How to Get Clearer Skin

You don't need to buy expensive beauty products or pay a lot for facials to have flawless skin. Here’s how to get clearer skin without emptying your wallet.

Whether you go to the cosmetics counter at a high-end boutique, the corner drugstore, or a beauty salon, the number of products you’ll find that claim to improve your complexion can be mind-boggling. Should you purchase the $300 bottle of elixir that promises to remove your wrinkles or the $3 one?

According to Rachel Weingarten, beauty historian, former celebrity makeup artist and author of “Hello Gorgeous!,” the selection wasn’t always so overwhelming. “From a historical perspective, skincare categories exploded in the 1960s,” she said. “Prior to that, the number of products were limited. Today, there are products for every skin type.”

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Skin creams and lotions are available for teenagers, millennials, middle aged men and women, and older adults. “You have to know your age group and your skin type,” Weingarten said.

Is your skin oily or dry? Are lines starting to form? Do you have acne? There’s a cream for every skin type. Here are 12 tips from Weingarten on how to get clearer skin:

1. Know your skin. Know if your skin is dry or oily. You should also take your age, sex, and race into account. Men and women use different products because their skin’s not the same; that goes for pale versus dark complexions, too. Once you’ve determined what type of skin you have, you’ll be on your way to getting clearer skin.
2. Pay attention to all of the information. Read labels, and keep in mind that you’ll have to do some research. If an ingredient on the label is foreign to you, look it up. Try not to feel overwhelmed and be open to trying new products. Keep your budget in mind.
3. Change seasonally. In summer, look for lighter formulations. Always use sunscreen — even in the winter — when the sun is bright. In the summer, increase your standard SPF (sun protection factor) to a higher number. If you use 30 in the winter months, try 45 or 50.
4. Don’t believe everything you see. Just because a celebrity says she’s not wearing makeup, it doesn’t mean she’s bare faced. There’s a movement afoot to go makeup-free. Some magazines will claim that the stars gracing their covers aren’t wearing makeup. Those photos of flawless skin are usually Photoshopped.
5. Be vigilant. Remove makeup every night. It can age and irritate your skin. It also clogs oily skin. Make sure you gently remove it and never tug on your skin.
6. Drink water. Water flushes toxins out of your body and makes your skin look less dry. Limit caffeinated drinks; caffeine is a diuretic, which reduces the amount of water in your body. Drink herbal tea or water with lemon juice.
7. Eat your veggies. Make a salad and cook with tomatoes, which are filled with lycopene. Salads, fresh fruits, and vegetables are healthier than Happy Meals. No one’s skin got better by eating a diet full of junk food.
8. Choose wisely and have fun. Go to your corner drugstore and try a few inexpensive facial creams. See what you like and what you don’t.
9. Don’t suffer for beauty. It’s possible that you can have an allergic or negative reaction to a beauty product. If that happens, stop using it.
10. Exercise. Working out gets your circulation flowing and can bring out a radiant glow.
11. Sleep well. Get at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep each night. A good seven to eight hours of sleep give you a healthy glow in the morning.
12. Don’t smoke. Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide and nicotine, which depletes many nutrients and reduces blood flow, making your skin dry and discolored.

If you have acne, see a dermatologist. Even older women with flawless skin can develop acne after menopause. You can use anti-acne products to get rid of pimples.

With aging, we all get wrinkles, and some of us can develop liver (or age) spots. If you want to know how to get clearer skin, talk to a dermatologist.

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