At any age, good skincare starts with protecting your skin from avoidable damage, particularly sun damage, and establishing a sensible basic daily routine matching your skin type. You can further optimize it by taking into account the physiology of early adulthood.
In your twenties, the rate of cell turnover in the outer skin layers is still high. As a result, most 20+ year-olds do not need to exfoliate and may actually make things worse if exfoliating too much. If you feel the need to exfoliate, a mild mechanical exfoliation, such as table sugar scrub, may be optimal. Some acne sufferers see reduction in breakouts when using certain mild chemical exfoliating agents, particularly beta-hydroxy and alpha-hydroxy acids. In that case, mild chemical exfoliation would make sense.
Dry skin is uncommon in the twenties because hormone levels are high and sebaceous glands are still largely undamaged. There is usually no need to moisturize frequently. If you have oily skin you may not need to moisturize at all. In any case, unless you happen to have dry skin, stick to oil-free and low oil moisturizers. On the other hand, your skin's "oil resources" are not unlimited despite what you may have thought in your teens. You should avoid stripping away too much of the oil your skin naturally produces. Therefore, it is best to avoid harsh soaps, alcohol-based toners, and other drying agents.
A significant proportion of 20+ year-olds have some degree of acne albeit most cases are mild. It is best to use oil-free or low-oil, noncomedogenic skin care products. If that is not enough, and your acne needs to be actively treated, try to avoid excessively harsh acne treatment you may have used in your teens. See our article on the effects of acne treatments on skin aging.
In most cases, the 20s is not yet time for aggressive wrinkle treatments that modify skin physiology. It is too early to tinker with cell growth rate or aggressively stimulate collagen synthesis. Therefore, treatments like retinoids (e.g. tretinoin a.k.a. Retin A), hormones, growth factors and the like are generally inappropriate. On the other hand, extra steps to prevent future wrinkles may pay off later in life. You can supplement your basic skin care routine with skin care formulas containing protective ingredients, such as antioxidants and/or anti-inflammatories. Some potentially useful ones include green tea extract, pomegranate extract, vitamin E (mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols), lycopene, and others (see our topical treatments section.)
