What Every Skin Type Needs

We touched on this topic already, but now we’ll expand a bit on the critical types of ingredients that all skin types need. This section is short and sweet because in some ways it is as standard as discussing a healthy diet. Healthy foods are not a mystery, we know what they are when we’re shopping at the grocery store. The same is true for skincare. Scientific studies and the physiology of skin make it perfectly clear that healthy skin needs an ample supply of substances that are natural to the skin.

When we are young, our skin makes these substances in abundance, but over the years, these important substances gradually become depleted, the result of sun damage from not regularly wearing sunscreen, aging, mid-life changes, and health issues. As a result, our skin is no longer able to resupply these substances in the skin or to hold on to them. Providing your skin with these necessary substances via your daily skincare routine, twice a day, is what great skincare is all about. 

ANTIOXIDANTS

Skin needs a generous supply of antioxidants. Antioxidants are a group of ingredients that diminish the impact on the skin of the environment, stress, midlife changes, sun damage due to not wearing sunscreen daily, and myriad other issues. Anything you can do to slow the impact of these occurrences is incredibly beneficial, and antioxidants are definitely the foremost group of ingredients that are fundamental to doing just that.

The best moisturizers (lotions for normal skin, creams for dry skin, and gels and liquids for oily/combination skin) are formulated with a potent blend of antioxidants that help provide skin with what it needs to fight off the negative influences that can impact the skin. 

Antioxidants must be housed in packaging that ensures they remain effective, which means they should not be packaged in a jar or in clear packaging because antioxidants break down in the presence of light and air. 

SKIN-REPLENISHING INGREDIENTS

Environmental attack decreases skin’s ability to resupply and maintain the substances that are important for skin’s integrity as it did when we were younger. When these skin-replenishing ingredients (also referred to sometimes as skin-identical ingredients) are present in abundance they keep skin supplied with protective ingredients that help maintain moisture balance and conserve skin’s all-important ability to renew itself day in and day out. 

These ingredients help maintain a resilient supple skin surface that allows the skin to look smooth, soft, enlivened, and luminous. It also helps skin readjust and become normalized, which is critical for every skin concern imaginable.

There are many skin-replenishing ingredients, including such well-known substances as hyaluronic acid, sodium hyaluronate, glycerin, ceramides, lecithin, sodium PCA, and many more. These skin-loving ingredients keep skin supplied with what it needs to be refreshed and supple and to look glowingly revived every day.

SKIN-RESTORING INGREDIENTS

Skin-restoring ingredients can help skin appear more radiant and younger by boosting the skin’s rejuvenating processes. It really is astounding what these types of ingredients can do for the skin.

Once again those insidious culprits—environmental assault, sun damage from not wearing sunscreen daily, aging, and midlife changes—limit skin’s ability to renew itself as it once did. The result is skin that is less hydrated, less supple, shows more signs of aging and loss of firmness, uneven skin tone, and loses the ability to take care of itself by keeping surface skin organized and intact.

Skin-restoring ingredients help skin not only look renewed, but also feel and appear normal, balanced, and younger in so many ways. This is an exciting area of skincare! The key players in this group are niacinamide, retinol, multiple peptides, lecithin, and adenosine triphosphate.