Do you know why is important taking care of your skin externally too?

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Besides this common thought that beauty comes from inside and that many people would not be able to buy skincare products for being "too expensive", "unnecessary" or just because they can't understand skincare products when it should be something as understandable as hair products, taking care of your skin is not only an aesthetic matter, is also about health. When it comes to acne, it stops being a taboo and everybody can go to a dermatologist or buy skincare products. But, proper skin care can prevent this type of problems and some other issues too, like skin cancer. So, why wait until some problem appears? A good diet can help keeping your skin with a healthy appearance, but most of skin problems comes from outside. Not even acne is caused by a bad diet or chocolate, acne is actually, a disease mostly caused by hormones and worsened by dirt and bacteria. There are four essential steps on a skin care routine. The first is cleansing. This is something like taking a bath every day. Why taking a bath every day and not washing properly your face every day? Also, the skin on the face is much more delicate and needs more care than your body. During the day, your skin can accumulate excess oil, dirt and bacteria and also, other external factors like smoke from cigarrettes and vehicles can stick to your skin, just imagine! Washing away all this is essential to maintain your skin clean, healthy and away from problems. Remember not using a regular soap, not even Dove soap. Body soaps are formulated with much more detergents than a face wash, so they tend to be rough and overdrying with face skin and can wash away even your own oils, those that your skin produce to keep itself moisturized and supple. Also, leaving after washing a tight and uncomfortable sensation. Face washes, sometimes are even formulated without detergents, so, obviously they're much better for face skin. Your face wash, never should leaves you after washing a dry, tight and uncomfortable sensation, clean, but not like this. If that happens, you should try some other. The second is toning. Not so many people can understand for what are toners. Toners are formulated to remove every traces of restant dirt and cleansing creams, if you're using a cleansing cream instead of a face wash. Also, they help skin replenish the moisture lost during washing. Remember avoid toners that contain alcohol. Even if they say the toner is alcohol-free, always check at the ingredients list. The next is moisturizing. Moisturizing is important to restore the moisture lost externally and give back the skin its suppleness and healthy appearance. Nowadays, many moisturizers contain incredibly nourishing, healing and anti-aging ingredients to contribute to skin health. If you have oily skin, probably moisturizers are not something that you enjoy. So, for oily skin types, is always better to use jojoba or argan oils, they moisturize the skin while controlling excess oil. The last is sun protection. There is a controversy with sunscreens, many think sunscreens are not safe. Buy nowadays, sunscreens are being improved to make them much safer. Mineral sunscreens, contain sunscreen agents derived from mineral sources, not chemicals and they don't come with the same issues from chemical sunscreens. And also, they provide better sun protection. Mineral sunscreen agents are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, those two are the ingredients you should look for. Sun protection daily, not only in summer, is simply important to prevent skin cancer and, for women interested, skin aging. Skin cancer is induced by UV radiation exposure and sunscreens can block UV radiation, this is the reason of why they're important. Regarding to skin aging, UV radiation exposure can also accelerate aging, and most of the skin problems you see at 30 or 35 like wrinkles, fine lines, hyperpigmentation and dark spots, are not because you're too old, are because of extended sun exposure. This is called "photoaging". Sunscreens should be reapplied every two hours, especially after swimming or sweating. Anyway, there are some experts that say we should be under the sun without sunscreen for at least 15 minutes everyday for our daily dose of vitamin D, which is essential for strong and healthy bones. But I think that not using sunscreen is not an option, and some other experts say that this recommendation is misleading and medically irresponsible, and you can get vitamin D from milk. Anyway, you can stop reapplying sunscreen after 4 or 5 PM or when the sunlight is very low, this is a better option. Remember there are excellent and non expensive brands you can choose, like Neutrogena or Clean & Clear. Hope you find this informative and also, I hope you can understand the benefits of taking care of your face. :)