Aging begins at age 25, that's a fact, according to beauty experts.
But prior to that, said Dra. Vicki Belo, "You’re basically still growing and you’re not aging.
"At 25, it starts reversing, so you start getting older.
"You already start seeing that you getting a little pimply, a little saggy, especially around the jaw area.
"You start seeing first the lines… The eyes are the first thing to age.
"Why? If you compare your skin on your cheeks and in the eye, of course there’s a big difference in the thickness of the skin…"
But, take heart, the celebrity dermatologist shared tips on how to slow down the signs of ageing and still look young and fresh even in your 40s.
PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) spoke with Dr. Vicki at the Belo Beauty Suite at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel last September 29.
LESSEN USE OF MOISTURIZER
Dr. Vicki caused a bit of a stir when she said Pinoys should avoid using moisturizer on their face.
"I do not believe in it. I think it is a band-aid. You just make yourself feel a little smoother.
"But it doesn’t do anything for your face," she told PEP.ph.
She explained, "As your face gets older, your turnover rate of skin cells slows down.
"As a baby, every 21 to 28 days, Scarlet Snow has new skin. It's constantly fresh and young-looking.
"When you are getting into your 35, that's when it begins to show talaga.
"It's makunat na, so you kinda have a little mask of dead skin on your face.
"That's why it looks dry and dull, so people make a mistake of getting moisturizer and massaging it in."
While Dr. Vicki acknowledged that moisturizer makes the face look "softer and a little smoother," she pointed out that the dead skin cells would remain stuck on your face.
She said they were like the shabby wallpaper in a room, "Usually, napupunit na yan, but it’s not really off.
"So you put glue and paste it, but it’s already a little kulubot. It’s not anymore smooth like it’s should be.
"And imagine the wall now is like that. It’s much better to get off the wallpaper...
"What you want is to take it off… underneath the dead skin is nice skin."
Another reason why moisturizer would be a mistake: they are often oil-based and not good for the skin in humid weather.
"It clogs your pores... They can't breathe! You're putting moisturizer, it's already so humid here.
"The more [you put], it's worse, and then you’re getting dead skin."
And when that happens, "little white heads" appear on your face and it gets "rough."
Dr. Vicki advised applying moisturizers on your body instead.
"Put it on your elbows, put it on your knees. Your body needs it.
"It doesn’t have as many oil glands. The face doesn’t need it."
But put on facial moisturizer when you travel to a cold country.
She said, "When you go abroad, sometimes you really need to put moisturizer.
"If you got to a cold country, yung mga dry, cold [places], parang kulang na lang to hydrate.
"And to put vitamin A would be too irritating because the weather is too dry."
NOURISH YOUR BODY
According to Dr. Vicki, we "lose one percent of collagen every year."
Collagen is one of the main components that makes our skin look supple and fresh, that's why it's important for us to practice taking our supplements and eating right.
"There’s no way you get [collagen] from food unless you eat the cartilage in between the chicken," she said.
"Kimchi is a good way to do it. It's not because it creates collagen, but it does create a good bacterial environment in your gut that helps with the formation of collagen.
"Anything that's fermented is actually good. Then you need your omega-3 fatty acids, your omega-6, so you take your cold-water fishes.
"Hindi puwede bangus, lapu-lapu, tuna. You have to take cold-water fish like salmon, cod. Mas mahal yun."
Vicki also underlined the importance of drinking water.
"Water is the cheapest and best way to keep your body healthy.
"Drink ten glasses of water a day, because if you think about how big our body is and how little we drink, right?
"It’s like a river. Our body becomes stagnant with the dirt and the toxins if we don’t flush it out with water…"
SLEEP ON TIME
One habit that many take for granted is sleep.
"Sleeping late is really bad," Vicki said, "I think you should be asleep at least 10:30, 11 [p.m.].
"You’ll notice that if you don’t sleep, you will gain weight, you will have dark circles, you will not feel as healthy. You will always feel tired."
The celebrity dermatologist pointed out that sleeping time was more important than the number of sleep hours.
"You have to remember when we are up right now, we are very active. We are spending our energy… It's only you sleep that you repair.
"When you repair, you need certain things secreted to help you repair. If you don’t sleep by 10:30, 11:00, then the hormones won't come out until 1:00 a.m.
"It was supposed to come out at 12 midnight. These hormones] come out two hours after you sleep.
"If you sleep beyond the time you are supposed to sleep, yung naka-schedule ng 12 midnight, hindi lalabas.
"If you sleep at 11:00, it'll come out at 1:00, but your 2:00 a.m. is also supposed to come out.
So, nagbabanggaan na and then you get problems... Usually 8 to 9 p.m. you should be ready to sleep.
"It’s more important the time you sleep than how many hours of sleep, although of course 7 to 8 hours is really a good number."
Another sleeping habit to put to practice would be the way you sleep.
"The way you touch your face," Vicki pointed out. "If you sleep at night and you are always on your right side, by 40, halata na yung right side is older than your left.
"It's the pressure on one side of the face, so you have to sleep looking up the sky."
Read more beauty tips here:
Beauty secrets of Lucy Torres, Dawn Zulueta, and celebs in their 40s revealed
Heart Evangelista shares tips on preventing wrinkles and eye bags
How Kris Aquino achieves skin that does not need beauty filter