Science-Based Anti-Aging Routine Essentials For Younger, Better-looking Skin
Aspects of Skin-Aging to Address
Skin thinning
The fibroglass produce less collagen and skin becomes more thin and shows more wrinkles. Less supple and thick
Skin gets more dry
Also related to estrogen and collagen as well as hyaluronic acid which also diminishes as we age.
More discoloration/pigmented
The skin over time in its exposure of the sun, the melanocytes (the cells that produce pigment) disperses melanin.
Skin becomes more dull
The top layer of the skin start to become thicker as dead skin accumulates and skin cell turnover isn’t the same as young skin.
You can see more pores
A good “anti-aging” routine addresses all these simultaneously.
Active Ingredients Required For A Good Anti-Aging Regimen
Sun Protection
Absolutely critical. Sun is an incredible accelerator of skin aging.
Cleansing
Cleansing is underestimated. It needs to be twice a day and with a gentle, non-foaming cleanser. Foaming cleansers dry your skin, but what we’d like to do is protect the natural skin barriers. Cleansing, importantly, sets up our skin to absorb the rest of the active ingredients in our anti-aging regiment
Exfoliation
Exfoliation addresses the accumulation of dead skin cells. There’s chemical peels, AHA, glycolic acid, microdermabrasion, enzymatic scrub or even laser peel. Enzymatic scrub is my favorite.
Increase Production of Collagen – With Retinol
Retinol is a well-studied and proven active ingredients when done right that helps our skin produce more collagen. Retinol in the right dose is such a powerful multi-tasker as it stimulates collagen production, decrease pigmentation, improve cell-turnover. (So many studies on retinol from Pubmed or Google Scholar search). Everyone reacts to retinol differently so it’s important to titrate it or use a minimum effective dose.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C, if used correctly in proper form is amazing. It stimulates collagen production, decreases pigmentation, brightens skin and is an antioxidant (fights damaging oxidation in cells).
*Be careful with vitamin C and retinol products. They are sensitive to light exposure so make sure they’re in a dark bottle and/or kept in a dark cabinet.
Niacinamide
A Vitamin B derivative. It helps the skin-barrier function, oil balance, decreases pigmentation and also stimulates collagen.
Peptides
Specifically, acetylene tetrapeptide-2, is an accelerator for collagen production.
Oil Balance
Adding oil to the skin – e.g. squalene and lipids – makes it so the skin doesn’t need to produce its own oils and makes pores smaller and with less chance of sebum accumulation.
Hyaluronic Acid
A moisturizer on steroid ingredient. It absorbs water and holds 1,000 parts water per molecule so it’s like a water sponge and brings it to the skin cells. It makes the skin cells expand and gives you a supple look.
Glycerin & Aloe Vera
Great active ingredients for skin hydration and as antioxidants.
Pigment Reduction
As we age, all the lifetime sun exposure we’ve had has created a lot of pigmentation which starts to surface and becomes visible. I’ve mentioned the. key ingredients above that takes care of pigmentation (e.g. retinol, vitamin c, niacinamide).
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If you want to know the products I use, just comment below and I’ll answer your questions.