What You Need to Know About Skin Aging
Unfortunately, you cannot stop skin aging. It’s that simple. And with one this happens faster than the other. Part of it has to do with your genes. And tampering with this interior is not so easy. However, there are also external factors that age the skin faster. And yet you can do something about it.
You may already be familiar with the main external culprits of wrinkles: sun, smoking and stress, for example. But there’s more, and there are some things you probably don’t even think of. So I’m going to put everything back together. And of course I will also tell you how to prevent and reduce these wrinkles and other signs of skin aging for as long as possible.
When does skin aging begin?
Skin aging actually begins around the age of twenty. Very slowly, all sorts of changes occur in the upper skin layers. Most of the time you don’t really notice it. From the age of 35 or 40, these changes gradually and gradually become visible. Goodbye to smooth skin, hello to frown lines, nasal folds and crow’s feet… Now this process is a little different for everyone. The rate and shape of your skin’s aging is partly determined by your genes. And you inherited it from your parents. But the good news: the way you live, eat and live also has an impact. Remember that factors such as sun exposure, stress, smoking and pollution accelerate the aging process. So: if your father and mother smoked all the time and spent a lot of time in the sun and you do the opposite, you’ll likely develop wrinkles and sagging slower than they do, despite your genes. How does the skin aging process progress?
Why does your skin become weaker but also drier and grayer as you age? Why do wrinkles and folds happen? And why is your face drooping more and more?
Various processes play a role in this. This is what happens on your skin:
Top layer of skin thins
This makes the skin more vulnerable to external influences.
Slightly less collagen and elastin
Beginning in your late twenties, the production of pillars in your skin decreases by one to one and a half percent each year. As a result, your skin eventually becomes a little less tight and elastic.
Sebum production is reduced
This happens immediately after menopause, under the influence of hormonal changes. This makes the skin more dry and sensitive.
Losing bone tissue
You can see for yourself, your facial structure gradually changes as you get older. For example, your cheekbones will be flattened, your jaw will shrink, and your eye sockets will become larger (see bags under the eyes). Because you lose bone tissue.
Volume loss
The subcutaneous fat layer is reduced and slips and sags (due to this bone loss). And then the muscle volume also gradually decreases…
That’s it for the technical part that doesn’t really cheer you up. Because the result in the mirror? Your face will gradually begin to “droop” and show more and more wrinkles and folds.
That’s it for the technical part that doesn’t really cheer you up. Because the result in the mirror? Your face will gradually begin to ‘droop’ and show more and more wrinkles and folds. As I explained above, how and how fast these aging processes occur is somewhat dependent on your genes. Therefore, one will draw on the face faster than the other. And you don’t do much about this biological or intrinsic aging.
However, environmental factors also contribute to the aging process of the skin. For example, do you often sit in the sun? Do you smoke? Do you live in a dirty city? All these external factors cause faster breakdown of collagen, which accelerates skin aging (what we call external aging by the way).
Do you know?
Do you know where you will often see the first signs of skin aging?
On your hands! The skin on your hands is fragile and ages quickly. That’s why hands often reveal your true age.
Does dark skin age faster than light skin?
In general, if you just look at aging in terms of age, you can tell that you usually see the intrinsic signs of aging less clearly in people of color. And, according to research, these signs appear after about ten years.
Better protected from the sun
But you also see differences in extrinsic aging. Dark skin contains more pigment and is therefore better protected against sun damage such as wrinkles and loss of elasticity. These signs of skin aging appear 10 to 20 years later, on average, compared to white-skinned people of the same age.
Less susceptible to wrinkles and sagging
However, there are more differences that make dark skin less susceptible to the appearance of premature wrinkles and sagging. The structure of dark skin is also different from light skin. For example, the upper layer of the skin is thicker. This is made up of more layers of dead skin cells. In addition, the bond between cells is more. This makes the skin more resistant to friction. Dark skin also contains more and larger fibroblasts. These are the cells that are responsible for, among other things, the production of collagen.