6 Things You Can Do Today for Healthier Skin

If you’ve been slacking on taking care of your skin, don’t worry – it happens to us all, at least from time to time. Sometimes the idea of getting started can be overwhelming. Between figuring out what your skin needs to buying products to getting into a routine every morning and every night, it’s enough to make anyone want to throw in the towel.

But here’s the good news: you don’t have to do it all at once and you don’t have to aim for perfection. Just adding one or two of these tips below into your lifestyle will make your skin healthier, and who knows? Maybe when you start seeing those results, you’ll be able to take more and more steps toward better skin health.

1. Make Moisturizer Non-Negotiable

Moisturizer is one of those essential steps in anyone’s skin care routine (yes, even if you don’t have noticeably dry skin). It actually does more for your skin than you probably realize.

Your skin has a protective barrier, and water is what binds the cells together and makes this protective barrier strong. This means that the more hydrated your skin is, the better protected it is against irritants and inflammation, infections, and other microscopic invasions, not to mention dryness. As an added bonus, moisturizer plumps up your skin which makes fine lines and wrinkles look less visible.

If you struggle to find the time and energy for skin care, start with just keeping moisturizer on your bedside table and applying it when you go to bed and wake up.

2. Prioritize Your Overall Health

Your skin isn’t just cosmetic, it’s an organ of your body, so it’s just as affected by your health habits as your liver, your kidneys, and your other organs are. Beautiful skin starts from within, so take common sense steps to strengthening your health like exercising routinely and eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables and minimal processed foods.

3. Use Sunscreen Regularly

Excessive sun exposure can affect your skin in so many ways. We all know that it can put us at risk for skin cancer, but it also makes your skin age more quickly and can cause further damage like brown spots.

You don’t have to score perfect attendance, but the more often you can remember to apply sunscreen before you head outside, the better. You can even start by just swapping out your usual makeup for makeup with SPF. And if you love a sun-kissed look, sunless tanners have come a long way!

4. Shorten Your Shower Time

As important as it is to keep your hands clean and to wash your hands often, too much time in the water (especially hot water) will strip out essential moisture and can leave your skin itchy, dry, or even painful.

To ease that pain, limit your time in the shower and keep the water warm as opposed to steaming hot. Ideally, moisturize after you get out of the shower too. If your hands are looking and feeling dry from washing your hands often (especially as we wade through flu season), put a bottle of hand cream by the sink to apply after you wash your hands.

5. Get Your Beauty Sleep

Sleep might be restful for you, but that’s when your body gets down to business. Sleep is a very productive time for your body to restore and repair damage from the day. That’s why better sleep will help you have a brighter and more youthful complexion. It also helps to regulate hormones that affect your skin, like cortisol, so getting plenty of Zs is about more than just waking up without puffiness and dark circles under your eyes (though it can prevent those too).

6. Cut Back on Tobacco

It’s not news to anyone that smoking or using other forms of tobacco or nicotine aren’t good for your health, but it has a major impact on your skin too. Smoking can deprive your skin of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to be its healthiest, and it can make you age significantly more quickly too. Quitting can sound overwhelming, but every little bit that you can reduce your tobacco and nicotine use will help your skin, so you can start by cutting back a little bit at a time.

There are so many different ways to get beautiful skin, from professional treatments to pricey products. But ultimately, the most reliable way to make your skin more beautiful is for it to be healthier. Try incorporating a few of these tips, or add one at a time to your life, and watch your skin start to truly glow.