skincare tips

Skincare Tips for People Who Know Nothing About Skincare

When Aveeno asked me to share some of my skincare tips recently, I have to admit, I was at a bit of a loss. Skincare tips? Me? *Looks over shoulder to make sure they’re not talking to someone else.*

The thing is, skincare has always been a bit of mystery to me. I see people throwing around words like “AHAs” and “hydroquinone” and “dimethylaminoethanol” and I start getting flashbacks to those dreams I have in which I’m about to sit an exam I haven’t studied for. The truth is, I know nothing about all that stuff: I just know what works for me and what doesn’t, and I feel like most of what I’ve learned about skincare is really just common sense. Wear sunscreen. Drink water. That kind of thing.

Sharing my skincare tips with Aveeno

And that’s why I like Aveeno. It has that “no nonsense” feel about it, doesn’t it? It’s the moisturiser you’ve probably been picking up for years and not giving it much thought, because it does what it says it will, and you don’t have to re-mortgage your house to pay for it. I mean, it’s made from oatmeal. OATMEAL, people. (And, OK, Distearyldimonium Chloride, whatever that is.) (Not actually asking.) Who doesn’t love oatmeal?

Anyway, I’ve been using Aveeno’s Daily Moisturisng Lotion on my legs for the past couple of weeks, in a bid to get them ready for my holiday (which, yes, I’m STILL talking about), and using it has once again made me realise the same thing I always realise when I use product: YES, IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. My biggest challenge with body lotions, as I’ve mentioned before, is that I can never seem to find the right time to apply them. Do it in the morning and you’re left trying to pull your clothes on over sticky skin, do it at night and hello nicely moisturised bedsheets. The first of my skincare tips, then, is not a secret at all:

skincare tips

DEVELOP A ROUTINE. STICK TO IT.

For the last two weeks, I’ve been faithfully applying the Aveeno lotion to my legs as soon as I get out of the shower. That means it’s long since absorbed by the time I’ve finished applying my makeup and blow-drying my hair, and basically, why don’t I do this ALL the time? It works, people. It makes my legs feel smooth and silky, and they could have been like that all along if I’d just bothered to develop this routine years ago. Gah.

Well, I’m doing it now, so at least that’s one less thing to think about. Here are some other things I’ve learned about skincare over the years… (*Wise-old-woman mode enabled*)

START LOOKING AFTER YOUR SKIN BEFORE YOU THINK YOU NEED TO.

If I were to give you just one piece of skincare advice, I think this would be it, obvious though it may seem. Or maybe not, actually. I know a lot of people who go through most of their youth thinking they’re too young to worry about skincare, only to wake up one day and realise that, whoops, too late, shoulda thought of this sooner! The fact is that prevention is always going to be better than cure, and once the wrinkles start to arrive, there really ISN’T a “cure” – or not one that you can find in a bottle, anyway.

Now, I’m not suggesting you need to rush out and buy a ton of anti-ageing products rightthisverysecond, but don’t wait until you start to see visible signs of ageing, is all. I’ve been using moisturiser and eye cream of some description since I was in my teens, so it’s now just a part of my daily routine that I don’t even think about: sure, if you’re very young, you’re not going to need a ton of products, but looking after your skin is a really good habit to get into, so start NOW, not when you wake up one day and think, “Huh, is that my FACE?”

WEAR A HAT IN THE SUN.

My mum spent the first few years of my life struggling to keep a sunhat on my head, and having to replace it every few seconds, because I WOULD NOT HAVE IT, NO WAY, NEVER. The result? A face full of freckles, which are the main subject of those teenage diaries I posted about last week. I want to be really clear here that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with freckles – in fact, these days I don’t even THINK about them – but they made my teenage years an absolute misery, and I REALLY wished I could’ve gone back in time and just worn that hat.

Obviously freckles aren’t the only skin-related sign that you’ve been in the sun, and while wearing sunscreen is absolutely non-negotiable for me (“Wear sunscreen” is too obvious for me to consider it a “secret”, but DO IT, GUYS, SERIOUSLY. Don’t make me tell you again!), I find it’s best to also wear a hat on a really hot day: it keeps my face in the shade, stops my scalp from burning (if you’ve ever burned your scalp, you’ll know how painful it can be – and how difficult it is to use sunscreen on it), and protects the tops of my ears too, which are apparently one of the most common places people get skin cancer. WEAR A HAT.

BUY A SILK PILLOWCASE

I wrote about this at length a few weeks ago, but one of the things that causes the most damage to my skin is my habit of sleeping on my side, and smooshing my skin into the pillow every night. I tried sleeping on my back, and just couldn’t do it, so my silk pillowcase is the next best thing: it’s not a failsafe, and I do sometimes still wake up with sleep lines, but it’s so much better than the cotton pillowcases I’d been using, and which I’ll never go back to.

DRINK AS MUCH WATER AS YOU CAN STAND

I’ll be the first to admit here that I don’t drink nearly as much water as I should – so I’m a fine one to be handing out skincare tips to other people, huh? While I may not be good at sticking to this particular tip myself, though, when I DO manage to do it for a few days in a row, I always notice a huge difference – and once that’s bigger than anything I’ve ever managed to achieve from skincare products, no matter how expensive. So stay hydrated, folks: and I’ll try to do it too, I promise…

So, those are MY skincare tips, but Aveeno would also like to hear yours: I’m tagging the lovely Charlie of CHRWRD to share her skincare secret- and, of course, you. Yes, YOU. You can post your skincare tips on Twitter and Instagram, using the hashtag #AveenoSkincareSecrets, or on the Aveeno Facebook page. Oh, and don’t forget to tell me too, of course!

What are your best skincare tips?

[This is a sponsored post.]

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COMMENTS
  • Flagless

    REPLY

    Oh, the burnt scalp pains! (well, actually, the burnt parting of your hair pains) I’ve never met anyone else who has experienced this, because I don’t know anyone who’s as ghostly pale as me and refuses to wear a hat. I just cannot do it, it’s itchy and sticky and yucky. So I carry a parasol when it’s very hot and sunny. It’s black, so it may make me look a bit like I belong in the Addams family, but I don’t care. It serves its purpose, and is way better than a hat, at least for me.

    August 23, 2015
  • Sarah

    REPLY

    My mum was a chiropodist and she always said the same about the specialist creams that people shell out extra money for – they’re not necessary. I have one gentle but effective moisturiser that I always take away with me because it can be used on your face as well as anywhere else on your body you’d want to apply moisturiser (and I have super dry skin so that’s saying something), it just makes it so much easier. I do still have my treasured face cream though, it’s just I know I don’t always have to use it or cart it around with me (glass bottles with pumps aren’t the most convenient travel pieces haha) and when I’m really rushed I have an in shower moisturiser I can put on after my shower gel and then I don’t have to worry about it after, or if my skin’s being really extra super dry I use that as well as my regularly moisturiser. Also, baby oil is so underrated, it makes you look really glowy.

    August 23, 2015
  • I rely on face oils. I mix coconut oil with my Benefit face cream and superdrug SPF 30 face fluid sunscreen to create a rich moisturised face cream. I also don’t use eye cream anymore, I got a bad reaction from a boots botanatics and I couldn’t afford the Clinique stuff anymore. I now use pure rosehip oil for around the eyes. Expensive but worth it

    August 23, 2015
  • I drink tons of water, exfoliate and use Bio-Oil under a lightish moisturiser, dabbing some round my eyes. Seems to have done the trick – turning 50 next year!!

    from my early 20s to the age of 40 I swore by the Body Shop Aloe Vera. It was a tinted moisturiser and I bought it religiously. And then one day… discontinued! I was gutted. Finding an alternative to something that really works for you is hard work, but that’s what I had to do.

    A bit of facial yoga doesn’t hurt plus I stay out of the sun. No cigarettes or alcohol either – ever!

    August 23, 2015
  • Miss Kitty

    REPLY

    Drink lots of water, get enough sleep, moisturise morning and night, and wash your face only at night. In the morning a quick rinse with warm water, followed by a quick swipe with alcohol-free toner, is enough. Washing too often strips the skin’s natural moisture, and if you wash properly at night you shouldn’t need to again in the morning. Also I have found that when I keep up my exercise, it gives my skin a bit of a ‘glow’. If I slack off for too long it starts looking dull. I agree with every word you say about sunscreen as well, but I have never found a sunscreen that I can wear daily, without making my skin break out. Fortunately I work indoors, so it’s not as if I’m in direct sunlight all day, so I save the sunscreen for those occasions when I am going to be outside for extended periods.

    August 24, 2015
  • Lily

    REPLY

    I wanted Aveeno to be the one moisturiser I could use. Unfortunately, just like every other moisturiser I have ever used, it made my skin break out into dry, peeling patches, dry skin and eczema. It smells wonderful though.

    August 24, 2015
  • Genevieve Letkeman

    REPLY

    Argh! I need to find a silk pillowcase. I’ve been thinking about it for ages and I keep hearing about them.

    August 24, 2015
  • Thank you so much for tagging me lovely! Can’t believe I didn’t see this until now! Can’t wait to share my skincare secrets over on my blog within the next week or so! Definitely agree with not needing a million different lotions for different things, they all pretty much do the same thing and produce the same results – well for me anyway! 🙂 xx

    August 26, 2015
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