Before I started to look for anti-wrinkle products, I decided that it would be best to try to find out as much information as possible about the function of the skin and why my skin began to look the way it did. I needed to know the cause of the aging so that I would know what to look for in my products. A lot of my research showed me that I could have avoided a lot of the effects of aging if I had taken better care of my skin when I was younger. At first I was very discouraged, but with further research I found that a lot of products today have the ability to reverse these signs of aging and skin damage. I encourage you to read this information so that you can make the right choices about which products are right for you.

The Skin:

The skin is the largest organ of the body. It acts as protective armor against damaging external factors such as heat, light, viruses, and bacteria. In addition to being the body’s first line of defense, the skin helps regulate body temperature, water and fat storage, and water loss prevention. Your skin consists of three layers: the epidermis, dermis, and the subcutaneous layers of fat (hypodermis).

The outermost part of the skin is known as the epidermis. Skin renewal takes place in the epidermis. The outer layer of skin is shed and replaced with new cells every 15-30 days. As the body grows older, the body slows down the process of making new cells to replace the old ones and therefore the skin is less efficient in tissue repair. Epidermal cells decrease by 10% for each decade of your life. The outermost cells of the skin are very important in maintaining the moisture-balance within the skin layers. As you get older, the moisture-protective cells in the epidermis begin to release moisture rather than preserving it which leads to thin dry skin. This tends to be most noticeable around the eyes.

With age, the dermal layer of the skin begins to thin and produce less collagen. A loss in collagen means that the skin loses strength, elasticity, and firmness and therefore the skin begins to sag and wrinkle. The sebaceous glands in the dermis also begin to produce less sebum, an oily substance that lubricates the skin. The number of sweat glands is decreased. All of these factors lead to the formation of wrinkles.

The bottom layer of the skin is known as the hypodermis and it contains the fatty tissue. The fat cells shrink and can no longer fill the damaged upper layers of the skin which leads to further sagging.

Cause of aging and its effects on your skin:

Dark circles, wrinkles and lines are all signs of aging that first appear around the eyes and lips. These are the most delicate and sensitive areas of the face. They’re also the areas of the face most exposed to the drying effects of weather and the sun. The effects of aging and their severity are caused by two things: the genes that you inherit and environmental factors. The natural skin aging process is relatively slow and usually starts during your mid-20s.  The environmental factors include the ultraviolet rays of the sun and pollutants. The environmental factors can cause premature aging.

Some examples of these environmental factors are too much sun exposure, smoking, gravity, facial expressions, and sleeping positions. Sun exposure has the most visible effects on the skin long before any signs of aging are expected to appear. The appearance of freckles, fine wrinkles, age spots, blotchy complexion, and skin cancer can all be due to sun exposure. The degree and manifestation of premature signs of aging changes from person to person based on their skin color and how much sun exposure they’ve had. Repeated sun exposure will seriously affect the skin’s ability to repair itself. The ultraviolet rays of the sun can speed up the breakdown of collagen and hinder the production of new collagen. Long-term sun exposure can also destroy the elastin in the skin resulting in loose, wrinkled and leathery skin. The effects of gravity become more defined when you reach your 50s. Gravity causes the eyelids to fall, tip of the nose to droop, ears to elongate, and the upper lip to thin out while the lower lip becomes thicker. Sleep lines are formed when you rest your face on the pillow with the same position every night for years.  Sleeping on your side will give rise to sleep lines that are most likely to appear on chin and cheeks. When your favorite sleeping position is sleeping with your face pressed down on the pillow, you will notice lines appearing on the forehead. Smoking creates biochemical changes in the body that can speed up the aging process.  Research shows that a person who smokes 10 or more cigarettes daily for a minimum of 10 years is more prone to developing wrinkles and leathery skin compared to nonsmokers.

I had seen the effects of most of these environmental factors on my skin before I found the product that seems to be a solution to all of them. In my search, I was very concerned about using harsh chemicals on my skin, because I feared that they would cause more damage than good to my skin.  I hope my experience and this blog is helpful and informative to the possible effects of each of these products.