Be Kind, Moisturize!

Hello again!

It’s the Sweatpants Girl, back for another semester of imparting tips and tricks to the casual beauty observer– many of which have been gained through my own blood, sweat, tears… and watching hours of Youtube videos!

So, water. 

The human body is a ridiculous percentage of the stuff– something like 60-70 or 80 percent!  It’s a wonder we’re not all amorphous gelatinous blobs, right?  I’m getting an image of the liquid people from that episode of Futurama– I hope somebody knows what I mean!

Anyway, so the whole point of that was just to impress upon you what serious business water is to humanity in general.  I mean, we all get the whole ‘drink like 8 glasses of water a day’ spiel, and we all go YEAH RIGHT, 8 FREAKIN’ GLASSES?  WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO, DROWN?  And then we grab a soda and go on with our lives.

But water is more important than just keeping enough of it for your ridiculously thirsty body to work…  How much water you have in and on your body can affect your beauty as well!  Wrinkles have a lot of causes, and not surprisingly one of them is a lack of water.  As we age, our bodies (and most importantly skin) lose their ability to hold as much water as they should.  The result?  Not only saggy, wrinkly skin, but more horrifying things.

I was putting make up on my mother the other day, who is in the vicinity of 50 years old and probably doesn’t get the sort of moisture she should, especially at her age.  And I found it almost IMPOSSIBLE to get any makeup on her eyes– every time I would try, the skin would move with the brush and stay there!  Yikes!

What’s the answer you might ask?

A reliable moisturizer!

Something everyone should probably develop by the time they get into adulthood is a good skin care routine.  This can obviously vary enormously from person to person– for instance, I am not acne-prone, so none of my time is spent on washing my face with anti-acne products.  If I were older, I might take more steps to keep wrinkles away, but since I’m only 20, this isn’t a big concern.  As you find out what works best for you, your skin care routine will undoubtedly change and develop.

What I urge EVERYONE to include, however, is a good facial moisturizer.

I say facial, because not all lotions are created equal.  You may reach for your lotion and go ‘well, this covers everything’, even if it says ‘Body Lotion’ specifically.  That’s not good!  Different products are put into different lotions that target different areas– harmful things sometimes!  You would be surprised to find that in lotions from Bath and Bodyworks, they list ALCOHOL as one of the ingredients!  Alcohol is actually extremely drying for skin, so DON’T use that on your face!

Despite that, you really don’t have to shell out $100 for a decent moisturizer.  In reality, almost any moisturizer made specifically for the face will do– the important thing is that you slather it on!  Personally, I use the moisturizer from Benefit’s new B-Right line– the glass jar is just adorable, and I love the fresh scent.  Not to mention the price wasn’t awful– $38 or so.  Choose one that is right for you– both your nasal passages AND your budget!  Hope in a Jar by Philosophy is also a highly spoken-of moisturizer, but the price is in the mid-range at around $50 or so, depending on the size.

Makeup is all well and good, but as any artist will tell you, you need a decent canvas to work with first!  Spend a little money to keep yourself well hydrated, drink at least a LITTLE water, and your skin will thank you for it in the years to come. 🙂