How to Choose the Best Skin Care Products for Your Skin

Knowing Which Skin Care Products to Buy is Half the Battle:

Have you been to the drug store or your local department store lately and visited cosmetics or health and beauty? The variety of skin care products available can be overwhelming. How are we to choose when every product claims to be the best, the newest, the strongest, voted most popular, etc?

Over the years we develop our own brand name preferences, occasionally trying something new, or borrowing a suggestion from a friend. But a brand name preference may even be useless against the onslaught of skin care products if you don't know what you are looking at.

You have to know if you want an emollient, conditioning, or anti-bacterial cream. Or was that anti-inflammatory cream and an exfoliant?

Familiarize yourself with the types of skin care products available, and it will make your purchasing decisions a little bit easier.

Here are some quick tips to sort through skin care jargon and find the product you need.

Make-up removers: are formulated to break down the compounds used in producing make-up. Water resistant makeup generally requires makeup removers. If you don't wear a whole lot of makeup, or several layers of makeup you probably do not need a makeup remover. Your facial cleanser should cut through your makeup. The exception is often eye makeup which often requires extra care in removing, although mineral oil is an excellent eye makeup remover that costs around $1.

Skin care cleansers:gently break through makeup, sunscreen, and pollutants that have accumulated on your face throughout the day. It is important to use skin cleansers suitable for your skin type.

Exfoliants: vary from company to company and product to product. They may also be called facial scrubs. Some exfoliants are course, while more advanced exfoliants use micro-cleansing beads or microdermabrasion to slough off dead skin cells.

Moisturizing and conditioning skin care products: are designed to penetrate the skin hydrating the layers beneath the epidermis, the part of your skin that you see. Deep moisturizing and hydration increases your skins elasticity, smoothness, and overall appearance.

Anti-aging skin creams: are moisturizers enhanced with age fighting ingredients; they may also be called repair creams, serums, or antioxidants.

Rejuvenating: skin care products contain ingredients that stimulate the skin, increasing circulation and causing the skin to take on a clean, youthful glow. Some rejuvinating skin creams fall into the catagory of exfoliants, so read product labels carefully.

Skin protectants:are skin care products form a barrier on the outer layer of skin. They are not intended to penetrate the skin like moisturizers and conditioners. Protectants help prevent sun damage and also help the skin retain hydration. A simple example of an emollient is baby oil. When put on in the shower, baby oil bonds creating a barrier that seals in moisture.

Astringents: help evaporate excessive oil and refine pores. They may also be called pore refiners, pore reducers, or pore minimizers. Astringents containing alcohol and acetone are very harsh on skin. Even if you have oily skin excessive drying only stimulates more oil production. Choose gentle astringents that clean and tighten pores.

Anti-inflammatory: skin care products help reduce redness and puffiness often associated with acne. Anti-inflammatory skin care products will not kill acne causing bacteria. For that you need a product with anti-bacterial properties. These skin care products are generally identified as acne preventing or acne treating products.

Eye treatments; include anti-puffiness serums or creams, lifting or firming creams, or eye toners. The purpose of specialized eye skin treatment is usually to treat puffiness or dark circles beneath the eyes.

These are the ten basic categories into which skin care products fall. Products may be called by any number of names and these groupings may be subdivided. However, in becoming familiar with the products you can begin to compare your skin type and needs to available products.

Knowledge of skin care products will enable you to compare ingredients and prices and avoid the trap into which savvy pioneers in women's health and beauty intended women to fall - the false belief that just because a product cost more it is better.

 By:RABEL