When we think of aging, we often shrug it off and say “everything is anti-aging” or “age ain’t nothing but a number”.

However, somehow, deep down within we know that the aging process never stops. It’s part of who we are. So to mature gracefully and naturally, here are a few tips you might want to consider as being part of your daily skin care regimen.

Choose the right anti-oxidants – Most of the time, when we think of anti-oxidants we’re looking for an ingredient that’s part of a product that’s going to help smooth, soften, minimize sagging skin and prevent wrinkles. This is 9 out of 10 times the case. One of the best ingredients to look for is green tea extract.

Green tea is a natural anti-oxidant that is used in moisturizing creams and facial serums and even facial cleansers. When you can’t or don’t have access to one of those, a daily cup of green tea can often serve the purpose. After all, beauty does begin within. Look for products that are natural/organic or something that’s also in the form of a cleanser, lotion or a serum and don’t forget your sunscreen.

Look for a moisturizer with Gotu kola – As women of color, typically we don’t have the problem of fine lines and wrinkles at a young age. It’s only when we’re in the sun with no protection that you might see dryness coming to your skin or if you’re not taking in enough water or foods internally to hydrate you, you’ll see your skin drying out.

One of the things to look for when tackling fine lines is gotu kola. What you’ll be looking for is a product that contains gotu kola. Gotu kola is known to trigger your skin’s collagen production, treat eczema and psoriasis and treats skin wounds.

However, gotu kola has been clinically shown to boost collagen production without the skin irritations that retinol would cause. Retinols are an ingredient that is a derivative of Vitamin A and has been used successfully in treating acne. It was found that this particular ingredient not only cleared the acne from your skin, but made it smooth and soft at the same time.

One of the things that’s most important is to wear a sunscreen. Retinol will thin your skin, making it very sensitive and prone to sun damage.

Look for plant based brighteners – One of the things that seems to happen with our skin is that we start to develop dark spots and uneven skin tones. So when you’re looking for a natural ingredient, you will want to look for something like arbutin which is actually bear berry extract.

Also there is kojic acid, licorice and vitamin C. What happens with these natural plant based ingredients is they work by preventing the melanin from moving into nearby cells or they’ll block the enzymes that cause the cells to darken.

Typically, when we encounter dark spots, we’ve either popped a pimple or tried to pull facial hair with tweezers and gone too deep, trying to get the hair out. So you want to be careful and not pop pimples and you definitely don’t want to take tweezers to your skin trying to pull hair out the wrong way.

Use a facial oil or moisturizer at night – In particular, one that might contain vitamin C or E. Products that have vitamin C are natural anti-oxidants in they help protect the skin from the damage that actually leads to dark spots and skin discoloration. One of the things that vitamin C helps to do is actually slow down pigment production.

You can also spot treat with fresh lemon juice. The key to this is not to over do it. You’re dealing with a citrus fruit and when you’re dealing with citrus, you’re dealing with a product that can often make your skin sensitive to the sun (photo sensitive) and that will cause more damage to your skin.

These are just a few tips on aging naturally, gracefully and using products to assist you with your skin. That’s it for this week. As always …

Dedicated To Your Beauty,

Juliette Samuel
Esthetician/Author/Publisher

Nyraju Skin Care