Skin Care Cream
Skin care creams are commonly developed to nourish the skin and treat any unsightly conditions that may require attention. Basically, there’s a skin care cream for every kind skin blemish and disorder imaginable.
Skin care creams can help to reduce wrinkles, even out skin tone, decrease the visibility of spider veins, remove age spots, heal dryness, and even reverse free radical damage. Here’s a look at some of the common ailments and conditions that may require a skin care cream, as well as some tips for finding the skin care cream that's right for you.
Why use cream?
Wrinkles
Wrinkles develop over the years as skin loses its elasticity and thickness. These noticeable depressions within the skin's surface may be characterized as either coarse or fine, depending upon their depth and severity. Wrinkles occur as a result of the reduction in muscle mass, skin consistency, skin elasticity, and a restructuring of the tissues composing the skin itself.
The overall collagen content of the skin decreases approximately 1% per year after we reach age 30. These changes occur naturally with time. This results not only in the development of wrinkles, but also in an increasing dryness of the skin.
Irregular Pigmentation
Another common characteristic of aging skin is irregular pigmentation. As the skin ages, it undergoes a reduction in its number of melanocytes, or pigment producing cells. Melanocytes decline by 6-8% per decade after age 30. This accounts for the lighter skin color and irregular pigmentation that occurs with age as well as increased hypersensitivity to the sun.Spider Veins
Spider veins or dilated and broken vessels commonly occur on the face, arms, and legs. Their development increases in frequency with age. Spider veins are due to the dilated blood vessels which become more apparent over the years as the skin begins to thin.Age Spots
As skin ages there is also an increase in the development of age spots, or sun spots. The medical name for these flat brown or tan spots is solar lentigo. These blemishes develop as a result of sun exposure incurred over time.
They often first appear after age 50. As can be expected, these spots are most likely to occur on areas of skin that are frequently exposed to the sun; such as the face neck, and hands. They are less frequent on areas of the skin such as the inner arms, legs, and buttocks that are typically sheltered from the sun.
Dryness
Skin typically gets drier and drier with age. Studies have shown that the amount of hyaluronic acid found in the dermis starts to decrease as early as our forties. This disrupts the skin's ability to hydrate itself. In youthful skin, hyaluronic acid is found around the edge of collagen and elastin fibers and at the connection between these fibers. In aged skin however, the hyaluronic acid connection is lost.Free Radical Damage
Each time the cells of the skin replicate they incur more and more damage. Free radicals develop as a by-product of toxic based reactions within the skin. Free radicals are toxins which can wreak havoc on the cells by disrupting other chemical reactions. These free radicals cause a noticeable decline in the overall immune response of the skin, accounting for the increased incidence of premalignant and malignant lesions in maturing skin.Choosing a Skin Care Cream
Identify Your Needs
Different skin has different needs depending on how dry, sun-damaged, oily, sensitive, thin, blemished, or normal it is. Before you choose a skin care cream, you need to identify your particular skin care needs. Don't buy into skin care product advertising that tells you what your skin should be if you are 20, 30, 40, or 50. Rather, decide for yourself (or with the help of a skin care specialist) if your skin is dry or sun damaged, or if you need to even out your skin tone.Know Your Skin Type
This is especially important if you have dry or sensitive skin. Be sure to look for a skin care cream that caters to your skin type. Both dry and sensitive skin can become severely irritated by skin care products that contain a lot of dyes or perfumes.
If you have oily skin, you may not need to use a skin care cream at all. And if you do have a condition, such as age spots, that requires the use of a cream, you should look for one that is made for oily skin to avoid making your skin too greasy and heavy.
Make Your Own Skin Care Cream
Here is a recipe for a basic, nourishing skin care cream that can be used to hydrate dry skin and improve the overall condition of aging skin.
Mix together one cup of ground organic chamomile in one cup organic hot milk for a few hours. Strain the mixture, reserving the liquid. Add four tablespoons organic honey and eight teaspoons organic wheat germ to mixture. Blend well and refrigerate. This cream will last for approximately one week. Apply 2 times daily.
About the Author
Dr. Edward F. Group III continues to develop and sell exclusively high-end natural and organic skin care lines to support a wide range of skin conditions. The products he promotes are free of toxic tag-along herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, heavy metals, fumigants, irradiation, liver-toxic glues, binders, or gelatin capsules with animal-source risk and toxic preservatives. For more information on skin care please visit www.skin-care-support.org.
