I'm only 20! Why do I need a face moisturizer?!

I'm only 20! Why do I need a face moisturizer?!

When you're young, barely out of your teens and trying to put the oily skin that prompts pimples behind you for good, probably the last thing you think of buying at the cosmetics counter is a face moisturizer. Throughout your teens, you spent most of the time in front of the mirror applying astringents and any other oil reducing beauty product you could find. Now, here's your Mom, telling you that what you need now is a good face moisturizer! Doesn't seem to make any sense, does it? Well, I hate to tell you, but Mom's right. Here's why.

Ironically, during the teen years, your body seems to be an oil producing machine. You can't make it stop. Zits everywhere. Until your hormone levels start to even out, there's not much to be done, except to eat right, as Mom surely told you.

Once your hormones straighten out, the oily skin problem subsides and you have the pleasure of enjoying a pretty nice complexion. Isn't that wonderful? You no longer have to cut bangs to hide the raft of zits on your forehead!

Now, good old Mom comes to you with the face cream idea. You reject it out of hand. My skin looks great. Face creams are for old ladies. Not so fast. This is one of those good news, bad news concepts. It's true. Now, the process is reversing. Your skin no longer produces as much oil and never will again. It's a slow downhill slide, but nonetheless in a straight line towards dry skin, eventually leading to those little crow's feet and progressing to wrinkles. When you look in the mirror today, it's almost impossible to imagine that you'll ever age to that point. Hey, what's a wrinkle? Something older ladies get.

That's exactly why you need to begin using a face moisturizer now, at the beginning of the slowdown of natural oils. You want to keep your skin as smooth and supple as you can, nourishing it with moisture that keeps your skin soft at all times. The more you pamper your skin now and throughout adulthood, the more gracefully will you age.

There are many types of face moisturizers for women of all ages. You don't yet need the old lady heavy duty face cream now. There are light face moisturizers for young women like you, so light you'll wonder why you even bother to put it on. Believe me, you'll know when you need to graduate to the next weight of face cream. If you use your light face cream every day, morning and night, that won't be for many years.

Think of it this way: wouldn't you like to be carded when you're 50? Or even 60? Sure you would. So, do what Mom says! As usual, she's right, and you'll thank her for nagging you later.