Innocent-Looking Things That Ruin Your Skin

You use quality face creams, get professional facials done regularly, and always remove make-up before sleep? It’s great you know how to care for the skin but it turns out to be too little to keep wrinkles at bay. The skin is exposed to damage every day due to factors that seem innocent. See the major enemies of your skin and learn to keep it safe!

1. SUNLIGHT

The sunlight is the skin’s chief enemy! We all love warm sun rays on the skin and suntan but the sun has a dark side too… UVA/UVB rays reach our skin – if it isn’t protected by a shield formed by a physical or chemical sunscreen, they cause damage to the skin structures, causing premature appearance of wrinkles and dark spots. Solar radiation leads to damage of DNA and, as you probably know, contributes to the development of skin cancer. This is the reason why high factor sunscreen is a must! Remember to use it all year round.

2. AIR

Of course, we don’t mean pure air in the fjords of Norway. We mean polluted air in the city. Smog, car fumes, dust, cigarette smoke. Plus, stuffy rooms because of air-conditioning or central heating. This kind of air makes the skin suffocate. The smog is extremely harmful because of tiny particles that easily penetrate the deepest layers of skin as well as get into the lungs, causing many diseases. Polluted air in the cities is a stronghold for free radicals which trigger premature occurence of wrinkles and inflammation. Plus, it does harm to DNA. That is why we should go for anti-pollution skincare products which shield against smog and oxidative stress.

3. STRESS

Stress doesn’t only affect our mood, causing the blues or insomnia. It affects the condition of the skin, hair and nails too. Chronic stress prevents proper functioning of skin and upsets the hormone balance. As a result, the skin suffers from inflammation and your face looks dull, sallow and old. Wrinkles appear, cheeks sag, lines are fixed because of repeated faces we make (sadness leaves signs on the face too). Brittle nails, thinning lashes and hair falling out in handfuls: these are tragic effects of stress on our good looks.

4. SUGAR

Do you know the saying that sugar is white death? It is linked to diabetes and generally ruins organs in our bodies. Excessive sugar intake causes a reaction called glycation. What is that? Simply put, sugar molecules bind with proteins creating the so-called AGEs: advanced glycation end products. They are like intruders in the human body so the skin tries to protect itself by provoking the inflammation. The effect is the dissolution of collagen and elastin, or, to make it easier to picture, a wrinkle. To make things worse, eating too much sugar and carbohydrates triggers acne breakouts if your skin is prone to acne.