4 Things That Actually Work For Facial Aging (and 3 Things That Don't)

Who doesn’t want to look youthful and vibrant? Even if facial aging hasn’t really started to take its hold yet, you want to keep looking young and bright as long as possible. The good news is that, because this is such a widespread desire, there are more products on the market for anti-aging than we can count. Sounds great to have plenty of options, right? The bad news is that not all of these actually work.

So how do you tell the difference between the products and techniques that will help you look younger and those that will just be a waste of your time and money? I’ve got you covered. Check out these top proven ways to look younger as well as the flip side.

What Works for Facial Aging

There are no miracles in anti-aging, but there are plenty of genuinely effective ways to look younger. Check out these top options.

Retinol

If you’re trying to repair facial aging, retinol should be at the top of your list. Retinol has long been a go-to for skin revitalization for one simple reason: it works.

Retinol initiates cell turnover, which means your damaged surface cells are replaced by healthier, renewed skin cells. It also helps your skin build more collagen, which is the main protein that makes skin firm, smooth, and wrinkle-free. Add a retinol product into your skin care routine and you’ll start seeing your skin brighten and rejuvenate with regular use.

Pigment Correcting Products

Aging isn’t all about wrinkles. One problem that will age your look in a hurry is the dreaded age spots. These brown patches are the result of sun damage you have accumulated over time. While they can happen at any age, they can add years to your appearance.

To kick those age spots to the curb and get a more even complexion, use a pigment correcting product. There are several pigment correction ingredients these products can use to battle brown spots, so choose the product that’s best suited to your skin type.

Healthy Habits

Here’s a flashback to biology class for you: your skin is not only an organ but it’s the largest organ in your body. Like any other organ, your skin needs nutrients, blood circulation, hydration, and other essentials to function at its best.

As a result, the better you care for your health, the younger your skin will look. Make it a priority to follow healthy habits like:

• Getting plenty of quality sleep
• Wearing sunscreen daily
• Drinking enough water
• Eating a healthy, balanced diet of nutrient-rich foods
• Exercising routinely

Professional Skin Treatments

Home skin care products can make a great difference in your facial aging, but they do take time. If you want quicker, more powerful results, professional skin treatments are unmatched. Treatments like micro needling, nonsurgical skin tightening, and laser treatments can directly address the causes of facial aging and improve them with either one procedure or a series of procedures.

You can make your results even better with the help of post-procedure skin care products. Once your skin has healed and you’re enjoying the results, take advantage of the other anti-aging strategies above to keep improving your skin.

What Doesn’t Work for Facial Aging

For as many truly effective and productive anti-aging strategies as there are out there, there are just as many strategies which, plain and simple, don’t work. Let’s look at some of the techniques that are rumored to make you look younger but generally don’t.

Weight Loss

It’s easy to see why people often think that losing weight will make their face look younger. You see jowls start to form around your chin so you think, “If I lose some weight, I’ll lose fat from around my chin so the jowls will shrink.” That’s not quite how it works.

Jowls and other age-related volume in the lower face forms for two reasons: first, youthful facial fat that was once in your cheeks is dropping over time into your lower face, and second, your skin is losing firmness and sagging into your lower face. Losing weight typically makes little or no difference in jowls; in fact, being underweight can make you look older because it can make your face look gaunt.

Face Yoga

This trend popped up several years ago and while it’s not as popular as it once was, it’s still important to mention. The truth is that the jury is still out on face yoga, but most studies show it to have little to no benefit for facial aging. In fact, some researchers believe it can even make you look older because the repetitive movements contribute to expression lines and wrinkles. At the very least, face yoga isn’t worth the time it requires, as practitioners typically recommend 30 minutes per day.

Collagen Supplements

It’s true that collagen is the key protein that makes your skin look younger. In fact, building collagen is the goal of nearly all anti-aging skin treatments. But collagen supplements (ingestible collagen that comes in the form of a pill, gummy, or drink mix) aren’t an effective way to build collagen.

Your skin’s collagen doesn’t come from dietary collagen. Your body breaks down the proteins you eat into amino acids and uses those amino acids create collagen.

While aging does happen because your body produces less collagen as you get older, that drop in collagen production isn’t because your body doesn’t have the materials it needs. It’s simply because the process slows with age. The way to get more collagen in your skin is by instead using products and treatments that stimulate your natural collagen production.

Getting to the Good Stuff: Creating an Effective Anti-Aging Strategy

In your quest to look your best and feel fantastic, it’s difficult to know what products and techniques will actually help and which will just drain your time, energy, and money. The guide above can help you decipher between gems and junk as you make a plan for looking more youthful today and down the road.