Essential Skincare for Your Thirties

Regardless of your age, there are three essential skincare products that everybody should use every day: a sunscreen, an exfoliant, and an antioxidant. But your skin also has additional and different needs which depend on your age. In this episode of the DermTV series on skincare by the decades, I’ll discuss issues specific to your 30’s... for healthier, more beautiful and younger looking skin.

So in your thirties, the issues that are most important to you are first, and always first, ongoing prevention of ADDITIONAL premature photo-aging, lines and wrinkles.

Second... exfoliation, but in your 30’s it’s more to correct emerging texture and color issues...

And third, not only continuing a defense to prevent fine lines and wrinkles; but also starting to correct the ones that time and the sun have unfairly and secretly etched near your eyes and in your smile lines.

Preventing additional premature photo-aging and lines and wrinkles may have gotten 1 more decade important, but it’s still easy and hopefully part of your basic daily skincare routine: every day, use sunscreen... rain or shine... and... every night, use your topical antioxidant serum. While your sunscreen protects from direct UV damage, your antioxidant helps protect against free radical damage inside your skin cells, whether from naturally occurring internal oxidative stress and free radicals, or from the ones from the sun’s UV rays, which somehow just got past or around your sunscreen.

Next is all important exfoliation.

In your 20s exfoliation was more about acne. But in your 30s, it’s all about your skin’s color and texture. Chemical exfoliants like glycolic remove the accumulating excess “hanger on” dead cells that make your skin dull, blotchy, and tired looking, and contribute to brown age spots. And exfoliants, along with topical smart bleaches, also help to reduce brown hormonal blotches, on your cheeks and forehead, from female hormones whether from BCPs or pregnancy.

In your 30s, continuing to prevent lines goes beyond the sunscreen and peptide products of your 20s because, if repetitive facial expressions are breaking your collagen and wearing out your elastic fibers, it’s time to think about botox treatments which’ll prevent you from developing crows feet, frown, and forehead lines, which come from those natural repetitive facial expressions.

And last, if in your 30s you already have some fine lines near your eyes or in your smile lines, superficial filler treatments or non ablative, minimum downtime, laser procedures can easily correct them.

So there you have it for skin care in your 30’s. And in DermTV’s next episode on Skincare by the Decades, I’ll tell you about your specifics skincare needs for your 40’s.