Mature Skin: The Importance of Hydration
/I was approached by one of my clients and asked to touch on mature skin for my first blog. Obviously, I could write a small book pertaining to mature skin since my condition falls into this category. However, I will dedicate my first few posts to mature skin, the causes (it's not just our biological age), treatments, and beneficial ingredients for your home care use.
Everyone's Skin Ages: You are not alone.
Despite time passing us by, our biological age is not the only reason our skin ages. Factor in poor diet, sun exposure, extreme climates, pollution, disease, poor health habits, lack of sleep, dehydration, hormone fluctuations, and we've got ourselves a recipe for a complexion that could use a little TLC.
As an esthetician, it is my job to help improve the appearance and condition of your skin. I strongly recommend at the very least seasonal facials, but find monthly facials with home care work well with my clients. What does a facial do to benefit mature skin? Facials provide deep cleansing, exfoliation, increasing circulation and detoxification, stimulation of the skin's functions and metabolism, and softening of wrinkles and fine lines. This is accomplished by selection of product and ingredients for your mature skin condition. Please note I used the word "condition" and not "type". I will elaborate on that in the future.
Water, water, water!
One of the key elements in keeping your skin looking vital is keeping it hydrated. And you guessed it.... drink your water. I know this sounds like such a simple act to perform. But how many times do we get busy and simply forget to drink water? Or we reach for something else to quench our thirst. Or we're just not thirsty. Water comprises 50-70% of the weight of our body so consuming it is essential to keep the skin and body healthy. Believe me, I know how difficult it can be to drink 8-9 glasses of water daily....let alone remember to. And for crying out loud...the bathroom...how many times I excuse myself to use it and on top of that the cost of toilet paper...don't even get me started. But I do it. Every day. I carry a glass water bottle and transfer the water. I bring it to work, to the car, to the grocery store (they do have bathrooms), pretty much everywhere I go. For me, I know that if I consume 74.4 ounces I have met my daily water quota.
The advice I am going to leave you with today is to keep yourself hydrated. When it comes to your complexion dehydrated skin tends to exaggerate wrinkles. To calculate your daily water intake requirement divide your body weight (in pounds) by 2 and then divide this number by 8. This is the approximate number of eight ounce glasses of water you require in a day. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs you would require 9-10 eight ounce glasses of water. Remember, this is only an approximation. If you are outside running a marathon or sweating your buns off gardening or playing with your children, cats, dogs, goats, etc. your body will require more. So go ahead and drink that sparkling, clean, water.
God Bless and Happy Hydrating.
