ZO Skin Health
TIP: The best way to start your day
Want some breakfast food that works for your waistline as well as your skin? It’s so good you may even want to have some for dessert.
It’a a mango, and although it’s relatively new to the American diet, it’s been around for 4000 years. Not only are mangoes low in calories and high in fiber, they have some very interesting properties.
* Mangoes are powerhouses for anti-oxidants (like beta-carotene) that neutralize free radicals that damage skin cells and lead to premature aging. Just one mango contains 1-3X your minimum daily requirement of Vitamin C.
* They’re a very good source of silica. Never heard of it? Our bodies hold a small supply of this important mineral, but that reserve diminishes as we grow older, causing dry skin, wrinkles, brittle hair and nails. Silica retains 300 times its weight in water, so it helps your skin stay hydrated and plumped. .
The only problem with mangoes? It’s a little difficult to cut the fruit away from the stone. But the best things in life aren’t easy, are they?
ZO Skin Health
Ingredients: Know What to Look For
When you get serious about skincare, ingredients become priority number one. As a formulator, that is the way I develop my products. I don’t have time to waste on the ineffective stuff and neither do you. But I often hear women express that they just don’t know which ingredients are the real deal.
Is it pure caviar, shavings of 14 karat gold or particles from an exotic fruit everyone seems to pronounce differently?
None of the above. It’s much more simple than that — and nowhere near as sexy. Take a look:
Let’s start with the anti-oxidants. They protect your skin cells from UV damage, pollution and free radicals. The most common ones (and the most important !) are Vitamins A, C and E.
Retinol (aka Active Vitamin A): This ingredient’s main function is skin cell turnover, which produces collagen — the stuff your skin had a lot of in its prime. If you’re familiar with my skincare philosophy then you know the key to younger looking skin lies in keeping skin cells active. When they go to sleep — a result of aging —fine lines, dull skin and wrinkles form. Retinol is like a bucket of cold water to sleepy skin cells. Continued use of it in high concentrations wakes cells right up and puts them straight to work.
Active Vitamin C: This is another antioxidant, but it works differently — it helps synthesize collagen. This property lends a very valuable feature to your skin in that it stabilizes free radicals and in doing so protects healthy cells from getting damaged. In English? It’s an excellent preventative measure against wrinkles as well as the photoaging sun exposure can cause.
Vitamin E: It helps protect the skin from UV rays and, as an added bonus, softens and smoothes, too.
Be advised: Retinol is a pure and active derivative of Vitamin A. If you use a synthetic form of Vitamin A, or take oral supplements of these vitamins, you simply will not achieve the same results. It just doesn’t work that way.
Be advised: Vitamins A and C have to be properly stabilized, packaged and stored. They can’t be exposed to light or UV rays or the formula could turn colors, or just go inactive. If isn’t stabilized then it oxidizes and turns yellowish or dark when exposed to air or water, essentially spoiling it.
deborah
Why Your Skin Needs Preparation for Spring
When spring arrives you can’t help but store the sweaters, pull out the beach towels and put the top down. But what are you doing to get your skin ready?
According to Dr. Zein Obagi, world-renowned dermatologist and creator of antiaging skincare line ZO Skin Health, it takes hard work to get great skin and preparing it for the changing seasons is no exception.
“Your skin isn’t your cell phone. It doesn’t automatically adjust itself after Daylight Savings,” says the world-renowned dermatologist. “You need to do the initial work and it will respond.”
But, you need to do the right work, which is why the first step to transitioning your skin from winter to spring is to amp up on SPF and cut back on moisturizer. The SPF will protect you from the harmful UVB rays your skin will be seeing more of in the months ahead and less moisturizer will activate your skin cells, the key to Dr. Obagi’s healthy skin philosophy.
“Too much moisture trains the skin to rely on outside sources for hydration instead of producing it from within,” says Dr. Obagi. “In trying to counteract the dryness with a lot of moisturizer, you’re actually perpetuating it.”
Less moisturizer isn’t always received with open arms, but neither was Dr. Obagi’s healthy skin concept 30 years ago. Today it’s mainstream.
The second step in preparing skin for spring is much easier to swallow. It comes in the form of berries. Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries —they’re all in season and great for your skin. Each is high in antioxidants, which protect skin cells from the damage increased sun exposure can cause.
Next up is your cosmetic bag. If not cleaned out regularly, it can be a breeding ground for bacteria and germs that will ultimately transfer to your face. Pay special attention to water-based products, which degrade and become useless after a year at the longest. Mascara has a 3-month life span. Anything without water — powder, eye shadow, etc. — can last up to two years.
Once you’re done trashing the expired products, thoroughly clean your brushes. Wash them with shampoo until the water in the sink drain runs clear. To make this process easier, keep a brush-cleaning spray like Brush Off handy and clean off your brushes after each use.
