| Generally speaking, facial skin care products can be put into five main categories. There may be some overlap among these categories, but each one serves a distinct purpose and understanding what each one does will help you to take care of your skin.
1. Moisturizers: Skin is one of the first things people use to guess your age. Smooth looking skin is healthy and youthful looking skin, and it's moisturizers that make this happen. The reason is that skin is more elastic in nature when you are younger, but it starts to lose its elasticity as you grow older. Keeping your skin properly hydrated with moisturizers helps to restore that elasticity, and as a result, leads to younger looking skin.
2. Cleansers: You need to be especially careful when it comes to facial cleansers. The skin on the face is more delicate than other parts of the body, so you don't want to use a harsh cleanser that could only make things worse. There are cheap cleansers and there are expensive cleansers, but price alone isn't what determines how well a cleanser will work for you. The first step is knowing your skin type and then getting a cleanser that is formulated for it.
3. Toners: The next category of facial skin care products are toners. These help to make face feel refreshed by adding some additional cleansing and by shrinking the pores. Be sure to choose a toner that doesn't contain alcohol as it dries out the skin. Witch hazel and rose water are simple and effective toners. Many people prefer to apply their moisturizer after the toner because the toner may take some of the moisturizer off. However, toning also makes the pores smaller, thereby preventing the moisturizer from doing its full job. You may have to experiment to decide which way works best for you.
4. Exfoliants: Your skin is constantly producing new cells to replace the dead ones. Unfortunately, these dead skin cells stay on the very top of the skin and can give your face a dull or aged look. Exfoliating is the process of removing these cells and there are many exfoliants to accomplish this. Exfoliants can be divided into two main categories: chemical and mechanical. Chemical exfoliants typically use acids of some kind to remove the dead skin cells. Some people are sensitive to these chemicals so they may not be a good choice for you, at least not for use on a regular basis. Mechanical exfoliants basically scrub away the dead skin cells with an abrasive. The key here is to use a as gentle of an abrasive as you can because you wouldn't your facial skin products to end up damaging your skin.
5. Sunscreen: We need plenty of sunlight to stay healthy, but the sun's rays can take their toll on your skin. Put on sunscreen every time you go outside and you will minimize the harmful effects of the sun. You can buy sunscreen by itself, or select facial skin care products that have sunscreen added to them. |