3 Things to Look for in Your Daytime Moisturizer

You may already know that it’s important to moisturize your skin – every day. Your skin will lose some of its own natural moisture when you wash your face, so you should replenish that loss within moments of patting your skin dry. If you don’t apply a moisturizer or day cream after cleansing, you could be drying your skin out – and that’s not a good thing for anyone, even those who have oily skin. The idea is that you want to balance your skin’s moisture levels, and not dehydrate it. Not only can moisturizers and day creams help replenish your skin with moisture, some formulas can also protect your skin from some external aging factors like the sun and air pollution too. There are also other skin moisturizing formulas that can help address skin dullness by encouraging skin that looks more bright and fresh throughout your day. So, when looking for a new day cream or moisturizer, consider a formula that touts these three skin care essentials:

Daytime moisturizer skin care essentials #1: SPF with broad spectrum protection. A fundamental element of any good day cream or moisturizer, SPF broad spectrum protection is an essential anti-aging ingredient that should be used every day. UVA and UVB rays can spark some early signs of skin aging like fine lines and worsen other stubborn marks like wrinkles, age spots and sagging skin. So, what better way to ensure your skin is protected from the sun’s harmful rays than to find a daytime moisturizer formulated with SPF. Skin care plus: Having sun protection in a skin care product that you use every day will lessen the chance of forgetting to apply it.

Daytime moisturizer skin care essentials #2: A day cream formulated with antioxidants. The sun isn’t the only skin damaging factor in your environment; free radicals from air pollution, like car fumes, can also spur some common signs of skin aging. They can damage your skin’s plumping proteins and fibers, causing skin to appear sunken, wrinkled and sagging. Some anti-pollution skin care moisturizers are formulated with anti-oxidants, like vitamin C, to help protect your skin against these unavoidable environmental factors.

Daytime moisturizer skin care essentials #3: A surface-refining formula. Moisturizing skin, in general, can help address the look of dullness, but some day cream formulas can take that effect up a notch. Day creams and moisturizers formulated with LHA or glycolic acid can help refine the surface of your skin as you go about your day. These hydroxy acids can help promote gentle exfoliation and encourage the shedding of dead skin cells so that brighter, fresh-looking skin is revealed. Anti-aging bonus: Some glycolic acid and LHA-formulated skin care products and moisturizers can also minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles too.

If you’re looking for a new day cream or moisturizer consider looking for one that won’t only hydrate your skin, but protect and refine it too.