5 Anti-Aging Skincare Habits To Keep You Looking Young

Preventing instead of treating is a rule estheticians are well familiar with.

It is very easy to prevent any skin disorder than letting it advance to the point where it needs to be treated. 

This is because your skin is a very resilient organ that takes time (sometimes years) to show any real damage from being constantly assaulted by poorly-formulated skincare products and environmental aggressors.

As it happens, this is also the case when it comes to aging, and instead of gradually noticing fine lines, you will wake up one day, look at yourself in the mirror, and be baffled thinking where did all these lines appear from all of a sudden? 

Today I want to share with you a few skincare habits you can add to your lifestyle, thus preventing (sudden) aging. Here are…

The 5 Best Anti-Aging Skincare Habits:

Consume Antioxidant-Rich Foods

Science has demonstrated that the positive health effects attainable from an antioxidant-rich diet are more likely caused by stimulating the body’s natural defenses against aging. 

Antioxidant-rich foods boost the production of the body’s enzymes that eliminate free radicals and prevent them from causing oxidative stress. 

Oxidative stress, amongst having many negative effects on the body, can damage the fibroblast cells which are the cells that produce collagen and elastin and speed up the skin’s aging process. 

And because the skin receives nutrients and oxygen from the blood, it is very likely that it will benefit from an antioxidant-rich diet. 

My favorite antioxidant-rich foods are broccoli, blueberries, nuts (walnuts in particular), avocado, sweet potatoes, sesame seeds, and oranges. 

Avoid Caffeine And Alcohol

Caffeine and alcohol are two of the worst offenders for dehydrated and aging skin. Both of them are diuretics that compromise the skin’s health by depleting its water content. 

Additionally, alcohol hinders the production of the hormone vasopressin which is essential for rehydration. At the same time, caffeine triggers the release of adrenaline, a stress hormone that gives us a false sense of energy. 

The general consensus is that one to two cups of coffee per day and a glass of alcohol in the evening is fine, but the best thing to do is avoid them when you can and perhaps try to replace them with healthier habits such as matcha or just water in the evenings.

Dehydrated skin is prone to showing premature signs of aging (including prominent wrinkles) because there is not enough moisture to keep it looking plump and lubricated. 

Get Enough Sleep

Another factor that can contribute to massive amounts of stress and the production of the hormone cortisol and adrenaline is lack of sleep.

Stress can have a huge effect on overall health and is notorious for causing some serious health issues such as increased blood pressure.

Additionally, stress is positively linked to having less healthy dietary habits, a higher body weight, and a less healthy diet, all of which are known risk factors for high cholesterol.

But the stress hormones can also have a direct effect on stimulating the sebaceous glands into overproducing sebum, which can then lead to clogged pores and acne breakouts.

Acne is an annoying skin condition you never want to deal with; however, it may have some severe consequences that include permanent scarring due to loss of collagen. 

This scarring will only continue becoming more and more prominent as you age, so it is always best to prevent these conditions in every way you can. 

Always Remove Your Makeup Before Bed

Not removing my makeup before bed is a nasty habit, but I only realized this when my skin erupted in painful, cystic acne in my early twenties. 

I learned that not removing my makeup before bed was one (if not the main) reason for clogged pores, blackheads, whiteheads, cysts, etc. I mean, you name it – my skin has done it. 

But not only is removing your makeup before bed important, but you should also pay attention to how you remove your makeup. 

This was the second mistake I did and I couldn’t figure out why didn’t my breakouts cease when I started removing my makeup before bed with my wet wipes. 

Wet wipes are a good fix, but unfortunately, they don’t remove the makeup from your skin. They merely smear it all over the place and make your skin look clean but in reality, there’s so much still going on there. 

So, when removing your makeup, make sure to treat your young, 20-something skin with the best cleansers that will efficiently remove grime from your face without stripping your skin off its natural oils and waxes. 

RELATED: 10 Things That Will Completely Transform Your Skin!

Always Wear Sunscreen!

There are two types of sun rays that damage your skin in different ways. 

UVA is the type of sun rays that can penetrate deeper into the skin and damage collagen production. This will, in turn, contribute to saggy skin and premature wrinkles.

Additionally, UVA rays increase free radicals in the cells which in turn contribute to oxidative damage, dehydration, and irritation. 

UVB is the second type of rays and these are strongest during summertime.

UVB rays can induce apoptosis which is the programmed cell death of cells that become damaged by ultraviolet rays. 

UVBs are also the rays with the ability to burn your skin, making it itchy, irritated, and dehydrated. 

Wearing SPF daily, even on cloudy, rainy, and snowy days will protect your skin from dehydration and premature aging.

Trust me; your 30+ skin will thank you eventually!

Why Should You Take Anti-Aging Seriously In Your 20s?

---

---

“Ultraviolet radiation is responsible for the majority if, not all, skin aging (also referred to as photoaging) and we accumulate the majority of skin aging by the time we are in our 20s”

– says Dr. Dray in the above video where she talks about what age you should start using tretinoin. 

This is because most of us weren’t taught to religiously apply sunscreen during our childhood and just going out there on the sun and enjoying life. 

However, the thing is that skin aging caused mostly by sun damage doesn’t begin to show in your early to mid and even late 20s (depending on your genetics), but you may very well see some lines here and there or even deeper wrinkles in your 30s. 

This is also why anti-aging skincare was and still is (mainly) targeted towards people in their 30s.

However, many of us don’t understand that the damage you see on your skin in your 30s was caused in your early 20s, but your smart skin was hiding all this from you until now with a good production of collagen and elastin. 

But when the cell turnover along with collagen and elastin production starts to slow down as you age, you will get to see the effects of not giving a damn about your skin in your 20s. 

So, if you are in your 20s and want to put the aging process on hold, be sure to start making some skincare habit adjustments today!