The holiday season can wreak havoc on your skin. From celebrating into the wee hours of the morning and sleeping in your makeup, to indulging in a few too many sweet treats, or spending a little too much time at the beach or on the ski slopes, our skin can take a bit of a hit over the holidays. Here are some simple suggestions to get your skin glowing again.
1. Ditch the foaming cleanser
If you haven’t already read our article from a few weeks back on why bubbles belong in your champagne, not your cleanser, then you should! While lots of people love that “squeaky” clean feeling they get from a foaming cleanser, unfortunately your skin isn’t frothing it. (See what we did there – pun totally intended!) In fact, due to the alkaline nature of the surfactants which make that frothiness possible in most foaming cleansers, you could be putting the slightly acidic pH of your skin out of balance. When your skin’s pH is out of balance, it damages its delicate protective barrier – the acid mantle – and this leads to all kinds of nastiness like breakouts and sensitivity. Instead, switch to a pH balanced cleanser which protects and restores your skin’s barrier, so it’ll be happy and healthy.
2. Exfoliate
If your skin is looking a little grey and dull, it’s possibly because it’s covered in several months’ worth of dead skin cells. Sounds gross, huh? As we hit out 20s, our skin’s natural turnover begins to slow, and by the time you are in your 50s, the outer layer of skin can be covered in cells which have been dead for months. By exfoliating, you slough away the build-up of dead cells, revealing fresher, younger, plumper and brighter skin. At Alpha-H, we have been preaching the benefits of resurfacing and exfoliation since before it became ‘cool’. Our range includes physical, chemical and enzymatic exfoliants which are sure to suit almost every skin type. Discover more about the types of exfoliants, and which might be best for your skin type.
3. Moisturise
Did you know that without the presence of moisture, it is impossible for your skin to function properly at a cellular level? What that means is unless there’s moisture there, your skin cannot renew and rebuild itself properly. Ensuring you are drinking plenty of water is a big part of this, but it’s also really important to ensure you are using a topical moisturiser which will give the skin its own supply of moisture. The better your skin functions, the younger it will look and act. Our range of moisturisers are carefully formulated with ingredients to help your skin be the very best it can be.
4. Protect
We cannot stress enough the importance of wearing broad-spectrum SPF to protect you against both UVA and UVB rays every day. Many people don’t fully understand the impact of these damaging rays on our skin, thinking that unless you get burned, everything is fine. UVB rays are the ones which burn your skin, while UVA rays cause your skin to tan and age. Did you know UVB rays make up just 5% of the UV rays we are exposed to on a daily basis? The other 95% are UVA rays, which penetrate deep into your skin, causing the collagen to degrade and leading to your body to then make mistakes which it tries to rebuild the skin, resulting in wrinkles and premature ageing. They’re also present all day every day, regardless of whether its cloudy or not, and they penetrate through glass. As you’ve probably already realised, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re sweltering through an Aussie summer, or shivering through a northern hemisphere winter right now, wearing a broad-spectrum SPF on the daily is essential to keeping your skin youthful and healthy!
Would you like some help to choose products which will support the health of your skin? Request a live online skin consultation with one of our friendly and knowledgeable therapists to receive personalised advice.
