How to Look Youthful

Baby smooth skin

Achieving baby-soft skin is all about less not more. Here are some tips for a soft-as-a-baby's-bum complexion:

Keep your skincare routine simple. Find out your skin type and then work out what is absolutely essential to care for and nourish your skin. Toners are only needed if you have an oily complexion, otherwise they're a luxury. Instead of day and night creams, buy a serum and then use the cream over the top both day and night.

Use mild/gentle products to prevent your skin from drying out. Buy soap-free body cleanser and use in the bath or shower with a cleansing sponge.

Always wear a low-irritant sunscreen and a hat whenever you're outside. Children's sunblock is perfect for protecting sensitive skin. Apply it at least 20 minutes before leaving the house for maximum protection. Stay out of the sun during the middle of the day. If you usually leave the beach in time for lunch, or for your children's sleep time, that's perfect. It's a good habit to adopt to protect skin from the hottest part of the day.

Halo hair

Copying your kid's hair care routine can give your hair a whole new lease of life. Here are some family hair-friendly tips:

Avoid using too many products. Not only is it time consuming, it leads to product build-up which can cause colour and styling problems.

Wear a hat to protect your hair. You insist your kids wear a hat to protect them from the sun, you should do the same to protect your hair from drying out and your colour fading.

Stay close to your natural colour. Staying within two or three shades of your natural hair colour is not only more flattering, it's less damaging and less maintenance in the long term.

Wash hair with gentle shampoos. Choose gentle or nourishing shampoos to avoid stripping hair of natural oils and changing delicate PH levels.

Have hair regularly trimmed. Regular visits to the hairdresser gets rid of split ends and keeps your style in check which means you'll need less styling time.

Kid beauty tactics

The key to youthful looks is a sense of humour, quality food, work, rest and play. Here's the expert advice to keep your body young and energy levels up:

Eat three small meals a day plus snacks. This is ideal for boosting your metabolism, staving off hunger, keeping our blood sugar levels stable and keeping our hands out of the cookie jar. Don't think of snacks as just sweet treats either. A handful of fresh almonds are the perfect fast snack as they're packed with essential fats for our skin, fibre, protein and calcium.

Eat a variety of foods. You provide your children with a wide variety of foods to allow them to experience new flavours and textures. It's important as adults we do the same to receive maximum nourishment. Our nutritional needs may differ to babies but we never cease to need vitamins, minerals, protein for growth and repair, carbohydrates for energy, fibre and essential fats. To get a baby soft glow, eat lots of colourful fruit and vegies which are full of antioxidants and drink plenty of water to keep your body and skin hydrated.

Drink milk and eat dairy food. Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body so we should always keep dairy foods on our menus - not just in the early stages of life. Calcium is essential for the bones, heart, nerve and muscle transmission. We also need vitamin D for calcium absorption and while most of us think of it as the sunshine vitamin, it‘s also found in egg yolks, fish and cheese. The key to youthful soft skin is to minimise exposure to the sun and eat plenty of dairy products.

Keep moving. Ever notice at a barbeque or a party all the kids are racing around laughing, running, climbing and playing while all the adults are glued to their seats, food in one hand and drink in the other? Not only is our choice of food and when we eat it essential to staying young and healthy, we need to move constantly too. Take a leaf out of your kids' book and have a little fun and adventure. There are so many forms of exercise that can be fun and beneficial for good health and a toned body. Try rollerblading, biking, playing on the monkey bars, running at beach. We should never stop playing. If exercise becomes more of a fun activity, we're more likely to keep it up.