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THE ART OF CARE - Give your skin the care and protection it deserves.

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THE ART OF CARE - Give your skin the care and protection it deserves.

Discover our guide to skin care.

Whatever your age, it is never too late (or too early!) to begin taking better care of your skin. While genetics play a role in your skin health, research shows that 40% - 60% of ageing factors are non-genetic, meaning you can take actions to improve your skin health. Here are few tips on how to make the process easier, and simple things you can do to create a healthy routine that will yield great results.

  1. Be Consistent and Committed

Commitment and Consistency are key to good skin. Establishing a simple and stable skincare regimen will make all the difference. We recommend at least 5 basic products to use: a good quality cleanser, toner, serum, moisturiser and broad-spectrum SPF.

Layering on too many products can be a stressful challenge for your skin and potentially do more harm than good. Products, and therefore active ingredients, overload have the potential to counteract each other, irritate the skin or cause inflammation. Switching between too many products leads to inconsistent routines, product waste and a potential difficulty in evaluating the product’s efficacy.

We recommend fewer, high quality products. When it comes to skincare, more isn’t always better. And consistency really is the key. Much like a body workouts. One workout per month would not change your body shape, but regular daily exercise will soon show it’s cumulative effects.

  1. It’s never too early (or too late!)

Having a healthy skincare routine will have positive impact whether you are a teenager battling against acne problems or in your 60’s looking to restore your youthful complexion. The right skin care routine starts with identifying your personal skin goals. The sooner you begin to create a healthy skincare routine, the longer the cumulative effects last.

  1. Don’t neglect your décolletage (neck & chest)

As the old adage goes: ‘Your face starts with nipples and ends with hairline.' The often overlooked area of neck and décolletage can show signs of ageing more quickly than your face. Structurally thinner and more fragile with reduced lipid layers and sebaceous glands, this area is actually more sensitive and delicate than the face and should be included in your skincare.

  1. The importance of night-time routine 

We all know at night our skin switches from ‘protect’ to ‘repair’ mode to recover from the day’s stresses. Your skin is also more receptive to topical skincare products at night, as it’s more permeable. While this means it’s also more prone to water loss, we can take an advantage of the increased permeability to make the most out of the natural renewal process and maximize hydration, boosting the regeneration process and helping to fight early signs of ageing.

Additional steps you can include in your skincare routine are exfoliation (no more than twice per week), face mask and facial massage.

Your 5 KEY skincare routine steps (in order of application):

  1. Cleanse

The cornerstone of every good skincare routine (am and pm), cleansing is essential to removing impurities, product build-up, bacteria, pollutants or free radicals that prevent skin from regenerating. The trick is to remove the offending dirt and sebum but without disturbing the skin's natural moisture barrier. Good skin cleansing routine can maximise all the effort you put into your skincare regimen. Our ECM Advanced Repair Nourishing Cleanser has been specially formulated to keep your skin barrier healthy. This soap and sulfate-free rinse off formula retains the balance of the skin’s pH leaving it nourished, hydrated, supple and soft, yet thoroughly cleansed.

  1. Tone

Historically toners were used as a way to balance the pH of the skin after using alkaline cleansing products and to remove excess dirt and residue. As our cleansers now tend to be more pH balanced and gentle, toners have evolved to a skincare category of their own. They can be packed with nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and hydrating ingredients all of which you can find in our ECM Advanced Repair Balancing Toner.  

  1. Serum

Targeting specific skin concerns, such as skin firmness with Albiva’s ECM Advanced Repair Contour Serum or skin dullness / hyperpigmentation with our ECM Advanced Repair Brightening Serum, serums are made up of smaller molecules that can penetrate deeply into the skin and deliver a very high concentration of active ingredients.

  1. Moisturise

Important for hydration, any good moisturiser should contain a combination of hydrating (humectant) ingredients that will draw water molecules into the skin and more occlusive ingredients to seal that hydration in. Albiva’s ECM Advanced Repair Nourish & Heal Moisturiser is packed with anti-inflammatory extracts and ingredients that help soothe and repair and is ideal as a night moisturiser, or an overnight mask when applied in thicker layer. Our Lift & Firm moisturiser delivers hydration as well as plethora of active ingredients which tackle skin firmness. If you are using facial oils, they don’t draw water into the skin like an ideal moisturizer does, but they can help keep it in your skin. Therefore use your oils on top of, but not instead of your moisturiser.

  1. SPF

As a last step in your day-time routine, use broad-spectrum SPF even on cloudy or rainy days.

 

 

 

References:

Oxford Academic, Influence of environmental factors on facial ageing (Helle Rexbye, Inge Petersen, Mette Johansens, Louise Klitkou, Bernard Jeune, Kaare Christensen) https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afj031

Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Genetic and Environmental Influences on Skin Pattern Deterioration(Sri NiranjanShekaMichelleLucianoDavid L.DuffyNicholas G.Martin) https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-202X.2005.23961

Matsui, MS., Pelle, E., Dong, K., Pernodet, N. Biological Rhythms in the Skin. In International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2016); 17(6): 801.