Summer Skin Rehab
Fitness Magazine, September 2009
Smooth Out Wrinkles
Collagen keeps skin supple, but it breaks down with sun exposure. Moisture minimizes the effect. “Skin is like a paper towel. If you fold and unfold a dry one, the crease stays, but if you do the same to a wet one, the fold isn’t as evident,” Dr. Moy says.
CLEANSER
Trade In: Bar soaps can be packed with hydration-stripping detergents, and gel cleansers often contain alcohol, which can be drying. “Both can remove the natural oils from your skin, making fine lines even more noticeable,” Dr. Lazarus says.
Trade Up: Clean up your complexion with a face wash infused with glycerin (find it in Burt’s Bees Orange Essence Facial Cleanser, $8, burtsbees.com). The ingredient, often found in creams, pulls in extra moisture from the air, Dr. Colbert says. Finish your face-washing session by rinsing with lukewarm, not hot, water.
DAY LOTION
Trade In: Lightweight gels or lotions made with sodium hyaluronate or aloe leave skin feeling fresh and cool. Unfortunately, they aren’t moisturizing enough to truly hydrate skin and plump up creases, says Casey Gallagher, MD, a dermatologist in Boulder, Colorado.
Trade Up: An SPF-enriched moisturizer loaded with fatty acids such as shea butter, linoleic acid, or sunflower seed oil (found in Clarins Multi-Active Day Early Wrinkle Correcting Lotion SPF 15, $54, clarinsusa.com) will minimize fine lines. Concerned about breakouts? Choose something noncomedogenic, which won’t clog pores, and limit yourself to a pea-size amount, Dr. Gallagher says.
NIGHT TREATMENT
Trade In: Oil-absorbing products such as astringents, clay masks, and mattifying creams are great for controlling shine in the summer. But because they are formulated to pull moisture off the skin’s surface, they can lead to excessive dryness and skin tightening — and ultimately an increase in wrinkling, Dr. Gallagher says.
Trade Up: Hydrating masks or lotions made with peptides have dual benefits. The megadose of moisture plumps skin, while peptides from amino acids or yeast extract (like those in StriVectin Instant Facial Sculpting Cream, $79, sephora.com) smooth wrinkles in about a month. “Apply to damp skin. The water helps you absorb the cream more,” says Jeanine Downie, MD, a dermatologist in Montclair, New Jersey.
