Studies show that the #1 feature that gives away our age is our complexion. So, if you’re investing in injections to maintain a youthful appearance, it’s worth thinking about your skin as well. When you’re re-decorating, you wouldn’t put new furniture in a room with peeling paint, would you? It’s the same with your face. Discoloration, fine lines, large pores, breakouts, or just dull lack-lustre skin will detract from your appearance, even if you’ve had BOTOX for frown lines, or filler in cheeks or lips.
But how to improve the look of your skin? First, you need to establish: what are your needs? Do you already have significant age-related changes that need correction? Or, are you wanting to be preventative, and act before significant fine lines or pigment develop? Have you invested in good skin care in the past, and your aim is to maintain a good complexion? Or do you have areas of specific concern, like acne, or rosacea?
A good aesthetician can help you establish what your needs are, and then make recommendations for them. If you’ve never had a full skin assessment, our medical aesthetician Suzanne is highly experienced, and can help you assess your skin type, and then assist in developing a plan to address your concerns.
The next questions that need to be addressed are: how much time do you have to invest in a skin care regimen? Are you prepared to take the time for several steps, morning and evening? Or are you the type who is quick out the door in the morning, with barely time to wash your face? It’s important to be realistic. Choose a skin care program that suits your lifestyle. If you’re the type to be rushed, then we have products for that. On the other hand, if you’re prepared to address skin issues with a bit of labor, then a more involved series of treatment is an option.
Finally, we all have a budget. The secret to the best skin care is making your budget work for you. Get the best quality, hardest working products that you afford. Because medical skin care products are legally allowed to contain higher percentages of active ingredients than over the counter products, you will always get more for your money with a medical in –clinic line. If your time allows you to indulge in some in-clinic treatments like peels, facials, or light therapies, you will also see faster and more significant results by pairing at home skin care with in-clinic procedures.
So, now you are at the stage of choosing a skin care line. While there are products for specific concerns, like aging around the eyes, or acne, regardless of specific concerns, all skin care regimens include some basic elements:
- Cleansing
- Protection
- Hydration
- Stimulation
Regardless of age or skin type, all of us need to use products that fulfill these 4 basic categories.
Cleansing may be designed to be very gentle for sensitive skins, or deeply exfoliating for those with oil and plugged pores or acne.
Protection includes not just UV protection, ie products that contain SPF, but that also contain molecules that fight the protect against environmental, and intrinsic things that age our skin. Many are what we call antioxidants. Vitamin C is among the best known of these, but there is a myriad of molecules for which evidence suggests a role in fighting the aging processes.
Regardless of whether you have oily or dry skin, hydration is important. All skins need moisture ( ie water, not oil), therefore a moisturizer is critical.
Finally, simulators, that prod our tired skin cells to turn over, and to keep producing collagen, elastin and other vital components are the final essential ingredient to the best skin care. The best-known stimulators are the vitamin A analogs, Retin A or Retinol, but many newly discovered Peptides are now also thought to play important roles in anti-aging.
At MCSC we carry several hand-picked lines that offer the best in all these categories and can be personalized for each individual’s lifestyle and budget. We are very excited to add Alumier’s products to our offerings. Check out our specials this month, and try Alumier for yourself. Look for our detailed information on this fabulous all Canadian line in our next newsletter.
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