AGE-BASED SKIN CARE
There is no particular problem if you have normal skin with no dry spots or blackheads, there is no special problem. But you would be wrong to think that you can neglect your skin or have no need to take care of it. Always use a good soap and preferably soft water, morning and evening. Rinse several times to remove every last trace of soap and splash with cold water. Apply light moisturizing baby lotion to protect the skin and keep it soft.
ULTRA-VIOLET RADIATION
We have known for quite a while that all ultra-violet radiation is cumulative and that every hour of sunlight a person gets whether at age one, or fifty adds up. But we did not realize until recently that an hour of radiation is far more damaging to a child than an adult. Of course if you can stay out of the sun for several years, your skin will recuperate to some extent. But the harm caused by any period of exposure can never be completely reversed. So children should be taught to use sunscreens.
Home-made Sunscreens: Use calamine lotion and baby lotion to which is added a pinch of zinc oxide, before your child goes out in the sun.
An hour before your child goes out in the sun—mix vinegar with olive oil in equal quantities and apply to the areas exposed, leave for an hour and then wash off with mild soap. This prevents sunburns.
ADOLESCENCE
Your skin needs scrupulous care during this period because the hormonal changes that take place in your body at and after puberty frequently lead to oily skin and acne.
Greasy skin is inclined to be shiny, with open pores and blackheads due to over-activity of the sebaceous glands. To fight against this excess, take certain precautions. Wash your face in warm water using a non-alkaline soap. Nothing will do your skin more good than washing it twice a day. Spray it with soda water.
Use commercial brands of astringents and also natural astringents like cucumber, lemon of apple juice. Use once a week a face-pack or face-mask of one beaten white of egg and a few drops of lemon. Keep it on for 15 minutes, then rinse with lukewarm water.
AT NIGHT
Remove your make-up with a liquid make-up remover, and finish cleansing with an astringent. Finally, wash with warm water and a non-alkaline soap.
IN THE MORNING
After washing with soap and water, freshen your skin with a skin tonic with a small spirit content. Then apply a moisturizing lotion specially formulated for oily skin or calamine lotion.
TWICE A WEEK
Treat your skin to a cleansing treatment using a friction wash that cleans clogged pores with abrasive action. Moisten your face and hands with warm water. Then put a tsp. of cleansing granules in the palm, work them into a rich lather and apply to the face. Massage gently for a few seconds. Concentrate on clogged pores and blackhead areas. Rinse off thoroughly with warm water.
ACNE
Acne is a sign of changes in hormonal level in the system which shows itself by inflammation at the mouth of the sebaceous glands producing spots.
PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN
• Avoid preparations which contain vaseline.
• Choose non-alkaline soaps.
• Avoid too highly spiced or starchy foods.
Nightly routine for acne : Remove your make-up with a liquid make-up remover. Wash with soap and water. Then apply an anti-acne cream and leave it on all night.
Morning routine for acne : Wipe your face with an anti-acne lotion. Let this lotion dry naturally. Use calamine lotion with 1 per cent phenol (ask your chemist). Apply as a protective lotion.
25 TO 35
This is when you peak endocrinologiclly (when you have reached your maximum hormone levels). Your oil glands and sweat glands are most active. Your sense of smell and taste are most acute. You are at your peak sexually.
Oily skin is an ongoing problem for many young women in their twenties and thirties. And as long as it persists, frequent washing with soap and water can be helpful along with a daily shampoo.
Acne, like oily skin, is a manifestation of this peak period of hormonal activity. But it may indicate slight hormonal imbalance when it goes on for long, and hormonal tests are useful in helping to pinpoints the exact cause. If the tests do show an imbalance, medication can be prescribed to correct this.
Large pores are another problem you are apt to see more of during these years because oily skin and acne both contribute to this condition. A large pore is nothing more than the skin surface outlet of a large (and more active) oil gland.
TO CONTROL OPEN PORES
Tomato juice and honey mixed and applied to the skin daily for 10 minutes and then rinsed off helps open pores.
Exposure to sunlight is something else you have to be careful about. Remember this is a time when you probably spend more hours outdoors walking, swimming and such that you are likely to at any later period. So the amount of sun you get is bound to be considerable and you really have to zero in on protection. You are, after all, still in a very susceptible phase—a young phase. Use sunscreens and sun blocks regularly and generously.
Wrinkles first appear during this period. And in order to forestall them there are a few things you can do. Those who smoke should cut out cigarettes. Smoking causes lots of little lines on your upper lip.
FOR CROW’S FEET
Breadcrumbs soaked in milk with a few drops of sweet almond oil can be wrapped in muslin cloth and placed warm over your closed eyes. Crow’s feet can be greatly reduced by applying the above compress.
35 TO 50
It is about now that your skin is getting thinner, less elastic. It is beginning to show changes in pigment. Colour is no longer uniform. You have little set groves on the upper lip, around your eyes, and on your forehead. But more than that, there is a gradual increase in skin surface area.
50 PLUS
Your skin gets quite a mottled look as you get older. If you look at a young person’s skin, it is a single shade. An older person’s has at least three shades sometimes four, and there are brown spots that do not belong.
Once a week, apply a face-pack of the following recipe: To one tsp. of whipped cream, add a pinch of alum and a few drops of lavender oil. Keep this pack on for about 20 minutes then rinse with lukewarm water with three drops of Tinc. Benzoin.
There is one very annoying problem that you gradually begin to be aware of—a gully and groove, in the cheek area between the lower eyelid and the nose. The skin above gets unbelievably thin and the skin near the nose gets thicker. It is very hard to correct this except with replacement therapy, collagen, silicone or the like.
Dry skin is more of a problem the older you get. As a woman’s skin starts to get seriously dry, she usually tries to solve the problem by using just a standard moisturizer. She doesn’t realize that skin-cell replacement and natural lubricant production have diminished. The key thing is getting the skin to be more the way it used to be. Exfoliation really helps. It sloughs off dead skin cells and also steps up cell division making skin cell division stepped up by tapping the skin and using an almond scrub. A large pinch of crushed almonds added to ¼ tsp. of cleansing cream should be massaged well into the skin and rinsed off.
You can try the following masks :
Separate the yolk from the white of an egg. Beat up the yolk with a little olive oil and spread the mixture evenly all over face and neck. Leave it on for quarter of an hour. Remove it with lukewarm water.
Note: Never use warm water as that would set the yolk. Use almond oil with a few drops of essential oil of patcholi, morning and night (to maintain the rhythm of cellular reproduction) and then apply a moisutrizer.
SOME INTERESTING FACTS
• The skin is the largest organ in the body.
• The skin of an average adult weights about three kilograms and covers a surface area of sixteen to twenty square feet.
• A square inch of skin contains nearly 12 million living cells, 60 oil glands, 400 sweat glands, controlled by 4 sense organs each with 15 yards of nerve stands, 1200 sense cells, 100 pressure points, 800 nerve endings and 40 odd hair.