Understanding PA Sun Protection Ratings

This summer, as you select sun protection and sunscreen products, you’re likely to notice that in addition to SPF (Sun Protection Factor) ratings, you may also see PA ratings. The PA rating will be followed by a series of plus signs (+) to indicate how strong the sun protection product is. All Murad sunscreen products include PA ratings. To understand what a PA rating is and why you should look for it in addition to an SPF rating, you first need to understand the difference between UVA and UVB rays.

What’s the Difference Between a UVA and UVB Ray?
UVA and UVB rays are both forms of ultra-violet rays. It’s likely that you are most familiar with UVB rays. These are the rays that cause sun tanning (and sun burn) and which you are protected from when you wear a sunscreen with SPF protection rankings. UVB rays aren’t always present or powerful. They are seasonally stronger in the summer and most powerful in the noon time hours. However, they can reflect off of snow and water, so it’s always good to be extra protected when around those two natural elements.

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Summer Skin Essentials: SPF Protection, Antioxidants and Body Care

Seasonal skin care is an important part of building any personalized and unique skin care regimen. What your skin needs during one part of the year may be entirely different from what your skin needs during a different season or weather condition. Summer skin care, in particular, means paying more attention to skin care products that address increased exposure to UV rays as well as the fact that more skin is typically exposed to the elements during the summer months. The three areas that you want to be sure to have in your skin care arsenal this summer include: SPF protection products, antioxidant products and body care.

SPF Protection Products for Summer
What They Are: Sun protection products are any products that have an SPF or PA protection factor associated with them. These can be products that were specifically designed to be worn on days when you will be exposed to the sun for extended periods of time (such as a hiking trip or a day at the beach) or they can be makeup or skin care products that are formulated with sun protection in addition to their other ingredients.

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The Truth About Picking and Popping

If you have acne-prone skin, then you have certainly been told many times not to pick or pop your inflamed acne blemishes. Of course, that’s easier said than done. It’s not uncommon for people with frequent acne breakouts to repeatedly check their skin in a magnifying mirror or scan their face by touching it for irregularities and then squeeze those pimples. Unfortunately, when you do, you may make your skin and your acne worse. There’s really no place in any acne treatment regimen for popping or picking at pimple. What are the facts behind popping and picking at blemishes? Read on.

What are you trying to accomplish when you pick at a pimple?
Acne is caused by a pore being clogged by dead skin, oil or dirt and debris. When you pick at or squeeze at a pimple, what you’re ultimately trying to do is to remove the clogging within the pore so that the infection around it can heal. While that sounds like a logical way to get rid of acne blemishes, as you’re about to see, picking and popping does more harm than good.

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Two Often Overlooked Tips for Reducing Breakouts

If you have acne prone skin, then you want to know about every advantage that you could have in the fight to reduce and even get rid of acne breakouts and unwanted blemishes. While there are dozens and dozens of everyday skin care and Inclusive Health™ tips, the acne team at Murad recently came up with two more tips that aren’t covered as frequently.

Wash Your Glasses Frequently (That Means Sunglasses, Too!)
Anything that touches your face can result in causing Acne Mechanica, which is the technical and scientific name for acne caused by things that come in contact with your skin. For example, people who get back acne breakouts frequently can reduce their breakouts by being more careful about the fabrics that they wear or even by being careful about using backpacks. If you wear glasses to improve your vision or sunglasses to reduce glare (and also to protect your eyes and the skin around them from UV damage and future wrinkles) then those glasses are touching your skin constantly. Even more importantly, the center of your glasses is touching your skin right in the middle of the oily and often breakout-prone T-Zone (the area of your face that forms a “T” and is made up of your forehead, nose, upper lip and chin). The more that oil and debris build up on your glasses the more that they are transferred to your skin. That clogs pores and causes blemishes. Make sure to wipe off your glasses or sunglasses regularly to avoid transferring pore-clogging elements directly to your skin.

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Understanding Factors that Contribute to Decreases in Collagen

Collagen is the protein substance that is responsible for skin’s firm appearance. When collagen begins to deplete, the skin is no longer able to support itself, and it begins to “fold in” on itself. This aging process can result in fine lines and wrinkles, crepe-like skin or even deeper lines and wrinkles. No area on your body is immune from the breakdown of collagen, but as you’ll see below, the causes for decreases in collagen make your face the most likely place where you’ll first see visible signs. Though a personalized anti-aging skin care regimen that includes all three aspects of Inclusive Health® (Looking Better, Living Better and Feeling Better) can reduce the appearance of depleted collagen, you’ll make better decisions about how to structure your anti-aging regimen if you understand the factors that contribute to collagen breakdown.

Natural Aging Contributes to Collagen Decrease
Natural aging, known as Genetic Aging, is typically the most common cause of the depletion of collagen in an individual’s body. Over time, despite any preventative measures that you may take, the body just slows down in its production of collagen just like it slows down in many of its other functions. While a healthy diet that’s rich in Essential Fatty Acids and Antioxidants can help to keep skin firmer, the age at which your skin begins to slow down and deplete collagen is predetermined by your genetic makeup. You can decrease the speed and severity of the breakdown through healthy lifestyle choices, but the body’s natural aging progression will eventually lead to less natural collagen production.

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Understanding the Hormone Receptors in Your Face

Murad Resurgence® anti-aging products were specifically developed to combat the signs of Hormonal Aging. But in order to understand how Hormonal Aging leads to loose skin, wrinkles and lines, you first need to understand what a hormone receptor is and how it’s related to the aging of your skin. Once you understand the biology of Estrogen and hormone receptors, understanding how to combat the signs of aging skin associated with menopause will make more sense.

What Are Hormone Receptors?
A hormone receptor is a special protein that’s found within and on the surface of certain cells throughout the body. A receptor protein is like the “eyes and ears” of a cell. When certain hormones interact with the receptor or bind to it, the receptor tells the cells what to do. Think of it like an on-off switch. When Estrogen interacts with hormone receptors, the receptors tell the body to produce collagen. When there’s no Estrogen to tell the cells to produce collagen, production falls off and your skin become looser with deeper wrinkles.

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Murad Skin Care Product Spotlight: Exfoliating Acne Treatment Gel

Whether you’re dealing the ongoing hormonal acne or simply occasional but regular breakouts, finding the right acne treatment regimen is critical care for your skin’s health and appearance.. While finding the right acne cleanser and an oil-free moisturizer are an important part of that regimen, your treatment product (part of Murad Step Two: Treat | Repair) is the place where you can make the greatest difference in resolving your acne breakouts and improving overall skin health. In this Murad product spotlight, we’ll introduce you to Murad’s best-selling Exfoliating Acne Treatment Gel along with customer reviews and testimonials. After you’ve learned about this product, we think you’ll agree that using it as part of a complete acne treatment regimen can give you healthy, clear skin that’s Better Every Day™.

About Murad Exfoliating Acne Treatment Gel
As part of Murad’s proven Acne Complex® treatment regimen, Exfoliating Acne Treatment Gel does everything that you need in order to get clear, stay clear.

Penetrates Deeply: Using Murad’s patented Hydrogen Peroxide delivery system, the acne-fighting ingredients are able to penetrate deep within the skin’s surface to clear clogs and fight acne-causing bacteria within pores and hair follicles.

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Senior Skin Care: Caring for Skin In Your Aging Years

Because skin starts to show signs of aging as soon as we reach adulthood, no matter what age you are, anti-aging skin care is important. However, as you reach middle age and beyond, shifts in your skin’s health and appearance mean that there are some skin care products and regimens are more important than they were when you were younger. What qualifies as ‘middle aged” or “senior years??” That depends on your Genetic Aging as well as how well you’ve taken care of yourself in the past. It’s not as simple as “when you’re 35 you’re middle aged and a senior at 65.” You’ll need to pay attention to your skin and look for the signs of aging skin discussed below and then make sure that you’re effectively treating and preventing them.

Sign of Aging Skin: Your Skin is Often Overly Dry and Flakey
As skin ages, it stops producing as much natural moisture and oil as it once did. When this happens, keeping skin hydrated both topically and internally becomes a primary skin care concern. Not only is skin producing less moisture, but it’s thinner so that it retains less of its own moisture. Addressing the drying out of skin, which also accentuates the appearance of wrinkles, is one of the most important steps in senior skin care.

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Murad Skin Care Product Spotlight: Renewing Eye Cream

A moisturizing eye cream is an essential part of any skin care regimen. The skin around your eyes is thinner than the rest of your face, and it doesn’t produce its own moisture. To keep youthful, healthy-looking skin and to prevent under-eye bags, wrinkles and puffiness, you need an eye treatment cream.  In this Murad product spotlight, we’ll introduce you to Murad Renewing Eye Cream from the Murad Resurgence® skin care line and share customer reviews and testimonials. After you’ve learned about this product, we think you’ll agree that using it as part of a complete skin care regimen can give you hydrated, healthy skin around your eyes that’s Better Every Day™.

About Murad Renewing Eye Cream
Murad Renewing Eye Cream is a “triple threat” treatment for the eye area, combating puffiness, crow’s feet and dark circles. How does one eye cream manage all three of these signs of tired and aging eyes? Murad Renewing Eye Cream treats and prevents under-eye damage with Murad’s Eye Brightening Complex which is designed to reduce dark circles and illuminate the eye area Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4 reduces medium-to-deep eye wrinkles and diminishes puffiness around the eyes.

To give the eyes a smoother appearance, Wild Yam and Soybean work to increase moisture, elasticity and firmness while natural emollients boost moisture as well.

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Five Ways to Refresh Your Skin Care Regimen for Spring

Spring. In many parts of the country it means the end of dry, cold weather as summer approaches. It also means a chance to try something new with your skin care regimen or Inclusive Health™ regimen. When we think of spring, we think of things that are renewed and refreshed. The same can be true with your skin and your overall health. Here are five of our favorite tips for ways to renew your skin and complexion this spring.

Add a Weekly Home Peel to Your Skin Care Regimen
In the world of skin care, there are many different types of face masks and home facials, but we think that the best choice for a new type of home facial for a rejuvenating spring is a peel or retexturing mask. Home peels are gentler, weekly versions of the chemical peels that you can get at a spa. Full of Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs) and Beta Hydroxy Acids (BHAs), home peels exfoliate away the top layer of dead, dry or dull skin to increase cell turnover in order to reveal the healthier, more radiant skin beneath. You’ll look rejuvenated and feel refreshed when you add a home facial peel to your skin care regimen this spring.

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