What Causes the Skin to Age?

Genetics plays a key role in our sensitivity to the sun, which is passed down to us from our parents.  What we are talking about here is how fast your skin will turn red and burn.  Usually the amount of melanin, a compound found in the human body, determines how fast we will burn or tan under sun exposure and determines our skin care color.  Therefore, sun is the major contributing factor in the aging process of the skin.  

Take for example our bums---yes the one we sit on everyday. For most of us, our derriere never sees the sun as we age while other areas of our skin become freckled and thinned out due from the loss of collagen. But not your bottom.  

Remember, there is never a good sunburn—even if you tan afterwards.  Sun exposure accumulates in our bodies from the time we are born and continues throughout our lives.  

Sunburn, which causes bad burns leading to blisters and skin peeling is directly connected to aging of the skin, which causes wrinkles, age-spots, and most severely melanoma, which is skin cancer.  

When the skin is burned, it damages the skin cells. Sometimes the cells repair themselves but most of the time they become dysfunctional. This causes the skin to form a pigmented area, freckles, lines, loss of collagen, and melanoma.

Skin cancer and aging are lifestyle hazards and can age us fast and furious!  We can stop both by staying out of the sun as much as possible. If you do go out in the sun, use sun safety.  

Here are a few recommendations. It’s important to remember to know that the sun’s rays are at their highest peak during the summer months and between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunscreen plays a key role in protecting your skin. Use one that contains a minimum of SPF 50+.  Remember to reapply sunscreen every 45 to 90 minutes throughout the time you are in the sun.  Wear hats, sunglasses, and even clothing with SPF built into the fibers when you can. Till next time......

Exfoliating - why it's important to get rid of the top layer.

Exfoliating - why it's important to get rid of the top layer.

The skin is made up of many different layers. Some are dead and some are living.  To help you better understand the skin and its layers, let’s concentrate on three primary layers of skin.  The top dead cell layers, the middle living layers and the lower supportive layers.  We don’t need the top dead cell layers nor do we want them.  They make the skin look dry, dull and old and inhibit any topical nutrients or moisturizers from penetrating into the skin basically suffocating the living skin cells.  

Women who exfoliate or remove these dead dry skin cells with regular European facials, scrubs or peels will look much younger than women who don’t.  Men’s skin will look younger longer than women’s skin because they shave their faces, which removes dead, dry cells.

Exfoliating dead dry skin cells is the first step of any skin care program and extremely important.  If we don’t remove these cells we are wasting our time applying topical vitamins or moisturizers over them because nothing will penetrate or be absorbed into the skin.  Without absorption you will not get the benefits of using good skin care products.  The beauty of using Glycolic acid is that it dissolves the glue or sebum which holds dead dry cells on the top layer of skin, loosening them and gently lifting them off.  I say gently because this type of exfoliation is called a chemical exfoliation. It is less harsh than a mechanical one which includes abrasive grains and scrubs. If you look under a microscope, you will actually see small scratches on the skin after using a mechanical exfoliant. Visit www.clinage.com for more information.

Until next time.....

Marcia applies some healthy habits for healthy skin

Healthy Habits for Healthy Skin

Yes, there are things you can and should be doing daily for healthy skin. For starters, limit the amount of sun you are getting, especially between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. when the sun is the strongest. This will help reduce wrinkles, age spots and other skin problems. 

Seek the shade, use sunscreen and wear a hat to the beach!

You can also refrain from smoking, which can make your skin look older and contribute to wrinkles. If you smoke, really try to quit.

A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins will help too. Some research also suggests that a diet rich in Vitamin C and low in unhealthy fats and processed foods can promote healthy, younger looking skin and help you avoid adult acne too. And drink up--water, water and more water. Your skin will thank you.

Moisturize your skin and cleanse with warm water instead of hot will also make a difference. Pat your skin dry or blot with a towel. This will help retain moisture.

Finally, manage your stress. It does make a difference. Sleep, relax, set limits, scale back and your skin will thank you.

Men Need to Exfoliate and Take Care of Their Skin Too!

MEN love Clinage too! 

Why men need to exfoliate and take care of their skin

Although men traditionally spend less time caring for their skin than women do, they oten spend more time damaging their skin through outdoor activities and sometimes hazardous work conditions.

And one thing I have learned is that men love to feel good about their skin too. No harm in that, right? They have skin too. In fact, did you know that the human body has approximately 19,000 skin cells per square inch. Wow!

Many people do not realize that men who shave naturally exfoliate their faces on a regular basis. This is a good thing for men. The down side—those ugly, red bumps.

When experiencing irritating bumps, men should the hair grow out a bit before shaving again because shaving over razor bumps will only irritate or tear them open, leaving them vulnerable to infection (and probably not removing much hair in the process.) This goes for us girl too. If you can, let the hair grow for a few days and see if it breaks out of the bumps on its own.And resist the urge to scratch. It might itch, but breaking the bumps with your fingernails can lead to infection and scarring. Try to hold off and let it heal.

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Use a product that's designed to treat razor bumps. Look for something that contains salicylic acid, glycolic acid, witch hazel, aloe, or any combination of these ingredients like our Clinage line. Visit www.clinage.com.

Finally, if an infection occurs, treat with an antibacterial cream. If you suspect that you have infected ingrown hairs, try using an antibacterial cream on them each day.

Illysia of Madly Chic loves Clinage too.

Illysia Neumann-Loreck of Madly Chic, a really cool blog about fashion recently posted this about Clinage. She loves our products. You can visit Illysia at Madly Chic.

There are wine connoiseurs and cheese connoiseurs, art connoiseurs and cigar connoisseurs. I am a skincare product connoiseur. I have dry skin and tried every product in existence to find the perfect skincare product. I have tried drugstore brands and luxe brands like La Mer. Some things have worked better than others, but nothing left my skin looking fabulous.

I heard about Clinage from a woman who has been using it for over 20 years. She is 60, looks 45 and has the most beautiful skin I have seen on a woman of any age. She is a ringing endorsement for the products!

After I started using Clinage on my face, my flakiness went away, and my complexion looks much clearer and healthier. I have gotten so many compliments on my skin in the two years I have been using their products!

According to Clinage, their products can also improve acne, aging skin, blemishes, blackheads, dark spots, fine lines, large pores, oily skin and rosacea. How does it improve all these skin conditions? The top layer of our skin is like cornflakes in honey. Clinage uses glycolic acid and vitamins such as C, A, E and niacinamide to dissolve and remove the oil (honey) and dead, dry cells (cornflakes) from the top layer of skin. The skin underneath is younger looking, firmer and more supple.

I am your skin care expert and happy to share my tips and expertise!

Clinage is Proudly Made in Michigan!

Clinage is a Michigan product. Clinage, a company started by my late father, Dr. Robert Fosnaugh, is the ambitious result of nearly four decades of research and development. My name is Marcia Fosnaugh Avis. I sincerely want to help women of all ages benefit from healthier, more radiant, younger looking skin.

Today, we know this is possible. And who doesn’t love to support great products made in the Mitt? My mission—as well as my father’s—was to create effective, safe, non-irritating skin care products without side effects that would be

easy-to-use and affordable and available to all. Clinage offers the most advanced formulations, and the most active pharmaceutical grade ingredients available without a prescription at competitive and affordable prices.

Clinage is considered a cosmeceutical, using pharmaceutical grade ingredients for cosmetic purposes. Clinage combines the miraculous properties of glycolic acid, extracted from sugar cane juice and high potency antioxidant vitamin serums A, B3, C and E. When combined, these vitamins work better and produce extraordinary results.

Clinage will train the skin to produce plumping, firming cell production as it works on minimizing pores and stretch marks. Large cosmetic companies sell home peeling systems or micro-dermabrasion type products that usually only affect the tops layers of the skin. Clinage penetrates the lower layers of skin where real skin changes happen. Seeing is believing. Vist www.clinage.com for more info. Until next time.......