As we age, our facial skin naturally loses collagen and elastin. Left unchecked, it will become looser, develop wrinkles, and begin to droop. Some people might think this is just “aging gracefully,” but I’m certainly not going to let that happen to my facial skin — not when there are things we can do to keep our skin firm and healthy. Using the right skincare products and avoiding unhealthy habits can stall the aging process and maybe even reverse it.
At Serious Skincare, we use a science-based approach to our anti-aging products. While elevating your skincare regimen may not reverse the number of calendar years, it can make you feel more confident in your look. I’m here to tell you that light, glowing skin is achievable, and I am going to show you exactly how.
A Deep Dive Into Skin Elasticity and Aging
If you want to understand why some skincare products work and others don’t, it’s helpful if you understand why skin loses its elasticity as we age. I’ve prepared an overview of some of the factors that age skin, but keep in mind this is just a surface-level view. The science behind skincare and our products would require a much more in-depth article.
Collagen
You’re probably familiar with products that contain collagen and cosmetic procedures where collagen is injected beneath the skin to produce fuller lips and cheeks. Collagen is a protein that’s produced within the human body. In addition to the skin, it helps to maintain the integrity of most of the body’s mass, including muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons, etc.
Fibroblasts produce collagen. One of the reasons that our body produces less collagen as we age is because the functionality and number of fibroblasts decrease over time. Naturally occurring products, like resveratrol, stimulate fibroblasts to increase collagen production. Resveratrol and other ingredients can also help reduce damage to fibroblasts by eliminating free radicals.
Collagen plumps the skin, helping to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Many of Serious Skincare’s products work by increasing collagen production.
Elastin
Elastin is not as naturally plentiful as collagen but is essential to maintaining youthful, healthy skin. Like collagen, elastin is also a protein that is mostly found in the dermis. As the name implies, it acts as a rubberband, pulling the skin tighter and connecting the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis.
This dynamic is easier to understand if you think of collagen as a filler that makes the skin fuller and elastin as a system of bands that pulls it back. The overall effect is that with sufficient elastin and collagen, your skin will appear youthful and tight.
As is the case with collagen, elastin production declines with age. There is strong scientific research indicating the idea that matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), naturally produced by the body, can break down elastin. Some skincare products focus on reducing the production of these enzymes.
Factors that Can Affect Collagen and Elastin Production
These are some habits that can make or break your skincare routine.
I Recommend These:
- Take Vitamin C
- Use skincare products containing retinoids and peptides. They can be used in collagen and elastin production.
- Enjoy a diet rich in proteins and amino acids.
- Specifically incorporate fish, nuts, and seeds into your diet. They’re rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.
- Consume antioxidants to eliminate free radicals that can destroy fibroblasts.
- Drink a lot of water — hydrated skin is healthy skin.
You Should Avoid These:
- Open exposure to the sun without sunscreen.
- Smoking tobacco.
- Sugar and refined carbohydrates.
- Excessive alcohol consumption.
- Try to alleviate stress. It produces enzymes that can affect collagen production.
Trust me, adopting these habits and lifestyle changes will enhance the tightness of your facial skin.
Essential Steps for Tightening Your Facial Skin
Choosing the right products and applying them in the correct order is necessary to the success of your skincare regimen. I recommend following this routine at a minimum.
1. Start with a Cleanser
An effective cleanser will remove dirt and oil from your pores, remove any makeup residue on your skin, and otherwise ready your skin so that you can apply other skincare products. You want to make certain that any cleanser you use is gentle on your skin and that you apply it gently. Our Serious C3 C Clean contains our C3 Plasma™ Bio-Technology and Vitamin C Esters, both of which contain anti-aging properties. I highly recommend you give this a try.
2. Apply a Toner
I recommend a toner to help restore the skin’s pH balance. Some cleansers can leave the skin more alkaline, and a toner can restore the natural, slightly acidic balance. It can also remove residual impurities the cleanser misses and prepares the skin for when you apply serums and moisturizers.
3. Exfoliate
On days you exfoliate, I recommend doing it before you apply serums and moisturizers. Otherwise, you will just strip away part of the product.
4. Serums
As a rule, apply moisturizers and other skincare products from the least viscous to the heaviest. I can’t emphasize that rule enough. To get the maximum effectiveness from treatment serums, you should start with a firming face serum before moisturizing or skin-tightening creams, for instance.
5. Eye Creams
No area of the face is as delicate as the skin around the eyes. Most skincare lines have a separate product designed specifically for this unique region of the face. They are usually designed to be easily absorbed.
6. Facial Moisturizers
You should apply a face-tightening cream next. Moisturizing cream is usually more viscous than eye cream and is designed to boost collagen in elastin production while hydrating the skin. For example, the Reverse Lift Facial Cream we linked to has powerful peptides to help increase collagen production and soften wrinkles. It also contains water binders, which increase skin hydration, making it look fuller and healthier. Because it’s a heavier cream, apply it after your serums and eye creams.
7. Face Oil (If You Use It)
I’m always surprised when I find that some people apply oil before moisturizer. If you use face oil to seal in moisture, putting it on after creams is essential. Oil can penetrate creams to hydrate the skin, but not vice versa. If you apply your oil first, it will act as a wall that won’t allow the moisturizer to take effect.
8. Sunscreen
If you want your skin to look young and healthy, you need to protect it against the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. Even if you have naturally darker skin or like to tan, it’s essential that you screen UV rays, which can damage the skin, stimulate the overproduction of darker cells, destroy collagen, and increase the number of free radicals.
Exploring Advanced Methods for Facial Tightening
One of the most exciting dermatological discoveries of the past 25 years is the discovery of resveratrol, a naturally occurring chemical that’s found in berries, seeds, nuts, and grape skins. The benefits of resveratrol are numerous and include reducing free radicals, increasing collagen production, reducing brown spots, decreasing inflammation, and mitigating MMPs. In study after study, test groups have shown a marked reduction in the depth and number of wrinkles in under two months.
The information age has led to a greater amount of cooperation between dermatologists, nutritionists, chemists, and cosmetologists. Consequently, we now know the importance of peptides, retinoids, and amino acids in skincare. This has led to a better understanding of the factors that reduce aging. Consequently, the brighten and tighten skincare products of today are no longer the creams and serums that once focused solely on hydration and ignored collagen and elastin production.
Incorporate Simple Changes into Your Routine
A 2020 U.S. Census data and Simmons National Consumer Survey (NHCS) found that over 60% of U.S. adults use moisturizer, cream, or lotion on their face seven times per week. While applying moisturizer is part of any effective skincare routine, moisturizer alone is not enough. Even effective moisturizers that are designed to improve skin hydration and tone, like our instant facelift creams, are not designed as a universal treatment.
At a minimum, an effective skincare routine should include a cleanser, a toner, eye cream, moisturizer, and an SPF-rated sunscreen. Not all skincare treatments require daily applications, however. Your skin can greatly benefit by applying a face-firming mask once or twice per week. This is, of course, in addition to your daily regimen and not in lieu of it.
Choosing the Right Products: A Guide to Skin-Tightening Ingredients
Everyone’s skin is different, and there are no one-size-fits-all products. Serious Skincare has lift and tightening skincare products for oily skin, dry skin, combination skin, and skin in all stages of aging. Our products contain age-reversing ingredients, like vitamin C, peptides, retinoids, amino acids, water binders, and more. We test our products for effectiveness before placing them on the market. If you are ready for tighter, firmer, healthier facial skin, try Serious Skincare! Our products are scientifically designed to be effective and we are proud of their age-reversing effects!