Proper skin care can delay the natural aging process and prevent many skin problems.

Your busy lifestyle leaves little time for pampering skin care. The result: Your skin isn't the baby-soft body glove you were born with. As you age, your skin gradually becomes thinner and finely wrinkled. Oil-producing (sebaceous) glands grow less active, leaving your skin drier. The number of blood vessels in your skin decreases, your skin becomes more fragile, and you lose your youthful color and glow.

Good skin care — such as avoiding the sun, washing your skin gently and applying moisturizer regularly — can help delay the natural aging process and prevent many skin problems. These simple skin-care habits will help you protect your skin to keep it healthy and glowing for years to come.

1. Protect yourself from the sun

The most important way to take care of your skin is to protect it from the sun. Ultraviolet light — the invisible but intense rays from the sun — damages your skin, causing deep wrinkles, dry, rough skin, liver spots, and more serious disorders, such as noncancerous (benign) and cancerous (malignant) skin tumors. In fact, most of the changes seen in aging skin are actually caused by a lifetime of sun exposure.

For the most complete sun protection, use all three of these methods:

Avoid the sun during high-intensity hours. The sun's rays are most damaging from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reduce the time you spend outdoors during these hours.

Wear protective clothing. Cover your skin with clothing, such as long-sleeved shirts, long pants and wide-brimmed hats. Also, keep in mind that certain clothing styles and fabrics offer better protection from the sun than do others. For example, long-sleeved shirts offer better protection than short-sleeved shirts do. And tightly woven fabrics such as denim are better than are loosely woven fabrics such as knits. Several companies now make sun protective clothing (SPF clothing), which is specifically designed to block out ultraviolet rays while keeping you cool and comfortable.

Use sunscreen. Choose a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) greater than 15. Apply liberally 20 minutes before going outdoors and reapply every two hours, after heavy sweating or after being in water.

2. Don't smoke

Smoking accelerates aging of your skin and increases wrinkles. Skin changes from smoking can appear in young adults after 10 years of smoking.
Smoking causes narrowing of the tiny blood vessels in the outermost layers of skin. This decreases blood flow, depleting the skin of oxygen and nutrients, such as vitamin A, that are important to skin health. All of these factors increase damage to the elastic fibers (elastin) and collagen, which give your skin strength and elasticity.

In addition, the repetitive facial expressions you make when smoking — such as pursing your lips when inhaling and squinting your eyes to keep out smoke — may contribute to wrinkles. It's also possible that repeated exposure to the heat from burning cigarettes may damage your facial skin over time.

3. Wash your skin gently

Cleansing is an essential part of caring for your skin. The key is to treat your skin gently.

Use warm water and limit bath time. Hot water and long showers or baths remove oils from your skin. Limit your bath or shower time to about 15 minutes or less, and use warm, rather than hot, water.

Avoid strong soaps. Strong soaps — those most capable of stripping oil from your skin — can leave your skin dry. Instead, choose mild soaps or detergent substitutes with added oils and fats. Good choices include Dove, Vanicream, Cetaphil and Purpose.

Avoid irritating additives. If your skin is sensitive, avoid products containing perfumes or dyes. These can irritate your skin and may trigger an allergic response.

Remove eye makeup carefully. Use a soft sponge, cotton cloth or cotton balls when removing eye makeup to avoid damaging the delicate tissue around your eyes. If you wear heavy, waterproof makeup, you may need to use an oil-based product, such as Eucerin, Aquaphor or petroleum jelly, to remove makeup.

Pat dry. After washing or bathing, gently pat or blot your skin dry with a towel so that some moisture remains on the skin. Immediately moisturize your skin with an oil or cream.

4. Moisturize regularly

Moisturizers help maintain your skin's natural moisture levels. They work by providing a seal over your skin — to keep water from escaping — or by slowly releasing water into your skin.

The moisturizer that's best for you and the frequency with which you need to moisturize depend on many factors, including your skin type, your age and whether you have specific conditions such as acne. A good way to test if you need a moisturizer is to wait 20 minutes after bathing. If your skin feels tight, you should apply a moisturizer.

Select a moisturizer with an SPF of at least 15 to help protect your skin from damaging ultraviolet rays. If you have sensitive skin, look for products free of heavy dyes, perfumes or other additives. If your skin is very dry, you may want to apply an oil, such as baby oil, while your skin is still moist. Oil has more staying power than moisturizers do and prevents the evaporation of water from the surface of your skin. If your skin is oily, you may want to skip moisturizing.

5. Shave carefully

Shaving is a common and inexpensive way to remove unwanted hair. But shaving can cause skin irritations, especially if your skin is thin, dry or very sensitive. For a smooth shave:

Press a warm wash cloth on your skin before shaving to soften the hair. Or shave after a warm bath or shower.

Don't shave dry skin, which can cause razor burn. Apply shaving cream, lotion or gel before shaving to protect and lubricate your skin.

Use a clean, sharp razor. If using an electric razor, don't use the closest setting, which can aggravate the skin.

Shave in the direction of hair growth, not against it.

Rinse your skin afterward with warm water.

If irritation does occur, apply a lotion that doesn't contain ethyl or isopropyl alcohol. Though alcohol and alcohol-based products may feel cooling, they don't really soothe irritated skin because the alcohol evaporates rapidly from the skin.

恰當的皮膚護理能延緩皮膚的自然老化進程，預防許多皮膚問題。

忙碌的生活使你幾乎沒有足夠的時間來護理肌膚。結果是：你的皮膚不再像剛出生時那般柔軟。隨著年齡的增長，皮膚會逐漸變薄，出現細小皺紋。產油的腺體（皮脂腺）的活性減弱，你的皮膚會變得干燥。隨著皮膚血管的減少，皮膚會變得更加脆弱，你將會失去年經的顏色和光彩。

好的肌膚護理--比如避免陽光照射，輕柔的清洗和有規律的補水，有助于延緩肌膚的自然老化過程，能預防許多肌膚問題。這些簡單的肌膚護理習慣將有助于你保護好你的皮膚，在接下來的歲月里，使皮膚保持健康和光彩。

1 保護自己免受陽光的照射

呵護自己皮膚的最重要方法是保護皮膚免受陽光的照射。紫外光線-太陽發出的，雖然看不見但很強烈的光線-能損傷你的皮膚，使皮膚產生深紋、干燥和粗糙，長斑，甚至帶來更嚴重的疾病，比如良性和惡性皮膚腫瘤。實際上，皮膚老化中大多數變化是由終身暴露在陽光下的引起。

做到最全面的太陽防護，下列三個方法都要采用：.

在陽光強烈的時間段，避免接觸陽光。從上午9點到下午4點，太陽光損害性最大。減少這一時段的戶外活動時間。

穿防護衣。穿長袖衫、長褲，戴寬沿帽子來遮掩皮膚。也要記住一定的服裝樣式和織品能更好的防護陽光。例如，長袖衫比短袖衫的防護效果要好。紋理緊密的梭織品像丁尼布的防曬效果要優于針腳松散的針織品。有家公司現在在生產防曬衣服（SPF衣服），這種衣服在使你保持涼爽和舒適的同時，經過特定設計來阻擋紫外線。

使用防曬霜。選擇防曬值高于15的寬頻度防曬霜。在出門之前20分鐘充分涂抹。在出汗和水洗之后，每2小時重新涂抹一次。
 
2 不要抽煙

吸煙會加速皮膚的老化，增添皺紋。年輕成年人吸煙引起的皮膚變化會在10年后顯現出來。

吸煙導致皮膚最外層毛細血管變窄。這使血流量減少，使皮膚氧氣和營養枯竭，例如對皮膚健康很重要的維他命A。所有這些因素增加了對彈性纖維（彈力蛋白）和膠原質的損害，它們能給皮膚力量和彈性。.

此外，當你吸煙時，不斷重復的面部表情-當吸氣時撅起嘴唇，吐氣時瞇縫眼睛-可能會產生皺紋。也可能是不斷暴露在燃燒香煙的熱氣之下，時間久了，你的面部皮膚會受到損害。

3 輕柔的清洗皮膚

清洗是護膚的重要部分。關鍵是要溫柔的對待你的皮膚。

用溫水洗澡，限制沐浴時間。熱水和長時間洗浴會清除掉你皮膚上的油。把洗浴時間限制在15分鐘以下，用溫水，而不是熱水。 

不用強烈的肥皂。強烈的肥皂-哪些最可能奪除你皮膚上的油的肥皂-會使你的皮膚處于干燥狀態。反之，選用溫和型的香皂或補充油脂的清潔劑替代品。好的選擇包括Dove, Vanicream, Cetaphil and Purpose。

不用刺激性的添加劑。如果你的皮膚屬于敏感型，不用含有香料和燃料的產品。這些會刺激你的皮膚，有可能引起過敏反應。 

小心地進行眼部卸妝。進行眼部卸妝時，要用軟海綿，棉布或者棉球，以免損害眼睛周圍的纖細組織。如果妝濃，用的是防水化妝品，你需要用Eucerin, Aquaphor or petroleum jelly等油產品來除去化妝品。

拍打干。在洗浴之后，用毛巾輕柔的拍打或吸干皮膚，以使皮膚保持水汽。立即用油膏潤濕皮膚。

4 有規律的補充水分

潤膚乳液有助于皮膚保持天然水分。它們能給皮膚提供一層保護膜來鎖住水分，或者緩慢地向皮膚釋放水分。

最適合你的潤膚膏和你需要補水的頻率取決于許多因素。包括你的皮膚類型、年齡、你是否有諸如座瘡等特殊情況。檢測是否需要補水的最好方法是在沐浴后等上20分鐘，如果皮膚感到緊，就該涂抹潤膚膏了。 

選擇一款SPF值不低于15的潤膚乳有助于保護你的皮膚免受紫外線的損害。如果你是敏感型皮膚，選用不含燃料、香料或其它添加劑的產品。如果你的皮膚是干燥型的，即使皮膚仍然濕潤，你可能愿意用諸如嬰兒油這樣的油性產品。 油性產品的持久力優于潤膚乳，能阻止皮膚表面水分的蒸發。如果你的皮膚是油性的，你可能不想補水。

5 小心刮臉

刮是一項普遍和低廉的除去多余毛發的方式。但刮會刺激皮膚，尤其是如果你的皮膚薄、干燥、及其敏感的話。順利的刮臉應這樣：

在刮之前在皮膚上覆蓋一塊干凈浴巾來軟化毛發。或者在溫水洗浴之后再刮。

不要刮干的皮膚，會損壞剃刀的。在刮之前，用剃須膏、化妝水或膠凝體來保護和潤滑皮膚。

要用一把干凈、鋒利的刮刀。如果用電動刀，不要用最近的設置，會加重皮膚的承受力。 

順著胡須生長的方向刮，而不是逆向。

刮完之后用溫水沖洗皮膚。

  如果沒有引起過敏，使用不含乙基或異丙醇的護膚液。 雖然酒精和含酒精成分的產品也許使你感到涼，但它們并不能緩解過敏的皮膚，因為酒精很快會從皮膚上蒸發掉。