Having clear, healthy, glowing skin is a dream for many people, but achieving it isn’t always easy. You spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on fancy skincare products, research beauty secrets for hours and hours, and might even get pricey treatments to improve your skin. But what if it was a simpler answer? What if to get the skin you want it was more about those little healthy habits you make along the way?
Sometimes, the answer you’re looking for is the easy one, but it seems so simple you look past it. When it comes to your skin, it might not be from choosing the wrong products or genetics that are causing your acne, pimples, or imperfections, but how you treat your skin and your body overall.
Functional Medicine Los Angeles, a provider of functional medicine Burbank suggests 12 healthy habits you can add to your daily routine that just might improve the health and appearance of your skin.
1. Wash Your Face Daily
One of the best things you can do for your skin is wash it! Far too many people look past the importance of not just washing your face, but washing it properly. Our functional medicine doctors offer some tips for washing your face:
a. Wash it twice a day
– You really need to wash your face twice a day. In the morning splash water on your face and remove any bacteria, then in the evening remove your makeup and basically wash the day away.
b. Use lukewarm water
– Always rinse your face with lukewarm water. Avoid hot water, and have it closer to the cold side than warm.
c. Use a gentle cleanser
– The cleanser should be appropriate for your skin type, such as dry, oily, or combination. But either way, you go, make it a gentle closer without alcohol.
d. Don’t scrub or rub
– Remember that your face is very gentle. The skin needs to be treated with care. While cleansing your face, resist the temptation to rub it vigorously, even if you are using an exfoliating cleanser. When drying your face, pat it dry with a soft towel; don’t rub your skin dry.
2. Have Different Morning and Nighttime Routines
In addition to washing your face twice a day, you also want to adjust your skincare routines depending on what time of day it is. You should not have an identical routine in the morning and at night.
Morning – In the morning, it is more about splashing your face with water and preparing it for makeup if you wear it, or your moisturizer and sunscreen. This is when you typically use a gentler cleanser and don’t need to double cleanse.
Night – Nighttime is best for double cleansing. The first cleanse is to remove any makeup or products from your skin like sunscreen. Then, the second cleanse is to remove any remaining bacteria from your pores.
3. Change Your Skincare Based on the Seasons
It is also a good idea to further adjust your skincare routine based on what season you are in. As the weather and climate change, so do your skin’s needs.
For example, in the spring and summer months, you are caring for your skin based on the hot weather and possibly humidity if you live somewhere that gets humid in summer. In the fall and winter, you pay more care to your lips that might get chapped, and care for dry skin that tends to occur in the wintertime.
In the summer, you might need more sunscreen, especially if you will be outside a lot on extremely hot days. In the winter, you might need more moisturizer to care for your dry skin.
4. Focus on Nourishing Your Body
In many ways, the way your body looks on the outside comes down to how you treat it on the inside, and this includes your skin. Your gut can affect so many things, including how you look and feel. But proper nutrition is also about the vitamins and minerals you get.
Your skin needs those vitamins too! You might use products with vitamin C and apply vitamin E to your skin, but what about inside your body? You can get these and other important nutrients from your food first.
An easy way to ensure you are getting proper nourishment for your skin is to eat a diet with all the colors of the rainbow. Try to get as many colors as you can, from red and orange bell peppers to yellow lemons, whole grains, and potatoes for your beige and lighter colors, spinach or kale for your greens, bright berries for your purples, reds, and blues, and apples for your reds. The more colors you have at each meal, the more nutrients that meal will have.
5. Reduce Stress in Your Life
Having emotional stress can be disastrous for your mental and physical health, and your skin tends to show signs of stress before the rest of your body. Stress impacts your body and mind a lot more than people think. Not sure where the rosacea flare-up is from? Do you keep getting breakouts with no other cause? It might be from stress.
Now is a great time to add some daily methods for reducing stress. Our functional medicine Studio City experts recommend some things you can do every day for your stress levels:
- Write in a journal
- Take a walk outside
- Get more exercise
- Give yourself rest and breaks
- Get enough sleep
- Try yoga or tai-chi
- Do something you enjoy
6. Drink Your Water
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Your skin needs water and moisture, but not just on the outside. You need to nourish your body with plenty of water to stay hydrated. The more water you drink, the better your skin will start to look. You might not have actual pimples and blemishes, but if your skin just doesn’t look as tight and vibrant as it used to, it might just need a little extra hydration.
7. Use Sun Protection
If you only apply one thing on your face every day, it should be sunscreen. Even on days when it isn’t hot and sunny when it might be cloudy or even snowing outside, the sun’s UV rays can still damage your skin.
Make sure you are applying sunscreen to your face every single day, regardless of how much time you think you will spend outside and what the weather is like. You never know how much sun exposure your skin will get, and it needs protection!
Remember if you have fair or sensitive skin, you need to apply sunscreen separately even if your moisturizer or makeup contains some SPF. You are prone to sunburns and damage to your skin, so it is extremely important not to skip this step.
8. Leave Skin Imperfections Alone
Stop picking your pimples! It is not making them go away or helping them to heal. If anything, this is causing more damage to your skin, prolonging your acne, and might even be leaving behind scars. It can be very tempting to pop a pimple, but this opens up that skin to bacteria that could make it worse and give you even more acne.
Try to resist the urge!
9. Know How to Layer Skincare Products
Just like you would layer your makeup in a certain way, you also want to layer your skincare products properly. After you have washed your face, that is when you can use skincare products like a toner if you plan to use them. You will then do any skin treatment after the toner, such as using a mask. Following the mask is when you typically apply eye cream, serums, and then moisturizer. Put your sunscreen on top of your moisturizer but beneath your makeup.
10. Don’t Overdo it
When it comes to skincare, people often try to experiment with all the products they can find, becoming overwhelmed by the advice from others who have successfully cleared their skin. While it is okay to try new things on your journey to better skin, you want to be careful not to overdo it.
If you want to try a new product or skincare routine, do so slowly and gradually. Introduce just one product or skincare routine change at a time, then see how your skin reacts to it. Don’t try to do everything, or you are putting your skin through unnecessary steps and might be harming it further.
11. Keep Your Bedding Clean
To reduce bacteria on your skin, you need to have clean bedding, especially when it comes to your pillow. You lay for 6-8 hours or longer every night on that pillowcase, so imagine what it is doing to your skin if it doesn’t get washed regularly. Make sure you are washing your pillowcases at least once a week, but more often on nights when you might be sweating a lot. Use a gentle laundry soap meant for sensitive skin, preferably unscented.
You may also want to wash your other bedding regularly as well since it might also come in contact with your face.
12. Care for the Skin You Have
The final habit is one that is really important and people often overlook. Your skin is unique to you. It might have certain skin conditions, sensitivity to ingredients, or simply not do well with some face masks. You need to care for the skin you have, not the skin your friends have, or use all the same products beauty gurus are using.
If you have a condition like rosacea or eczema, you can’t really use all the toners, exfoliants, and serums that other people use without these conditions. Talk to a dermatologist about treatments that work for your skin.
Discover a healthier you with Functional Medicine Los Angeles! Contact us for your optimal well-being.