I spent the bulk of my life not knowing the best way to take care of my skin. I often tell myself that I was young and had plenty of time to worry about dry skin, oily skin, acne, moisturizing, tweezing, and many other pieces of a beauty regime. And here I am. I have since learned many things about products and when and how to use them. Between that and good genetics, I’ve been very lucky.

Using lotion when you get out of the shower is a quick way to ensure your skin gets some of the moisture it needs, but the best way is to drink water. While there are many different suggestions for how much water to drink, just drink water. Especially in our dry Arizona climate, drinking water is really important. I know I feel better when I drink enough water–which I don’t do often enough.

So take care of your skin. Wash with a good quality product every day. Once you keep doing it, you won’t be able to go to bed without washing your face because it will feel like there is an inch of grime on it. So wash! Then moisturize your face with a quality moisturizer. When they say that the skin around your eyes and on your hands gets thin as you age, they are right. So don’t pull on the skin under your eyes and don’t use your pointer finger to apply product under your eyes. Use your ring finger as it has less power than any of the other fingers.

Then moisturize your body–especially your hands. I don’t know if it is thin skin or just veins out of control and wanting to be noticed, but if anyone had any doubt about my age, they would only have to look at my hands. All those years I said “next time” are showing.

You only get one body, so take care of it. Your body really is your temple and it is the one thing that everybody who meets you sees. Impress the hell out of them by keeping your skin looking young by taking care of it. It’s not fun, but it is necessary.