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Skin Care For Over 60 Adults: Tips and Best Practices

how to hydrate aging skin

There are links between appearance and confidence. We tend to feel better about ourselves when we’re radiant and beautiful. Also, good looks are associated with excellent living. So, it goes without saying that it’s essential to maintain healthy skin. That being said, how much skincare do older adults need?

Due to various reasons, individuals over 60 may experience skin thinning and dehydration, resulting in loss of sheen. However, with the proper care procedures, your older loved ones can improve the appearance of their skin.

Your parents or grandparents don’t have to break the bank to get adequate skin care for seniors. Effecting some lifestyle changes and incorporating good practices into their routine should suffice.

At Seasons Retirement, residents’ overall well-being, including their skin condition, is our utmost priority. We make provisions for transportation to and from appointments with their dermatologists.

This article discusses the best skincare practices for seniors over 60 and how to hydrate aging skin.

6 Bathing Practices to Promote Healthy Skin in Older Adults

Incorporating certain routines and practices during bath time can help older adults maintain healthy and radiant skin. Below is how to hydrate aging skin and things to do to prevent dry, itchy skin in older persons.

  1. Bathe with a proper moisturizing bar of soap or body wash that’s both gentle and scent-free: This will help hydrate the skin rather than irritate it. Your older loved ones should look out for glycerin, hyaluronic acid, and lanolin in their bathing soap, as these ingredients help enhance the soap’s moisturizing ability.
  2. Wash with warm water: Bathing with hot water strips skin of its natural oils, medically known as sebum, thereby causing it to look dry. Instead, showering with warm water will ensure the skin’s natural oils remain intact.
  3. Wash your skin with a soft cloth: Like hot water, scrubbing with a bath brush or hard sponge removes natural oils from the skin and may cause irritation. So, ensure your older loved ones use a soft cloth to clean their skin after a shower or bath.
  4. Keep bath time short: Interestingly, you don’t need to bathe every day, according to several reports from various dermatologists. However, if your parents or grandparents need to bathe daily — perhaps due to habit — they should keep it short. 5-10 minutes in the bath or shower is enough.
  5. Dab the skin gently with a soft towel after bathing, but do not completely remove water from the skin: Having some water on their skin when rubbing moisturizer will help your loved ones lock moisture into their skin, leaving it hydrated for longer hours.
  6. Apply a creamy, fragrance-free moisturizer prepared for dry skin within 3 minutes of bathing and at regular intervals throughout the day. Moisturizing alleviates the skin’s dryness and promotes its protective function. 

If, after following these proven effective practices, your older relatives still feel their skin looks extremely dehydrated, they should try using an ointment instead of a cream — as recommended by dermatologists. This is because an ointment locks moisture in the skin better than regular cream.

5 Skin Care Tips for Over-60 Adults

It’s important that older adults take good care of their skin to maintain their beautiful outward appearance. Here are some skin care over 60 tips for your older loved ones.

   1. Use a Gentle Cleanser

After a long day, the chances are your older one’s skin has accumulated dust, bacteria, or even pollutants from makeup and other skin care products. Cleansing will help remove this accumulated debris in their skin and allow aeration of the skin pores.

That said, your parents or grandparents should avoid harsh cleansers with high pH, as they can cause skin irritation. Cleansers with low pH are more suitable for maintaining optimal skin health.

   2. Exfoliate Softly

With age, new skin cells may be unable to replace the dead ones as rapidly, resulting in a dull or uneven appearance of the skin. But, with an exfoliant, your older loved ones can remove dead skin cells and brighten their look.

There are two types of exfoliants, namely physical and chemical. While physical exfoliants are a great choice, one should avoid harsh ones like sugar scrubs. Meanwhile, chemical exfoliants are excellent and suitable for all skin types.

   3. Use Anti-Aging Serum and Boosters

Applying serums and boosters is an effective practice, especially in skin care for women over 60. These skincare products help brighten the appearance of the skin. The best anti-aging serums and boosters usually contain vitamin-A derivatives, retinoids, and vitamin C.

Besides improving the appearance of the skin, anti-aging serums also act as antioxidants that help combat biological and environmental oxidative stress and speed up the aging process. Additionally, age spots and patches can also be cleared with suitable serum and boosters.

   4. Use Fragrance-free Products

Older adults should put extra effort into smelling nice. That said, it is worth noting that products that use chemicals for fragrance can also irritate the user’s skin. To properly hydrate the skin, your older loved ones must refrain from using perfumes, colognes, and other care products containing fragrance.

Given that such products are usually labelled ‘fragrance-free’, identifying them shouldn’t be much trouble.

   5. Protect Your Skin from the Sun

This is one of the most important senior skin care tips. Protecting the skin from the sun is an excellent way to maintain its beauty and integrity. After all, the sun significantly contributes to the signs of damage and aging on older people’s skins.

Hence, it is important to always wear sunscreen when going out in the sun. As dermatologists recommend, ensure your older one’s sunscreen has an SPF of at least 30. Also, encourage them to choose clothes that protect them from the sun’s UV rays. Interestingly, this information is also an essential summer safety tip

Conclusion

Practicing the best skincare routines will help your parents or grandparents look after their skin adequately, enhancing its overall health and appearance. If your older relatives want to learn how to hydrate aging skin, reading this article is an excellent way to start.

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