Three Habits for Healthier, Happier Skin

What’s the body’s biggest organ? Brownie points if you guessed the skin. To give you an idea of just how big, the skin surface area of an average person can almost fill a doorway. That’s a lot of area to look after, and at times can feel like a drag but doing so is a sound investment and well worth your effort. Our skin works overtime for us, let’s show a little love back.

The first place our daily habits show up is our skin. Had a few late nights lately? Bam! Dark rings and tired eyes. Skimped on your water intake? Hello dullness my old friend. Do you consider the blue skittles the same thing as blueberries? Well, you’re missing out on some antioxidant goodness and it’ll show up on your skin sooner rather than later. The health and vibrancy of our skin reflects our skincare routine and lifestyle habits.

Let’s delve into some simple-to-implement habits that’ll leave your skin clearer, fuller and healthier.

Habit 1 - Build a Solid Skincare Routine

It’s impossible to lay out the perfect skincare routine as we all have unique needs, so let’s keep it simple and go over the basic building blocks. Ideally, we want to put into place a twice-a-day routine, once first thing in the morning with another round right before bed.

Order matters, think of each step as a primer for the next and set yourself up for better results:

Cleanser – Use a gentle cleanser (designed for your skin type) with lukewarm water.
Toner – Our skin works best between a specific pH range, toning puts us back in this range.
Serum – Your powerhouse, full of antioxidants and anti-ageing ingredients.
Eye Cream – Your eye area is one of the first to show signs of ageing, combat this with a quality eye cream.
Moisturiser – In case you missed it, we have a whole post on the importance of moisturising here. Long story short, get it in your routine.
Sunscreen – The last thing to go on in your morning routine, give yourself some needed sun protection even if you’re stuck indoors most of the day.

Struggling to stay on top of your skincare routine? Simply tie your skincare routine to brushing your teeth. Pairing something we'd like to make a habit (skincare routine) to something that is already an ingrained habit (brushing your teeth) sets us up for far more success, after a while going through your routine will just feel like something you do, rather than a big chore.

So, now we’ve got our skincare routine up and running, what’s next in the quest for clearer, healthier, more vibrant skin? How our skin looks on the outside is mirroring how our daily choices affect us on the inside. Do your skin a favour and turn some of these lifestyle tips into daily habits:

Habit 2 - Water is Your Skin's Best Friend

Staying properly topped up and hydrated is a biggie when it comes to both how your skin looks and feels, it also happens to be the skincare tool that is most commonly overlooked. Often, we feel we’re drinking enough but in the chaos of the day it’s all too easy to under-hydrate, leaving our skin looking tired and dull.

Water allows our skin to work optimally, shuttling moisture and essential nutrients into the skin cells, improving elasticity all while replenishing skin tissue. Huge upsides with the only real drawback of one million-bathroom breaks (don't worry, your body will adapt to the increase intake).

The simple fix, get yourself a water bottle, I use a 1 litre glass bottle (preferable) and aim to drink 2 – 4 bottles of water per day. Simply having a bottle at arm’s reach throughout the day and by keeping tabs on how many bottles you getting through means you’re going to drink more. A win-win for both your health and the health of your skin.

Habit 3 - Get to Yourself to Bed

I get it, you’ve had a long day and want / need some much-needed downtime. As your days get fuller and more chaotic your window of relaxation time (aka Netflix time) shrinks, it becomes easy to push bedtime back for one or two (the whole season) more episodes and cut into your 8 hours. Skimping on sleep has major drawbacks, it's your will power, discipline and motivation that take a hit. Your energy levels plummet, that morning run doesn’t seem too appealing and skipping that doughnut at lunch is now a seemingly impossible task.

The knock-on effect of short sleeping ends up showing on our face. The reason we look tired is because we are tired, short sleeping affects collagen production, skin hydration levels, and the overall texture of our skin. Outbreaks of acne, eczema, psoriasis and skin allergies are more likely to flare up when we’re sleep deprived.

The Simple Fix – Set up a night time routine. Our bodies love predictability and putting in place a basic nightly ritual can get you back to sleeping like a baby:

21:30 No more screen use, hop in the shower.
21:40 Go through your skincare routine.
21:50 Go old school and read a good book.
22:15 Lights out, lie back and soak up all the benefits of being a sound sleeper.

If you struggle to sleep, putting a short, unmissable routine like this in place can have huge results in not only your energy levels and health but also the happiness of your skin. Give it a chance, it takes many days of consistency but after a while, you’ll be fighting to stay awake to finish your page.

Want to know more about sleep and skin? We've got you covered over here.