by Janette Peel

Created on: May 17, 2009

Beauty isn't just skin-deep but waking up with a clear, glowing complexion certainly helps you to feel good about yourself.

Everyone is born with smooth, translucent and almost perfect skin, and then something happens. Teenage skin sees the eruption of spots, blackheads, whiteheads and open pores and just as this hormonal chaos dies down around the 20s, so the war against wrinkles begins. So is your skin a friend or foe?

Just thing of some of the jobs your skin does for you: it hoses your sense of touch and regulates body temperature; it expels waste matter and provides a barrier against external pollutants; and it manufactures vitamin D from sunlight. In return, doesn't your skin deserve a little care and attention? Find out how easy and simple good skincare really is.

Skin is the largest organ in the body; it is living and breathing and constantly changing in reaction to internal and external factors. It renews itself every two to three weeks in your people, twice as long in older people, and four per cent of your total number of skin cells is shed daily.

You skin is composed of billions of cells floating in a salty, watery liquid, 35 percent of body water is in skin. Every square half inch of skin has approximately 100 sweat glands, 15 sebaceous glands, 1 meter of blood vessels and 10 hairs.

Almost every woman possessing healthy, clear and glowing skin will claim it is due to drinking lots and lots or water, so aim to drink at least six to eight glasses daily.

Skin also craves other forms of nutrition and will thrive on a diet including fresh fruits and vegetables (grapes, apples, kiwi fruit, cabbage, carrots, sweet potato, beetroot and avocados), essential fatty acids (vegetable oils, fish, nuts and seeds), wholegrains (to regulate your intestinal tract and aid in the elimination of waste from the body), live yogurt and detoxifying herbs.

You can use skin-friendly foods externally as well as internally. For example, spread honey on clean skin twice a week, to deep cleanse moisturize and nourish your face.

Choosing from today's many skincare products is bewildering. The real beauty secret is choosing a cleanser or moisturizer that you enjoy using, otherwise you won't use it.

Cleansing

You are probably familiar with the mantra of beauty desks; cleanse tone and moisturize. However, skin experts concur that the one stage you really can't skip is cleansing.

A good cleanser is the best foundation of any skin

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