Your mom was likely the one who slathered you in sunscreen as a child, accompanied you to the dermatologist as a teen, and stocked the bathroom with cleansers and lotions to keep your complexion healthy head to toe. It seems fitting to pay homage to moms—and all the years they cared for us inside and out—with this list of mother-approved skincare tips, tricks and beauty rituals. You’ve likely heard some from your own mom; others may be new. Regardless, they’re all effective and true.
“Don’t go to bed without washing your face”
When your mom said this to you she wasn’t just trying to keep the pillowcase clean. Cleansing at day’s end removes pore-clogging (and pillow-soiling) makeup and grime, as well as pollution particles that can contain age-accelerating free radicals. Thus, a gentle but thorough pre-bedtime cleansing ritual not only cuts down on breakouts and linen laundering, it can also help slow the aging process.
“Ask an expert”
Mother may know best, but she doesn’t know everything. That’s why lots of moms take their teens to the dermatologist for help with acne—or to a professional esthetician to put together that first skincare regimen. Enlisting the care of an expert is usually time (and money) well spent because it helps garner better results in less time. Now that we’re adults, this is still a savvy strategy: Visiting a skincare expert routinely—and investing in clinically-proven skincare products like Neolastin—helps ensure you’re spending your beauty bucks wisely.
“Stop picking at your face”
If you’ve ever had your hand gently swatted away from your face, it was likely your mom who did the swatting. Whether you were popping a pimple, squeezing a blackhead, or picking at a flakey sunburn, mom likely intervened because she knew you were going to 1. make the problem worse and 2. potentially cause scarring. So, thank you mom, for saving our skin then—and for training our conscience to gently scold us, even now, whenever we’re tempted to pick.
“Get a good night’s sleep”
When it comes to scoring healthy skin, regular sleep is just as important as using the right products. And when your mom nagged you to get to bed as a kid, she did it because she knew sleep is vital to good health; it’s when the body (and skin) repairs and rejuvenates itself. (She also probably did it so she could get a few minutes of peace before her own bedtime.) The goal: Aim for seven to eight hours each night to keep things glowing.
“Make sure to stay hydrated”
If you grew up before water bottles were ubiquitous, your mom probably didn’t harp on you to guzzle eight glasses a day. In the U.S., we didn’t really start singing the skincare benefits of H2O until the late 1990s. But moms of almost any generation did know—and likely imparted—the importance of keeping skin hydrated on the outside with moisturizer. Not only does routine application of a hydrating serum or cream leave skin looking smoother and plumper, it also improves the skin’s barrier function, making it better able to shield itself from environmental assaults. To keep skin supple and strong, sans stickiness, try fast-absorbing formulas like Neolastin’s Face & Neck Regenerative Serum and Rejuvenate & Hydrate Moisturizing Cream.
“Prioritize sun protection”
Even if your mom grew up a sun worshiper, by the time you were born, she likely knew about the dangers of UV rays and slathered you in sunscreen whenever you were outside for an extended period of time. And while many of us complained (and occasionally cried) as we got coated in SPF, we now know mom did us a solid by shielding us from the number one cause of accelerated aging—and skin cancer. Today, most dermatologists (and mothers) will say wearing a broad-spectrum sun-protection product with SPF 30 (or higher) daily is the single most effective anti-aging skincare habit one can adopt.
“When you become a mom, invest in eye cream”
Any mom knows that having small children can make getting a good night’s sleep challenging. That’s where eye cream comes in. Fatigue tends to show up first in the thin, delicate skin around the eyes, so using a multi-purpose eye cream formula can help combat (and camouflage) some signs of being chronically tired. Neolastin Revitalize & Firm Eye Cream helps alleviate puffiness, lines, and dark circles by deeply hydrating the skin, protecting from free-radical damage and improving elasticity.
“Don’t forget your neck, chest and hands”
Mom knows the sneaky spots skin-aging shows up first: the hands, the neck, and the chest. Skin tends to be thinner and more fragile in those areas than it is elsewhere on the body, yet it’s often overlooked when it comes to product—and sun protection—application. So it's a good thing Neolastin’s face products are formulated to be safely used on any skin, so slather those formulas south, once you’ve treated your face. Then top off with SPF.
“Keep it simple”
A complicated, multi-step skincare regimen is not more effective than a simple one. In fact, one thing any busy mom knows is that streamlining your skincare regimen to a handful of supremely-efficacious products will make it easier to actually stick with the routine. All you need: a gentle cleanser, a daily sunscreen, and an active, clinically-proven serum, moisturizer and eye cream, like Neolastin’s Your Beautiful Skin Trio featuring our Face & Neck Regenerative Serum, Rejuvenate & Hydrate Moisturizing Cream, Revitalize & Firm Eye Cream.