The Skin Care Ingredients This Derm Always Recommends
Confused about what your skin really needs? Dr. Kucy Pon, a Toronto-based dermatologist, breaks down the top skin care ingredients, and answers common questions about what you should look for in a moisturizer.
There’s no shortage of options when it comes to skin care. But all that choice can make it confusing to determine what your skin actually needs to stay healthy and hydrated.
Here, we’re breaking down what to look for thanks to advice from Dr. Kucy Pon, a Toronto-based dermatologist.
What should I be looking for in a moisturizer?
“In the winter, with the drier air, you’ll notice that your skin tends to be drier, flakier, and perhaps more irritated,” says Dr. Pon. “Because of the cold dry air, it’s really important to use a heavier moisturizer that’s more hydrating to the skin.”
Look for hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid and peptides to ensure the moisture is reaching those deeper layers of your epidermis. Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream Face Moisturizer is an anti-aging moisturizing formula featuring proven ingredients like hyaluronic acid, amino-peptides and niacinamide. Olay screens thousands of ingredients every year, and only the top 1% are selected for Olay products.
Making sure your skin barrier is healthy is also crucial. A good skin barrier helps keep moisture in, which prevents skin from drying out, says Dr. Pon. This is where the importance of peptides comes in. “They help to build collagen, so you have firmer looking, healthier skin,” says Dr. Pon.
1. Peptides: The building blocks of our skin cells
Peptides are chains of amino acids and the building blocks of collagen, elastin and keratin in our skin cells, says Dr. Pon. “Without peptides, our skin would be saggy, have lots of wrinkles, and look dull and tired,” she says.
If you think of your skin like a beautiful piece of fabric, peptides are the threads that keep your fabric together. Over time—thanks to aging and sun exposure—that fabric breaks down and looks worn. The threads that rejuvenate the fabric aren’t regenerating as fast as they once did. Using a moisturizer with peptides can help add in more fibres to restore those threads. Peptides are an essential ingredient in anti-aging creams for this reason.
“Typically, we start to lose collagen and elastin around our 30s and so it’s important to start using peptides at an earlier age to prevent that collagen loss,” says Dr. Pon.
The result is improved appearance, smoothness and firmness of your “fabric,” aka your skin.
To add peptides back into your skin, look for a moisturizer that contains peptides and moisturizing ingredients that helps to deliver these peptides deep into the skin where they are needed to build collagen,” says Dr. Pon. “Look for the words dipeptide or peptides in the ingredient list.”
2. Niacinamide: The hero ingredient
“Niacinamide is a derivative of vitamin B3 and it has so many amazing functions for the skin” says Dr. Pon. “Not only does it help with decreasing inflammation, it helps with hydrating the skin and soothing the skin, and helping with hyperpigmentation and other skin irregularities.” There’s not much this ingredient can’t do for the skin!
3. Hyaluronic Acid: Hydration heavy-weight
“Hyaluronic acid is a key ingredient that really locks in moisture,” says Dr. Pon. “In fact, it can absorb a thousand times its weight in water.”
Our skin cells naturally produce hyaluronic acid in a bid to maintain moisture levels, but those levels decrease over time thanks to aging and environmental aggressors like sun damage. Using a moisturizer with hyaluronic acid helps build those levels back up for plump, hydrated skin.
How often do I really need to moisturize?
Consistency is key! It’s important to replenish your skin’s moisture daily, especially during the winter. A moisturizer like Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream should be part of your daily skin care routine in order to maintain healthy, hydrated skin. Remember, says Dr. Pon: “Peptides are important all year round but especially in winter to combat dull-looking, saggy skin.”
When it comes to your moisturizer, a hefty price tag doesn’t necessarily mean it’s more effective. Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream delivers potent skincare with powerful results. In fact, this moisture-binding formula improves skin elasticity, visibly diminishes fine lines and wrinkles and hydrates better than some prestige creams—at a fraction of the price!
Find Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream in a Walmart near you.
