Your skin changes as you age. If you want flawless, glowing skin, you will need to know what your skin is going through as you age and the things you can do to avoid fine lines and wrinkles.
Skin changes in your 20s
In your 20s, your skin is basically perfect, as far as fine lines and wrinkles are concerned. During this time, your skin is usually still plump and radiant. Your skins ability to rebuild skin cells is still in a good range. To further promote collagen and elastic growth, your skin care regimen should include frequent exfoliation.
Limit the amount of sun exposure you have, wear sun block, and avoid tanning beds. A tanned body may be attractive, but the negative effect on your skin from the ultra violet lights in tanning beds decrease your skins ability for skin cell rebuilding and leads to the appearance of lines, wrinkles, and uneven skin pigmentation prematurely. You can achieve a tanned appearance with self-tanning lotions and bronzers.
Skin changes in your 30s
An increase in the breakdown of collagen and elastic begins in your 30s. It takes your skin longer to rebuild skin cells at this time in your life and you start to lose radiance. You may start to notice fine lines around your eyes, mouth, and forehead.
You can increase the radiance of your skin, decrease the appearance of lines, and boost collagen and elastin in your skin by adding some more products to your skin care routine. Skin care products that increase collagen will help your skin to be more firm and plump. You should still be exfoliating your skin frequently.
How your skin in your 40s
Lines around your mouth, eyes, and forehead may be more noticeable at this time. Your skins ability to retain moisture and rebuild collage and elastin has declined in this decade of your life. To slow down the signs of aging you should add serums that rejuvenate the skin to your skin care regimen. You may also be noticing sunspots and issues with uneven skin pigmentation if your skin is also sun damaged.
During this time, you need to be paying even closer attention to changes in your skin, such as new moles or changes to existing ones. Speak with your physician or dermatologist if you have any suspicious moles.
What happens to skin your 50s?
In your 50s, your skin becomes thinner and more translucent. You may notice the appearance of blood vessels in your skin as well. Lines and wrinkles are deeper now around your forehead, nose, mouth, and eyes. Your skin is also much dryer now than in decades past because your skin has less ability to retain moisture.
At this juncture in life, you have amassed many skin care products and your beauty routine takes longer than before. Right now, you need to continue the skin care program you have had thus far, but also add products designed to replace moisture in your skin.
Regardless of your age, smoking cigarettes can make you appear much older over time. Not only do cigarettes contain chemicals that can damage your skin, but it also causes your skin to be dryer. If you smoke, quit. This is, of course, important for your overall health, but it will also improve the health of your skin if you quit.
You should also drink plenty of water, no matter your age, to keep your skin hydrated. Wearing sun block is important no matter what decade in life you are currently in and avoiding tanning beds all together is recommended.
You do not have to buy the most advertised or expensive anti aging skin care products in order to have healthier and younger looking skin. The packaging and price of the skin care product are not nearly as important as the ingredients it contains. When searching for anti aging skin care products that work, you want to pay attention to the ingredients. The ingredients that actually work to make your skin look younger are much more important than the amount you paid for the product.
Retinol for Younger Looking Skin
For firmer skin, the ingredient Retinol is helpful. The active ingredient Retinol in a skin care product works by helping you to make healthy skin cell substances. Skin collagen is also increased due to the ingredient Retinol. If you use an anti aging product with Retinol in it, you will have firmer skin that also has an overall improvement in texture.
Skin Care Products with AHA and BHA
The skin care ingredient AHA is best for use in people with normal to dry skin or who have sun-damaged skin. AHA helps to keep your skin moisturized, increases healthy collagen production, and smoothes your skin’s complexion. BHA is for people with normal to oily skin. If you have oily skin that is prone to breakouts, you will be better off using a skin care product with BHA in it. It will help you see a reduction in redness.
Smooth Out Wrinkles with Vitamin C and Vitamin E
The production of derma collagen can be significantly improved when you use an anti aging skin care product with Vitamin C as one of the ingredients. Fine lines and wrinkles can be reduced by using Vitamin C. It also helps to even out skin tone and improves skin barrier protection. Vitamin E works in synergy with Vitamin C to help you have a more youthful appearance. Pay close attention to the product labels for Vitamin E. Vitamin E is often labeled as tocopheryl acetate, tocopheryl linoleate, totpherol, alpha tocopheryl, tocotrienols, or tocopheryl succinate.
Vitamin B3 Component Ingredient for Anti Aging
Niacinamide is a component of Vitamin B3 and has the ability to prevent your skin from losing water content. It also works to increase the production of ceramides and free fatty acid levels. Many people also have found success in lightening discolorations of the skin and getting rid of acne from using skin care products containing this ingredient.
Green Tea to Reduce Wrinkles
Many anti aging skin care products have green tea in them now. The reason green tea has become so popular in the skin care market is because it works to build collagen, reduce skin inflammation, and provides the necessary antioxidants necessary for younger and more radiant looking skin.
Grape Seed in Wrinkle Reducing Products
If an anti aging skin care product includes the ingredient Grape Seed, you will likely benefit from it. Grape seed has effectively shown to reduce the appearance of wrinkles in many people. It is an antioxidant that also helps to promote wound healing.
Some other ingredients that help provide a reduction in wrinkles, promote healthier looking skin and help with anti aging include curuminoids, soy isoflavens, phospholipids, and ceramides. Finding a product with the majority of all of these ingredients mentioned will greatly help you combat the signs of aging on your skin.
Anti aging skin care ingredients that actually work to promote a youthful looking appearance do not have to cost you a lot of money. You can even see the results by using a product that only has one or more of the ingredients. You just need to realize that the most advertised skin care product for anti aging is not always the most effective and especially not always the most cost effective choice that you have.
Ditch those expensive exfoliators!
Your skin tends to start looking dull as you get older and exfoliating to remove the build up of excessive dead skin cells from your face will really help your complexion. One way to do this is to use a mechanical exfoliator, usually in the form of a facial scrub, sea salt or a microdermabrasion kit for example. I used to do that until a friend of mine, who works in the beauty industry, suggested I try a microfibre cloth.
These are very soft cloths that you are used for general household cleaning, they’re especially good for glass. If you wear glasses, you may have been given a very small one when you got a new pair of glasses. I use mine once a day with my Olay salicylic acid face wash and my skin is much smoother and more radiant. They feel very soft but they’re much tougher than they look so be sure not to scrub too hard otherwise your face will end up looking raw and red depending on your skin tone of course.
The best thing about microfibre cloths – they are super cheap. You can get a pack of them for a few dollars at your local store in the auto or the household cleaning section. The fact that they’re so cheap means that you can change them as often as you like.
Got SPF?
Each time summer rolls around, lots of advice surfaces everywhere reminding you to wear sunscreen while you’re sun worshipping. The timing of these articles e.t.c. can be a bit misleading in a way because it makes it seem as if you should only pay attention to sun protection in the summer. That is a big no-no! Here are a couple of “Did you knows” for you.
Did you know that:
- the sun causes major long-term damage to the skin that leads to all kinds of scary skin problems from wrinkles to cancer?
- 80% of the sun’s harmful rays still get through even on a cloudy day?
- water, sand and snow reflect the sun’s rays which increases your exposure/
- UVA sun rays (which are largely responsible for wrinkling, age spots and which have been implicated in causing skin cancer) can pass through glass?
- even if you have olive or dark skin you still need to use sunscreen?
- you need to use sunscreen on all exposed parts of your body every day even if you’re not going out in the sun?
These are just a few facts that even I was surprised to find out when I started taking sun protection seriously. I have an olive skin tone and I never really thought sunscreen was important for me. I thought it was mainly for my lighter skinned brothers and sisters. I was wrong. Since I started using a moisturiser with sunscreen my skin tone has evened out and the blemishes on my face are much lighter and less noticeable. I use much less make-up than I used to because I don’t need to. I use my moisturiser with SPF every single day! Now I’m trying to make sure I use sunscreen on the rest of my skin that is exposed.
It’s never too late to start protecting your skin from the damaging effects of sun exposure no matter how old you are. Every little helps.
For more information about sunscreen and sun protection, visit the American Academy of Dermatology website here and here. For tips on choosing the right sunscreen, visit here.