SKINCARE HACKS : Don't Forget Your Neck! 🤭 (and other musings!)
I have no real regrets about how I’ve taken care of my skin over the course of my life. Truth be told, I’ve always looked younger than my age — and am confident that I appear 🔟 years younger than I am today. (I always ask the hotel spa facialists to guess my age! LOL) If I’m being honest, I’d say it’s not attributable to any one factor, but to several factors. Among them, my regular daily use of sunscreen for at least the last 20-25 years. Today, as the last step in my AM regimen, I apply an SPF 50 lotion from Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare that I love. I also had limited over-exposure to the sun as a kid — hated going to the beach, and very rarely burned. I’ve read that the most serious and lasting aging effects of sun damage have their origins in the degree and frequency to which we experienced severe sunburns as children.
Another factor to staying youthful looking is staying hydrated through and through. That means drinking lots of water throughout the day and applying a well formulated moisturizer twice daily that’s suitable for your skin type.
I also believe what those posters in the elementary school cafeteria said:
🍎🍊🍇 YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT! 🥦🥕🍅
And that includes (I’m dead serious!) lots of olive oil. Olives are rich in squalene, a highly emollient oil + antioxidant that’s naturally occurring in our skin and that helps to keep it properly moisturized. I use a lot of olive oil, going through a 1L bottle about every 6 weeks! I really believe in it. But you have to be careful about which olive oil you're using! A 60 Minutes report 2 years ago proved that something like 75-80% of Italian olive oil imported into the US is doctored in some way — very often, it doesn't contain any Italian olives and can even be diluted with nut oils or olives from (gasp!) Turkey or Spain. I did my research and found one of the five uncovered in the report to be reliable, the Il Casolare Unfiltered Extra Virgin Olive Oil, is 100% the real deal!
And then there’s genetics. I’m lucky that my parents don’t look their age, so the good genes I inherited kind of give me an edge.
And now to the point. The one regret? My neck. Until about 2 years ago, I paid almost no attention to my neck. Truth is, I didn’t notice it until it became the first place to really show my age. It’s a fact that your neck ages faster than your face. I'm convinced that a lot of the reason for that is neglect. I wish I had made contingency plans sooner. But I have paid a lot more attention to it over the last year and have been able to improve some of the lines and sagging that was becoming alarmingly prominent! How? No, I didn't have an invasive procedure (I never have!). No, I didn’t buy a separate neck cream. The concept of a formula made for the skin on your neck is complete nonsense!
So, I used a skincare hack. (Don't get carried away with skincare hacks!)
EVERYTHING I PUT ON MY FACE NOW GOES ON MY NECK! I stopped wiping my hands off on a towel after applying each treatment. I now use my neck for that! Whether I’m applying an antioxidant serum, moisturizer, SPF lotion, even eye cream, I massage what’s left on my palms into my neck area.
I also stopped spraying fragrance on my neck. Most fragrances contain very high levels of denatured alcohol — which both dries out your skin, and causes damage to the skin barrier by weakening and thinning it. That's a nightmare for skin anywhere on your face and your neck is no exception. Denatured alcohol is pro-aging.
So, whether you’ve got a great skincare regimen going now, or are planning to step up your skincare game, DON’T FORGET YOUR NECK!
🖤 SKINCARMA
