Listening to your skin means you have to get to know it. Pay attention to how it changes under the influence of external stress factors, it is affected by lifestyle and reaction to products. This also means choosing your skin care products based on this knowledge. “Intuitive Skin Care” is a style of skin care that means you make choices based on what your skin needs in the moment.

Rather than feeling obligated to stick to a rigidly set 3-step routine, it allows for a more dynamic approach to skin: one that involves using a soothing cream when your skin is sensitive, or exfoliating when you feel like you need a boost. .

The products you use should also have a complex composition. Look for ingredients that complement the skin’s texture.

For example, ceramides are polar lipids that occur naturally in the skin, but research shows that stressed skin has less natural exposure and can decrease with age. You can apply ceramides topically to boost your supply. Shea butter, for example, is similar local effects as ceramides1.

Hyaluronic acid is another humectant produced by the body, the amount of which decreases with age. It has an amazing ability to attract and retain water in the skin. Due to its decrease, our skin does not maintain moisture well and may look less elastic. Fortunately, it’s a common ingredient in many serums, face creams, and lip balms.

Vitamin C is another great example of an ingredient that complements the skin. We do not produce it naturally, but our bodies require it in the process of collagen synthesis, so we must obtain it from external sources if we want to maintain collagen production. You can find it in vitamin C serums or naturally in many plant-based ingredients such as mango seed oil and berry extracts.

As for nutrients that our bodies don’t produce on their own: essential fatty acids are lipids that are necessary for the skin to function, but are not inherent to the lipid layer, so again, we have to look for external sources. Many vegetable oils contain omega-3 and 6 fatty acids, such as safflower oil, sunflower oil, rosehip oil, and grape seed oil.

You also want to make sure you’re taking care of your microbiome, your skin’s first line of defense. The microbiome is the ecosystem of organisms that live on our skin, providing a protective buffer, communicating with our immune system, producing nutrients, and maintaining skin balance. Without a thriving skin microbiome, our skin and body suffer. The best thing you can do for your microbiome is to feed it local pre- and postbiotics. These are non-living organisms that help nurture and balance the microbiome.

Finally, remember not to deprive the skin of its protective elements. Elastic skin is possible only when it has the power of self-preservation. And when we overexfoliate the skin, use harsh ingredients, and strip the skin of its natural moisture barrier, we’re essentially taking away the very element that makes skin able to withstand stress.