Happy with your skin right now? Let us help you keep it that way. Prevention is always better than cure.

I know I talk a lot about anti-ageing and how to reduce the visible signs of ageing on your face, particularly lines, wrinkles and sun spots. It is a subject very personal to me as I recently turned 45, a scary age!

But, I know there are a lot of you who are not yet at that stage and want to know how to start early to slow the onset of visible ageing as much as possible, so this post is for you.

First of all, you need to know your skin’s potential for ageing. How have past lifestyle factors influenced the way you might age? What is your genetic indication (not as important as you might think but still a helpful metric to measure)? How is your health? The answers to these questions along with many others, together with a physical skin examination, make up the basis of our skin analysis and this can be done in person or online. All of this information will give us powerful information from which to build your personal ageing profile and customise an anti-ageing profile for you.

Not there yet? Just need general advice about age prevention? No problem, there are lots of tips that are common to every skin type and issue. Here are some of my top Age Slowly tips:

-Use SPF30 daily and layer an anti-oxidant serum under it for extra Age Slowly power. I recommend Essential Nutrient Serum if you are under 30.
-Cleanse your skin gently every night whether you wear makeup or not. Never, ever scrub your skin.
-Moderate sugar, dairy and added salt in your diet. The less the better. Drink water, eat fruit and veg of all colours.
-Have facials as often as you can afford them, monthly if possible. Only go to the best, most reputable salon or clinic. Not near one? Having no treatment is better than having a bad – or inappropriate for you- treatment. Just up your homecare game with masks (weekly) and enzyme-based exfoliators (monthly).
-Stay out of direct sunlight as much as humanly possible, whatever the temperature.

At the salon:

-The best professional treatments to have for cellular age prevention are restorative treatments that use a lot of infusions, massage and bio-identical oils. As always, strictly no products containing perfumes, essential oils or sulphates should EVER touch your skin.

-Regular facials make a huge difference in your long-term skin health and appearance. Aim to have one at least every three months, if time and budget allow then monthly is even better. At Skin Essentials we customise your facial every time and facials can include modalities including ion+ therapy to deeply infuse active ingredients, lymphatic drainage massage to give your skin a lit-from-within glow while eliminating stagnation and puffiness, high frequency to purify breakout-prone skin or ultrasonic exfoliation to name a few. Facials should NEVER be cookie-cutter, one-size -fits-all.

LED light therapy is great for all skin types, my personal recommendation for amazing results. Use alone or add to any other treatment.

-For a more heavy-duty approach, starting clinical microneedling at the very first sign of fine lines will give you ‘collagen in the bank’ for future years. If you start in time, one or two single sessions of needling a year will stave off lines for a long time (provided of course that you are good with all other aspects of your skincare too, nothing will save you if you use sunbeds and sleep in your makeup)!

-Avoid all forms of mechanical exfoliation such as microdermabrasion. These will thin your skin and contribute to premature ageing. Peels are useful but only when used by a very competent therapist and for the right reasons, with the right ingredients for YOUR skin.

Would you like to learn more tips to keep your skin looking young and radiant for as long as possible? Check out Mariga’s book The Skincare Rules available on Amazon in kindle or paperback format.

The Skincare Rules by Skin Essentials founder Mariga Sheedy. Everything you need to know to get great skin, for life.

The Skincare Rules by Skin Essentials founder Mariga Sheedy. Everything you need to know to get great skin, for life.