Need help With best skincare products

saracon

i am having trouble deciding which skincare products to purchase. I am in my late 20s now and want to start taking care of my face to avoid wrinkles. How can I best avoid lines and wrinkles?
If I walk into any store for advice, each individual brand wants to sell me their own products whereas I want to find the best ones.
Which products are the best without chemicals etc?
Which moisturiser should I be using? Should I use an eyecream?

How is la Roche posay, dr haushka, aveda, etc
Is there really a need for these expensive creams as opposed to nivea?
How essential is toner? What is the purpose of it?

I've heard differing views about whether to weAr moisturiSer at night of not- some say you should and some say it blocks your skin...
I'm worried all the makeup I'm wearing daily is destroying my skin as lines are starting to show on my forehead and beside my lips and eyes
Help me postpone this please what is the secret.. Should I go to a dermatologist?

christmas2012

How can I best avoid lines and wrinkles?

You cannot avoid gravity,it will pull you down eventually,gravity and wear and tear of the skin,exposing it to the elements,even indoor air your skin eventually fades away into old age,its the inevitable.

The only really most effective thing against wrinkles,unfortunately,is botox or restaylline,for skin surfaces youthful appeal,chemical peels,or fraxel which is an amazing 3 in 1 treatment,it improves not only just the surface skin but also stimulates collagen production and is pricey,more pricey than botox..

For short term or preventative solutions for your skin surface,i would say sun protection factor creams,and any creams with retinol/vitamin a,a really good serum i have used with vitamin a in it,is protect and perfect by no 7..

If you want to stay young your whole life im afraid you will be dissapointed,unless you can speed your slowing enzyme production up within your body,it is near to impossible.

A woman in ireland,a biologist,is researching how bats stay so young and appear to stave off the ageing process.But that could take decades to find out.
Until then,the odd bit of botox,and fraxel could be the most effective treatment,there are a lot of gimmick lasers out there,but fraxel is the one that really works if youre interested..

Maglight

First of all you have to accept that genetics is the main driver in how your skin ages. And there is nothing you can do about your genetic makeup, so stop sweating it. After that, the two best anti aging strategies are not smoking and wearing sunscreen.

As for skin care. Personally I like Dermalogica and have used it since my late 20s. I've used lots of other products too, but keep coming back to Dermalogica as my mainstay.

christmas2012

How is la Roche posay, dr haushka, aveda, etc
Is there really a need for these expensive creams as opposed to nivea?
How essential is toner? What is the purpose of it?

I have tired dr haushka,and they are lovely smelling creams ,but as far as noticing a difference in the skin surface, i would say nil.

I have nivea face creams for night time use,as it is rich and thick,my skin comes up lovely and soft and smooth in the morning very lush and dewy.Im not too sure it is a good anti ageing cream though,but anything that lubricates the lines is good in my book..

I use no7 and notice a difference in my skin it appears lighter and less dull,so i use it a lot now,it is pricey but worth it.It has vitamin a in it..Which is what you need.Vitamin A applied topically on the skin has been found to be absorbed by the skin..

Toner is to close the pores after cleansing,it is good if you dont want to have open pores ,which is also a sign of ageing on the skin surface,if you get open pores,its very hard to get rid of them unless you go for chemical peels/fraxel the 3 in 1 treatment which also stimulates collagen,which is what you lose as you age..

saracon

Thank you for the help ladies.
You suggested a sunscreen.
Do you think using a moisturiser with spf15 sunscreen every day would be enough or should I use a sunblock?
Can anyone recommend a good sunscreen to prevent ageing?
Surely it's best not to be putting chemicals on ur face everyday which is what sunscreen is... It kind of defeats it's purpose in the end..

vibrantblue

In terms of sunscreen, it is best to wear it everyday that you are out. But let's be reasonable. For example, most of the works days, I am barely out maybe 5 minutes. So, I do not wear a sunscreen, unless I know that I'll be out in the sun during lunch time or after work. But I always wear a sunscreen in all cases where I'll be out more than 10-15 minutes. And that includes cloudy days, which many people ignore.

In terms of sun protection, it is important to choose a sunscreen that has both UVA and UVB protection. UVB protection is measured by SPF. The moisturisers with a built-in sun protection usually only have UVB protection. Even many sunscreens do not have proper UVA protection. UVA protection is usually called PA. As opposed to numerical SPF system, + or * is used for the stregth of the protection. The more +/*, the better. You can read more about UVA and UVB here:

http://www.skincancer.org/prevention/uva-and-uvb/understanding-uva-and-uvb

Good moisturisation and use of sunscreen are the only scientifically proved methods for anti-aging. All other things, like most skincare, are very YMMV. One thing that works for one person, may be a disaster for you. You need to try and see what works best for you. Cetaphil, LRP, Avene, Oilateum and similar brands have very nice moisturisers and generally have nice reviews. No 7 has affordable facial sunscreens with both UVA and UVB protection.

You also need to make sure that you properly cleanse your skin, especially if you're wearing sunscreen. If you don't cleanse your skin properly, none of the other stuff matters. Never go to bed with make-up or sunscreen. You'll be break outs central. I use oil to remove both. You can use an oil cleanser as well. Whatever works for you. For example, mineral oil works wonders on my acneic skin, but I heard horror stories from other people using it. Some can tolerate it, some can't. Some people use jojoba oil, I can't tolerate it. It clogs the hell out of my pores. It really is trial-and-error. I usually follow with a simple cleanser after the oil, which I also use in the morning. All the brands mentioned above are good. I particularly like the Cetaphil cleanser.

And then there's exfoliation, but I probably have to write a seperate post for that.