Essential Skin Care

Being a good homemaker makes you beautiful on the "inside". But what about the "outside" beauty that the world sees? Apart from doing daily chores the-perfect-way, its equally important to keep your skin perfect. We, at every time possible, should try to retain our skin's elasticity, glow and the smooth texture (we had in our teens). In order to maintain the same, its important to follow a daily skin care regime, and stick to it all our life!! Sticking to it is very very important. What we do is, follow it a day or a week at the most and then give up. Mostly because:
Working women usually have scarce amount of time to devote to their skin. Same with work-at-home women. Its even terrible with women with babies or toddlers. They keep their moms on their toes!! Ask me!!

The skin of the face needs even more attention than the rest of the body because the face has more oil glands, especially the central forehead, eye areas, nose and chin. One needs to perform a brief morning regime for the facial skin and a longer regimen before going to bed.

Morning

Begin your morning by cleaning your face with luke-warm water and a creamy cleanser or purifying gel wash. Avoid bar soap because this strips the natural moisturizing factors from the skin, leaving it feeling very tight and dry. Do not rub the skin dry. Instead, blot it gently with a towel.

Next, you should tone the skin on the face. Toning the skin helps remove any residual cleanser or make-up that may have been left behind. A toner also helps restore the natural pH level of the skin, leaves your skin clean, clear and ready to be hydrated.

Now is the time to moisturise your skin. This should be specialized to your skin type. Moisturizers leave the skin feeling softer and smother. It also helps smooth away fine lines and dryness. A sunscreen can be applied on top of the moisturizer.

Next, apply your make up (if you chose to wear make-up). Your foundation should match your skin tone. Never use a darker foundation than your skin tone; it should look natural.

Evening Care

The evening facial care starts like the morning with the cleansing.

Now, while your face is still wet, you should exfoliate. Exfoliating(scrubbing) is the process of removing dead skin cells, which cause the face to look dull. The build up of dead cells can also contribute to blockage of the pores causing acne. Exfoliating will brighten the skin and give it a healthier glow. Massage gently and rinse well. This can be done 2-3 times a week all depending on the type of exfoliant / scrub.

Follow this with toning regime;

Finally, apply a moisturizer to your face, which is specified for your skin type. A firming eye cream should be a must around the eye area in the night.

Always remember!!

Never go to bed with your make-up on. Make-up that is left on overnight clogs the pores and prevents the skin cells from shedding, which may cause blemishes and/or blackheads. The skin needs to breathe over night.

Simple as that! No matter how tight your schedule is, just try and take out 10-15 minutes for your skin care daily. It is guaranteed that these few minutes will do wonders to you. And if you follow these basic skin care tips, your skin will thank you for doing so!