Chapter 5 - Skin Care
- Diet, Vitamins and the Skin
- Smoking and Your Skin
- Skin Care Throughout Life
- General Guidelines for Skin Care
- Facial Care
- Skin Cleansing
- Surfactants and the Skin
- Toners
- Moisturizers
- Hand and Body Moisturizers
- Body Lotions and Bath Oils
- Some Special Ingredients of Skin Care Products
- Additional Products
- Differences in Societies
Looking after the skin means different things to different people. To some it means nothing more than a splash with water or a scrub with a soap bar, carried out as thoroughly, regularly and frequently as the other claims made on one's time permit.
To others it means a regular skin care routine of cleansing, toning and moisturising, involving considerable expenditure of time and the use of many cosmetic products, sometimes several times a day, often followed by the application of decorative cosmetics.
The cosmetic industry (and its customers) have to face up to its critics, including some doctors, who accuse it of the excessive promotion of cosmetic products that they consider to be irrelevant to skin care.
But how many of us understand how our skin benefits by cleansing and moisturising to combat the effects of constant immersion and the daily damage done by the environment and the wearing of decorative cosmetics? Most people need information on skin function, as well as advice on to how to meet their skin's specific needs.
From the day we are born our skin, though astonishingly robust and renewable, needs some care. Skin care involves both protection and treatment: protection against the long-term effects of the sun, wind and water, together with management of whatever happens to the skin on a day-to-day basis.
It is never too early to start looking after your skin, or that of your child.
In this chapter we talk about skin care from birth to old age. We look at the types of product available, and examine how they work.