Prevent your skin from premature aging – with these must-follow guidelines

Aging is inevitable for all of us, but thankfully, there are some rules that (if followed) could help you slow down that process. We focus on the ‘successful aging’ paradigm which contradicts the traditional conceptualizations where aging = time, and we share ways in which we can minimize age signs on the skin, face, and body.

The focus of this article is to help you: 

• Learn about different skincare recommendations and techniques that will help you prevent premature skin aging
• Understand why they work and why they are important ( some are pretty self explanatory, but some might not be)
• Provide you with more resources and tips on how to implement those into your daily / weekly / monthly routine 

Let’s start with what our skin needs to thrive and to give us that healthy, smooth, blemish-free, translucent and resilient look.

A Diversified, Well-Balanced Diet

What you put inside your body is exactly what shows up on the outside sooner or later. Our brand is passionate about holistic health and that often starts with our diet. This means, our bodies need enough protein, veggies, fats and other necessary vitamins, so we stay healthy and full of energy. To make sure you are doing your best caring for your skin and giving it all the nourishment it needs, click here to learn about your recommended daily veggie portion based on your age. 

Tip: We recommend checking out:  Rachel Paul, PhD RD (@collegenutritionist), a registered dietician, who provides you with healthy meal ideas on her instagram and offers a FREE meal plan; and Bari the Dietitian, MSc, RDN (@barithedietitian), she gives you even more ideas for healthy bowls and tells you about her journey on her @forkingwellness podcast. She also often posts about her french bulldog, Oscar, which is a plus if you ask me.

Taking Care of Your Gut

Recent studies have shown that our gut is responsible for 70% of our immune system. I am sure you noticed that if you eat unhealthy foods, or drink alcohol, your skin not only breaks out, but it also loses its vibrant and healthy look. We can definitely see a connection between the gut and our complexion. Even though sometimes it might be difficult to pinpoint whether our skin issues are connected to our gut, taking extra care of our body will not hurt. To help with gut health, on top of having a well balanced diet full of vegetables, we can also eat foods high in bacteria such as yogurt, kimchi and sauerkraut. However, if those recommended foods cannot be a part of your diet, incorporate probiotics into your daily routine – the will help with overall skin conditions and with time will balance out gut bacteria leaving your clear and glowing skin. Another interesting study has shown that incorporating flax seeds into your diet will also have positive benefits to your gut health. To read the full study and find out why, click here.

Try drinking kombucha to increase healthy bacteria in your gut and prevent bloating. For experimenting with your diet, maybe try cutting out dairy, meat, or gluten for a week? Or if you feel more adventurous maybe try going vegetarian or vegan for a short period to see if you will see a change in your skin and body? Slowly experiment, observe, and then adjust your habits accordingly – nothing is more motivating in changing your habits than seeing positive changes in how you feel and what your skin looks like.

Tip: Favorite probiotics: Vivomix (EU) / Visibiome (US) , The Beauty Chef , Solluna

Supplementation of trace elements and vitamins

Trace elements include iron, iodine, zinc, and copper and refer to other minerals and vitamins whose content in the human body is less than 0.01–0.005% of the body mass. Due to this, one might think they are not significant when it comes to preventing skin aging, but recent clinical studies have shown that these trace elements are important for processes happening in the human body especially when it comes to skin aging. For example, copper contributes to improving skin elasticity, reducing facial fine lines and wrinkles [63] and lack of selenium in the human body weakens skin’s protection against ultraviolet radiation leaving the skin becoming more sensitive to stress.

Tip: Take daily multivitamins that supplement your body with sufficient amounts of trace elements and vitamins + maintain a healthy diet.

Drinking Enough Water

Hydrating is important because water facilitates maintenance of balance and tissue function in the body. The more dehydrated the body, the less energy it has to prevent aging and fight inflammation. Well if you are thinking to yourself, how do I know whether I’m dehydrated or not? FUN FACT: Look at your lips – they’re the reflection of the body’s moisture status. If your lips are good and moisturised without reapplying chopstick every 30 minutes – congrats! You are most likely doing a good job drinking enough water. However, if they are not, you might want to start making sure you are drinking more than 2L of water a day, since that is the recommended amount of fluids proven to promote deep skin hydration.

Tip: If you are struggling with drinking a lot of water – invest in a big 2L or 1L water bottle and refill it every day. Knowing you have to drink the whole bottle (or two, depending on which one you get) before going to sleep will not only help you keep track of how much you drink, but over time you will also form a positive, healthy habit that benefits your skin. You can also use an app such as Daily Water Tracker Reminder or Hydro Coach that will remind you to drink water.

Another tip: If you are part of the crowd who dislikes the taste of water – there are many healthy zero calorie vitamin flavors to add to your water. Try Sakara Beauty Water Drops at Sakara.com , “a keto-friendly, vegan, no-sugar and no-artificial sweetener fluid has a natural rose flavor.” Or if you like more fruity flavors and want more diversity, check out Mio Liquid Water Enhancer

Getting Enough Quality Sleep

As Dr. Papantoniuou, a board certified cosmetologist from NYC says, “During sleep we heal, restore, and eliminate toxins from the skin; If sleep is compromised, so is the body’s ability to carry out these essential skin functions. During the first three hours of sleep your body will start producing the human growth hormone from the pituitary gland. As we age, this hormone is necessary for the maintenance of youthful and radiant skin. Without this hormone release, skin is not repaired from daily damage and thus induces the aging process.” Recommended sleep time is 7-9 hours every night, having a scheduled bed time not only creates a healthy habit, but it will also train your body over time to naturally be ready for bed let’s say around 10pm. Getting enough sleep also prevents the need for naps during the day and gets rid of the midday feeling of sleepiness. (For more information on Dr. Papantoniou ideology click here)

Tip:  Get some fresh air before going to bed – open a window and leave it open for 15 minutes so you get more oxygen or go on a short walk. Cover your windows with blinds – the darker the room, the better the sleep.Lastly, aromatherapy might be your saving grace. Essential oils could help you with falling asleep, ease anxiety and improve sleep quality. Most recommended oils for better sleep are Lavender, Jasmin, or Vanilla, but you can read more about aromatherapy by clicking here.

Relaxing Your Face, Implementing Face Massage, and Face Yoga

Sometimes we don’t realize our skin and face muscles are tight until we intentionally try to relax our jaw and take a deep breath. Doing this felt nice and relaxing, right? Relaxing your face muscles just by thinking about it, massaging your face with your fingers or by using a roller has positive effects on how your skin looks and how you feel. It decreases tension, improves metabolism and gives you a minute to focus on yourself.

With consistent face massages and face yoga implementation, you could minimize your double chin, lift your cheeks or change anything else that bothers you in your appearance. Engaging face muscles stimulates the cells, improves blood circulation, helps fight gravity and might even help you reshape your face to make it more symmetrical.

Where to go to learn more? We put a couple of our favorite resources together:

• Facial Acupressure Points by @treatmentbylanshin, for this specific video click here, or pick and choose from all the videos on her website.
• Sculpting Massages from our favorite Instagram accounts @the_moments , @facegym and a Romee Strijd video, where she shows you how she uses a couple different tools.
• Anti-aging Massage, @abigailjames1 provides us with nice and short videos on her instagram, if you want to learn more, check out her Youtube channel.
• Face Yoga gurus: @faceyogamethod, @faceyoga_monna , @allyoucanface 
• Check out the Face Yoga Beginners Video here.

Tip: Watch these videos and try to do the same on your face before going to bed or throughout the day
FUN FACT: remember to chew on both sides of your mouth, if you don’t over time this might contribute to making your face more asymmetrical.

Maintaining Skin Care Balance

Doing no skincare is bad, but doing too much can also hurt your skin. We have all been there, where we get on and off the beauty train whenever we see that our skin is not doing its best. But once our skin starts looking good again, we would stop paying attention to it until we break out again. Find the happy balance for your routines and try to be consistent with facial treatments or regimens that you do, so your skin can grasp the benefits of your rituals in the long-run. Consistency and balance is key to keeping your skin hydrated, healthy and energized.

Tip: Check the ingredients of the products you are already using and find out whether they have any harsh chemicals that damage skin’s barrier. Top 5 ingredients to avoid in skincare are: Fragrance, Parabens, Formaldehyde, Phthalates, and Alcohol – learn more about checking out the Insider’s article here.

Using Antioxidants and Cell Regulators

You might think, what on earth is that, what does this mean for my skin and most importantly, for my wallet? These are just fancy words for the vitamins being put into anti-aging creams, serums and other skincare products. Antioxidants (Vitamins C, B₃, and E) are able to penetrate the skin and reduce collagen degradation, however cell regulators (Vitamin A) are our retinols, peptides, and growth factors that influence collagen production and directly influence collagen metabolism by topical application. These ingredients should be an integral part of our skincare routine since they help decrease fine lines and wrinkles. Therefore, investing in these types of products makes sense, especially that you do not have to use them daily (retinol is recommended 1-2 a week), so they will last you for a while.

Tip: Remember to be careful with sun exposure and use products with sun protection filters (SPF) because your skin becomes more sensitive while using these products. A respected and loved by the red carpet stars’ facialist, Joanna Czech, recommends some of her favorite SPFs right here.

Moisturising

The older we get, the thinner and dryer our skin is and with that, we are more prone to having visible wrinkles. It is important to find a moisturiser that meets your skin’s needs depending on your age, skin conditions, lifestyle, budget.

Tip: Buy travel sizes (if possible) before buying bigger packages so you could try out different ones and figure out which products you like the most before making the big commitment. Remember not to buy something only because your friends love it, because it might not work for your skin.

Exfoliating

When it comes to this step there are often many misconceptions of what this means because there are exfoliating scrubs, tonics, serums, cleansers with messages to remember to exfoliate your skin. There are many different types of exfoliators, gentle cleansers and scrubs you can use at home and intense acid peels you can get by going to a cosmetologist. BUT, while this process is important because it helps rejuvenate the skin, it is also important to keep in mind to not over do it. Maintain holistic balance, let your skin have some time to regenerate and breathe. We recommend gentle exfoliation using PHA (gluconolactone and lactobionic acid)  acids, which are great even for very sensitive, dry, and aging skin.

Tip: Try using gentle exfoliating tonics a couple times a week and see whether you can see a difference in your skin.

Silk pillowcase and sleeping on your back rather than your stomach or on your side

Silk pillowcases help in preventing wrinkles by regulating temperature by keeping your face cooler at night, and by hydrating your skin. If you wanna find out about all 10 skin and hair benefits of silk pillowcases, we attached an article for you right here.

Tip: Make sure to get the real silk one (no polyester), they are a little pricier, but they are so soft and feel a lot better for your skin. No tips on how to only sleep on your back – sorry (: if you have any, please feel free to share by clicking here!

Sunglasses

Remember to bring your shades along on sunny days. Most importantly so you can see better with the sun in your eyes, but they will also protect your eyes and the delicate skin around them. Even if you use SPF, limiting sun-exposure and squinting prevents wrinkle formation.

Tip: Have an extra pair in your bag or if you don’t like carrying more things than you need like me, keep them by your door so you won’t forget to grab them on your way out.

Fresh air, outdoors

Being outside, assuming that air quality is good where you live, helps us get better blood saturation and deliver more oxygen directly to the cells. Especially, when you’re on the move.  It not only has a positive impact on the human body but also, most of the time, it makes us happier.

Tip: Incorporate a short walk before or after work. We all have that one friend who walks everywhere no matter how long the walk might me – tag along from time to time 🙂