If I had to say what some of the most important things are, I feel, to keep your skin smooth and supple and hydrated, I would say that there are 3 – my top three at least, of course everyone you talk to will tell you something different because everyone has different experiences with what seems to keep their skin in tip top shape.
My first one is that I try to shield my face at least from any sun exposure whatsoevere. I always wear a high grade SPF on my face so that even when I’m in my car or out on a cloudy day when it seems like I’m not getting a lot of sun, I’m still protected, even if the UV ray concentration isn’t all that high that day. It goes to show how important minimizing sun exposure is when I looked at pictures of twins that had the same DNA (they were identical) and the one looked ten years older than the other.
The only differences were that one lived in Florida and was a sun worshipper and also happened to smoke, and the other one did neither.
I’ve seen the ravages of years of sun damage and what it does to the skin, so I just make sure the only way my face ever gets a tan is with a self tanner – no other rays are touching my face!
The second thing I feel that has been most important is moisturizing the outside of my skin with high quality, skin quenching and therapeutic products. Frequent and thorough moisturization of the face is important because it helps your skin maintain the all important elasticity and suppleness that tends to go away as we age. Of course, it matter what ingredients are in those anti aging and wrinkle reducing moisturizers, creams and serums as well, and I make sure that mine are chock full of antioxidants and skin exfoliating agents like retinols and natural acids.
The third thing to I do to keep my skin looking good is I constantly am drinking water. Keep in mind, I’m naturally a very thirsty person, and I naturally gravitate toward water, which is the most thirst quenching beverage in my opinion. I’m literally always sipping water, and I find that if I’m without it for even an hour, my skin tend to look more drawn in, less smooth and filled out .
I remember a good demonstration of this effect on my was when I took a vacation to Costa Rica. Not only did I sweat buckets there and was constantly dehydrated because I didn’t always have water with me, but my skin really showed it. The hollows in my eyes showed more, and even my lips seemed to thin out. I definitely looked more “haggard” without my water, which is why I believe it is one fo the keys to good skin.