We all want beautiful skin, but we may not know how to achieve it. Should we be slathering on more creams? Exfoliating every day? What about all of those oils being thrown at us?
Luckily, we got the expert opinion of Dr. Perricone himself on the confusing world that is skin maintenance. The health guru sat down with us to discuss his "beauty from the inside out" philosophy, one that relies on nurturing your body by making the best life decisions possible -- not on pricey skincare products.
Below, see the 8 mistakes we're all making along with Perricone's (surprisingly easy) fixes. Trust us, a glowing complexion could be just days away.
1. You're using too many products.
"Your concern is to find the right thing that works for you. And that's simple. Cleanse, maybe apply something in the morning, moisturizer over that and then your sunscreen. Most people lay on around 10 or 20 different products. It doesn't make sense to me."
2. You're making poor lifestyle choices.
"Excessive exposure to sun, not getting enough sleep and, of course, being overly stressed out are the biggies. A lot of this is common sense, but obviously stress is something we have to learn to deal with... I like meditation. That makes a difference. It lowers stress hormones. Low stress hormones mean your skin stays young, high stress hormones mean you get wrinkled real fast."
3. You're not drinking enough water.
"Drink eight glasses of water a day. People hate water for some reason ... See, the problem is that our first mechanism doesn’t work until we are about two or three percent dehydrated. When you're dehydrated, the cells aren't working right because all the biochemical reactions take place in the presence of water. We're now just discovering that water is much more interesting than we thought it was. It does much more than act as a solvent -- it actually forms a uniform layer inside the cells that aid in energy production. So there are some people that are saying that, with energy production, the cells can repair themselves better."
4. You're relying on harsh exfoliating brushes.
"I don't believe in mechanical exfoliation because it irritates the skin and actually causes inflammation."
5. You're not eating the right foods.
"You want to make sure that you have a green salad every day. That’s very important. Green salads contain incredible nutrients, antioxidants and also increase nitric oxide in your blood. And nitric oxide is what gives you a beautiful healthy glow. The magic combination is a piece of salmon and a green salad. Because salmon also contains something that increases nitric oxide as well as antioxidants. So if you eat salmon three days in a row, you have such a radiance, when you walk into a room people go, 'Wow.'"
6. Specifically, your diet's "color IQ" is too low.
"The more colors you have in your diet a day, the more kind of phytonutrients you're getting, because each color is something specific. So blueberries are very specific for brains and skin, and citrus fruits are really good for the ears. And astaxanthin is really good for eyes and skin. So it's important to get all those different colors in during the day -- I call it your color IQ. So ask yourself how high can your color IQ be today? If you know you had 10 different colors in your fruits and vegetables, you're doing well."
7. You're using Botox as a quick fix.
"Botox is a neurotoxin -- it paralyzes muscles by interfering with the nerve impulse. When the muscles are not getting innervated by the nerves, they atrophy. The way we look young is to have plenty of muscle and plenty of fat in our face. So why would you want to atrophy your muscles? I think it’s a bad strategy."
8. You're wearing too much makeup.
"If you're not taking care of yourself and you're not getting enough sleep and you're eating poorly, then you probably want to slather on something to hide the mistakes. But the thing is, if you're doing the right thing, then you really want to tone down the makeup. In the end, vanity is really a good thing, because if you are worried about your appearance, then you are really motivated to eat correctly, maintain a good body weight, exercise and get enough sleep. Vanity is a good thing, it motivates us."
Still looking for more guidance?
