Anti Aging

First of all, we are not anti aging! Aging is a luxury not everyone gets.  We are very pro healthy aging!  There is more science coming out every day about how to take care of your skin, bone structure, vitality, sex drive and a million other important things that change as we age.  

I know I look in the mirror and I am starting to see my mom and my grandma. I see it in my eyes and my hands. I see the hard work, joy and pain that my ancestors carried and I want to do it better. I want for me and for you a option of being well cared for and happy. I want it to show on our faces.  So what follows is all the latest tips and research that I have found to have us be well cared for and show it in our skin. 

The Basics of Anti Aging Skincare

A daily and nightly skincare routine is a great way to show yourself some TLC and make sure you are keeping your largest organ healthy. If you are starting from the beginning or just looking to change up your routine, the vastness of the skincare industry can feel overwhelming. 

No matter your skin concerns you will want to start with a clean face then apply your active ingredients and always finish by sealing it all in with moisturizer. It can be as simple as that! Check out our curated morning and night skincare routine with expert tips below.

The Anti Aging (Pro Healthy Aging!) Routine

1. Cleanse

First step: wash your face. Face wash is designed to clean the skin so make sure your wash isn't packed with surfactants. Surfactants are soaps that can draw oil and dirt from pores, stripping moisture from the skin and leading to dryness, itchiness or redness. This is where a gentle, hydrating face wash is key! Some skincare professionals recommend double cleansing at night as your skin has been exposed to so many elements throughout the day. 

2. Tone

The efficacy for toners is often debated in the skincare community. Some swear by toners powerful pore tightening capacity, and some totally skip this step. If you decide to tone, don't worry, you don't have to use a harsh astringent! Toners of today are much more gentle and soothing. If you are using a toner, make sure to use before your serum.

3. Serum

Serums are highly-concentrated formulas that absorb faster into the skin to replenish and nourish nutrients. WE ARE DEFINITELY ON TEAM SERUM. They are great for targeting certain specific skin concerns and revitalizing skin in whatever way it needs. Your Natural Healthcare’s Anti Aging Eye Serum is formulated to provide a potent dose of CBD and powerful botanicals that will retain moisture and enhance the nutrients needed to keep skin hydrated, healthy, and give off a youthful glow. Additionally we pack CoQ10, Coffee and vitamin E into the serum. For me this product produces the quickest visible results. Of course everyones body is different so do your own experimenting.  

4. Moisturizer

Finally: MOISTURE! Moisturizer is an essential step in your morning and night time routine. In the morning, try to include sunscreen during this step to guard your skin against UVA/UVB rays. By combining CBD with potent adaptogens, Your Natural Healthcare’s Anti-Aging skin cream adapts to the skin’s changing state making it a personalized solution for any skin type by successfully rebalancing skin, deeply hydrating, and protecting against changing hormonal and environmental stressors. 

5. Mask 

A facemask is such a treat after a long day. Along with daily skincare serums and moisturizers, an additional infusion of moisture from time to time is important to keep skin properly hydrated. And who doesn't want to feel like they are at the spa? We recommend Vena’s which is formulated to deliver a concentrated infusion of CBD and powerful botanicals into the skin to replenish the moisture skin has lost over time and maintain the nutrients needed to boost its reparative qualities.

Power of the Anti Aging (Pro Healthy Aging!) Routine

Ultimately, your skincare routine can be as simple or complex as you like it to be. As long as you're hitting the basic steps outlined above and nothing you use is causing irritation, you are on the way to glowing skin! Don't get discouraged if you don't see immediate results, most products are tested to work in 60 days. It’s never too late or too early to start taking care of your skin! 

Skin Care Education & Glossary 

Caffeine pops up in skincare products because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which prevent cellular damage. Research suggests that caffeine applied topically can be photoprotective — protecting your skin from harmful UVB rays. It also suggests that topically applied caffeine might actually destroy sun-damaged skin cells, reversing the signs of photoaging (aging caused by the sun and lowering skin cancer risk.  In addition to anti-aging benefits, caffeine constricts blood vessels, eliminating dark and puffy circles beneath your eyes, which tend to intensify as we age.

Coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10 (COQ10) is a compound that’s naturally present in our skin, one that energizes skin cells, which results in antioxidant effects, protecting our skin from oxidative damage. As we age, Q10 levels drop. This leads to visible signs of aging, like wrinkles and decreased elasticity.

Topical creams that include COQ10 have been proven to increase COQ10 in both the surface skin level and the deeper layers, decreasing free radicals within the skin and increasing the skin’s antioxidant capacity. This is just medical-speak that explains how CoQ10 creams can actually work to improve your skin and diminish signs of aging.”

Hyaluronic Acid

It’s almost impossible to scour the skincare shelves for a moisturizer without coming across a product that boasts of its hyaluronic acid (HA) contents, and for good reason. This powerful molecule holds one thousand times its weight in water. Though the idea of smearing acid into your skin sounds a bit scary, there’s no need to fear — HA is a harmless way to hydrate your skin. You can find hyaluronic acid in many different kinds of skincare products, including masks, cleansers, serums, moisturizers, sunscreens, and even lipgloss and foundation.

Plant Stem Cells

Plant Stem Cells is another trending ingredient in skincare products. These might pop up as “fruit stem cells” on a product, or even specifically as “grape stem cells” or “apple stem cells.”

To refresh your memory on stem cells — all living creatures have stem cells, including humans and plants. You can think of these as the most basic cells possible, ones that have not yet become specialized to do one particular job. So they aren’t yet skin cells or brain cells or bone cells, they’re just generic cells that have yet to undergo a process called differentiation, which makes them specialized.

Stem cells can self-renew, meaning they can make more stem cells, or they can differentiate and become skin or brain cells or bone cells or any other kind of specialized cell and then multiply.

The reason plant stem cells can be so effective in anti-aging topical treatments is because they are full of antioxidants that can help prevent oxidative stress and repair cellular damage in our skin.

Plant stem cells are one of the latest skincare additions, so there isn’t much clinical data on their efficacy, but so far, the findings look promising.

Resveratrol

Found in grapes, dark chocolate, peanut butter, and blueberries, resveratrol is an antioxidant that can help prevent skin damage as we age. Because of its antioxidant powers, it’s thought to be able to both reduce wrinkles and also help heal skin lesions.

Retinol

As with hyaluronic acid, it’s difficult to check out the anti-aging products on the shelf of any drug store without finding loads that contain retinol.

Retinol, which is derived from vitamin A, prevents skin cells from breaking down and encourages the production of new skin cells. It’s a powerful antioxidant that protects the skin from free radicals and helps create collagen.

Retinol has been proven to reduce the appearance of photoaging on the skin, such as fine lines and wrinkles. You have to be careful when using skin creams that contain it at first, given it can irritate and dry the skin a bit. It also can make the skin more sensitive to sun damage, so remember to smear on the sunscreen when you use it.

Like peptides, vitamin C can boost your skin’s ability to make collagen, which will strengthen your skin’s elasticity. It also can help protect your skin from UVA and UVB rays, as well as potentially reverse signs of photoaging.

Studies have shown that vitamin C can be difficult for the skin to absorb — its antioxidant effects are sometimes diminished when used topically.

Vitamin E

Like vitamin C, vitamin E has shown some promise in reducing signs of aging on the skin thanks to its antioxidant properties. It can also help protect your skin from damage resulting from UVA and UVB rays, and if you put some moisturizer with Vitamin E oil on your skin prior to using sunscreen, it can boost its effects. For years, vitamin E was thought to help with the fading of scars, but studies have shown this may not be the case, and some have even shown that vitamin E products and oil can actually make these worse.

Which anti aging product is best for you?

If some skincare concerns dominate others, such as sagging, then you can reach for products that contain the specific ingredients that help combat those problems, such as retinol for improving skin elasticity. It’s still a good idea to titrate slowly to discover your proper dosage. We recommend tracking any of the variables like if you were in the sun or how hydrated you were. Also notice if you body felt oily or absorbed the product easily.  What works for you is different than what will work for anyone else. Treat your body right and pay attention to what it needs. 

Final Thoughts on Anti Aging (Pro Healthy Aging!) Skincare

Remember to use a good sunscreen that has ingredients that you can pronounce. If you are outside in the sun a lot we recommend that invest in a good hat and fingerless gloves. 

Speaking of the sun if you burn we recommend that you freeze aloe vera & cucumber slices to help your body recover from the burn.  

Also remember that eating a healthy diet that includes plenty of vitamins and antioxidants — and avoiding too much sun exposure and smoke — is just as important as what you put on your skin. The skin is an organ, after all, the largest one in your body. What you feed your body is as important as what you put on your body in the end.