in people between their teenage years and their 20s. However, it is not restricted to this age, older adults and children also have acne.
The Ttree2success product range contains several different treatments for Acne. Eczema, Psoriasis and other skin disorders.
To Find Out More about our extensive 100% satisfaction guaranteed Product range, please just send us your details.
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