The Not-So-Attractive Truth: How a Line Forms
When you’re young, wrinkles seem like something that only affects you when you approach the golden years. But depending on your lifestyle and the overall health of your skin, lines can appear on your face far earlier than you may expect.
To understand how to prevent this, it’s a good idea to grasp why these troublesome face invaders lay their stake in the first place.
IT’S A FINE LINE
There are two types of lines that we tend to call wrinkles: fine lines and deep lines. Fine lines are smaller (hence the name) and stick around the upper layer of skin (epidermis). Deep lines, subsequently, etch their way down into the lower layer (dermis).
Fine lines are most likely to appear if your skin is lacking hydration. Deep lines are most likely to occur as a result of repetitive muscle movement on your face (remember when your mom said not to make that face, it will stick? Turns out she was kind of right!). In any case, here’s what you can do about these pesky lines.
HYDRATE
If you thought your body performed poorly when dehydrated, your complexion’s response to a lack of hydration is just as bad. Too little moisture absorbed and retained by your skin causes you to lose its firmness and elasticity, and may also appear sullen. When this happens, you set yourself up for an easy wrinkle takeover.
The antidote? Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Drink plenty of water throughout the day (you should never reach the point of feeling thirsty) and double check that you’re using a top-notch moisturizer and hydrating serum.
THINNER ISN’T BETTER
Thin may be in for Hollywood, but you want the opposite for your skin. The goal is to maintain strength and the good fat that keeps the skin looking full and healthy. The challenge is that, as we age, skin loses its elasticity and supple appearance thanks to decreased fat under the dermis, and reduced collagen and elastin production. The result is often sagging, weak, thin skin.
To combat this natural process in aging, seek out antioxidants in your food and your skincare. Cranberries, blueberries, beans, almonds, and pumpkin – foods that are rich in antioxidants should be regularly incorporated into your diet. When it comes to your skin care routine, look for products that include antioxidant ingredients like L-ascorbic acid, D-Alpha tocopherols, retinol and lactic acid (L), to name a few. These powerful wonders will help strengthen and tighten your skin while simultaneously going to work on the lines.
COUNTERACT THE UNDERLYING CAUSES
As you can see, there’s a lot that goes into the overall health and longevity of our skin, but it doesn’t differ much from how we care for our bodies. As such, there are a few other key wrinkle-banishing lifestyle tactics to keep in mind: Work on getting enough sleep, reduce (or at least healthfully cope with) the major stressors you face, and eliminate smoking and excessive alcohol intake. And if you plan to be in the sun, you must, must, must wear sun protection. This is hands down the number one contributor to the skin’s aging. Your lifestyle can go a long way in aging you prematurely – or keeping you young for years to come.
As you can see, lifestyle and your skin care method really work hand-in-hand to either keep wrinkles from executing a hostile takeover of your face or foster an environment that enables them. So be sure to keep hydrated, load up on the antioxidants, and eliminate as many of the protagonists as possible.