Beauty Food For Dry Skin
Most of us with dry facial skin look for skincare products that will salve the dryness. That is a really good idea, of course. A moisturizer is essential for dry facial skin; so, too, is a moisturizing cleanser. However, not nearly as much attention is paid to what is going on inside the skin and how we can improve dry facial skin from within.
Less Oil, Collagen and Elastin Produced – Skin Needs Help
The outer layer of skin is made up of dead cells that are pushed out from deeper layers where collagen, elastin, and oils are produced. As we age, we produce less collagen and elastin, our skin becomes less firm and wrinkles appear; and as we produce less oil, our skin’s moisture barrier weakens and our skin retains less water, setting the stage for more wrinkles.
The Best Moisturizers Are Oil-Based
The best moisturizers for dry skin work to compensate for our lower oil production. There is abundant evidence that daily moisturizing helps care for dry skin and slows down the aging effects that dryness can bring. However, many topical creams and lotions claim to go further than rebuilding the moisture barrier. They are formulated with collagen, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and other active ingredients that are known to improve the skin’s elasticity and health.
Other Ingredients Do Not Absorb Well Through Skin
The theory is that these ingredients will find their way into the deeper layers of the skin where they can do some good. Unfortunately, the skin is designed to keep things out of the body; it is not an ideal pathway into the body. This means that some ingredients have no chance of getting to where they can do any good. Their presence in products is for marketing reasons, not for any benefit we are going to derive from them. Other ingredients penetrate in small quantities and it is questionable whether enough of them get through to make much difference. That is why there is so little clinical evidence that anti-wrinkle creams, aside from prescription-strength retinoids, actually do anything for our wrinkles.
Anti-Wrinkle Compounds Can Be Absorbed As Food
Fortunately, there is a much easier way to get anti-wrinkle compounds into the body; and that is through the mouth. What we eat has a very high chance of finding its way into the blood stream, organs and tissues of the body, including the skin. So why not simply eat the antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, collagen stimulators, and all the other ingredients our skin needs to be healthy? They are abundant in everyday foods, and they cost much less than when packaged in ineffective anti-aging creams.
There Are Many Proven Anti-Aging Foods
Why try and force stuff through the skin when we have an efficient digestive system and ample evidence that using it well causes all kinds of good things to happen to our health and our skin; not to mention our pocket-book?
Why Not Eat Them?
To slow the breakdown of collagen (now we are talking real anti-aging), try a daily cup of white or green tea; for the vitamin C needed for collagen production, try a daily orange. Add a few walnuts every day, and you have increased your omega-3 and good fat intake. It does not take a cabinet full of skincare products to rejuvenate dry skin; just a sensible approach to caring for ourselves.
The Side Effects Are All Good
As we eat foods rich in nutrients that support our skin, the rest of our body benefits, and we take on the glow of health. Rejuvenating dry skin is an inside as well as an outside job, and if you want the best results, you are best off doing both.
