True Radical Honesty From Our Community

Do you feel like your already-supersized-pores are growing by the minute? They're not. But it might feel like they are...

Pores are the foundation of healthy skin. Of course, collagen makes your skin strong, supple and plump. And yes, elastin gives it that all-important bouncebackability. But without pores, your skin would be a dry, shrivelled up shadow of its former self. Not to mention the fact that your entire body would lose its ability to regulate its own body temperature.

As a quick reminder, pores are tiny, microscopic openings found at the surface of your skin right at the top of your hair follicles and sweat glands. They exist to allow important liquids (as well as other particles and gases) to pass through the surface of your skin. The human body has two types of pores: sweat pores which help regulate body temperature; and oil-producing pores that are found at the top of your hair follicles where they release sebum to moisturize and lubricate the surface of the skin. The good thing about sweat pores is that they’re so small you can’t see them making them of very little concern in the grand scheme of things.

Oil-producing pores, on the other hand, are just so annoyingly visible. So why?

What Determines The Size Of Your Pores?

Like your height, skin tone and color of your hair, the size of your pores is largely shaped by genetics. This means that yes, you can blame your parents, and yes, the size of your pores is pretty much fixed.

Of course, this is great news if you have almost invisible pores. Not so much if yours feel like they take over your entire face. But let’s get one thing straight: no matter how enlarged you believe your pores are when you study them in the mirror, they’re rarely as bad as you think. Because the truth is, nobody else scrutinizes your skin on the same level as do you.

Do Pores Get Bigger Over Time?

Yes and no. The size of your pores never really changes on a physiological level. So yes, all those half-truths about being able to ‘shrink’ your pores with alcohol-heavy toners or freezing cold water is a bit of a con. But there’s a little bit of truth in there because while the actual size of your pores doesn’t alter, their walls can stretch and expand, making them appear more pronounced.

Penny drops.

What Causes Pores To Stretch With Age?

Many things happen to your skin throughout your life that can cause the walls of your pores to become damaged and loose. Of course, regular aging plays the most obvious role as your collagen levels naturally decrease over time. Sadly, there’s not a huge amount you can do about your biological clock (there’s those genes doing their worst again!) but there are many other factors of which you can control that contribute to the rate at which your pores become slack. 

Sun Damage

Gosh, the sun gets blamed for a lot of skin issues. But we don’t apologize for that because it really is one of the worst things for the condition of your skin. UV radiation breaks down important proteins like collagen and elastin thanks to a build-up of free radicals. This weakens the collagen fibers that give your skin its structure, thus allowing the walls of your pores to become slack, weak and kind of baggy-looking. AKA more visible!

Picking Your Skin

If you have a tendency to pick or squeeze your skin, this not only irritates your skin as a whole, but it can seriously mess with the collagen and elastin fibers that keep your skin firm and supple. Scarring is the most obvious possibility from picking your skin, but you pores will also suffer as a consequence.

Excess Sebum

After puberty sebum production usually levels out to a somewhat more ‘normal’ rate. However, things can get messy again during significant hormonal changes in your life. Menstruation, pregnancy, the menopause, all of these periods in your life cause your hormones to become unbalanced and your sebum levels to fluctuate. And when sebum production increases it fills up your pores causing them to expand, stretch and appear bigger.

Slow Cell Turnover

When you’re in your 20s each skin cell has a life cycle of around 28 days in which time it is formed at the lower levels, moves up to the surface and then sheds. As with most biological functions, however, cell turnover slows down as you mature, causing dead cells to hang around longer than necessary at the surface of your skin. Like excess sebum, these dead cells have nowhere else to go but to clog up your pores. And clogged pores = saggy, enlarged-looking pores.

Bad Makeup Choices

Certain foundations and face cosmetics that contain heavy oils and thick butters can also block your pores, causing them to expand and become more noticeable. Make sure you scan the labels of your favorite makeup formulations to ensure they’re non-comedogenic. Non-comedogenic means they’re way less likely to block your pores (comedone is the fancy term for pore, if you didn’t know).

The Best Ways To Keep Your Pores Tight

After reading the above you can probably guess what you need to do to avoid your pores becoming damaged and saggy. But we’ll lay it out for you anyway, just to drive the point home!

1. First up, wear sunscreen. This is the best thing you can do to conserve the collagen you’ve already got while ensuring you’re still making quality fresh stuff. Apply SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C every morning as par for the course, and do your skin even more of a solid by doubling up your protection with an antioxidant serum underneath sunscreen. Niacinamide is a very good ingredient for smoother, more resilient skin so try our Niacinamide (B3) Facial Serum.

2. Don’t pick your skin. Pimples or no pimples. Nothing good can come of this.

3. Balance sebum by gently cleansing and lightly moisturizing your skin come what may. It’s super important to keep your skin clean morning and night so that oils don’t build up at the surface. We love Tea Tree Super Cleanser+ which harnesses the power of tea tree oil to clarify the skin without leaving it feeling parched. Just remember, it’s equally as vital to follow with moisturizer so your skin doesn’t think it’s dry and overcompensate with more oil than you started with!

4. Exfoliate to boost cellular turnover. But don’t overdo it. Listen to your skin and exfoliate just once or twice a week if that’s all it needs. Our Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub (which just won an industry award may we add!) is a fantastic way to keep your skin bright, clean and dead skin cell-free. Plus, it’s kind to your skin. Which is super important, at any age.

5. Finally, don't underestimate the powers of retinol. Retinol is an incredible way to boost collagen AND encourage healthy cellular turnover. That's great news for your pores. And for controlling acne. And for reducing the appearance of wrinkles. And... well, you get the picture. Try our classic Retinol Facial Serum once or twice a week to begin with, building up to nightly as your skin acclimates.

Collagen is a pretty big deal. So you must do everything you can to preserve it.

When it comes to the look, feel and overall health of your skin, collagen is everything. Literally, everything. It makes your skin stronger, smoother, more supple and most importantly, it wards off premature fine lines and wrinkles. But, of course, as skin ages, your levels of this important protein fade dramatically, and that’s when the visible signs of aging are likely to start creeping up on you.

The bad news is that you can’t do anything to stop the sands of time. But the good news – because there’s always some good news in there ­­­– is that there are many other ways to ensure your collagen doesn’t leave town sooner than necessary. Because it’s not just natural aging that screws up your supplies…

First A Quick Refresher: What Is Collagen?

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body. As far as your skin is concerned, research shows that it makes up a massive 70-80 percent of its entire structure, working hard to maintain strength, firmness and elasticity. As the clock ticks, however, your skin’s level of collagen starts to dramatically drop off at a rate of around 1 percent every year. Granted, that might not sound like a lot, but believe us, it becomes noticeable very quickly – especially if it starts in your mid-twenties, which is a real probability (gasp!).

So, Why Does Collagen Fade As You Get Older?

Biology for one thing; collagen loss is simply part of the natural aging process.

But that’s not all. Your lifestyle habits, diet, stress levels, sleep routine and the environment in which you live also play their part in how quickly (or slowly) your collagen degrades. And that’s where you come in…

5 Ways To Keep Help Preserve Your Collagen

1. Never Forget To Wear Sunscreen

OK, let’s start with the most important thing of all, shall we? Sunscreen. As the solution to most aging skin woes, a good quality daily sunscreen is every dermatologist’s and facialist’s number one choice for safeguarding good quality collagen. Full disclosure, it won’t magically make new collagen appear or even kick existing production up a notch. But what it does is far more important, and that’s to preserve the collagen you already have by reducing damage caused by the biggest collagen killer of all ­– the sun.

Why does the sun get such a bad rap? Because, frankly, it deserves it. UV radiation is the number one cause of external skin aging because it causes an influx of free radicals that weaken collagen fibers, causing them to break down and dwindle at lightning speeds.

Don’t want that to happen to your precious skin? Then do everything you can to stop UV from doing its worst by protecting your skin with a broad-spectrum sunscreen every day. Try SPF30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C, it’s totally up for the job and is so lightweight and easy to wear, you won’t even notice that extra step in your morning skincare routine.

2. Take A Collagen Supplement

If you want to help feed your body from the inside as well as the outside, consider taking a collagen supplement.

Collagen supplements are powders, pills or drinks that are perfectly safe when ingested as instructed to help promote natural collagen production in the skin. Many of them use animal skin, bones or fish scales though, so if that grosses you out as much as it does us, try our Collagen Boosting Skin Supplement, which says a big fat no to animal-derived collagen. Instead, it’s formulated with vegetarian collagen combined with other skin-loving classics like vitamins C and E, plus biotin, a form of vitamin B known to promote cell growth and repair. Take two capsules every morning for breakfast and see for yourself just how effective they can be...

3. Sign Up To A Collagen-Boosting Diet

One of the most important changes to make to your diet – if you care about supporting and nurturing your collagen, that is – is to shun sugar. Sugar grabs on to collagen (and elastin for that matter) and forms things called advanced glycation end products (AGEs) which break down all those important proteins, making your skin less plump, strong and firm. And that’s when things like sagging skin and wrinkles like to join the party. No. Thank. You. Try to reduce the amount of sugar you consume on a regular basis and your collagen will breathe a literal sigh of relief.

Then there’s all the good stuff you should eat more of to help support collagen production. These include collagen-rich foods like red meat and bone broth plus high-protein foods like fish, poultry, eggs, dairy and beans.

4. Apply Some Powerful Topicals

There are no end of collagen-loving ingredients out there, including vitamin C, glycolic acid and EGCG so rather than go on for hours about every topical skincare ingredient available, we’ll just concentrate on the two front-runners in the quest for quality collagen: peptides and retinol.

Peptides are structurally similar to proteins as they’re both made up of chains of amino acids. And this is good news because their similarity makes them almost unbeatable in their effectiveness at stimulating collagen production. Not only that but they’re very well tolerated by the skin, rarely causing sensitivities or irritation. Bonus points right there. Try our Smoothing Collagen Serum which is packed with vegan collagen peptides.

Then you have the mighty retinol which is total kick-ass – although not without its side effects, especially if it’s not treated with the respect it deserves. More researched than almost any other skincare ingredient available, retinol is proven to not only support collagen production but also to prevent future collagen loss. Yes, it’s that good. We, naturally, love Retinol Facial Serum but if you find it’s too much for your skin, NP, we also have our fabulous Rejuvenating Longevity Serum which contains nature’s gentler alternative to retinol, bakuchiol.

5. Try An In-Office Treatment

If you fancy adding on to a great skincare routine and an awesome diet, there are many professional treatments that can help kick your collagen into high gear. Light therapy, for example, is fantastic, as is microneedling which uses tiny, high speed needles to puncture the skin and create ‘micro’ injuries at the surface. This may sound like a dumb idea, but in actual fact microneedling tricks the skin into believing it needs to repair itself, thus triggering collagen production.

Not so dumb any more, right?

Just remember, these treatments are best left to the professionals so search out board-certified experts near you by asking for recommendations or doing some thorough Googling.

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?

Read on for five of the most important skincare habits for preventing collagen loss.

Fact of the day: skin is nothing without collagen. It’s the most abundant protein in the entire human body and accounts for somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of all proteins found in your skin.

It is not to be taken for granted.

As far as your skin goes, collagen is what gives it strength, structure and support. It kind of holds everything together like a clever network of protein-based scaffolding. It’s really good stuff. Like, REALLY good.

One major problem, however: while super abundant during your younger years – hence that plump, firm skin you might just about remember – collagen production dramatically drops as you get older. This is all thanks to your natural aging process as well everything else the world throws at you – stress, the sun, environmental pollution and a cruddy diet to name just a few. And while you can’t stop or reverse time, all these other lifestyle factors are very much in your control.

On that note, below are five of the most important ways to help preserve your levels of collagen as much as possible. It’s time to take charge, people!

1. Be 100% Sun Smart

No matter how many times we stress the importance of sun protection there are still people out there who don’t apply daily sunscreen to shield their skin from the damaging ways of the sun.

Bonkers.

After the ticking clocks of time, the sun is the number one cause of aging skin. In fact, UVA rays, in particular, penetrate deep into the dermis of your skin where they really do a number on your collagen. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, damage from UV light results in over 80 percent of all your lines, wrinkles, textural issues and dark spots. Ouch!

The good news, however, is that you can block around 97 percent of the sun’s rays simply by applying a good, broad-spectrum sunscreen to exposed skin on the reg. And we make this super easy for your face. Simply slather on a good coating of SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C every morning as the last step in your skincare routine. Reapply every couple of hours if you’re spending a prolonged period of time in the great outdoors. And you are winning.

2. Don’t Smoke

Tobacco contains more than 7,000 harmful chemicals and substances that not only screw up your lungs, but are an absolute b*tch when it comes to your collagen levels and the health of your skin. Also, the more you smoke, the worse your skin will look, potentially giving your 40-year-old skin the wrinkles of someone in their 60s!

“Smoking slows the body’s ability to heal itself by decreasing blood flow and inhibiting inflammation,” explain experts at the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology.

It also promotes the production of collagen-damaging enzymes and free radicals which eventually manifests itself in crow’s feet around the eyes, puckering lines around the mouth and that tell-tale ‘smoker’s face.’

Don’t. Do. It. Your skin needs you.

3. Choose A Collagen-Friendly Skincare Routine

Another great way to keep your collagen levels in check? With an awesome skincare routine. Some of the best skincare ingredients for collagen, IOHO, are retinol (literally the daddy of everything!), bakuchiol (retinol’s gentler, natural alternative), peptides (which help to encourage protein production), MSM (a very under rated collagen booster) and the mighty vitamin C (which laughs in the face of collagen-damaging free radicals). All of these have been studied and proven to stimulate your skin’s natural collagen production and inhibit its breakdown, so it’s wise to include at least one in your daily skincare routine. We love the combination of Smoothing Collagen Serum followed by Firming Collagen Day Lotion in the morning, and Retinol Facial Serum at night.

You could also try our fabulous Collagen Boosting Skin Supplement which, unlike other substandard collagen powders and pills contains vegetarian collagen only, alongside vitamins C, E, and biotin, a form of vitamin B known to promote cell growth and repair. This all adds up to a kick-butting blend that significantly and safely helps improve your skin’s natural production of quality collagen for a visible reduction in the appearance of wrinkles, better elasticity, superior hydration and brighter, healthier-looking skin.

4. Avoid Sugar

A well-rounded diet that’s high in lean protein, antioxidants and omega fatty acids is super important for the health of your skin. But one thing your skin, and in particular your collagen, really loathes? Sugar.

Studies show that overdoing it with sugar accelerates the accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in your body through a process called glycation. Glycation is a reaction that occurs when excessive amounts of sugar become too much for your natural insulin levels to handle. These sugar molecules then attack your skin cells, latching onto collagen (and elastin, for that matter!) and causing them to stiffen, weaken, break down and produce harmful AGEs. AGEs ruin your radiant, youthful complexion by causing dryness and exacerbating fine lines and wrinkles.

A good way to reduce your sugar intake is to swap out refined sugars for sweeteners that have lower glycemic index values – things like agave or monk sweeteners or great. Also, ditch the sodas, people. Water is your much better friend.

5. Master The Art Of Quality Sleep

Finally, underestimate the power of regular, quality sleep at your peril. When you sleep, your skin goes into recharge mode and collagen production speeds up big time to help repair damage from the day and prepare your skin for the next. Miss out on those valuable hours of shut-eye and your skin simultaneously misses out on all that fresh, skin-strengthening collagen it deserves.

Studies show that people who regularly get around eight hours of quality sleep each night have way better skin than those who only get five or so hours. But if you struggle, follow these simple fixes for a better night’s sleep.

* Stick To A Schedule – going to bed and waking up at the same time each day? Priceless.

* Keep Your Bedroom Cool – experts agree the ideal temperature for sleeping should be somewhere between 65 and 67oF.

* Limit Screentime – phones, tablets, laptops and TVs all emit light which makes it hard for your body to wind down at the end of the day. Switch them off a good hour before bedtime.

* Avoid Caffeine Before Bed – in fact, it’s often best to only drink caffeine in the morning. If at all.