Living longer makes preventing wrinkles more important than ever!

Any woman will tell you that preventing wrinkles is a primary beauty objective! Now that our life expectancy is going up, we certainly don't want to look like we're 90 by the time we're 70! Today, with global warming making our skin more vulnerable to the harmful UV rays, along with environmental pollution which damages skin, everyone should start taking steps in preventing wrinkles, sooner rather than later. Women aren't the only ones who worry. Men, too, are now paying closer attention to the appearance of the dreaded wrinkles, probably due to the life expectancy factor.

Just twenty years ago, young women were not into skin and wrinkle reducing creams. Their still young and fresh looking skin was just fine, with nary a wrinkle to be seen. While Mom or Grandma might occasionally give a pep talk on 'taking care of your skin', girls considered face creams to be for 'old ladies' and spent their money on clothes and shoes instead. It was only for the 40+ set. Today, preventing wrinkles is a hot topic if you're over 20!

Part of taking good care of your skin is a good cleaning regimen. Young people can accomplish this with a non-drying soap, such as glycerine, followed by a toner to close the pores and a light application of face cream, preferably one that combines a sunscreen with the face cream in a single product. If you're going to be in the sun for any length of time, always use a sunscreen with a minimum SPF of 30.

Preventing wrinkles means preventing dry skin. Over time, everyone's skin loses its elasticity and starts to sag, dry – and wrinkle. Collagen is what makes your skin elastic and vibrant. In this case, preventing wrinkles is best accomplished through good eating habits. When you're young, it seems that poor dietary habits don't make any difference in your skin's appearance. You look in the mirror and see not a single wrinkle. However, if your eating habits are poor, you'll start finding wrinkles at an earlier age. Once they show up, it's much harder to get rid of them, or even slow the inevitable progression.

Those fresh fruits and veggies are important components for good skin and preventing wrinkles. The 'good skin' vitamins are A, C, E and zinc, so load up on foods which are nutrient dense with these vitamins. However, many vitamins and enzymes are dependent on other nutrients to do their work. For example, did you know that zinc, a trace mineral, is found in virtually every cell in your body? So in addition to making sure you get your 'good skin' nutrients, eat a well balanced diet. It pays off handsomely. By the time you're older, say, 40, you and everyone else will notice the difference in your still lovely skin.

If you smoke, quit! Perhaps more than any other single factor, smoking ages your skin prematurely, no question about it.

Here's a little known fact, but easily proven. If you use makeup and foundation products daily, you will develop wrinkles at an earlier age. Here's the proof: ever notice how TV anchors seem to age prematurely? They must wear foundation and makeup every day, for the benefit of the cameras. They also sit under hot lights for hours at a time. The result? By the time they're 40, they can be out of a job, simply because they look 'too old'. Beyond preventing wrinkles, they've got to resort to plastic surgery, collagen implants or Botox treatments. I say, no thank you!

I recently went grocery shopping with a friend. She's an advocate of healthy eating, never wears makeup and doesn't smoke. As we checked out with our purchases, the checker carded her for a bottle of wine in her basket. My friend was just three weeks shy of her 60th birthday and has about three gray hairs. Her mouth fell open. “You're kidding, right?” The checker apologized, saying she was required, by state law, to ask for ID of anyone who appeared to be under 40! My friend had been earlier bemoaning to me the fact that this 60th birthday was just around the corner. So there's the proof of the pudding. Preventing wrinkles can be done. This birthday girl was happy and shocked for weeks. That 60th birthday was much less painful!

 

 

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