Your busy modern lifestyle leaves you little time for pampering your skin. The result: Your skin isn't the same baby-soft body glove you were born with. As age catches up, your skin gradually becomes thinner and finely wrinkled. Oil-producing (sebaceous) glands become less active, leaving your skin dryer. The number of blood vessels in your skin reduces, your skin becomes fragile, and you lose your youthful sheen and color.

Good skin care will definitely help delay the natural aging process and prevent many skin problems. We list below some vital aspects of skin care, the important factors, what is good and what is not good for your skin. These simple skin-care tips are sure to help you protect your skin to keep it healthy and glowing for years to come.

1. Protect yourself from the sun

The best way to take care of your skin is by protecting it from the sun. Ultraviolet light the invisible but intense rays of the sun can damage your skin and cause deep wrinkles, dry, rough skin, liver spots, and more serious disorders, such as noncancerous and cancerous (malignant) skin tumors.

2. Don't smoke

Smoking accelerates the normal aging process of the skin, contributing to wrinkles. Skin changes as a result of smoking can be seen in young adults who have been smoking for as few as ten years. This is because smoking causes narrowing of the blood vessels in the outermost layers of your skin. This reduces blood flow, depleting the skin of oxygen and nutrients, such as vitamin A, which are important to skin health. Further, the repetitive facial expressions made when smoking such as pursing the lips when inhaling and squinting the eyes to out keep smoke also contribute to wrinkles.

3. Wash your skin gently

Cleansing is an essential part of caring for your skin; the key is to treat your skin gently. As far as possible, use warm water and limit bath time. Hot water and long showers or baths remove oils from your skin. Limit your bath or shower time to around fifteen minutes or less and, here too, use warm, rather than hot, water. Also, avoid strong soaps those most capable of stripping oil from your skin. They leave your skin dry. Choose mild soaps, rather, with oils and fats added to them during the soap manufacturing process. When removing eye makeup, do so carefully, using a soft sponge, cotton cloth or cotton balls to avoid damaging the delicate tissue around your eyes. If you wear heavy, waterproof makeup, you might have to use oil-based products such as petroleum jelly.

4. Moisturize regularly

Moisturizers definitely help maintain your skin's natural moisture levels by providing a seal over your skin to keep water from escaping or by slowly releasing water into your skin. The most suitable moisturizer and the frequency with which you need to moisturize depends on many factors, including your skin type, your age and whether you have specific conditions such as acne. One good way to find out if you need a moisturizer is to wait for twenty minutes after bathing if your skin feels tight, you should apply a moisturizer.

5. Shave carefully

Shaving is a common and cheap way of removing unwanted hair. Then again, shaving can cause skin irritations, especially if your skin is thin, dry or very sensitive. For a smooth shave, press a warm wash cloth on your skin before shaving to soften the hair, or shave after a warm bath or shower. Never shave dry skin; it can cause razor burns. And always apply shaving cream, lotion or gel before shaving to protect and lubricate your skin. Finally, make sure to rinse your skin afterwards with warm water.