Can You Slow Down The Visible Signs Of Aging?
Aging skin is a given thing. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do your best to help slow things down a little.
The rate at which your skin ages is determined by two important factors: your genes and your lifestyle. These are otherwise known as intrinsic and extrinsic aging.
Without getting too bogged down by science, intrinsic aging is the one that’s determined by your genetic makeup and is going to happen whatever you do and however much you look after your skin. Things like collagen and elastin naturally break down as you age, while your skin’s levels of ceramides, hyaluronic acid, fatty acids and sebum also decrease. And all this contributes to the formation of lines, wrinkles and the like. It’s like getting gray hairs. C’est la vie!
On the flipside, extrinsic aging is totally in your hands and includes all the other stuff you throw at your skin which increases the speed and intensity at which the signs of visible aging appear. The sun is the most obvious offender, but anything that causes oxidative stress on your skin (pollution, stress, a poor diet etc.) will play its part in throwing off your skin’s natural defense mechanism, thus allowing damaging free radicals to run amok and age you up at a super-speedy rate.
So, in answer to the question: ‘can you slow down the visible signs of aging?’ Yes… but there's a 'no' caveat. Yes, of course you can protect your skin from environmental assault and make better lifestyle choices. But no, you can’t change your genes. So let’s see how best to tackle the things you CAN control, shall we?
5 Ways To Reduce Premature Aging
1. Keep The Sun Off Your Skin
Bored of hearing how the sun is the enemy when it comes to your skin? Tough. Because it’s true and the more it gets drummed into you, the more vigilant we hope you’ll be at protecting your skin from the sun’s evil UV rays.
The stats are simple. Scary, but simple. The sun is responsible for somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of all extrinsic aging. This means that you can moisturize, treat, and preen your skin ‘till the cows come home. But if you don’t protect it with sunscreen every day, you might as well throw the rest of your skincare regime in the trash.
Don’t do that. Instead, sneak some broad-spectrum protection into the final stage of your morning routine. Try our awesome SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C. It's way less wasteful than throwing away all your precious skincare products.
2. Protect Your Skin’s Barrier Function
Your skin’s barrier is the uppermost layer that sits at the top of your epidermis and is known in the beauty biz as the stratum corneum. This brick wall-like section is made up of around 20 layers of cells and arguably works harder than the rest of your skin put together. Bold words, we know. But valid words because the function of this important layer is to act like a security guard, protecting your skin (and your entire body) from the outside world by preventing moisture from getting out and external irritants, allergens and other nasties from getting in. A strong barrier function is vital for keeping your skin strong, moisturized and healthy, whereas if it becomes weak, thin and compromised this is when issues like dryness, dehydration, irritation and the inevitable signs of aging start to creep up on you.
Of course, it goes without saying that your barrier function naturally weakens with age, losing ceramides, cholesterol and hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid. But the more you look after it, the stronger it will remain and the better your skin will be. How do you do this? Simple, with gentle skincare products (harsh ingredients are killers on your barrier function), plenty of sunscreen (yes, that again!), quality sleep and lots of hydration. Our favorite serum for nourishing your barrier function is Niacinamide (B3) Facial Serum which helps boost ceramide production and fights like a dog to destroy free radicals before they get a chance to do their worst.
3. Do. Not. Smoke
Smoking is obviously terrible for your health. Plus it gives you smokers’ lines around your lips. But it doesn’t stop there. In fact, after UV damage, smoking is one of the worst offenders for accelerating the visible signs of skin aging.
Tobacco contains a ton of harmful substances that screw up your skin, ruining its texture, tone, elasticity, firmness, smoothness and even altering the color of your complexion. In fact, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology, it’s common for the skin of a 40-year-old heavy smoker to look similar to that of a 70-year-old nonsmoker. Eesh!
The facts are simple: smoking increases free radical formation in your skin, breaks down collagen, accelerates inflammation, decreases blood flow and starves your skin of essential oxygen and nutrients. Just don’t.
4. Use Proven, Age-Fighting Skincare Ingredients
Revving up your skincare routine with hard-working, active ingredients is a great way to bite premature aging on its butt. Granted, there are so many out there, claiming to rid your skin of wrinkles in weeks, it’s hard to keep up. But don’t be fooled that they’re all going to be miracle-workers. Instead, stick with those that have the research to back them up. Ingredients like retinol; vitamin C; peptides and exfoliating acids like glycolic, lactic and salicylic have all been studied for years and been proven to offer real benefits for your skin. Also, NKOTB bakuchiol is fast making a big name for itself by giving retinol a run for its money in the anti-aging skincare stakes. Look out for these if you’re serious about getting ahead of the aging game.
One word of warning, however. You know that barrier function we spoke of earlier? Well, overload this with too many skincare actives and it will repay you with inflammation, dryness, irritation and potential breakouts. This means you must tread carefully. Avoid piling on too many potent serums and treatments all at once and choose curated products that combine a few actives that are known to work together. All of our serums have been carefully formulated not to cause sensitivities, but it’s still wise to patch test first and avoid using more than one at the same time.
Looking for a great all-rounder that’s packed with age-repelling goodies and gentle on your skin? Then try Multi-Vitamin Facial Serum or our fabulous new Smoothing Collagen Serum.
5. Moisturize Like Clockwork
Serums are great. Obviously. But you need to seal all that goodness in with moisturizer, otherwise all those active ingredients are likely to escape from the surface of your skin. Which kinda defeats the purpose, don’t you think?
Moisturizer not only traps in moisture and ingredients like antioxidants and humectants (think hyaluronic acid and aloe vera), but it also leaves a smoothing topcoat on the surface of your skin, reducing the appearance (and premature formation) of fine lines and wrinkles.
The truth is you must never forget to apply moisturizer after every cleanse – no matter how oily your skin. We have lots to choose from, depending on your concerns and needs, but our current favorite is Renewing Longevity Moisturizing Cream which is the ideal addition to any healthy aging skincare regime.
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Not a fan of those vertical lines that extend from your nose down to the sides of your mouth? Then read on for five ways to help minimize their appearance.
Smile lines might sound rather lovely and, in all honesty, most of us have some kind of fold – however tiny or etched in – down the sides of our mouth. Do us a favor and dig out a picture of yourself smiling or laughing 20 or so years ago. Chances are, even then, they were apparent. But the thing is, smile lines, aka laughter lines, marionette lines or nasolabial folds come and go with your facial expression when you’re young and your skin is full of delicious collagen. Not so much as time ticks on. In fact, smile lines get progressively deeper as you age, often to the point where they’re always visible around the lips, even when you’re not smiling.
Many people can totally live with their smile lines. Some of you may even find that they’re an essential part of who you are. And we love that. However, that’s not the case for everyone. Smile lines, like crow’s feet and elevens (frown lines) can be a pesky annoyance for many of us. Sounds familiar? Then keep scrolling for some simple skincare tricks and lifestyle habits for helping to reduce the appearance of your smile lines. Just one thing, though. Don’t stop actually smiling in a bid to soften those lines. That’s just miserable.
Prioritize Regular Exfoliation
Exfoliation is one of the simplest ways to stimulate cellular turnover, remove dead skin cells and help improve the appearance of wrinkles by refining the tone and texture of your skin. Of course, in-office treatments like microdermabrasion offer the deepest type of exfoliation so they're always an option, but if you prefer to deal with your skin at home, our 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant is a fabulous choice.
A leave-on liquid that’s best applied to freshly cleansed skin (but before serum), this lightweight treatment contains a super smart blend of exfoliating ingredients to do all the hard work without any kind of scrubbing action. The main ingredients in question are glycolic acid, salicylic acid and gluconolactone which are different types of exfoliating acids. Together, they work like clockwork to encourage collagen production, hydrate the skin and say a big, fat ‘ciao’ to dead skin cells.
It’s gentle enough to use daily but we always recommend starting slowly, then building up to frequent use as your skin acclimates.
Build Collagen With Retinol Or Bakuchiol
Collagen is extremely important for the health of your skin, giving it structure, support, strength and volume. You’re born with tons of fabulous collagen in your skin which is why baby’s skin is so soft and plump. However, as you age, your production of collagen gets slower and thus your levels get lower, making your skin become drier, thinner and less elastic. This happens from around your mid-to-late 20s onwards. Yes, that early!
Sadly, you can’t stop this inevitable natural aging process, but there are many ways to help keep your collagen from disappearing quicker than nature intended.
Two of the most important topical ingredients for collagen are retinol, or nature’s gentler alternative to retinol, bakuchiol. Both of these work at a cellular level to kickstart collagen and encourage a more efficient barrier function to help keep your skin hydrated and healthy. Our Retinol Facial Serum is an incredible nightly treatment for improving smile (and indeed all!) lines, or try our fabulous Longevity Regimen Bundle if retinol’s not your thing.
Stimulate Blood Flow With A Facial Workout
Daily massage around your mouth can be a super effective way to work out the muscles and help improve the skin’s texture in this area. Of course, it won’t miraculously make your smile lines disappear but if you practice it regularly you should see an improvement over time.
Here are three great exercises to try:
1. Create a fist with both hands and place them at the corners of your mouth. Apply gentle pressure, then smooth your fists up the cheekbones to your temples. Repeat 10 times.
2. Part your lips slightly and use the pads of your fingers to pull the corners of your mouth back towards your face while keeping your lips parallel. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.
3. Hook the corners of your mouth with your index fingers and pull your fingers apart about a quarter of inch while tightening the corners of your mouth towards each other. Hold the resistance for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.
Shield Your Skin From Sun Damage
If want to choose just one wrinkle-reducing trick for preserving your collagen and therefore improving wrinkles, lines, folds and creases on your skin, sun protection is unquestionably it. Granted, it won’t get rid of anything that’s already formed, but it will prevent further issues from rearing their heads and will help stop your smile lines from getting any worse.
We understand that applying sunscreen every morning can be a real pain in the butt, which is why we formulated our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C to be a real joy to use. It’s non-sticky, totally lightweight, blends into your skin like a dream and doesn’t leave any annoying white marks. What’s more, it contains a cheeky boost of vitamin C to further protect your skin and add a little extra glow factor. Seems rude not to, right?
Practice Good Lifestyle Habits
Finally, the classic, skin-loving lifestyle habits must never be forgotten about if you want to hold on to young-looking skin for as long as possible. We’re talking, of course, about getting plenty of regular, quality sleep; staying hydrated with lots of sugar-free, caffeine-free drinks and water-rich foods (watermelon, anyone?); drinking booze in moderation; eating a fruit and veggie-forward diet; getting your fill of omega-3s and trying to keep your stress levels to a minimum.
Surely that’s not too much to ask, is it?
5 Ways To Deal With Smile Lines At Home
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![5 Unusual Things That Can Trigger Breakouts]()
No idea why you’re getting an influx of acne right now? Many lifestyle habits can trigger your breakouts – and sometimes they’re found in the most unsuspecting places.
As you know, acne is caused by one thing and one thing alone: an excess of sebum that causes your pores to become blocked with oil, dead skin cells, bacteria and other impurities. Eating too much chocolate doesn’t give you pimples. Neither does moisturizer. Sure, they can trigger breakouts if you’re genetically susceptible to them, but acne isn’t caused by uncleanliness, a poor diet or crummy skincare routine. It’s caused by blocked pores. End of.
OK, so this begs the question: why bother trying to cure them if your breakouts are totally out of your control? Well, here’s the thing. You can’t change your genes, that’s for certain. However, what you can do is keep acne-triggering factors under control to help lessen the blow. Sleeping well, reducing emotional stress and eating a healthy, well-balanced diet; all these things are important for maintaining balanced sebum and therefore reducing the likelihood of you breaking out week after week.
But there are also some less obvious reasons why you face might be suffering with regular breakouts. So if you’ve already dispensed with things like smoking, poor cleansing and too much exfoliation, but you’re still getting pimples on the reg, it might be time to look at some of the more unexpected areas of your life.
On that note, read on for five slightly more unusual causes for your breakouts.
1. Your Pillowcase
Getting enough beauty sleep is crucial for the health of your skin, but if you’re sleeping on a dirty pillowcase for a solid eight hours every night dirt and bacteria is inevitably going to build up and irritate your pores. This is especially true if you sleep on a synthetic pillowcase because man-made fibers don’t absorb sweat as effectively as natural fibres like cotton or linen.
The answer? Go natural all the way, for starters. Also, cleanse and moisturize your skin before bed to reduce the amount of grime getting on your pillowcase. Tea Tree Super Cleanser+ is a great acne-fighting cleanser that balances and clarifies your pores. Follow this with Retinol Moisturizer to lightly hydrate and moisturize your skin while boosting cellular turnover to keep your pores free of dead skin cells.
Finally, wash your pillowcase every three or four days. And ditto, your face towel. Old, dirty towels that are used by the whole family for drying their hands and who-knows-what-else are another breeding ground for germs and bacteria. Do you really want to be swiping this all over your freshly cleansed skin? Thought not. So, invest in a couple of cotton face towels for you and you alone and wash them every other day.
2. Your Makeup & Hair Products
Your skincare routine might be spot on, but what about your makeup and hair products? Rich hair conditioners, for example, are notorious for containing heavy ingredients like cocoa butter and coconut oil which, granted, are incredible for moisturizing your precious locks, but are not so great for acne-prone skin. Of course, we know you’re not smothering your face with conditioner but still, it can settle on your face when you rinse your hair so always cleanse your skin after, never before conditioning.
Makeup can similarly clog up your pores, especially if you use formulations that contain oil. So don’t do that. Instead, look out for noncomedogenic products (this means they’re less likely to block pores) and use powder rather than liquid formulations whenever possible.
3. Your Workout Routine
Do you love to get a good sweat on when you’re working out? High fives to you. However, allow all that sweat and grime to sit on your skin and your pores are going to clog up quicker than your instructor can say ‘hit the floor for ten push-ups.’
Cleanse your skin thoroughly and swiftly after exercising (the longer you leave your skin doused in sweat and grimy workout gear, the more bacteria is likely to breed), and always use a mild but effective cleanser that helps to detoxify your skin without drying it out. Our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is a goodie as it harnesses the powers of coconut-derived activated charcoal which destroys skin-smothering impurities to offer a deep, gently purifying clean every time.
4. Your Winter Cover-Ups
Any fabric that rubs against your skin can lead to unwanted issues in the long-term. Remember how face masks were causing ‘maskne’ back in the pandemic? This was all due to friction from the mask combining with the obvious culprits of sweat, dirt, oil, bacteria and humidity which caused dryness, irritation and pimples.
Thankfully, for most of us, the days of having to wear a mask 24/7 are over. However, if you spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter and like to wrap yourself up in woollen hats and thick, heavy scarves, these can cause similar problems, trapping sweat and increasing friction around your chin, jaw, neck and forehead.
To help reduce breakouts caused by beanies, scarves (and even turtleneck sweaters), avoid synthetic fabrics and launder your winter cover-ups regularly. Weekly, at least.
5. Your Laundry Detergent
Speaking of laundry, your choice of detergent is also imperative. Just like your beauty routine, certain ingredients in your laundry detergent can be super irritating – especially if you have extremely sensitive or acne-prone skin. Fragrance, for example, can be a real Debbie Downer, as can harsh dyes, essentials oils, strong surfactants and preservatives.
To reduce the likelihood of your laundry detergent triggering those pesky breakouts, first up, choose liquid over powder detergents. Why? Because these leave behind less residue on your clothes and fabrics (who knew?!). Also, never use more detergent than is recommended on the label, avoid fabric softeners and try double rinsing your laundry after washing to remove as much residue as possible.
5 Unusual Things That Can Trigger Breakouts
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