YOUR RESOLUTION FOR HEALTHY SKIN By Dr. Doris Day
aking a New Year’s resolution is usually a set up for failure. You can promise to eat better, lose weight, be nicer to yourself—but in the end if you don’t give yourself the proper tools to reach that goal you make it impossible to get there. It’s like trying to cross an ocean without building a bridge…you get the idea. It’s good to think big and set goals. And the best way to make sure you get there is to take baby steps. The resolution: to have healthy skin that ages well. Your skin is a powerful reflection of your overall health and well-being, having skin that looks beautiful means your skin is healthy and has a lower risk of skin cancer and premature aging. Putting your best face forward can take effort—but it’s worth it and gets easier when you see the results in the mirror. Here, my five steps to make your resolution a reality for 2017.
BE THANKFUL This is true in life and for your skin. Look in the mirror and see your best features. Is it your eyes? Your bone structure? Your lips? What are your best features? Being thankful for your unique special features, and reflecting on that, is a great way to star your new year off beautifully. Another important goal is to be grateful for your natural skin tone and to go with your own glow. This means being sun smart: use sunscreen every day all year round, reapply it every two hours when you’re out, wear a hat and sun protective clothing when possible and stay in the shade when you can. It will make this year’s resolution for beautiful, healthy skin a reality and will add value for years to come because 90 percent of wrinkles and the signs of aging we see in the skin come from exposure to ultraviolet rays. Simply protecting against damage will serve you well for decades to come.
62 | OUR CITY, YOUR LIFE | JANUARY 2017
LOVE Yes, loving your skin means following a daily routine of great skin care. It starts with cleansing as the first step. This is often overlooked, but it is crucial to wash off makeup, pollution and buildup of oils from the day. The next step is regular exfoliation, how often depends on your skin type. After that, I love serums containing growth factors and antioxidants to help your skin regenerate and rejuvenate and of course sunscreen and moisturizers to round out the set of recommendations. One simple guide to the order of application of skin care products is thickness: apply the lighter products first such as serums or lotions and the richer products last such as moisturizers.