Did you know that the skin is an actual organ of your body? And like your heart, lungs and liver, the skin can experience changes as you get older. If you understand how and why these changes occur, you will be better able to meet them head-on to keep your skin looking its best at every age. But before you can begin to take care of your aging skin, you need to know what happens to it over the years in the first place.

Believe it or not, your skin actually begins its aging process while you are still a pup in your teens. Once that measuring stick quits moving up on your growth chart, your skin begins to make the change. However, the results of these fluctuations don’t become visible until you are blowing out those forty candles and thinking about how to cope with your mid-life crisis. At that point, it is much more difficult to reverse the aging process, although there are some steps that you can take to slow it down and keep your skin in the best condition possible. An even better approach is to start your skin care routine for aging skin before you even come into legal adulthood.

Shun the Sun

The first and most important step to skin care as you age is to protect your precious skin from the sun as often as possible. This includes wearing sunscreen any time that you are outdoors, especially if you live in climates like Florida or Colorado where the sun can do its damage most effectively. You can also wear a hat or other protective clothing as often as possible for more complete protection. By shunning the sun, you will delay or even reduce the appearance of wrinkles, age spots and even dryness as mid-life approaches. Protecting your skin from the harmful UV rays that the sun emits will be an important first step in skin care as you age.

Address the New Concerns

As you age, your skin will develop new requirements in care, no matter how careful you are to protect it when you are younger. Even if you suffered from very oily skin through much of your adolescent and adult life, dryness tends to creep in by the time you hit the middle years of life. Moisturizer will become your best friend at this point, and you will need to learn how to select the best one for your skin type. Oil-based ointments will work best on particularly dry skin, while water-based lotions are preferable if your skin still tends to run on the oily side. Either way, you will probably find that moisturizer becomes an important part of your skin care routine as you age.

Skin care does not have to become a source of stress as you get older. As long as you address the new concerns as they come up, such as fine lines and drier skin, you will be able to take your mid-life crisis in stride. Love your aging skin.

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