60 is the New 30: How to Keep Your Skin and Hair Young and Healthy Looking

Today both women and men have access to many more choices than ever before for taking years off their appearance, no cosmetic surgery needed. You now have a choice on exactly how you will age!

My motto is "60 is the new 30". I believe it fully. The more than 75 million baby boomers entering their middle ages over the next decade not only request this, they demand it. Do you? I sure do!  So if you want to keep your skin looking amazing, make sure you follow the tips below. 

Don't Smoke: Tobacco Wrecks Your Skin

Ever heard of smoker’s face? This term, which is actually in the official "medical dictionary", describes the telltale characteristics that make smokers look older than they really are: grey skin, gauntness, and wrinkles around the mouth and eyes, and deep lines in the cheeks.

Smoking causes the blood vessels in the top layers of the skin to constrict, reducing the amount of oxygen in the blood and causing a sickly pallor. Your appearance is just one of the many reasons why you shouldn't smoke. I can help you quit easily if you need help. 

Do Not "Sun"

No sun, no tanning booths, nada. Get a vegetable spray tan if you want to look tan and avoid wrecking your skin!

Find the Best Anti-Aging Serum?

These "first layer" serums are truly miraculous with their array of ingredients which do everything from shrinking pores, stimulating collagen (the skin's main building block), and protecting you from free radical damage. Some of the effective ingredients in this "first layer" of what I recommend for skin care are varied. 

Your skin type does indeed come into play, as does your environment. As a Floridian with oily skin I need a light serum with good ingredients. If you live in the Northeast and suffer the effects of indoor heating and cold winters and have moderate to dry skin you'll need a different serum than I will. However we both need a stem cell cytokine serum. I'll explain as we go along here.

Anti-Aging Serum Antioxidants

The antioxidants in these anti aging serum first layer products most shown to repair damage and slow the aging process include:

Vitamin C, CoEnzyme Q-10 (CoQ-10), Vitamin A, and Vitamin E as well as alpha lipoic acid and DMAE  have the most positive research thus far.Find a good 20% concentration and use it once daily in the order listed above in the skin care regimen. Feurulic acid has a lot of protective properties and many Vitamin C serums contain this ingredient along with Vitamin E and green tea. The more the merrier if the product is "well done" in my book.

Here are more ingredients which are effective and can be found in either types of serums-usually the most viscous ones: Acai oil, Green tea extract, Retinol, Caffeine, Salicylic acid, Retinoic acid, and the ever-popular hyaluronic acid.

The quality and purity of what you are putting on your face is crucial in my book. You are absorbing toxins if you put them on your face! At the very least I will recommend naturally derived products as well as products which don't contain parabens or propylene glycol.  I use renewal serums 2x daily for the Vit C and hyaluronic acid. Some people do 2-3 serums or alternate them due to ingredients. I'll use a more 'protective' serum when I go into the cold.

So After Layer One of Anti-Aging Serum, Then What?

The current research is hot with lovely and ingredient-filled serums which contain "stem cell cytokines". These serums make our "wound healing response" go back to be as it was when we were younger. That is why they are recommended for use with laser procedures which cause skin injury such as the popular Fraxel and the less popular but effective Co2 laser procedures.

Anti-aging doctors such as myself recommend this category of serums as definitely the best 2nd layer serum for you to use. Make a mental note that with the "roller" you are stimulating collagen and elastin and making little tiny holes for better ingredient penetration. This is a micro-injury which by definition sparks elastin/collagen production and will make this stem cell cytokine product work even better!

Serum Layer Three 

So then layer three is easy because it's the accelerator. Nowadays, these "fancy serums" come with an accelerator, so many times the best pick for an anti aging moisturizer is the "companion" moisturizer for the great serum. So my pick for layer 3 is the 2nd part of the AnteAgeMD® combo-the accelerator, which is also rich in those magic stem cell cytokines, and contains Vitamin C,Co-Q 10, Alpha lipoic acid, grape seed extract, retinol, Vitamin E and many of the moisturizing ingredients you will read about in the next section. Note that a whole lot of the "good ingredients" are packed into these two products. This could also be "the end" of your layers other than sunscreen. But at night, it's advantageous to add a nighttime layer.

Products Useful For When it's Cold

  • Ceramides - Help replenish the skin's natural oils.
  • Glycerol - Helps water and other moisturizer ingredients penetrate the skin to get where they are needed.
  • Niacinamide - Helps the skin produce more natural oils, and may also help reverse the signs of sun-damaged skin, like brown spots and blotchiness
  • Hydroxy Acids - Helps with exfoliation of dead skin cells
  • Grape seed oil, Squalene, Shark liver oil, Rosehip seed oil, Jojoba oil, Borage seed oil, Avocado oil, and sea buckthorn oil, for the best natural oils

Written by Kim Crawford,M.D. of www.drkimsagewellsolutions.com
Bio: Kimberly Crawford, M.D., F.A.C.P.M., A.B.A.A.R.M. www.drkimsagewellsolutions.com Board certified 4 specialties including Internal Medicine and Anti-aging Medicine with a way for you to inexpensively get her full advice!