Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Aniston, Ryan Reynolds… what do these powerful names have in common?
Flawless flesh.
You’ve tried plenty of expensive treatments. You’ve tried the over-the-counter products at retail stores. You’ve even tried the hokey products advertised on TV in the middle of the night, when you couldn’t sleep and were up feeling bad about yourself. Unfortunately, nothing seems to help — our skin is still brightly colored sandpaper.
What’s happening? Is it just the hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars that celebs spend on skin care? Or is there more to it than that?
Working in the Wrong Direction
The problem isn’t trying the wrong products, or that you don’t have the extra budget to spend on lavish treatments at the dermatologist or local spa. The problem is that you’re not supplementing what you’re already doing with the right products.
Topical solutions can scrub the grime, masks can temporary replenish some of the vitamins and minerals that have been lost, and creams and moisturizers can give your skin the dewy glow you’ve been trying to get — but you’ll have to reapply as soon as 30 minutes after your first application.
You’ve done all you can do on the outside. What are you doing to fix your skin from the inside?
You Are What You Eat
There isn’t a topical or cream in the entire world that can fix what you keep breaking on the inside. Moms across the world tell their kids that they are what they eat, and if you don’t believe it’s true, switch diets for a month and see what happens to your skin.
The difference between you and celebrities is that, on top of their expensive skin treatments, they have chefs to cook for them. Once you know their secrets, you can do the same thing for a fraction of their spend.
Your Affordable & Awesome Skin Plan
1. Eliminate processed foods and junk from your diet.
The chemicals in these foods were meant to preserve them, not you. They lead to a decay in your body, both inside and out. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables at every meal, and with snacks. While all fruits and vegetables are good for you (especially dark green leafy ones and ones with bright colors), there are some foods that make great skin snacks. Kiwis, eggs, strawberries, blueberries, nuts, and yogurt (whatever you don’t slather all over your face, that is – see #2) are super skin snacks that will pay you handsomely for choosing them over chips.
2. Add Greek yogurt to your day.
Yogurt is as good on you as it is in you. Smash some blueberries and mix it with the yogurt to make a mask, then wear it for 15 minutes before rinsing. Together they can help repair sun damage.
3. Exfoliate with brown sugar and olive oil once or twice a week.
The sugar tears away dead cells that are dulling your complexion, while the olive oil replaces the much needed moisture that’s lost every day. Your skin will feel 10 years younger after this treatment, so you’ll want to do it often.
4. Drink water.
Water does more than simply replenish moisture from the inside; it also helps deliver the minerals and nutrients to your skin from the foods you eat. Eating right and drinking lots of water will give your skin an extra shine, while helping to flush the toxins from your system.
Smoking causes the skin to dull and wrinkle, while filling your pores and cells with toxic chemicals that age your face faster than the sun. Reasons are not yet known, but many reports say this is because blood flow to the skin is decreased after exposure to smoke.
6. Moisturize twice daily.
The older you get, the dryer your skin will naturally become, making moisturizers increasingly important. Your lotion should gives your skin a dewy glow that you don’t have to reapply 10 minutes later.
7. Use sunscreen.
Despite the known damage of UV rays to skin, many people refuse to make sunscreen a daily part of their skin care routine. Choose a sunscreen that’s SPF 30, as higher than that doesn’t offer more protection. If you want to get two steps in one, try an anti-aging cream with sunscreen inside, like Olay Regenerist Lotion.
There are your 7 affordable ways to get celebrity skin on a budget.
What secrets do you have for young looking skin without expensive dermatologist and spa visits?
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A good tip is avoid touching your face as much as you can. The more you touch your face the more dirt you introduce to your skin so just keeps your hands off unless you really MUST touch your face.
My secret: GOOD HEREDITY! Oh, and having a Swedish complexion that required big hats and shade when younger, and sunscreen when it was invented. My skin is absolutely flawless because I stayed out of the sun and because I inherited from the right portions of the family. I eat anything I want to eat and use Jergens Lotion on my face after I wash it with Dove baby soap in the morning. That’s it.
Excellent tips, especially about the water and cutting processed food. Don’t forget to also get enough sleep. That can do wonders for the area around the eyes.
There are so many things one can do to improve their health and skin. These are great tips.
I have found that a simple skin care plan works for me – the simpler, the better. I use an apricot scrub every morning (the cheap Walmart variety because I never noticed any difference between brands except that I actually like how grainy this one is), lukewarm water (hot water is dehydrating) in the shower (baths have to be hot, but I don’t submerge my face in them), and a simple face moisturizer with SPF after the shower. I think the gunk people put on their face to cover up problems only makes them worse, so I use no foundation, powder, or anything else on my face. And I don’t wash my face in the evening, unless I use mascara, which is pretty rare these days. The more times you wash, the more you dehydrate your skin.
For the rest of the body, it’s even simpler: regular body wash (nothing fancy or expensive) once a week, lukewarm shower water, and petroleum jelly after hot baths. If you wash too often, you take away the natural oils on your skin, so your body produces more, which leads to dehydrated skin in the short term and oily skin in the long term.
I have been complimented on my complexion many times, I get a pimple maybe once in two months or so, and my biggest problem right now is dry legs because I wear pants more often in the cooler weather.
I also agree with you regarding drinking more water, eating well (more fruit and vegetables and less processed junk), and using sunscreen.