My #1 Anti-Aging Beauty Product
- How many people are constantly looking for the best anti-aging beauty product online, walking the aisle at the drugstore or hanging out in those high end beauty stores in the mall?
- Are you spending hundreds, ok thousands of your hard earned dollars on stuff that maybe makes your face soft, but you still see no real improvements in your aging skin?
- Are you just searching and praying that the next best anti-aging beauty item is out there?
I used to be one of those people. Well I still am. LOL. But I’m not necessarily searching for the best anti-aging product, because I have already discovered it!
It isn’t some fancy collagen cream or chunks of placenta in a face mask and nope not even foreskin in a $300 serum. It is called……………..drum roll please…………….. SUNSCREEN! Yep, that’s it ladies. Good old fashioned sunscreen, in my opinion, is the #1 anti-aging beauty product. Ultraviolet (UV) rays cause your skin to pre-maturely age and break down collagen which eventually causes wrinkles.
So, why would you buy a collagen cream to fix broken collagen if YOU COULD PREVENT IT from breaking down in the 1st place? Well, collagen breaks down as we age anyways, so you can’t completely prevent it, but sunscreen helps significantly! It even helps tons better than expensive creams, serums and skincare products. Yep, just simple sunscreen. I love my fancy creams and serums but the effects won’t last even a day if I don’t use sunscreen religiously. Don’t even waste your money on other skincare, if you don’t use sunscreen. Seriously!
If I had started wearing sunscreen as a kid, instead of laying out on a sheet of foil with my entire body drenched in baby oil and Crisco, I could have prevented some of my skin issues I face today. We didn’t really know much about sun protection when I was young. Or should I say, we didn’t really care. Going to the beach on Spring Break and getting the deepest, darkest, most delicious tan was our goal. Here we are Spring Break 1990 Daytona Beach. I don’t think we wore SPF, but used “tanning oil”.
I now live on the beach and wear sunscreen even on days I stay inside, which is most of the time. I don’t “lay out” except for being under an umbrella, with a huge floppy sunhat, sunglasses and layers of SPF. And I reapply my sunscreen very very very often. Even on trips to church or the store or walking down the beach for a bite to eat, I will typically have a hat on when I step outside….WITH SUNSCREEN! I know people always wonder why I wear hats, but I am preventing wrinkles and hyperpigmentation.
- MY MAKEUP HAS SPF IN IT SO I DON’T NEED A SUNSCREEN, RIGHT? Unless you are wearing at least 1/2 teaspoon of foundation on your face, you aren’t using enough sunscreen. I doubt you are a cake face of foundation so wear a sunscreen 1st, let it dry, then apply your foundation. You need to apply at least 1/2 teaspoon of sunscreen. Don’t forget to bring it down your neck (front and back of neck) ears and chest. Sometimes I use more than 1/2 tsp and sometime a smidge less, depending on which sunscreen I am using. I think if you are close to that amount, you should be fine.
- What SPF strength do I need? You really only need SPF 30. I wouldn’t go any less than this.
- Sunscreen burns my face, that’s why I don’t use it. If sunscreen burns your face, it may very well be because you are using a chemical sunscreen and not a physical sunscreen. I personally can’t use most chemical sunscreens on my face because they irritate my skin.
- CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL SUNSCREEN? Physical sunscreens are so much better for hyperpigmentation than chemical ones. Chemical sunscreens can aggravate melasma and hyperpigmentation and make the condition worse. Chemical sunscreens use chemicals (such as Oxybenzone, Homosalate, Octinoxate & Avenzobene) to absorb the UV rays and prevent the UV rays from penetrating the skin. But many of these chemicals in the sunscreens that penetrate the skin are known hormone disruptors. These chemicals can mess with your estrogen, progesterone and androgens. No bueno! Physical sunscreen is my absolute fave. 1st of all, it is the best for melasma. It provides a physical barrier and blocks the UV rays vs. absorbing them. The downside with physical sunscreens is that some leave a white cast. How do you apply your makeup over that! It is much easier to find a chemical sunscreen than a physical sunscreen but there are many elegant physical sunscreens out there for the face and the body. The physical sunscreens I use do not leave the white cast at all and they are amazing. I reapply a powder spf over my makeup every few hours to stay fully protected…and I typically wear a hat.
- What sunscreen and foundation look best together? It takes a lot of time to find the right combination of which sunscreen goes with what foundation. Some sunscreens may look too shiny under certain foundations, some too dry, some may ball up, but it’s all about pairing up the right formulas. Here are some combos that work great for me with none of the above issues. *NOTE* I apply my physical sunscreen as the VERY LAST STEP before foundation (after toners, serums, eye creams, lotions) I do try to let my sunscreen soak in for at least 15 minutes before I apply any foundation.
- Obagi spf 50 matte follow with It Cosmetics CC Cream
- Elta MD UV Clear SPF 46 followed by Bare Minerals Original Powder Foundation
- Skin Medica Essential Defense Mineral Shield SPF 32 Tinted followed by It Cosmetics CC Cream
- For face powder throughout the day, I touch up often with Colorscience Brush-On SPF 50
- For my neck, chest and arms I like to use Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisturizer SPF 47 (the non-tinted one)(I have oily skin so this is often too greasy for my face. BUT if you have dry skin on your face, this sunscreen is heavenly. My mom absolutely LOVES the tinted one and doesn’t even use foundation over that since she just needs a sheer coverage of foundation).
