A new year brings presents a great opportunity to think again about properly caring for your skin.  If you are already making resolutions why not make a few resolutions about your skin?

Always Wash Your Face At Night

One of the most important things you can do for your skin is to thoroughly remove your make-up at night and properly cleanse your face.  Even if you don't wear make-up you need to make sure you completely clean your face at night, every night.


 In order to make sure your skin is truly clean be sure to do a double cleanse.  By cleansing your face twice in the evening you can be sure that not only did you remove all your make-up and sunscreen but also all the pollution that stuck to your face during the day.  Taking that time clean your face at night allows the products that you apply afterwards to penetrate properly into your skin.

Wear Sunscreen Everyday

Everyone needs to use sunscreen every day.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  Even on a cloudy day the sun's rays are aging your skin, creating dark spots, and in the worse case scenario causing skin cancer.  According to The Skin Cancer Foundation:

• Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. More than 3.5 million skin cancers in over two million people are diagnosed annually.
• Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon.
• One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime.

Isn't the above information enough to make you use sunscreen daily?

Don't Follow Every Skin Care Trend

I know how tempting it can be to want to try the hottest skin care ingredients and the newest serums and moisturizers.  But keep in mind that a lot of the claims made about ingredients and products are marketing hype.  The most effective ingredients in skin care products are the tried and true ones like retinol and Vitamin C.  Chasing trends probably won't hurt your skin, but it definitely might not help it either.

Keep Your Hands To Yourself

If you suffer from breakouts one of the worst things you can do for your skin is pick at it.  When you touch, poke, or pick at your blemishes you run the risk of making them worse and at the very least you'll be left with bloody, scar on your face which is nearly impossible to cover up with make-up. Even though it can be extremely tempting to want to pop your pimples find a way to distract yourself and keep your hands off your face.

Exfoliate and Moisturize

Two of the best things you can do for your skin is to exfoliate on a regular basis and to moisturize daily. By exfoliating regularly you keep your skin looking young and fresh and allow the skincare products you apply afterwards to work better.

Moisturize your skin when it is slightly damp, within 10 minutes of showering or washing your face. This helps to seal in moisture before it evaporates off your skin for good.  If you have trouble remembering to moisturize immediately after showering you can even leave a bottle of moisturizer in the shower stall so you won't forget.

Follow Through With Your Skin Care Routine

Lastly, like any resolution you need to follow through with your routine. Starting and stopping using products, particularly stronger skin care products that contain retinols, doesn't help your skin.  Be patient as well.  You need to allow time for a new skin care routine to work - usually about three months before you decide that the routine isn't for you.  So stick it out.  Don't give up on your products before you really allow them time to work.