True Radical Honesty From Our Community

Join us as we take a look at three TikTok skincare trends doing the rounds on social media. Because we believe you need to know the difference between the super smart and the downright dumb.

Don’t get us wrong, social media beauty hacks can be pretty cool. But while foundation dotting and Manga lashes are harmless fun, not all of what you see on TikTok is for the good of your skin. In fact, some skincare hacks can do more harm than good. And when it’s your precious skin at stake we believe it’s worth taking a beat to delve deeper into what’s really going on before doing something you and your complexion might later regret.

Here, we dissect three attention-grabbing skincare trends that have been all over social media in recent months to see which get our thumbs up and which we believe you shouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole. Because if they’re not good enough for us, they’re not good enough for you.

1. Oil Gritting

What It Is? Also known as skin gritting or oil pulling, this beauty hack is all about getting rid of blackheads. It’s a simple technique if the hordes of obsessed TikTokers are anything to go by, and involves rubbing oil into your skin in a quest to draw out the oil-based gunk from your pores. According to many avid fans, you will actually feel gritty particles in your hands  as your blackheads are eliminated by the magic of massage. The result? Crystal clear pores and a smooth, blackhead-free (and whitehead-free for that matter) complexion.

It sounds simple enough, for sure, but the fact that you need to massage the skin continuously for a good 10-15 minutes in order for it to get the job done does not fill us with hope. Come on, that’s a pretty long time. Our hands are aching just thinking about it.

Does It Work? Yes and no. As you know, massaging the skin is an incredible way to stimulate blood flow and lymphatic drainage thus boosting nutrient-rich oxygen to the skin and helping unwanted toxins and pollutants to flush away. So that’s one point in its favor, right there. However, oils aren’t going to penetrate deep into the sebaceous glands to truly draw out impurities. Instead, they will simply exfoliate the top layers of your skin, sloughing away dead skin cells and removing surface debris.

Of course, gentle exfoliation is great for health of your skin and we’re all for it. However we’re not convinced this oil gritting technique offers much more than that. And the question of will it actually eliminate your blackheads in the long-term? Probably not. 

The Better Alternative: Unless your skin is very sensitive or prone to serious acne breakouts oil-gritting is not going to do your skin any harm. But who has 15 minutes in their day to spend massaging oil into their face when there are so many quicker ways to do the exact same thing? Instead, we’d rather use effective skincare ingredients that are clinically proven to work on pore health. Salicylic acid, for example, is a much more effective ingredient for sloughing away dead skin cells, plus it cuts through excess sebum to help you achieve cleaner, clearer, smoother skin.

Try our 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant which takes seconds to apply (take that, oil gritting!) and blends salicylic acid with glycolic acid and gluconolactone to unclog your pores safely and effectively.

2. Sunscreen Contouring

What It Is? This viral trend is the absolute worst and should have been shot down before it even became a thing. Unconventional, silly trends we can stomach, but when they verge on the downright dangerous? It makes us mad.

Sunscreen contouring is the act of using sunscreen to create intentional tan lines on your face or body. It involves applying sunscreen to specific areas only – usually the higher contours of the face like down your nose, on the tip of your chin and across your cheekbones – so that these areas stay pale, while the rest of your face tans. This is supposed to create a similar contoured effect to using dark and light makeup to highlight and create shade on the skin, thus replacing that often laborious step in your makeup routine.

Does It Work? Not really. In fact, the chances of achieving the precision of contouring makeup is slim to none. Instead, you’re more likely to end up with blotchy, patchy skin and, worse yet, sunburn. 

More importantly, this is a very dangerous game to play. UV radiation is not only responsible for almost 90 percent of external skin aging, but it’s also the primary cause of skin cancer which, according to the American Cancer Society, is the most common type of cancer in the US.

Exposing your skin to that kind of peril? Not. Worth. It.

The Better Alternative: For starters, apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen to all areas of exposed skin, every day without fail. And if you hate that extra step in your skincare routine, try our brand new SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen Facial Serum. This lightweight serum smooths seamlessly under your moisturizer and helps to protect your skin from the sun’s collagen-harming, DNA-destroying UV rays.

Then, if you want a more permanent contoured effect than makeup can offer, try achieving it with a self-tanning product instead.

3. Face Taping

What It Is? No matter how much we like to embrace aging, when it comes to the pursuit of youthful-looking skin, most of us are keen to try new products and techniques. But the thing about this viral beauty trend is that it’s really not so new. In fact, Hollywood movie stars and professional drag performers have been face taping (aka wrinkle taping) for decades.

Face taping involves placing strategic pieces of tape on the face before bed to keep the skin taut and immobile while you sleep. This apparently restricts muscle movement to prevent you from making facial expressions. It's also supposed to put a stop to ‘face scrunching’ as a consequence of sleeping on your front or side. By doing all this face taping is said to improve the appearance of existing wrinkles as well as to prevent new lines from forming. 

The technique is most often practiced on areas prone to aging, so think the forehead, around the eyes and down the sides of your mouth. 

Does It Work? The jury’s out on this one. While some experts are all for it, others are dubious. Celebritiy facialist, Guendalina Gennari, for example, is a big fan, stating that it not only helps to smooth out the lines she usually wakes up with, but it also lifts the skin to help improve circulation and therefore bring nutrients to the surface of the skin.

Our thoughts? Well, there’s no doubt that it offers a short-term fix and can help to soften the look of your lines and wrinkles temporarily, but it’s unlikely to scientifically change the structure and strength of your skin. Also, you really need to tread carefully with regards to the type of  tape you use. Stick with gentle medical tape that’s suitable for sensitive skin – this is not the time to reach for the duct tape. 

The Better Alternative: A much better way to ensure your skin ages healthily is to stick with an effective skincare routine that encompasses tried and tested, long-term collagen-enhancing ingredients like retinol, bakuchiol, peptides, vitamin C and hyaluronic acid. Retinol, for one, has been proven time and again for being best in class for wrinkle improvement. And vitamin C provides not only awesome antioxidant protection to shield your skin from environmental damage, but is also an effective way to brighten and energize your skin.

We have all sorts of incredible treatments to help control the rate at which your skin ages but if you’re looking for a complete regimen try our Longevity range which uses bakuchiol (nature’s alternative to retinol) to strengthen, firm and hydrate mature skin on the face and around the eyes.

Tape, shmape.

Serums can truly supercharge your skincare routine – especially if you know how to maximize their effectiveness. Here’s how…

We believe your face serum should be one of your most prized skincare possessions. Of course, daily sunscreen is crucial, and yes, your cleanser provides the foundation to everything that follows. But a face serum is the key to targeting everything you love (and maybe don’t love so much) about your skin. Whether you want to improve hydration, deal with breakouts, soften fine lines or brighten tired skin, the right face serum can help fix the lot.

Speaking of the ‘right’ face serum, finding your perfect fit is vital, but let us ask you this: do you feel like you’ve found the one... yet it’s kind of underperforming? Then it’s probably not the serum that’s the issue. Instead, it’s likely the way you’re using it.

So let’s fix that, shall we?

Your Serum Strategy 101

Think of your face serum as the VIP in your skincare routine. Because yes, it's that special. Plus, it’s likely to have cost more than most of your other products, so it’d be foolish not to fuel yourself with the knowledge of how to use it effectively. 

Here are the face serum rules we follow to the letter…

When To Use Your Face Serum

The correct order in which to apply ALL of your skincare products matters. A lot. And the general rule of thumb is that you should always work with your products from thin to thick; from water to oil. 

This means that cleanser comes first (obvs!), then toner, serum, eye cream and finally moisturizer. If you apply serum after your moisturizer, on the other hand, the rich, slightly heavier nature of moisturizer will block the serum from the surface of your skin. And this will immediately make it less effective. That’s what we call money down the drain.

Serum BEFORE moisturizer, people. Always.

How Much Face Serum Should You Use?

Face serums are super lightweight due to their small molecular structure. This means they’re able to carry a high intensity of concentrated, active ingredients in a relatively thin, slippery formulation. This is crucial because it gives serum the ability to penetrate the skin more effectively than thicker, more viscous formulations like moisturizer and facial oil.

Thanks to their slippery nature, face serums smooth over your skin like a dream – well, a good one does, anyway;). Sure, it’s tempting to smother your face in it because you think your skin will end up reaping more benefits from all those awesome ingredients. But that’s a mistake because, the truth is, your skin can only soak up so much.

A reputable serum will always come with guidelines on how much to use, but a pea-sized amount, or roughly two to three drops, should generally be sufficient for your face and neck. Any more will simply be a waste.

5 Ways To Make Your Face Serum Work Harder

Because it's not just what you apply, but the way in which you apply it...

1. Exfoliate First

If the surface of your skin is clogged up with dead skin cells, your face serum stands no chance of penetrating at a deeper level. And this means it won’t work so well. So make sure you exfoliate regularly to create an easier pathway for your serum to go about its business.

A gentle scrub two or three times a week is a great shout, but if you’re not keen on face scrubs, try a leave-on chemical exfoliant that uses ingredients like glycolic acid and/or salicylic acid to dissolve the ‘glue’ that holds dead skin cells together. 

Try: 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant

2. Nail The Damp Skin Technique

Serums are able to penetrate the skin better if your skin has a bit of moisture present at its surface. Why? Because damp skin is more permeable, easy as that.

The trick is to apply a couple of drops to your hand as quickly as you can after cleansing or toning your skin. Then apply serum all over your face and neck using clean hands and light pressing motions. Not only will your skin be more receptive to all those fabulous ingredients but you’ll also lock in a little extra moisture while you’re at it. Win win.

One word of warning, however. If you have sensitive skin, you might actually be better off applying your serum to dry skin to reduce irritation. But play around, see what works best for you.

3. Understand That Your Skin’s Needs Vary From Morning To Night

Just like your entire body, your skin’s needs are very much governed by time. Cell turnover, for example, is at its peak during the night, while you’re asleep. This means that instead of using a sun protective antioxidant serum before bed, it’s much better to encourage repair and regeneration with ingredients like retinol, peptides and growth factors. Sebum production also slows down at night so it's similarly wise to enlist in some help sealing in hydration.

Meanwhile, your levels of cortisol are at their highest when you wake up, so anti-inflammatory serums that contain ingredients like niacinamide and vitamin E are better as part of your morning routine. Skin brightening and awakening ingredients like caffeine and vitamin C are also more beneficial first thing when you’ll be able to maximize – and actually see! – their revitalizing effects. And obviously antioxidants that help to protect your skin from environmental harm are crucial every morning.

Try: Day Night Duo with Vitamin C and Retinol Facial Serums

4. Wait A Hot Minute Before Applying Moisturizer

While it’s great to apply face serum swiftly after cleansing and/or toning, it’s wise to wait 60 seconds or so between your serum and moisturizer. Most serum formulations will sink in super fast but still, giving the formulation a short while to fully absorb and dry helps it to really settle into your skin.

5. Give Your Face Serum Enough Time To Work

Serums aren’t miracle workers that instantly make wrinkles vanish overnight. On the contrary, for real results, you’ll need to consistently apply yours for at least six to eight weeks before you’ll even begin to see their true effects.

Saying that, don’t rush in without patch testing any new formulation first. Then, if you’re good to go, make sure to introduce it slowly into your routine. This will give your skin time to adjust, thereby reducing your chances of irritation. It’ll also stop you from giving up too soon!

Check out our line-up of awesome serums right here. And if you don’t know which one is right for you, here’s a helpful guide.

A stressed mind often goes hand-in-hand with stressed skin so if your skin is breaking out, freaking out or drying out right now, here’s some advice…

Stress can be a real bummer for the health of your skin. It can exact all sorts of chaos on your complexion, causing anything from redness and irritation to acne, excess dryness, even flare-ups in existing conditions like rosacea and eczema.

But why? What’s the connection between stress and your skin?

Why Your Skin Reacts To Emotional Stress

You may not know this but your skin and brain are pretty tight. So tight, in fact, that they have a name for their strong friendship: the skin-brain axis.

The skin-brain axis is a communication network through which the brain and skin connect and consequently react to certain triggers. The skin-to-brain communication is pretty obvious when you think about it. For example, when your hand comes into contact with something extremely hot, the skin sends signals to your brain to move your hand away to reduce pain and minimize harm. Of course, it’s way more complicated than that (because biology), but that’s your skin doing its part in this two-way partnership.

But what about the brain-to-skin communication? Well, this is where your emotions come into play. And more specifically, stress. When your brain is stressed it releases inflammatory factors into the bloodstream, including an increase in the ‘stress hormone,’ cortisol. 

Cortisol plays an important role in the body, boosting your energy as you wake up in the morning, enabling tissue repair throughout the day and dropping in the evening to help prepare you for sleep. Problems arise, however, when chronic stress (the kind that builds up and makes you feel anxious, depressed, tired or frustrated) causes your cortisol levels to stay elevated. This not only disrupts sleep – which is seriously bad news for your skin in its own right – but elevated cortisol can also destroy important proteins like collagen and elastin, increase inflammation and seriously mess with your skin’s important barrier function. This is how the brain-to-skin part of the partnership works.

Tell-Tale Signs That Your Skin Is Stressed

Many skin conditions have been linked to emotional stress. Eczema, rosacea and psoriasis can all be triggered by bouts of stress thanks to the inflammatory nature of the beast. Cortisol also accelerates the production of sebum in your skin which can be seriously bad news for those with acne-prone skin.

But it’s not just sufferers of these specific skin conditions that can be affected by stress. It can get us all if we don’t watch our backs and try to keep our levels of emotional stress under control.

The most common signs to look out for include…

* Redness

* Irritation

* Dryness

* Dehydration

* Oiliness

* Pimples

Your Game Plan For Reducing Stress

Are you noticing any of the above creeping up on you right now? Feel like they might be a result of chronic stress? Then your first course of action is to implement lifestyle changes that promote relaxation and help reduce your stress levels. It's vital to think about the way your conduct your daily life and to take time out to concentrate on your mental health. Granted, this isn't easy, but it’s extremely important for the health of your entire body, not just your skin. Things like exercise have been proven to boost your mental wellbeing, as has meditation, a healthy diet, quality sleep and deep breathing.

Also, try to understand your stress triggers. This will give you the skills and knowledge to improve habits or avoid certain situations that make you feel tense or troubled.

Skincare Recovery Starts Now

When it comes to skincare, there are many ways to provide your skin with a physical buffer against the visible signs of stress. 

Below are our top skincare tips for stressed skin.

1. Simplify Your Routine

When stressed skin starts freaking out, it’s a warning sign to chill out with the over-complicated skincare routine. Lay off the exfoliation for a bit and reduce your use of active ingredients while your skin hits the reset button. Hopefully, it won’t take long for your skin to return to a state of calm but sticking with a simple cleanser, good moisturizer and broad-spectrum sunscreen will help speed up the process.

2. Embrace Calming Skincare Ingredients

The likes of retinol and glycolic acid are extremely effective skin-enhancers when your skin is strong and behaving itself, but when it’s compromised it’s best to lay off these potent powerhouses. 

Instead, reach for the more gentle folk; those that still have positive effects on your skin, while helping to soothe redness and reduce inflammation at the same time. Our favorites include aloe, green tea, oat and rice milk, niacinamide and vitamin E – all of which you’ll find in many of your favorite TruSkin formulations. Soothing Cleansing Milk, for example, is the bee’s knees for compromised, stressed skin, literally giving your skin a comfortable hug of oat and rice milk, along with two of the finest super hydrators, hyaluronic acid and glycerin.

3. Boost Your Barrier Function

Your skin’s barrier function is crucial for keeping your skin hydrated and strong. How so? Well, this important top layer keeps moisture in and nasties out, allowing your skin to maintain optimum health and minimal disruption. 

Excess cortisol tries its hardest to upset your barrier function, so make sure you counteract its damaging effects by ‘feeding’ your skin with all the good stuff. Ceramides, for example, are essential for a strong, stable barrier function as they help bind the cells together, giving it stability, preventing water loss and protecting it from environmental stressors.

Try our Smoothing Collagen Serum which contains three essential ceramides for repairing, hydrating and strengthening stressed skin.

4. Supercharge Your Skin’s Overnight Repair System

While the rest of your body sleeps, your skin gets super busy, repairing damage caused by the stresses from the day as well as rejuvenating itself in preparation for a brand new one. To help out, ensure your skin is gently cleansed before bed, then apply an enriching night cream that contains kind-to-skin antioxidants (hello sodium ascorbyl phosphate!) as well as ingredients famed for fueling hydration and calming inflammation.

Good news: we have that exact product in the form of Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream.

5. Finally, Don't Panic

Fortunately, stressed skin is usually temporary so don't worry about it too much – that'll do nothing but heighten your emotional stress! Just listen to your skin, stick with a back-to-basics routine for a while and if things do persist, maybe it's time to visit a dermatologist for extra advice. That's what they're there for, after all.

Showing your skin love isn’t about overly expensive skincare products and complicated routines, it’s about being positive, listening to what your skin needs and reacting with kind. Here’s how to get on that…

Remember when you learnt in school that your skin is your body’s largest organ? Well, your teachers weren’t lying. The average adult human has around 22 square feet of skin which, even though it’s only a few millimeters thick at its thickest point, weighs around 8 lbs.

That’s a lot of skin right there. 

If you’re here, we imagine you’re already into practicing good skincare habits. We bet you already cleanse like a pro, apply moisturizer vigilantly and rarely leave the house without slapping on your broad-spectrum SPF. Good work. 

That being said, it’s easy to forget that skin sometimes needs a little extra love and attention. Whether the weather has been taking its toll, work has gotten on top of you or certain hormonal changes are happening in your life, understanding your skin’s needs and adapting your habits is crucial for making the most of your skin and encouraging a healthy glow.

In the market for giving your skin a little added TLC right now? Then read on for 10 proven skincare practices and lifestyle habits for showing your skin just how much you care.

1. Get To Know Your Skin Better

Before going any further, remember that your skin is totally unique to you so understanding when it’s feeling good and when it needs help is crucial if you’re striving for healthier-looking skin. Knowing your skin type (normal, oily, dry or combination) is the first step, but there are plenty of other factors at work here ­– your age, environment, lifestyle, diet, they all play their part and dictate how you should adapt your habits to suit. 

Action Stations: To understand your skin better, cleanse your face with a gentle cleanser like Soothing Cleansing Milk, pat it dry, then look in the mirror without applying any other skincare products. Feel your skin and look at all the various areas of your face and neck to see what’s going on right now. Once you know this, you can think about what you can do to help.

2. Concentrate On The Good Stuff

It’s easy to reel off the things you don’t like about your skin ­– crow’s feet, breakouts, a sagging jawline ­– but when was the last time you thought about the stuff you do like? Being positive about your skin is crucial, not only for your mental wellness, but also for your skin itself. How so? Because when you know what you like about your skin you can accentuate and highlight these areas. 

Action Stations: Do you have the smoothest forehead, like, ever? Then pull your hair back and flaunt it. OK, maybe you have the odd wrinkle or two, but good news, your complexion is fairly even in tone. Then don’t be afraid to go foundation-free. Show off your good bits, people, it’s very liberating. Plus, it stops you sweating over the other, 'not so great' stuff.

3. Boost Your Glow With Antioxidants

Facial serums are to skin what red lipstick and stunning earrings are to an outfit – the true icing on the cake. You see, serums have a smaller molecular structure than creams and lotions so they’re able to truly penetrate your skin and target your concerns.

Depending on what these are, we have a whole collection of plant-powered serums packed with ingredients to help hydrate, plump, firm, smooth and boost radiance.

Action Stations: Our bestselling serum, year after year is the OG, Vitamin C Facial Serum. Packed with skin-loving sodium ascorbyl phosphate (a gentle form of vitamin C skin loves), as well as soothing vitamin E and hydrating powerhouses hyaluronic acid and aloe, it’s the bee’s knees for great skin. Apply a few drops to your face and neck after toning and before moisturizing for better-looking, incredible-feeling skin in both the short- and long-term.

4. Take Compliments… And Return The Favor

Hands up if you’re terrible at receiving compliments? You’re not alone. But the thing is, people say nice things because they genuinely like or appreciate something about you and want to let you know about it order to make you feel good.

Action Stations: Next time someone tells you how great your skin is looking, smile and enjoy the compliment. They wouldn’t say it if they didn’t mean it. Plus, you’ll feel so much better than if you shrugged it off. Similarly, whenever your friends look good, let them know. Share the love!

5. Don’t Skip One Of The Best Skin Tonics Around

Toning used to be a vital part of any skin enthusiast’s all-important three-step skincare routine. Ask anyone older than 30 and they'll you that, back in the day, skincare was strictly about cleansing, toning and moisturizing. Then the world realized that most toners on the market were stripping the skin of essential nutrients and oils, and were, honestly, doing the skin much good at all.

Not so, any more. These days, toners are often the exact product your skin has been looking for, helping to increase hydration while cooling, reducing redness, calming irritation, firming, the list goes on.

Action Stations: The great thing about applying toner is that, sure, it might be an extra step in your routine, but if you choose a spritz formulation it'll only add on mere seconds. At most. Try our Ocean Minerals Super Toner after cleansing and before applying serum and your skin will instantly lavish the effects of radiance boosting vitamin C, glycolic acid, ginseng and MSM. All that from one spritz? You better believe it.

6. Watch Out For Changes In Your Skin

When skin is unhappy, it will tell you so. So don’t ignore it. The end. OK, not quite…

Action Stations: Pay attention to changes in texture and tone, increased sensitivity, irritation, breakouts and dry patches. These are all sure-fire signs that your skincare routine might not be cutting it, so adjust yours accordingly. If your skin is feeling irritated, for example, cut back on active ingredients for a bit to give it a chance to reset and ‘breathe’ again.

7. Know That Sleep Time Is Crucial For Your Skin

The term ‘beauty sleep’ didn’t occur by accident. Sleep, is in fact, the single most important time for your skin to repair and rejuvenate itself. When the rest of your body and brain are at rest, blood flow to your skin increases, collagen production amps up, antioxidants get to work and cell turnover picks up speed. Skip your important shut-eye and your skin loses out on all this important stuff. Not cool.

Action Stations: The National Sleep Foundation recommends between seven and nine hours of sleep every night for healthy adults. OK, this might not always be possible, but try to go to bed at the same hour every night to get into a regular pattern. Keep your room at a comfortable (neither too hot nor too cold) temperature and make sure it’s dark and quiet to optimize sleep. Also, make sure you help your skin out as it gets to work overnight. Cleanse before bed, apply a collagen-boosting serum like Rejuvenating Longevity Serum and follow with a rich moisturizer like Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream.

8. Carve Out Some Skin-Love Time

Giving yourself a DIY facial is a fantastic way to spend some quality time in your own company, improving your wellness and your complexion as a result. Facial massage, in particular, boosts circulation and helps lymphatic drainage to significantly improve the appearance of your skin. Not to mention how incredibly healing the power of touch can be.

Action Stations: Put aside 30 minutes each week to pamper your skin. This can be anything from giving yourself a facial massage to relaxing on your bed with a face mask and a couple of cold, used teabags over your eyes. Just remember to lock the door to ensure your kids, housemates or partner leave you well alone while you enjoy some much-needed me-time. 

9. Exfoliate: But With Caution

We love skin exfoliation for removing dead skin cells, improving sluggish cell turnover and generally getting your skin’s glow on. However, it’s important to get the sweet spot just right. Too much and you could compromise your skin’s barrier function. Too little and you won’t experience the full benefits.

Of course your sweet spot depends on the strength and tolerance levels of your skin, but the general rule of thumb is that two or three times a week should do it.

Action Stations: There are two primary ways to exfoliate the skin: physical and chemical exfoliation. If you love the feel of a good scrub on your skin (that’s the physical version) try our Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub which is fast becoming a favorite. But don’t forget, we also have our 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant for all your chemical exfoliating fans. Neither are bad choices. It’s simply up to you how you prefer to keep your skin ticking over.

10. Finally, Celebrate The Improvements

Healthy skin is a journey that requires time, patience and the willingness to adapt your routine and lifestyle as it changes. When you get on top of this, your skin is likely to reward you in the best way possible ­– looking better, feeling better and consistently behaving better. Big win.

Action Stations: Pat yourself on the back for listening to your skin, reacting positively and seeing results. And keep at it!

Elastin is the unsung hero of resilient, bouncy, healthy-looking skin. So, sure, collagen needs your undivided attention, but don’t forget about this other important protein working hard to keep your skin in shape.

Put your hands up if you dream of the bouncy skin you had when you were young. And, while we might not remember our own, how adorable is the skin of a young baby? It’s. Just. So. Plump. Not to mention insanely springy and so incredibly soft. Gosh, why doesn’t our 30/40/50/60/70-something skin have the same bouncebackability? Not fair!

The thing is, just like the entire human body, your skin changes as you get older. It’s as inevitable as day turning to night. The clocks tick, life continues and your body ages. And that’s never going to change.

The structure of your skin is super important when it comes to how strong, supple, soft and smooth it remains during the aging process. Of course, collagen is the biggie – mainly because it’s the most abundant protein in the body, accounting for between 70 and 80 percent of all proteins within the skin alone. But collagen can’t do it all alone. It needs a wing man.

Enter elastin, the Robin to collagen’s Batman. The Watson to its Sherlock, if you will. And officially the unsung hero of bouncy, fabulous-looking skin.

What Is Elastin, Anyway?

Elastin is a structural protein (just like collagen) that’s produced by the fibroblasts in the middle layer of your skin, aka the dermis. While collagen provides the backbone to your skin, giving it strength and firmness, elastin helps the skin seamlessly work with your body’s natural movements, allowing it to stretch, flex and bounce back to its original position.

During childhood your skin is literally chock full of collagen and elastin. But as you race past early adulthood, you get to say a slow farewell to your skin’s strength and supple nature. It happens around your mid-20s ­– give or take ­– when your body starts to slow down and all the good stuff that made your skin so plump and baby-soft ups and leaves. Not only does your skin produce fewer of these important proteins but all the existing stuff begins to break down. 

Of course, natural aging is the major factor here, but don’t forget that many of your lifestyle choices also play their part in the rate at which elastin packs its bags and leaves town. And they’re the things you can actually do something about. UV radiation from prolonged sun exposure is one of the biggest elastin-killers, as is chronic stress, environmental pollution and a diet that’s high in things like processed carbs and refined sugar. All these things trigger inflammation and oxidative stress which break down your skin’s elasticity at lightning speeds.

The result? Skin becomes weaker, thinner, less supple and less resilient. Which is why serious action is required. You know what they say, prevention is better than cure. And in this case, never a truer word has been spoken.

5 Ways To Protect & Preserve Your Skin’s Important Elastin Supplies

Stopping time is not something even the latest AI technology can accomplish. So, instead of worrying about your age, let’s focus on some of the things you CAN do to help protect your elastin (and your collagen as an added bonus!)…

1. Never Scrimp On Sunscreen

We know it’s tempting to lap up the sun’s warming, skin-bronzing rays, but UV radiation is the biggest cause of external aging. And science has proven it so. You see, UV rays actively break down elastin fibers by creating free radicals in your skin. And these free radicals compromise the structure of all the good proteins that keep your skin ticking over nicely. Nothing good comes from free radicals so you must do everything you can to keep them to a bare minimum. The easiest way to accomplish this? Apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen like SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C to any areas of exposed skin. Do this every day (even when it’s cloudy) and you can pat yourself on the back for safeguarding your skin and simultaneously protecting its important stash of collagen and elastin. Take that, sun.

2. Double Down With Topical Antioxidants

Did you know that topical antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, green tea and niacinamide also act like your skin’s very own personal repair crew? While sunscreen limits the number of free radicals that form in your skin in the first place, antioxidants help to neutralize any that manage to slip through the net. Clever, right?

All of our facial serums are packed with antioxidants so if you’re not sure which is best for you, check out our guide right here.

3. Rethink Your Dietary Habits

As we mentioned earlier, sugar is one of the worst culprits for screwing up your collagen and elastin. The problem is a process called glycation.

Glycation occurs in the skin when excess sugar binds itself to vital proteins, leading to the formation of advanced glycation end products, aka AGEs. AGEs are everything their name suggests. They degrade collagen and elastin and thus compromise the entire integrity of your delicate skin, aging you up way quicker than you signed up for.

Try to avoid sugar-laden foods and alcohol and, instead, enrich your diet with foods that are rich in vitamin C (fruit and veggies), zinc (meat, eggs, beans and seeds) and omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, tuna, walnuts and chia seeds). Also, stay hydrated. And if you are partial to an alcohol beverage or two, make sure you counteract every glass with equal measures (or more) of water.

4. When In Doubt, Pick Retinol (Or Bakuchiol!)

As gold standards in skincare go, retinol is more often than not the pick of the crop. A form of topical vitamin A, retinol is a smart little cookie because it’s able to ‘communicate’ with your skin at a cellular level to truly rev up its production of both collagen and elastin.

Of course, retinol is not all moonlight and roses because it’s an extremely potent beast and can upset sensitive skin if it’s not used carefully. Follow a few retinol rules, however, and most people can use it comfortably and to great effect. We truly believe, for example, that if you patch test our Retinol Facial Serum or Retinol Moisturizer first, then introduce it slowly into your routine, you’re on to a real winner. Not convinced? NP. Try our Rejuvenating Longevity Serum which harnesses the powers of bakuchiol – that's nature’s gentler alternative to retinol, in case you’re yet to be acquainted. Note to self: it’s real good.

5. Manage Your Levels Of Stress

Stress raises your levels of cortisol and boosts the number of free radicals in your skin which upsets your skin’s barrier function, screws up your skin’s natural pH levels and seriously ruins its supplies of collagen, elastin, even hyaluronic acid. Nothing good comes from stress like that.

However, with today's busy lifestyles, keeping your stress levels under control is often easier said than done. But it's not impossible. Some of our favorite ways to de-stress include yoga, going for walks, reading, taking a bath or trying a new hobby. Basically, do whatever you can do to carve out a little me-time on the reg (even just a few minutes will help) and you will immediately help reduce your levels of stress and therefore look after your skin as an added bonus.