Good skin: Genes or Hard work?

When it comes to having good skin, is it down to nature or nurture?

While it’s true that genetically inherited traits can affect the look of your skin and how it ages, your day to day skincare routine more often than not play a bigger role in how your skin will look and age in the long run.

In fact, according to a well-known dermatologist, Doris Day, author of Forget The Facelift, she stated that genetics account for only about 10% of the skin’s aging process.

That just made me heave a huge sigh of relief!

In other words, if I’m willing to put in a little effort, I can help my skin gain the greatest age advantage. But what do these efforts entail exactly?

Read More: If Men Can ‘Age like Wine’, Women Can Age like Wine Too… Finer Wine.

#1 Smoking

Not only is smoking an unhealthy habit it is also highly toxic to your skin, interfering your skin’s ability to heal and repair itself. In fact, in a study of identical twins done by Case Western Reserve from 2009 to 2013, it was found that smoking, along with other factors (sun exposure, stress, lack of sleep) literally caused one twin to look much older than her non-smoking twin sister. For every ten years of smoking, the twin who smoked saw her skin age 2.5 years faster than her sister’s. Yikes!

#2 Sun exposure

If you don’t already know it, sun exposure is the leading cause of wrinkles and that’s why dermatologists and aesthetic doctors can’t emphasise enough the importance to use sunscreen daily. Religiously.

It’s a no-brainer that to tick this off your list, you need to wear sun protection. Choose one that’s broad spectrum with a minimum SPF30 protection and do reapply regularly as and when needed.

Read More: 5 Ways Your Face Is Ageing You (And How to Fix It!)

#3 Sleep

They don’t call it beauty sleep for nothing. Sleep is an essential part of a healthy beauty regime. While you’re in deep sleep, your body is really in a state of reparation and rejuvenation. So you can guess what happens when you deprive your body of sufficient rest and sleep.

Try to give yourself at least 7 hours of sleep every night to help turn back the clock on ageing and let your skin and body reap the full benefits of a good night’s rest.

#4 Beauty treatments

If your bathroom is like mine, it’s probably piled with beauty creams, lotions and potions. While these are great for day to day use, there are limitations to how much these can do for your skin. Afterall they ARE applied superficially and how far they can penetrate beyond the skin’s surface is anyone’s guess.

Lasers  are the rage these days as they offer a myriad of benefits from achieving poreless skin, to stimulating collagen production for a lifted, more youthful look, to erasing years of sun damage for clearer skin.  Consider these your skin’s next best friend to combat your uphill fight against aging.

Read More: Best Ways to Deal with Pigmentation