If getting older is getting you down, look at it this way. There are a thousand lotions and potions and pills to ’cure’ old age. A million companies will sell you a million products guaranteed to halt the process, but the only true ‘cure’ for old age is death.
It’s not pretty, but it certainly stops the aging process in its tracks.
If you are actually happy to be alive, then getting older rather than the alternative suddenly doesn’t seem so bad now, does it?
Of course, one of the rudest things about aging is that our bodies have a tendency to give way well before we are ready.
The largest organ of our body, our skin, is the very first to drop non subtle hints about time taking its toll.
There is some good news, and some not so good news, on that front.
Firstly, the not so good news is that, as we age, collagen in our skin starts to break down and things begin to slip and crease. Laugh lines, crows feet, wrinkles….they all just mean’ slippage’ of one form or another.
Creams and serums on the outside can keep the outer layer moist, and therefore look and feel a little plump, but skin is skin.
You either have good, strong keratin and collagen, or you don’t.
That is not to say, however that you should just give up. If you are looking for improvement, rather than perfection, good news is at hand.
The easiest solution for keeping your skin in good condition is so simple it is often overlooked and discounted.
Countless models and exotic beautiful people over the years have been asked their secret, and even though they all say the same thing, we mere mortals somehow believe it must be a trick.
Water. On the inside of you. Hydration- serious hydration- is the secret to good skin.
We need water to keep out body functioning properly.
Just good old fashioned H2O, not coconut water, or water with vitamins, or water from the Andes hand bottled by virgins, just plain clean water from a plain old clean water source. Like a tap, maybe, or some from a tap that has been boiled in a kettle if your local water is a bit dodgy.
When we say ‘Serious Hydration’, we are not talking about 5 litres a day. That would simply have you permanently settled on the loo, and too much water- hyper hydration- is dangerous.
2 litres of clean water a day will do it. Not all at one go.
The average glass holds about 380 mils, so 6 to 8 glasses a day will do it. If you drink green or black tea, that’s OK too, although both tea and coffee act as a diuretic so you might want to try drinking water as well as your favourite warm beverage.
Speaking of which, a warm glass of water with a squeeze of lemon or lime is a wonderful way to start the day.
This will not come as a shock to anyone who has not been living in a cave for the last 100 years. It gets mentioned about a million times a day in the press, but do you do it? Really? Or do you keep meaning to, but never get around to it ?
As well as water, another fantastic and easy to access product that actually makes a difference to skin is locally applied vitamin C.
Here we are talking about vitamin C being put ONTO the skin, not just inside your body.
For years and years, skin specialists have been going on and on about what happens to skin when you apply Vitamin C directly to it.
Essentially it gets absorbed into the pores and then into the cells and sets about a chain reaction that makes the body produce collage, the stuff that makes our skin firm. Vitamin C also slows down free radicals, which are unstable molecules that break down collagen and cause dryness of the cells, and therefore the skin itself. So adding Vitamin C to the skin surface helps make the skin firmer and more able to remain moist (that word again) and that helps us look younger.
It’s so very simple.
You can buy Vitamin C serums at all pharmacies and chemists. You need to get it in a dark coloured bottle, because Vitamin C degrades quickly when exposed to light.
There is also and easy way to make it yourself, but you need to get hold of Vitamin C in powder form.
You can buy it on Amazon for about $18 usd for 200 grams, which is plenty for what you need.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon Vitamin C Powder 1 teaspoon distilled water 1 teaspoon glycerin (optional) ⅛ teaspoon Vitamin E (optional) small amber or dark glass bottle
Instructions
1. Mix ingredients in a small bowl until the granules are dissolved.
2. If you omit glycerin and vitamin E add an extra teaspoon of water so that your serum isn’t too strong.
3. Transfer to a dark glass bottle.
4. Apply to the skin at night after cleansing and toning.
5. Let the serum soak in and then apply your moisturiser as usual.
An easy way to make sure your Vitamin C is in the perfect form to get the most benefits you can use a pH test strip. Your serum should be right around 3.5. Secondly, just make a small batch and use it only for 3-5 days. This may seem fiddly, but once you have the ingredients, it will only take a couple of minutes. This is a volatile and fresh product, but that’s why it works.
Vitamin C can cause your skin to be irritated at first. When you apply it, a small amount of tingling is normal. If it is burning, remove it immediately. Don’t worry – you can just add more water and/or glycerin to your mixture. This will dilute the Vitamin C so it is more suited for your skin.
So there you have it, two simple solutions that don’t have to cost a fortune, that will make you look juicier on the outside, so that you will feel yummier on the inside.
