10 Skin Tips To Truly Age Well
How to reverse the signs of aging? My approach to aging has always been about health and longevity. What I learned in the last 30 years is that skin aging is gradual, and as we age we lose the integrity and shape of our face but those individual challenges presented by an aging skin and body are intertwined with overall health and well–being. No one ailment stands alone. As I approach 50, I’m often mistaken for being in my 30s and as much as that appeals to my vanity, the truth is I’m not 30 and mid-life aging is apparent to me. What I’ve also learned is that investing early and continued discipline with cohesive skincare regimen and holistic approach to lifestyle encourages you to age well with very little extreme interventions.
So, you want to know what you can turn the clock on aging? Aging is inevitable but aging with grace and looking and feeling radiant is possible. I’m proof of it! However, in order to improve anyone’s face or health condition, it’s important to assess when and where the cause originated from. Without a proper determination of a problem we cannot find the right course of treatment and to prevent its reoccurence. My hope with this information and tips is to help you understand your own process of aging. To guide you to make sense of all the noise and confusion surrounding the world of beauty and to help you make proper decisions, and set a plan in motion for your skin management goals. Let’s dive in!
THE AGING FACE
With gradual aging we start to see volume loss in the mid-face, jowling with neck laxity. Discoloration and more wrinkles start to set in. We start to see an overall break down as the skin becomes thinner and less elastic over time. Aging is not the only reason our faces begin to change. A few of these factors are genetic or hormonal changes in the form of decreased estrogen production and growth hormone diminishing. However, there are many lifestyle choices we make that can cause us to lose volume in our faces too—like over sun exposure.
All vital organs begin to lose some function as you age during adulthood. Aging changes occur in all of the body's cells, tissues, and organs, lymphatic system which is already passive but can slow down and create more stagnation. All the “slow down” and changes affect the functioning of the entire body systems. The biggest changes typically occur in our 40s and 50s, but can begin earlier especially if you you haven’t taken care of your skin properly or been attentive to it. These outward changes are caused by profound moves happening beneath your skin to your facial bones, muscles, and fat as you grow older. Gravity and genetics dictate some of what happens, but two significant factors that speed facial aging are within your control: lifestyle and the environment. Unhealthy behaviors like excessive tanning, smoking, substance abuse, and stress and poor nutrition that cause an imbalance in hormone levels take a toll on a youthful appearance.
From a wholistic point of view, lets divide them into three categories because aging of the skin is not solely chronological, there are several other contributing factors as I mentioned.
Intrinsic (genetic factors)
Extrinsic (outside factors)
Internal (emotional factors)
What Is intrinsic aging?
Intrinsic aging or genetic factors influence the facial skin, include the loss and descent of underlying fat, leading to hollowed cheeks and eye sockets, as well as loss of firmness and sagging skin as the bones shrink away from the skin due to bone loss and fascia lengthening. Intrinsic, also referred as chronological aging, is the inevitable genetically determined process that naturally occurs. Intrinsic aging is determined by each person’s individual genetic clock and is affected by the degenerative effects of free radicals and the body’s inability to perfectly repair their damage. Also, some people have genetically very oily or dry skin; some people have heavy facial hair. Equatorial people tolerate the sun more than Caucasians that can burn quickly in direct sunlight. Genetic factors determine many things.
What is extrinsic aging?
The extrinsic, “outside factors “ that magnify intrinsic aging, often act together with the normal aging process to prematurely age skin. Extreme environmental factors like heat, cold, dampness and dryness—over exposures to any of these factors can damage the internal organs and in turn affect the facial skin. Of course, some can impact the skin directly. Most premature ageing is caused by sun exposure, though others are repetitive facial expressions, gravity, sleeping positions and smoking. Age-associated changes including thinning, laxity, fragility and wrinkles. In addition, sun exposure leads to dyspigmentation, premature wrinkling, broken capillaries, and actinic elastosis (abnormal elastin tissue). Outside factors also include, the type of exercise or the lack of, quality of your diet, occupational stress all impact the health of skin and the body.
What is internal aging?
This is caused by physcological factors—emotional balance is directly related to the condition to facial health. In eastern philosophy, mainly Japanese medical traditions (which I’m currently studying deeper) there are five main emotions: sadness, fear, anger, happiness and worry. When we experience the negative states of mind excessively we harm the internal organs and conversely cause an imbalance causing a breakdown of our body to show up in our face.
10 Skincare Tips To Age Well
1.Protect from oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress is an imbalance between the production of free radicals and the ability of the body to detoxify their harmful effects through the production of neutralizing antioxidants. Oxidative stress in skin plays a major role in the ageing process. This is true for intrinsic aging and even more so for extrinsic aging. When oxidative stress occurs, free radicals can cause premature signs of aging, uneven skin tone and texture, and can even break down the essential proteins that support the skin, causing more sagging and laxity.
Antioxidants in topical products are effective at limiting oxidative damage and slowing skin degradation. This is why I carry particular skincare lines. They have worked to incorporate antioxidants across the range of products to help combat the harmful effects of oxidative stress.
Well balanced diet, free from processed sugar and saturated fats and more protein, superfoods and healthy fats.
No smoking. Limit alcohol.
Exercising regularly (avoid over training with too much HIT)
stress management
Stop excessive tanning
2. Hydrate the fascia
The WHAT? Your Connective tissue —This is your FASCIA!! It supports other tissues and binds them together. This includes bone, blood, and lymph tissues, as well as the tissues that give support and structure to the skin and internal organs. The aging of the fascia is a key factor in many age-related changes that happen as we get older. This is why I feel filler isn’t the answer to address volume loss. You have to strengthen and work the fascia to support it. It’s commonly known that hydration is critical to the youthfulness and suppleness of fascia, because as the fascia dries out, it begins to fray or stiffen. But keeping the fascia hydrated isn’t just about drinking water, there’s a lot more to the process. We need to improve the flow of hydration to our 72 million cells. Living tissue is made up of cells. There are many different types of cells, but all have the same basic structure. Tissues are layers of similar cells that perform a specific function. The different kinds of tissues group together to form organs.
Read this to learn more and how myofascial massage can help reshape your face. Book the Sculptor Facial and Lymphatic Drainage to get started. At home treatments using beauty tools like Gua Sha stone or The Sculpting Plate can make lasting improvements to facial shape and quality of the skin.
Staying hydrated will rejuvenate your skin so it looks and feels smooth and soft. Skin that is well-hydrated also is less sensitive to irritants and germs that can slip through the lipid barrier when the skin lacks moisture. Skin lacking the hydration it needs often becomes itchy, flaky, red, or even inflamed. Dry skin can even exaggerate the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles due to shrinkage of skin cells.
3. Stop yo-yo dieting
One of the factors that contribute to a gaunt, haggard appearance is extreme diet and exercise. If you have not learned this by now, it is impossible to “spot reduce” fat with only diet and exercise — and often what we refer to as “yo-yo” dieting can do more harm than good, both from a medical and aesthetic standpoint. This recurrent up and down in diet and exercise causes a loss of not only facial volume loss but also elasticity in our skin. As we know, loss of collagen and elasticity causes our faces to appear gaunt and the lines in our skin, often around our mouths and eyes, to become more pronounced. All of this contributes to an overall older appearance.
4. Keep some body fat
Even if you do not engage in unhealthy “yo-yo” dieting, there is such a thing as being “too thin.” A common complaint among marathon athletes is that they believe they look like a “skeleton covered in skin.” Maybe you aren’t a distance runner, but you are naturally thin; a naturally thin frame has less fat to begin with, so it’s understandable that over the years, a person with a thinner face will show signs of aging at a much more rapid pace. Cardio bunnies beware, plus low body fat can cause acne too.
Facial fat is one of the key elements that maintains a youthful, healthy, and vibrant appearance. This process starts becoming noticeable by the time we are in our mid-late thirties and progressively continues with each year. See #9
This fat balancing activating cream from Adipeau helps get rid of the “gym-groove” — this is a discrete loss of volume that happens with aging in the eyelid-nose-cheek triangle. It’s a subtle concavity and progresses to form a distinct groove which broadens and deepens with time, creating a dip or “pond”. Constant high-intensity exercise, slows down the regenerative rate of the skin’s fat cells. Check out these results from their clinical trials in long term cases in both men and women.
Use code: Adipeau10 for a 10% off in the Shop
5. Protect from overexposure of UV rays
Another contributing factor to facial aging, although not a direct contributor to volume loss, is excessive exposure to the sun and other UV rays, such as indoor tanning booths. This is why we as healthcare professionals stress the importance of wearing SPF. UV rays not only damage our skin at a cellular level, but they also accelerate the breakdown of the skin’s collagen and elastin fiber network, accentuating the loss of fat in the face. This is often why someone who has worshiped the sun or spent most of their time in a warm climate, unprotected, looks much older than a person of the same age who took precautions against the damaging rays of the sun.
You definitely want to spend more time in light from Phototherapy; the use of light to enhance biological activity. Phototherapy is not a new science, and there have been over 1000 clinical studies on the effects of light on our bodies. Phototherapy is the exposure of cells and tissue to low levels of visible or near infrared light. When these wavelengths penetrate the skin they are absorbed by the mitochondria of the cell. This starts a cascade of intra and extracellular reactions that promote healthier skin. Check out this incredible Beauty Device faceLITE LED mask for skin renewal and rejuvenation.
6. Quit the sugar
Processed Sugar damages your skin through a natural process called glycation. The sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins and produces harmful free radicals called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). As AGEs accumulate (the more sugar you eat, the more they develop), they damage the proteins around them.
The proteins that are most vulnerable to damage are those that serve as the building blocks for your skin: Collagen and elastin. These proteins keep skin firm and elastic and are responsible for the plump and bouncy characteristics of a healthy and youthful complexion. AGEs make your collagen and elastin stiff, dry and brittle, zapping them of strength. The effects are seen on your complexion in the form of fine lines, sagging and wrinkles.
While carbs and sugar can be “comfort foods”— as well as delicious treats, craving them uncontrollably can indicate deeper issues. Unhealthy food cravings or sweets/starches can indicate an underlying problem inside your cells. Usually, it’s insulin resistance and or a vitamin deficiency. What your skin and body wants is a healthy diet, replete with vitamins and essential minerals.
7. Explore non-invasive aesthetic procedures
By taking some preventive actions, we can slow the effects of aging has on our skin. Specific treatments and less-invasive procedures for smoothing wrinkles, tightening skin, and improving one’s complexion are proven to give many people younger-looking skin. As you age, your skin slows down replenishing itself. Dead skin cells aren’t replaced by fresh cells as quickly, which means your skin starts to look dull and uneven. Regular exfoliating and resurfacing ( in moderation) is a great way to help get these keratin cells off your skin and expose softer, smoother complexion. It’s not always about heavy duty retinols and lasers. It’s about consistency over the long haul.
For early signs of aging, facial treatments and products that maintain the skins barrier with hydration can be enough. The use of antioxidants, retinoids, vitamin C, collagen and alpha-hydroxy acids are worth exploring and adding into your regimen. Advanced aging needs advanced aesthetic treatments. If you’re in your late 30, 40s and above with signs of aging moving in rapidly, your best bet is to opt-in to Chemical peels, micro-needling and/or needle-free resurfacing with the JetGlow treatments. These options have been extremely successful for moderate to severe facial sun damage and facial aging.
Getting a professionally curated skincare regimen should be part of your age management plan. One of the reasons my skin is in great condition at 50 is because of a disciplined skin routine since my mid-twenties. While a skin care routine may sound like high maintenance, in reality, the steps for healthy skin are not only necessary, they’re easy to implement too. Investing early in the health of your skin is key to aging well.
8. Chill with the Botox & Fillers
Some people may opt for Botox, Fillers and implants to help reshape their face. Whether you do any of these things, and how much you do, is a personal choice. I’m not against cosmetic work on principle alone, however, injections can always come with a risk. I do believe if more people understood facial anatomy and the aging process, putting in a little effort with the right guidance—all goes a long way. Perhaps wouldn’t jump on this trend so quickly. It’s not only risky but costly. Remember, the focus should be about longevity.
Longevity in the quality of our joints, muscles, organs and tissue is important for aging well. Over time cells, tissues and vital organs ‘rust’ or deteriorate when they haven’t been nourished properly. These internal changes to the muscle, fat and bones are not as visible as the signs of aging on skin, the external organ. As you start to age, years of doing Botox and filler can adversely affect tissue quality. Something no one ever tells you. The content of muscle tissue can be reduced by half where in connective tissue fibrosis can appear. Depending on the injection site muscles have different proportions of fibers and the reactions/outcome can be different and overall weakens the muscles.
There can also be a point with age where traditional hyaluronic acid fillers aren’t fully correcting or providing the result people have previously achieved. Many think by adding more and more filler will be the solution, but it can actually leave you looking worse and “overfilled” with a negative result and you completely lose your personal facial identity.
I work with clients who have stopped doing injections. Many have droopy, gelatinous-like tissue that sags easily and looks more wrinkled. We work on rehabbing the muscles, tissue to restrengthen, rebuild and maintain their integrity. For these reasons and as a professional massage therapist and aesthetician I don’t recommend anyone in their Teens, 20s or 30s to begin doing Botox or fillers for preventative measures. In my opinion, this doesn’t fall under the category of preventative. You’ll be doing a whole lot of correcting as you age.
BONUS INFO: COVID-19 vaccine
Another thing to consider if your planning on having the vaccine is the potential for a reaction. When you take a vaccine, suddenly your immune system ramps up. The thinking is basically because of that increased effect, the immune system is targeting those areas that someone may have filler in and causing a more robust inflammatory response.
Why does this happen with Moderna, and not Pfizer?
A higher dose of the vaccine, is revving up your immune system. Moderna has three-times the dose of the vaccine over Pfizer. So, it is ramping up the immune system even more and attacking these areas of the filler.
9. Save For A Fat Transfer
Maybe your a candidate for surgery, such as a facelift or fat transfer. They aren’t out of the question for me. Personally, this makes more sense. If you’ve aged well and your muscles have strength and integrity at some point its about the fascia. Natural aging elongates and descends the fascia due to gravity. The outer skin is attached to this connective tissue so of course it begins to fall with it. This sagging is happening to the entire face so it’s best to restore it and build it up all at once. This is why injections in spots don’t make sense and don’t treat the aging fascia. Facial fat is one of the key elements that maintains a youthful, healthy, and vibrant appearance.
WHAT IS FAT TRANSFER
Fat grafting, same thing is the process involving removing living fat tissue from one part of the body and using it to treat another part of the body. I can get on board with that!! Many of us long for the days when we took our “baby fat,” in the form of round, full cheeks, and pouty lips, for granted. A fat transfer to the face is used to restore the youthful contours and shape by eliminating the hollows and depressions, which make the face look older, tired and less healthy.
Since fat is what is lost over time, restoring that lost volume with your own fat gives you the most natural rejuvenation results. Fat cells also have an abundance of stem cells. Stem cells have been associated with long-term rejuvenation effects, such as skin clarity, improved skin tone, texture and even reduction in pore size. I use stem cells and exosomes from adipose(fat) tissue in my micro-needling skin rejuvenation infusions. This is one of the reasons beside technique I’m getting INCREDIBLE results with my clients!
“We are taught that there is a prime for life. Throw that out the door. Every moment is your prime. There is no peak, it just gets better.”
10. Change Your Perspective On Aging
We’ve all been there obsessing in front of the mirror. Feeling down with more gray, wrinkles and creases creeping in. I know it’s hard seeing those changes that can be unforgiving as we age. It’s time to shift your perspective so you find fun in the rituals of taking care of yourself. Embracing the new phases of life physical and emotional. This doesn’t mean you don’t do anything but you ease into it with a plan of action. Looking younger is also about feeling younger and learning tips and tricks that can help build your confidence.
Find your angles (Photographs are cringe after a certain age am I right? )
Wear clothes that make you feel feminine, or masculine, bold and confident.
Wear softer make-up and lose the heavy powders. Experiment with new colors in all your fashion too.
Change your hairstyle. Nothing screams old like ratty, unhealthy or thinning hair.
Get your brows shaped + sculpted to give you an instant brow lift!
Grow natural lashes and lose the fake diva lashes. Go for a natural, gradual length if doing extensions. This can age you hard. Do not do all the same length!
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Sending love + light to your skin!
CLAUDIA