Your face is often the first thing people notice about you, and a pimple, dry skin or chapped lips can make a bad first impression. Don't wait until problems arise; be proactive in keeping your face healthy looking with a regular, preventative routine of personal grooming. A few tips and tricks are all you need to make a great first impression.
Exfoliate
Pores can clog from sweat, oils, makeup, dirt and other substances which sit on the face between washings. In addition to your regular washing and cleansing, you'll want a deeper clean to remove excess material from your face, and to remove dead skin cells.
Use a loofa bar, dry brush or natural abrasive like oatmeal, rubbed into the face with a damp washcloth. Don't scrub too harshly because you won't want to irritate or break the skin. Press your bar, brush or cloth firmly into your face and concentrate concentric, circular movements in one area for several seconds before moving on to the next. Rinse immediately with lukewarm or cool water.
Moisturize
Your facial skin peels, flakes and dries when it's depleted of the natural oils in the epidermis. Dehydration is a key cause of this lack of lipid presence. Protect your skin with moisturizers like aloe vera, petroleum jelly, fat-dense soaps which contain cocoa butter or lanolin and commercial products like cold creams. Moisturizers will absorb into the damp skin better than dry skin, so moisten your face with lukewarm water and pat dry before applying moisturizers.
Shaving
Don't apply shaving cream to dry skin. Dragging a razor across your skin before it's lubricated leads to more friction, cuts and burns. Moisten your face with hot water to loosen your beard and moisturize before you shave. Shave with a sharp blade. After your shave, rinse your face with cold water to close pores and tighten the skin.
Peels
Peels remove dead skins cells at a deeper level than a simple exfoliation. You can get peels done professionally at spas and saunas, buy in-home chemical peel kits, or create your own, natural peels from acidic food items like lemons, limes, tomatoes or oranges. Just apply the juice of a lemon to your face, let sit five to 10 minutes, then rinse with lukewarm or cool water.
Eyebrows
While you may not be able to afford professional eyebrow work, simple tweezing can help you remove those few straggling hairs which attract unwanted attraction. If you don't feel confident enough to undertake a full eyebrow shaping with tweezers, at least make sure you remove hair between eyebrows to prevent a unibrow. A few strokes with a razor blade will do the trick, but the hair will come back sooner.
Lips
Dry, chapped lips result primarily from weather conditions, like sun, heat, cold and wind. Any time you know you will be out in these conditions, begin moisturizing your lips before you go outdoors. Take lip balm with you and apply regularly. Licking dry lips exacerbates the problem as wind and sun chap them even more, so avoid trying to alleviate your irritated skin by trying to moisten them with your tongue.
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