Age Erase in Your Teens

When you hit your teens, it is most likely that your seesawing hormones start playing havoc with your skin. While you cannot avoid little zits and breakouts once in a while as your body adjusts itself, a good skincare regime can see you through the toughest skin phase of your life.
As a teenager, your skincare regime is different from your mom’s. It’s definitely much simpler, and you do not need a cupboard full of beauty potions. Your skincare routine should be about proper cleansing and protecting your skin’s natural oil and moisture balance.
It is a good idea to invest in a good cleanser and moisturizer meant for younger skin. Avoid using creams meant for your mother, as they are formulated to handle older skin, which is very different from a young person’s skin.
Here’s what you need:         

•  Make sure you wash your hands with a hand wash soap each time before you wash your face.
•  Do not keep touching your skin.
•  Washing your face 3 times a day is a must.
•  Do not pinch or poke your acne.
•  Make sunscreen your best friend.
•  Whiteheads and blackheads are blocked oil glands, so do not try to scratch them. Get professional help instead.
•  Dandruff can cause trouble on your face, back, and shoulder skin.
•  Acne can be bad in the long-term and needs to be addressed right away.
•  Laser hair reduction is a safe procedure and it takes about a year to get good results, so if you are planning to move towns to study, plan it right.
•  Make up will not harm your skin. What harms is not removing it.
•  A well-balanced diet is absolutely essential. Those worrisome skin woes

Excessive oiliness: As your hormonal levels rise and body changes, so does your skin. Suddenly the pores open up, and there is an excessive production of sebum, and thus your skin looks shiny and sticky at all times. Your first reaction will be to use a soap every time to wash off the oiliness. But do not over wash your skin so much so that it dries up the skin. This can actually have an adverse reaction with your glands going on an overdrive to maintain the balance. Instead, use a face wash meant for oily skin, and use a facial mist and a muslin cloth to wipe away excess oil in between cleansing without stripping your skin. Also, use a water-based moisturizer or a light skin lotion.
Acne: As you start on your menstrual cycle, you will notice that your skin breaks out into acne. For some it is an occasional event while for others it can be a chronic condition. Acne can present itself as whiteheads, blackheads, or pus filled pimples. It usually develops in the central area of the cheeks and on the forehead, and it’s almost universally caused by a hormone imbalance or a hypersensitivity to the robust hormonal activity going on the body during this time. Stress can also aggravate this condition. Treatments with benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid works.
Home care for acne:

• Yeast, lemon juice and water: Make a paste and apply on the spot. Leave for ten minutes and wash off
• Holy basil toner: Boil tulsi or basil in water, reduce, and leave it to cool. Use this after washing your face to ward off oiliness and impending acne
•  Sandal wood paste
•  Wash your hair daily

 
Sweating: Be it on the palms of your hands and soles of your feet, under your arms, in your scalp, or anywhere on your body, if you often find yourself drenched in perspiration, you’re not alone. Blame your seesawing changes inside.

•  Carry tissues and wet wipes.
•  Some aluminium compounds act by blocking sweat when applied, like All Dry.
•  If the sweating is excessive and bothering you, try Botox. It is a medically approved treatment.

Age Erase in Your 20s
After the terrible teens, when your skin just goes topsy- turvy, it is in your 20s that you see your skin settling down and glowing with natural youthfulness. Don’t take that glow and shine for granted. Your carefree lifestyle, lack of sleep, endless partying, alcohol, smoke, and often neglect of the skin can give rise to skin issues and start the ageing process faster than you may like.
The three best things that you can do to keep this natural glow and suppleness for longer are:
> Eat a balanced diet at the right times
N Get enough sleep, and do not smoke
N Skin doesn’t mind an occasional glass of drink N Get into a skin routine
N If you have acne, go get medical help
Most young women in their early 20s do not really think about what all-night parties and roaming in the sun without sunscreen can do to their skin. The first signs of ageing you start noticing as you hit your 25th year is dryness, under eye hollowness, and uneven skin tone.
In your 20s your main skin goal should be to preserve and protect. Regular skin cleansing and protection should be your key beauty ritual.
Your 4-step regimen:
Step 1: Use a gentle foaming cleanser that will remove make up and excess oil but won’t dry out your skin. Once a week you can try a mild scrub to remove tanning and dull skin.
Step 2: For daytime, use a light moisturizer that contains sunscreen with UVA and UVB protection. Or just pick up a broad spectrum sunscreen. If you suffer from acne, then do some spot treatments with salicylic acid.
Look for hydrating creams with some skin brightening optical illusion properties in them that brightens your skin immediately and doubles up as make up.
Step 3: If you have irregular sleep cycles and spend lot of nights staying up, then add an antioxidant like vitamin C and Omega fatty acids to your diet as well as your skincare regime. You can look for creams with pomegranate, grape seed extracts, amla or Indian gooseberry, or vitamin C, and Co Q 10. You can pick a serum to use under your sunscreen or make up. Try some face packs on your day off to pep up your skin and give it that little extra it needs.
Step 4: At night, after washing your face, you can apply a hydrating mask or a layer of your cream or moisturizer. Clean off before you hit the bed.
Hair Care:
In your 20s your hair might look and feel great, but this is also the time when most of us put it through the test. Partying hard means more styling products, harsh chemical treatments whether colouring, perming or straightening, and not to forget sun damage. You must use a gentle shampoo to wash your hair every day, especially during summer days, and especially if you use styling products. Do not forget to use your conditioner. If you know you are going to be out in the sun, then use a sun protection serum. Also before using heat styling tools, coat your hair with some heat protecting hair sprays to avoid cuticle damage. Make sure you are massaging your hair and scalp at least twice a week with oil to keep them healthy.
Few hair Facts:

•  Blow drying is any day better than ironing. Direct heat on the hair damages it the most.
•  Let the wind from the blow dryer hit your hair along the hair cuticle and not against them. This will lift the cuticles and make your hair strands rough and brittle.
•  Use a heat protectant before you blow dry.
•  Never iron wet or damp hair.
•  Oil not only scalp but all along the hair strand. It is actually the later part of your hair length that needs oil the most.
•  What you eat tells on your hair as well.
•  Hormones and your nutrition status affect the quality of hair.
•  Sugar in your diet makes hair brittle.
•  Do not use tight hair accessories.
•  Don’t comb wet hair.
•  Using hair mousse as a volumizer is not a good idea.
•  Any form of styling heat on mousse is a BIG NO.

For Men:
I think men in their 20s are least bothered about how they look or feel. Yes, they might spend some time on shaving and styling their hair, but they really do not think they need any skincare other than their aftershave lotion. Well, boys out there, you guys are so wrong. You are more prone to acne, open pores, and oily skin than girls, so you need to keep your face clean. The right face wash that has salysilic acid or benzoyl peroxide or tea tree oil and which foams well is essential, especially as soon as you get back from the outdoors. When you are going out, please do not forget your sunscreen. One of the most common concerns men come to my clinic with is pigmentation on the sides of their forehead and temples! Sun care is very important for men too. Do not keep rubbing the sweat off your forehead. Friction can cause skin pigmentation.
Beard conditioner
Yes, even if you think you don’t need it, we women think you do! If you are not clean shaved, you may be responsible for the skin rash that your daughter or wife may have, so please use beard softeners or simply use a hair conditioner. Leave it on for 5 minutes and rinse it off. Your stubble will not be so abrasive after this procedure.
At your skin doctor’s:
If you have an acne prone skin, then first go for a panel of blood investigations and ultrasound of your pelvis to rule out any internal causes. Then come peels and extractions and light therapy for acne, along with necessary medication. Also do not forget to try some hydrating treatments as acne medication can over dry your skin like hydra facials.
If you have had acne in your teens and have remnant scars, then go for peels or lasers depending on the colour and type of scar. You can then go for a pigment laser or a collagen stimulating laser/radio frequency/micro needling .
If you are blessed with great skin, then maintain it with occasional exfoliating treatments like peels and then start with the hair reduction lasers, right skincare routine. Fillers may be for facial enhancement like cheek bone, chin enhancement, lip enhancement. Botox for brow, jaw line shaping etc. Yes, at times the negative expression lines can start soon and then it is best to treat them before they turn into passive lines and need more work.
People prone to more sun exposure should know that for others ageing changes start in their early 20s, but for them it starts a bit sooner. So you can start with skin pigment lasers and collagen stimulating lasers and radio frequencies.
It’s never too early to start taking care. Start prevention, start your journey towards graceful ageing, but make sure you go to the right place for help.