Over the years, I have discovered there are certain pieces of common sense that apply to our weight and overall health. And whether we lose or gain weight, there are also certain undeniable facts that we must acknowledge – unless we want to bury our heads in the sand, or have discovered the secret to Eternal Youth and still have the body we had when we were 18!

It’s a fact that as we age we experience two major changes: loss of hormones and slowing metabolism.

Loss of hormones involves thickening around the waist and changes in hair (e.g., beard, moustache, and the rest). Slowing metabolism includes all the above as well as feet a size larger, tiredness, a bigger bust and dry skin. The list is endless.

In other words, there are some things we cannot change because they will happen anyway, and it becomes a question of degree. However, if you happen to have any information that will keep hormones at pre-menopause levels, and keep metabolic levels at those of an 18-year-old, please share! We all need this type of information.

Sharing Healthy Habits with Each Other

There are a few tips I would like to share, which you may find of some use, especially over the Christmas period when you may abandon or start at a gym and, for whatever reason, change your eating habits. Yes, I know; it’s Christmas and your eating habits will change.

These are nine small points that I always like to remember, especially when I start at a new gym. Here I find myself surrounded by gorgeous young things, all trying to tell me what’s wrong. Why do they assume I don’t know?

You Are Unique

If you go to a gym, or sign up for an online class, and the 21-year-old girl with the 21-year-old body tells you to do something, it doesn’t mean it’s right for you. Understand your limitations, which are there for a reason. You may not have exercised for a while so take it easy when you start. You may have arthritis which is worse some days than others.

Weight Loss Isn’t Always Good

If you’re sacrificing your bodily health to shed kilos too fast, weight loss becomes dangerous.

Weight loss doesn’t necessarily equal fat loss. Weight is a terrible way to measure health. You need to consider the muscle to fat ratio.

Throw the Scales Out the Window

The only thing they’re measuring correctly is how bad you feel. Use photos and measurements to track your progress and keep an eye on your stats. You will see real results and feel terrific about yourself.

Health Is a Lifestyle

A body transformation program can be a fantastic kick-start, but the program that gets you started isn’t necessarily the one that will keep you going. Healthy habits are not limited to 30-day restriction programs.

Sleep

Proper sleep is as important as the food you eat and the exercise you do. A healthy good night’s sleep can improve your health and your results in the physical realm.

Stop Cutting Calories

Cut them to stupid levels and you will only slow your metabolism, lower your energy levels and increase your appetite! Cutting back on food volume is the sensible way to go.

Take Your Health Less Seriously

Having an anxiety attack over what to eat or a missed training session is doing you more harm than good. Chill out: you’re human!

Slow Down

Achieving your health goals will never happen quickly. There will be no instant gratification on this one and yes, you will have setbacks and plateaus but you know that even slow progress is progress.

Start Thinking in Outcomes

Having a “naughty” meal or missing a training session won’t ruin your health. Feeling like a failure for tasting the forbidden fruits of frozen yoghurt will. Guilt is bad on every level… never feel guilty, just enjoy it while you can!

We are always interested to hear about the exercise regimes and eating habits of others so please, share with us. Especially share those handy little tips and tricks you may have for getting through the Christmas period! Please join the conversation.

Is there anything better than getting your hair cut and/or colored, leaving the salon and feeling like a supermodel? No, we don’t think there is. But because of the current climate, seeing your hairstylist might not be as easy and getting your split ends cut off or your roots done might just be a quick in-and-out appointment without all the fun. That’s one reason why we’re so obsessed with actors and influencers who switch up their look on a dime. We’re jealous, sure, but it’s also aspirational AF. So, we’re rounding up the best celebrity hair makeovers of 2021 as they come so you can drool with us.

Though, it’s not just about drooling over these looks. Saving this page and referring back to it at the hair salon can help you decide if curtain bangs or a bob is right for you. Hairstylists actually love when you show them photos because they can get a real feel of the vibe you’re looking for and can adjust the look into something that suits your wants and needs. This goes for color, too. Did you ask for balayage when you really meant a shadow root? It’s easier to just give examples of what you want.

Some of these celebrity looks aren’t permanent. Stars love to play around with wigs, extensions and faux bangs. But there’s nothing wrong with that. Real or faux, we’re taking inspo from our favorites to figure out our next look for 2021 and beyond.

Source: Instagram

Billie Eilish

Just when we were getting used to a platinum blonde Billie Eilish, the star surprised us with a new, darker look. The brunette hue makes her blue eyes pop.

Source: Instagram

Lily Collins

The Emily in Paris star debuted chic new fringe thanks to hairstylist Gregory Russell. The piece-y style allows you to still see her iconic brows.

AP Images.

Kaia Gerber

If you were a teenager in the early aughts, chances are you had these exact eye-grazing bangs seen on Kaia Gerber. Everything old is officially new again! She looks great.

AP Images.

Dove Cameron

Is blonde hair cheugy? That’s what we’re asking after seeing Gigi Hadid, Hailey Bieber and now Dove Cameron all going brunette for fall.

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Florence Pugh

Whether it’s for a role or just because she wanted a big change, actor Florence Pugh looks stunning with her new shorter and darker hair.

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Hailey Bieber

Mrs. Bieber went brunette for fall and looks stunning! We love that her colorist left some lighter pieces in the front to brighten her face.

TikTok.

Selena Gomez

It feels like every fashion girl on my TikTok FYP is getting a bob for fall. Selena Gomez just joined the club with her chic, blunt style.

Source: Instagram

Megan Fox

Hello, new look! Fox showed off her icy new hair on Instagram, writing: “This is what the devil’s daughter looks like.” What’s probably a wig is for her 2022 movie Johnny & Clyde, a Bonnie & Clyde update, also starring Tyson Ritter. It looks so cool on her, she should probably rock it IRL, too.

AP Images.

Whitney Peak

The Gossip Girl reboot star hit up the Savage x Fenty Vol. 3 show rocking a platinum blonde mullet. It’s a far cry from her character Zoya’s naturally curly hair.

Source: Instagram

Gigi Hadid

Although it’s not set to air until September 23 on Amazon Prime Video, Savage x Fenty is giving us sneak peeks of Vol. 3 of the ultra-hot runway show. We spotted model mom Gigi Hadid and her new baby bangs! They’re probably clip-ins but they’re cute enough to do for real.

Christopher Smith/Invision/AP.

Irina Shayk

The model showed up to New York Fashion Week looking totally different — and seriously chic — in a bob with bangs. It’s most likely a wig but it looks so good, we’re hoping she does it for real.

Source: Instagram

Camila Cabello

The singer first took to TikTok to show off her chic new bob — a far departure from her usual long locks. Response from fans was mixed, with many disliking the change and saying she looks too much like “Fifth Harmony Camila.” We think she looks incredible and like the grown-up performer she’s turning into. Hairstylist Dimitris Giannetos is responsible for the blunt bob.

Source: Instagram

Chrissy Teigen

After seeing how good Kourtney Kardashian looks with short hair, Chrissy Teigen decided to join the celeb bob club. She credited hairstylist Sabrina Porsche for the sleek cut and style.

Lorde

We had to do a double-take when we saw Lorde’s (faux) blonde hair in her new music video for “Mood Ring.” She looks a lot like The Queen’s Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy.

Source: Instagram

Kylie Jenner

OK, Kylie! The beauty boss rocked knee-length hair and a gold bikini to celebrate Kylie Cosmetics’ 24K Birthday Collection, which launches on August 10. Remember: this is the revamp with new formulas.And that

RW/MediaPunch /IPX.

Zoey Deutch

The actress was seen in full Y2K hair and clothing on the set of Hulu’s upcoming movie Not Okay.  Although it’s most likely a wig, Deutch famous friends love this look for her. “Wait I love your hair like this,” wrote Riverdale‘s Madelaine Petsch on Instagram. We couldn’t agree more.

Source: Instagram

Gabrielle Union

Often when a woman does the “big chop,” it’s because there’s damage to their hair or they had to cut it off for a reason. But Gabrielle Union is showing you can go ultra-short just because it looks amazing. “The movies always show women cutting their hair when all is lost but I wanted to know the feeling of making a change when things are gravy. It hits different and its foreign to me but I ❤❤❤ this new new,” she wrote on Instagram.

Source: Instagram

Emma Chamberlain

Do you hear that? That’s the sound of all of Gen Z making a hair appointment to copy Chamberlain’s cool-girl bangs.

Source: Instagram

Jennie

The Blackpink singer slays with Y2K-style full bangs. She credited hairstylist Preston Wada for the chop.

Source: Instagram

Margot Robbie

The actor covers this month’s British Vogue looking like a ’70s supermodel with caramel blonde hair and new bangs.

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Paris Jackson

Y2K beauty and fashion are trending like crazy. Just take a look at Paris Jackson’s color-block hair. We’re loving the emerald green shade poking out from under her blond hair.

Source: Instagram

Florence Pugh

The actress is giving us Y2K vibes with pastel purple ends. We’re not sure who did the color (maybe she did it herself?) but the gorgeous waves were created by hairstylist Peter Lux.

Instagram.

Demi Lovato

Mullets are trending like crazy and apparently, Demi Lovato got the memo. The front of her hair is short and the back is all the way past her shoulders.

Instagram.com/sophiet.

Sophie Turner 

Just a week after debuting piece-y bangs, the Game of Thrones star went fully red! She shared a cute mirror photo wearing Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour merch and showing off her matching red Casetify Cottage Core case.

Source: Instagram

Ciara

“Pelirroja,” Ciara wrote on Instagram. (Pelirroja is Spanish for redhead.) The singer is looking stunning with long ginger hair giving off a bit of a sexy princess Ariel vibe.

Instagram.com/sophiet.

Sophie Turner 

“Ya gal’s bang’d up,” the Game of Thrones star wrote on Instagram stories over the weekend. The choppy, piece-y style is different from the blunt bangs we’ve seen her rock before. We love this low-key fringe for summer because it’s easy to pin back or grow into curtain bangs.

Source: Instagram

Kim Kardashian

We’ve seen the media mogul try just about every hairstyle but the lob will always be our favorite. This one has a gorgeous curled-under ’70s vibe.

TikTok.

Charli D’Amelio

We’re obsessing over D’Amelio’s new chop with ’90s-style layers that feel so fresh for summer.

Source: Instagram

Miranda Cosgrove

She’s back, baby! Hairstylist Clayton Hawkins gave Cosgrove pretty blonde highlights for the iCarly revival.

Instagram.com/kimkardashian.

Kim Kardashian

Look who’s blonde again! But it was only for a few hours. Kardashian was shooting an upcoming campaign either for KKW Beauty or Skims. She actually did get her eyebrows bleached and we actually loved the look with her naturally dark hair. But then when they put the blonde wing on it was like, whoa. Right before she left the studio, she snapped a photo showing us she’s back to brunette again, including the brows.

Source: Instagram

Sabrina Carpenter

Say goodbye to curtain bangs and hello to ‘Bardot bangs!’ Hairstylist Laurie Heaps gave Sabrina Carpenter piece-y bombshell bangs inspired by the iconic French star Brigitte Bardot. We’re obsessed.

Source: Instagram

Selena Gomez

In an Instagram photo promoting her beauty brand, Rare Beauty, in April 2021, Gomez showed off her newly dyed blonde hair. The picture saw the former Disney Channel star light blonde tresses and dark roots. She most recently dyed her hair blonde in 2017 in a color dubbed by her hairstylist Nikki Lee as “Nirvana Blonde.” Gomez’s 2021 color was also done by Lee and Riawna Capri. “We’ve been doing Selena’s color for over a decade now. She typically keeps it pretty natural, but this time she went for a big change. This blonde is unique to her as we had to make sure there was an equal balance of cool and warm for her skin tone. It’s an edgier look and perfect for summer,” the hairstylists said in a statement.

https://twitter.com/eolsenarchive/status/1372591228886396930

Elizabeth Olsen

At the virtual launch of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier miniseries, Olsen debuted a totally different look from her usual copper-blonde hair. The bangs! The darker color! So chic.

Source: Instagram

Chrissy Teigen

We love how Teigen is playing around with wigs lately and experimenting with hair color. Although she only kept the silver shade for a day, we hope she brings it back. It looks amazing on her.

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Kristen Bell

It seems like Bell is dressed up in character to film a TV show or movie but we’re loving these piecey bangs on her and we hope she keeps them up IRL.

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Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

While filling us in on the Covid-19 relief package, AOC showed off her adorable new haircut. When followers commented saying they loved the chop, she replied, “Let’s not start another national crisis over it, right?”

Source: Instagram

Gigi Hadid

The model mom returned to the runway, walking in the Versace fall 2021 show. Hairstylist Panos Papandrianos wrote “Ginger for Gigi” on Instagram, making us believe he really did dye the model’s hair this gorgeous red shade for the occasion.

Source: Instagram

Olivia Rodrigo

The ‘Drivers License’ singer jumped on the curtain bang trend thanks to hairstylist Clayton Hawkins. They’re subtle but make a big difference in her look. One interesting note: Sabrina Carpenter has them too.

Source: Instagram

Lana Condor

The actress looks so great in this pastel pink wig, maybe she’s considering doing it IRL? “Get ‘Anyone Else But You; to 5 mil streams and I’ll keep it,” she wrote on Instagram. Though, she told STYLECASTER last year, “I don’t know that I’d ever dye dye my hair. I think my mom would kill me, you’d know?”

Source: Instagram

Ashley Graham

The model had everyone thinking maybe she got a pixie cut but her hair is actually the result of new growth post hair loss. “Postpartum baby hairs come through!” she wrote on Instagram.

Source: Instagram

Emma Roberts

A new color and cut for the birthday girl! “Emma always looks and feels her best blonde,” said her hairstylist and Nine Zero One co-founder Nikki Lee. “We decided to keep her a warm blonde and went for a ’90s supermodel vibe. With a new baby and a big birthday, we went out with a bang! Lisa Satorn added extensions for length and fullness. I kept her haircut free and flowing with piecey layers around the face.” Lee keeps her client’s hair healthy with the In Common 3 Step Treatment System ($105 at In Common).

Source: Instagram

Katy Perry

Why not start with one of the biggest hair chameleons? Though she’s been ultra-blonde for a while, we can’t help but miss a brunette Katy Perry. It’s classically chic and fits her personality. So, when we saw these photos of backstage at Jimmy Kimmel Live, we were so excited to see the long brown hair. But it seems it’s a wig and she’s already back to blonde.

When I became a hospice volunteer, I imagined – considering my background as a reporter and writer – that I might be able to help people who wanted to write or record their life stories.

I thought it would help people make sense of the joys and struggles in their lives. Or it would help them leave their stories as a gift for family and friends – particularly for younger generations – so that they would be known and remembered.

I’ve never actually done this, though. Sadly, by the time I see people in hospice care, they may be too ill, too fatigued, or, as is often the case, too far into dementia to be able to consider writing, recording, or otherwise telling the stories of their lives.

The Best Time to Tell the Story of Your Life is Now

So, I’ve come to understand that if you’re going to tell your life story, the best time to start is when you are healthy and vital!

Why do it? It isn’t just a way to share the details of your life with those close to you. It’s an important way of putting your life into context so that its meaning and purpose become clearer to you. I believe that the story you tell yourself about your own life is just as important as the story you share with others.

Reviewing your life gives you the opportunity to think about basic, profound questions. Who are you? What is your place in the world? What is your meaning and purpose? Where has your path taken you?

And it gives you a chance to think about whether or not the assumptions you’ve made about your life have been wrong. Or whether it’s possible to forgive people who have hurt or betrayed you. You may even end up reframing some of the major events in your life so that your story is rebalanced with the positive as well as the negative.

How to Start Your Story

A long time ago, I took a writing course at the New School in New York City, and the instructor was the late Anatole Broyard. His advice about combatting procrastination, lack of inspiration, and writer’s block was simple but outstanding, and very pertinent: start somewhere!

Start in the middle of a scene, an event or a memory that is particularly meaningful for you and go from there.

Don’t think of telling your story as a mere linear slog through your chronology, although these milestones are useful jumping-off points: where and when you were born, where you grew up, when you went through school, when you started your first job, the trajectory of your career path, when you got married, or unmarried, raised your children.

Don’t even think that you’re required to tell an entire epic tale. You can concentrate on one, two or three major developments in your life that you think are key to telling the story of who you are.

Need a little prompting? I think there’s a difference between simple nostalgia and diving deeper into your emotional history. There are many portals to accessing that history. Go over old photo albums or videos and pick out the ones that evoke your strongest emotions. Revisit old places that do the same for you. Beloved antiques, jewelry, even cherished old clothes can help too.

To put your life into historical context, take a look at major news stories from your formative years. What impact did they have on you? Personally, for example, the air raid drills we had to practice during the Cold War and John F. Kennedy’s assassination had a powerful impact on me, as I’m sure it has on many of my fellow baby boomers.

When it’s time to write your story – and recognize that it will take time – or record it on audio or video, remember to be specific. Details count. Your readers or your listeners – including you – want to be able to see, hear, smell and feel what you did in the moments you describe.

Guidance for Telling the Story of Your Life

Tackling a project like this can be a pretty daunting task. Fortunately, there are some excellent sources to help get you started.

For inspiration, visit The Moth, and watch or listen to people telling their compelling stories in 15 minutes or less. Or take a look at StoryCorps, a treasure of a resource of storytelling, including audios, short animated movies and essays. Its website also includes guidance on how to get started and questions to consider.

Stanford Medical School has organized a Life Review Project, based on the idea that there are seven basic tasks for a life review. They’ve even developed a template in the form of a “Dear Friends and Family” form that you can fill out on your own.

Although the Stanford form is aimed at helping people who may be struggling with serious illness, I think that its key points are highly relevant regardless of your health status, or your age. A quick summary:

Task 1: Acknowledge the important people in your life.

Task 2: Remember treasured moments from your life.

Task 3: Apologize to those you love if you hurt them.

Task 4: Forgive those who love you if they have hurt you.

Task 5: Express your gratitude for all the love and care you have received.

Task 6: Tell your friends and family how much you love them.

Task 7: Take a moment to say “goodbye.” Optional, of course, but you can certainly include the hopes you have for your loved ones, as well as guidance you want to pass along as well as how you hope to be remembered.

A good workbook, A Guide for Recalling and Retelling Your Life Story, is divided into five sections: Family, Growing Up, Adult Life, Growing Older and Reflections. Each section asks specific questions for reflection. The book offers some excellent advice about getting started, namely, don’t be self-critical. Don’t be afraid of the word “I.” Don’t worry if your memory doesn’t match a sibling’s or a friend’s. This is your story and your life.

To that advice I would add: don’t fret over whether or not your life has been an ordinary one. You are unique, you have a world of experience under your belt and you have probably made a difference to more people than you realize.

Your story deserves to be told. You don’t have to have a “happily ever after” ending, either. You can honestly reflect on the struggles, challenges, losses and regrets in your life: They’re what contributed to making you “you,” after all.

Have you ever considered writing or recording the story of your life? Which would you prefer to leave, a written or a recorded version? What historical moments have made an impact on your life story? Please share in the comments – after all, that’s one way to begin!

At this stage of life, you’re looking forward to a simpler lifestyle with less clutter, more freedom, new friends, and new memories.

Your kids are now grown and have left the nest. You might be single, widowed, or a couple. No matter what, holidays have changed for you. The once bustling household filled with your children, family, and friends, is suddenly quieter… especially if they won’t be coming home for the holidays this year.

A welcome respite from the overwhelm and stress of past holiday seasons, but also, a little unnerving because you don’t know how to make your smaller home feel like Christmas!

Do you remember all of the years you would go “all out” to decorate every inch of your large home to make it look and feel like a Christmas Wonderland?

When you would spend weeks preparing, decorating, pulling boxes up from the basement full of stored holiday decorations to create the magic of a Hallmark Christmas.

And then, just when you thought you were finished decorating so that you could relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor, you find one more area that still needs to be decorated! Everything had to be just perfect!

And as soon as that was over, there would be something else that got in the way of you slowing down long enough to simply enjoy what you had created.

But now that you’ve decluttered and downsized, you have less stuff and less space.

Life just got a little easier when it comes to decorating for the holidays. Downsizing has given you an opportunity to rethink overdecorating. It has also given you an opportunity to “change things up” and to do things a little differently by intentionally creating new traditions with new friends while savoring only the old traditions that matter most to you.

As the “Downsizing Designer” and as a nationally recognized interior designer for over 35 years, these are my top 8 tips to decorate your new smaller home so that it will exude the warmth, welcoming holiday feel that says, “Come sit a while. Let’s just enjoy this beautiful holiday season together.”

#1: Create Your Vision and Goals for the New Holiday Look and Feel You Want

Capture the simple essence of Christmas, a home that is warm, welcoming with traditional touches of holiday sounds, scents, color, and light.

This is your opportunity to design it exactly as you want… the feel, the look, the smells. This step is so important because you are taking time upfront to intentionally create the environment that will be the backdrop for your wonderful holiday and beginning of new traditions.

#2: Commit to Keeping It Simple

Less is more. When you think like a minimalist, you will surround yourself with only those things that have meaning and are beautiful to you.

Don’t over decorate. We’ve all been guilty of “more is more.” It never ends and it’s exhausting! Use a few well-placed larger items for impact. Avoid too many small items that tend to look cluttered, especially in a small space.

#3: Immerse Yourself in the Experience of Decorating Your New Home

When you have fewer rooms to decorate and when you have already edited your holiday decor, you will soon realize that holiday decorating is not a chore at all.

Embrace the process by picking a day, setting out your decorations, turning on your favorite holiday music, and lighting the candles. Grab a fine glass of wine, then set the stage for a fun day of decorating. Make it memorable.

#4: Be Creative with What You Already Have

You’ll soon realize you probably have everything you need right in front of you. If you’re tempted to go out and buy more, look around your home and get creative with things you already have.

See them through different eyes this time.

#5: Be Inspired by the Life-Giving Power of Nature

Green is a healing color, one that gives life, balance, and peace. Be inspired by what you find in nature: green trees, wreaths, garlands, pinecones, and branches. Contrast them with bold color: red ribbon, poinsettias, and berries.

#6: Experience the Magic of Lights

Lights are where the magic happens. Light up your life and your holiday with tree lights, candle lights, and accent lights. Create the glow that will invite you to simply sit and enjoy.

#7: Decorate Early, Enjoy It Longer

When you are done, you are done. Period. Be content with the ambience you’ve created. Don’t fall into the trap of “more.” Now it’s time to invite people into your home so they can enjoy it too!

#8: Take Time to Create Special Moments

Now that you’re done with your holiday decorating, it’s time to take it to the next level by creating new experiences, new special moments, and new memories that will last a lifetime.

Some Examples:

Santa’s Give-Back Sack 

Teach your grandchildren to recycle their gently used toys by putting them into a Give-Back Sack so Santa can take them and redistribute them to other children.

Grandchildren’s Tree

Spend an afternoon with your grandchildren, decorating ornaments for their own special Christmas tree. They can then gift the handmade ornaments to their parents.

Lifetime Videos

• Take this “newfound” time in your schedule to give an interview to your grandkids about your own holiday memories.
• Record on video your kids or grandkids about special holiday messages.
• Record yourself about your own experience of decluttering and living with less.

Watch my Holiday Home Décor Sneak Peek.

Try a New Recipe or Create One of Your Own 

Now that you have more time, why not prepare one of your favorite recipes or learn how to create a new one?

As you take the time to relax and simply enjoy the beautiful new environment that you designed, you will also realize how decluttering and downsizing helped you discover that… it’s not just the beautiful decorations you had more time to enjoy, but also that you had time to create a new simpler lifestyle.

What special moments will you create this holiday season? How have you managed to decorate your smaller space without overdoing it?

The holidays are here, and I am overwhelmed. As usual. Having said that, I have found that the best strategy to deal with the epic onslaught of gifts to both give and request is to clarify and prioritize!

Because I am neither organized nor disciplined, this is at times painful. Rather than turn to wine, a tried-and-true method of coping, I suggest knowledge. If you were to buy or ask for one skin care product that would have the greatest effect on your skin, what would it be?

Enter Vitamin C.

The most searched for skin care question on the internet is the necessity and type of vitamin C serum. There are a lot to choose from. In my research, I’ve found highly touted serums for $25, and even more highly touted ones for $350. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We will deal with the inflated $350 serum in a bit, but for now let’s look at what vitamin C is, does, and how to read an ingredient deck to see if the right type and quantity is in the product to give you the results you want.

Why Vitamin C Serum Is So Important

The technical name for vitamin C is ascorbic acid. Originally used to treat scurvy, it is now used to treat ageing which has, interestingly enough, the same symptoms including thinning skin, bone loss, poor wound healing, wrinkles, age spots, etc.

It is the quintessential skin ingredient; there is no more valuable and important ingredient to both apply to skin and take internally to benefit skin.

What Vitamin C Do You Need for Great Skin?

Having said that, ascorbic acid doesn’t naturally soak into the skin and breaks down quickly once it hits the air or water. In order to transmute nutrients into the skin, you need a fat-soluble molecule to piggyback in order to aid in penetration.

The most common fatty acid to add to skin care products to achieve this is palmitic acid. When these two ingredients are compounded together, they are called, and this is the most important piece of knowledge in this article, ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate.

Premium ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate is expensive and therefore many skincare companies don’t use it. They use a cheaper version called tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate or l-ascorbic acid. Often, these ingredients are sold as being the same thing, but they are vastly different in their efficacy.

The former remains in the skin cells 40 to 80 times longer than l-ascorbic acid, and has four times the effect. It also has 10 times the concentration, suppresses UVB-induced skin pigmentation, reduces trans-epidermal water loss, and improves elasticity and skin texture.

Huge difference. Therefore, when shopping for an excellent vitamin C serum, you want to look for the extra-long and hard to pronounce, ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate.

How to Read an Ingredient Deck

Never go to the grocery store with me, I am the height of irritating. Mainly because I read all the labels, look up ingredients, and crack jokes at how the word sugar has 56 different varieties used by food companies to hide the fact that their product is basically cheap and unhealthy.

Skin care is very similar. Most serums contain 25-50 ingredients and only the top three to five listed on the ingredient deck have any influence on your skin’s actual health. Which leads us to the $350 serum I mentioned at the beginning.

To spend $350 dollars on something that might last you two months (tops) you would expect to have your face turn into the skin of a 12-year-old girl. Well, that would be my expectation anyway. In truth, the ingredient deck on the product (which shall remain unnamed) has 35 ingredients, and ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate is #10!

All the ingredients listed before it are used to make it feel nice, go on smoothly, and make you love it. They just aren’t actually doing anything. To make this sink in deeper, the advertising around this product is of famous ladies saying how it’s their favorite product and how it transformed their skin. Yikes.

The moral of the story here is to check the label. If the label is long and the key ingredient appears further down than number five, then maybe you need to reconsider its effectiveness. Having said that, any vitamin C serum that provides a noticeable change in your skin will cost you.

You simply cannot buy a cheap serum and improve your skin. The serum I use, Transdermal C Serum, is spendy at $199, yet it contains 80% vitamin C (the right type) and has only 11 ingredients. To budget for this, I spend less on everything else, as, bang for buck, I get the most results from the serum.

As the holidays draw near, and your shopping days close in on you, remember to do your homework on ingredients. I’m always of the mindset that one perfect gift is better than 10 not so perfect gifts. My mom, however, might disagree. Don’t tell her I wrote this.

Have you considered a vitamin C serum for your skin regime? Do you have the habit of reading the ingredient list of any skin care or makeup product? Have you considered using skin care product as stocking stuffers? What would you like to get in your Christmas stocking?