Are you like me who has used over-the-counter acne products, bought anti aging facial cleansers from department stores, or used the top of the line lipsticks? I was a complete fool, I bought into all the “hype” and thought I was using the best skin care products available for my skin.

Was I really caring for my skin? NO…………… Not at all!

Don’t you want your skin to look the way it did the day you were born, you know, before you chose to apply all of those skin care products to your face? Don’t you think the skin care products you are using, may be contributing to the aging process? Diet, stress, environment and everyday life, all have an effect on the way we look. But one of the contributors to aging you can control and I want you to consider….. are skin care products.

Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA) is a skin irritant, skin care products containing AHA exfoliate not only dead skin cells, but the skin’s protective barrier as well. What you may have been doing is trying to exfoliate the dead skin cells that probably were not dead in the first place. What you need to do is allow your skin to make more cells. You may not be allowing this to happen because the products you may be using contain harsh chemicals.

You may be uneducated and find yourself using them and they are not allowing the skin to produce new cells. Some people need exfoliation often, but there are people who only need it once in awhile. If you keep exfoliating, the new cells don’t have enough time to be born and that is why you may be cleansing and scrubbing too much and you may be creating more symptoms.

I see many people who are not educated and they are purchasing these products on the market with very little knowledge or instruction and they may be creating long-term skin damage. What you want to do is slow down the aging process, you may have been speeding it up. You should create the healthy balance your skin deserves. To achieve this, you want the skin to make new cells and by doing this you need to apply the best topicals you can.

If you have been uneducated and you have been using products that contain harsh chemical ingredients for a long time, this will begin to show over time. It may be from the wear and tear of using them on your skin. If you are washing your face two times a day or even one time a day with these products, you may not only be contributing to, but actually speeding up the aging process. In my opinion, symptoms of dull skin are developed by harsh chemicals in products and long term use of the wrong products. Use safe skin care products that are nourishing to your skin, not damaging to the skin.

Your skin may also become red and blotchy and your blood vessels may become more prominent on the surface of your skin. If you are using harsh skin products or products that have harmful ingredients in them, they will strip your skin. Think about it, depending on how old you are, your elasticity of your skin has been breaking down and may have been causing your skin to thin and making your blood vessels to be more prominent around the crease of your nose, cheeks and forehead. The products may have been messing with your skin for so long it can’t even produce the adequate number of cells.

For instance, if you were diagnosed with oily skin, and you were prescribed a skin care product that stripped the natural oils and protective barrier from your skin, when you didn’t really have oily skin in the first place. The harsh chemical ingredients damaged and thinned your skin and the blood vessels became more prominent.

You may also want to change your make-up or wear less of it. Choose make-up products and skin care products that are safe and free of synthetic ingredients. Become educated.

Alayna A. Fries, Licensed Esthetician

Author, If Your Skin Could Talk, What Would It Say?

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In my book I discuss the harmful ingredients in skin care products that are creating skin symptoms we all face from time to time and make recommendations on what to use on your skin. I also talk about the importance of using safe and natural products and how they can reduce the chances of speeding up the aging process. Become educated on the ingredients in your skin care products, know what you use on your skin.