Skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors

I wonder how much of the value of moisturizing is from massaging the tissue and working waste into the lymphatic or circulatory systems for disposal.

There's questionable reporting in some parts of the article which makes me doubt how seriously I should take the rest of it. Case in point with the concept of moisturizer adding moisture. While the name implies that that's what it does, it actually prevents moisture your body provides from escaping, it doesn't add any moisture that isn't already there. While the end result may seem similar, it isn't, for example you can't keep adding moisturizer to get more and more moisture, you're capped by what your body provides.

In late 2020 I committed to only taking cold showers. I note several upsides after nearly three years of this:

- easier to forego caffeine, as cold water in the morning leaves me wide awake

- easier to use less water, in part because it's so easy to get out of the shower into a warmer environment

- mental health benefits, including increased confidence dealing with things I don't want to do but which are my adult duties- cold showers have helped me grow up

- my skin is healthier; I'm no longer soaping and heating away my natural oils (I only use soap if I'm actually dirty, though of course I still soap my hands throughout the day for food prep, etc), and maybe the constriction helps with lymph flow? Dunno about that, but my skin feels good these days, except my arms and hands, which get a lot of sun (and so I've been using sunscreen more often, moisturizing with olive & coconut oils, wearing long sleeves, staying in the shade, and spending more outside time in the morning and evening).

Massage is great, too, from oneself and/or another person; take some time moisturizing and applying different levels of pressure- an aunt said lymphatic massage is a light touch, not felt in the muscles. I don't take all her advice, mind, but it does feel good to be kind to my skin.

Edit to add: oh and pat down to dry off, rather than rubbing with a towel, so as not to remove oil. On the other hand, is it helpful to speed exfoliation? Maybe only if there's flaking dry skin, which needs more intensive care anyway? My understanding is that our skin sloughs off naturally and generally doesn't need extra help, depending on the individual.

I like to try and guess people's ages. In real life, or on video, where their personalities influence my guess, I'm much worse than when looking at a still image.

With a still image often the quality of a person's skin is the only giveaway, and when that is the case I'm remarkably accurate most of the time. So I'm skeptical there's much one can do, and people's skin seems to age at roughly the same rate.

Smooth, soft and clear skin is definitely correlated with youth. It conjures the image of babies in most people's minds. Deviations from that indicate a degree of aging depending on the type and extent.