It comes as no surprise when we read about the phenomenal amounts of money people spend on the various skin care products that sit on the shelves of our cosmetics stores. That’s because our skin, particularly our faces and hands, is the part of us that people relate to and communicate with and we can tell so much about each other just by looking at out skin, most notably our age.

The youthful look is definitely in vogue. It has been for the best part of a century and shows no sign of stopping soon. For sure, there is no longer anything graceful about growing old gracefully. The best way to guarantee a fresh, youthful look is, well, to be young and fresh; for the rest of us a mixture of prevention and active treatment might buy us a few years back. The key is probably to be realistic about our expectations and not expect overnight miracles. But there’s one thing we can all do, and it’s never to early or late to start.

We all love the sun. It makes us happy and carefree and we’ll fly half way around the world to lie under its rays. But the sun has a few invisible tricks up its sleeve that causes several ageing effects. For all of living memory we have put sun block on, but it used to be a gloopy brown substance that only came out when we went to the beach. It was commonly known as sun tan lotion, and still is in certain circles. The idea that sun block should be part of a daily skincare routine would never have seen the light of day back then.

But then scientists discovered a massive “ozone hole” in the upper atmosphere in the 1970s and 80s. As ozone filters out some types of UV light from the sun, the link between exposure to the sun and likelihood of conditions ranging from sunburn to skin cancers made the world take note. Nowadays, UV blockers are part of many moisturisers, lip balms and anti-ageing creams as UV light is a recognised cause of ageing. Aside from this, we are encouraged to limit our exposure to the sun by staying in the shade and keeping covered up, something people in hot climates have always known.

So if there is a single thing you do to look after your skin and reduce the effects of ageing, it is being aware of the effects of prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. There are more important things in life than having a tan (and you can fake it pretty well anyway nowadays), but if you absolutely insist, make sure you’re well protected and don’t overdo it.

Realistically, we can’t stay out of the sun at all times, and the hermit lifestyle would do you no favours as we need sunlight for our vitamin D. And besides, sun sense is only one of many ways of keeping a youthful appearance. It is generally agreed that moisturising daily is a good idea and that smoking is a bad idea when it comes to keeping skin smooth and lustrous. Search on the shelves or online for skincare products and moisturisers will probably outweigh – and out-cost – the sun blocks. Maybe the two products are simply merging into one all-encompassing cream, but maintaining a routine in either or both should take you a step closer to the youthful you.

Author Bio: Gordon is beauty and skin treatment specialist and offers advice on good skincare and more generally on the merits of skin care products.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
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