Looking to dramatically improve your skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, lines, and other signs of age? Look no further!
With powerful anti-aging, moisturizing and wrinkle-fighting properties, each of these products can play a major role in your skincare routine. When you’re looking for high-quality products with powerful active ingredients, it can be difficult to separate the junk from the good stuff. From this helpful article, you’ll learn how to choose products that work well and what to avoid.
1. Hyaluronic Acid Serum
A serum is a lightweight, liquid-based skincare product that delivers a high amount of an active ingredient to your skin. Serums are used early in your skincare routine. Because a serum is light, it needs to be applied before any heavier products like creams and gels. When using serum, apply it after cleanser, exfoliator and toner but before moisturizer, eye cream and sunscreen.
If you’re struggling with wrinkles, lines and dried-out skin, hyaluronic acid serum can help.
Hyaluronic acid is naturally produced by your skin, and it helps your skin retain water. Water retention is key for helping your skin stay soft and supple. The more hydrated your skin is, the better it will look overall. Dried-out skin can lead to a wide variety of issues, many of which will automatically make you appear older.
When your skin isn’t retaining enough water and staying moisturized, you’re more likely to see wrinkles and lines. Hyaluronic acid not only helps with moisturization, it also boosts production of collagen in your skin. Collagen is the protein in your skin that gives it its shape and structure. As you age, your collagen production will naturally decrease. This deficit in collagen production can lead to sagging, wrinkly skin.
Hyaluronic acid serum is excellent for anyone dealing with age-related skin issues. When choosing a hyaluronic acid serum to use, make sure that you know the concentration of the serum’s active ingredient. The active ingredient in a serum is the ingredient that has the most significant effect on your skin. The higher the concentration of the active ingredient, the less of the serum you will need to use. A little bit of serum goes a long way, so don’t overdo it! Too much serum may lead to skin irritation.
When using hyaluronic acid as an ingredient in your skincare routine, you can count on seeing your skin’s appearance dramatically improve. Increased hydration and water retention means your skin will look fuller and have that youthful glow that can be so difficult to attain.
2. Vitamin C Serum
Another powerful serum to include in your skincare routine for its anti-aging properties is vitamin C serum. Vitamin C is an antioxidant, which means it protects your body from the age-inducing effects of free radicals. Your body produces free radicals as a result of exposure to many things you encounter on a day-to-day basis. An overabundance of free radicals in your body causes cell breakdown, leading to signs of aging
Antioxidants make a major difference when trying to reduce the visible signs of aging. Antioxidants can be found in a number of foods, taken in supplements, or applied topically to your skin in the form of ingredients like vitamin C. The more antioxidants your body gets, the more capable it will be of fighting off age-inducing free radicals.
Vitamin C serum supplies your skin with antioxidants and stimulates the production of collagen and elastin in your skin. Collagen, the protein that gives your skin structure and shape, needs to be produced in adequate amounts to keep your skin looking young.
In addition to stimulating collagen production, vitamin C serum will also boost your skin’s production of elastin. Elastin helps your skin stretch well while still retaining its shape. When you’re fighting wrinkles, elastin is essential. Without enough elastin production, your skin will become weaker and more susceptible to showing wrinkles and lines.
Using even a vitamin C moisturizer can also even out the appearance of pigmentation on your skin. If you are dealing with dark spots or any other kind of discoloration, vitamin C can act as an equalizer for your skin.
3. Retinol
Retinol is another powerful anti-aging ingredient to look for in skincare products. You can find retinol in serums, creams, moisturizers and other forms. Like vitamin C and hyaluronic acid, retinol boosts your skin's production of collagen and elastin. Retinol is also often used to reduce visibility of wrinkles and lines.
Retinol can also be used to reduce the appearance of your pores, which can improve the overall look and feel of your skin. Enlarged pores can be caused by lack of collagen, which decreases naturally with aging. By stimulating collagen production, retinol helps to minimize the appearance of your pores, giving your skin a younger and more balanced look.
Another of the other primary uses for retinol is as an exfoliant. Exfoliation is an important component in any skincare routine. It involves the sloughing off of dead skin cells that, if left unchecked, can clog pores and lead to numerous skin issues. Retinol acts as an exfoliant by gently removing dead skin from your face.
Proper exfoliation is never too harsh or over-reliant on scrubbing or rough particles. As a gentle exfoliant, retinol can significantly improve your skin’s texture and appearance.
Using retinol can make your skin more sensitive to the sun, so make sure to pair this ingredient with a good sunscreen. Sunscreen is always worth including in your skincare routine. Sunscreen should be applied after eye cream and moisturizer in the final stage of your beauty regimen.
If you choose to use retinol in your skincare routine, one great way to include it is as a serum. A retinol serum provides your skin with an abundance of the active ingredient and allows it to permeate your skin before the application of heavier products.
4. Green Tea
Green tea is another ingredient that contains antioxidants. Antioxidants can boost your skin’s overall health and reduce signs of aging by fighting the age-inducing effects of free radicals. Green tea is often found as a secondary ingredient in products like serums and moisturizers.
Green tea contains a compound called EGCG which has been found to reduce overproduction of sebum, or oil, in your skin. Too much sebum can clog your pores and cause them to appear enlarged, which can negatively affect your skin’s look and feel, and even cause breakouts.
In addition, green tea can also reduce irritation that can cause problems in your skin. Irritation can be caused by free radicals, which green tea’s antioxidants can help fight. By acting as a soothing agent, green tea makes a great addition to the skincare routine of anyone whose main aim is to fight age-induced skin issues.
5. Glycolic Acid
Glycolic acid is another ingredient that fights aging by gently exfoliating your skin. Often a main component in moisturizers but also found in serums, glycolic acid actively gets rid of dead skin cells that can have a negative effect on your skin’s appearance.
This acid also can boost your skin’s natural glow by providing your skin with hydration and moisture. It’s categorized as an alpha hydroxy acid, or AHA. Glycolic acid can help reduce aging by providing both gentle exfoliation and moisture. While some ingredients used to exfoliate your skin can be harsh and end up causing problems in the long run, glycolic acid is gentle enough to get the job done without leaving your skin irritated.
6. Sunscreen
If you’re not wearing sunscreen every day, now is the time to start. One of the most surefire ways to help your skin with signs of aging is to protect it from sun damage. Unprotected overexposure to the sun can leave your skin with reduced quality of texture and uneven pigmentation.
Even if you are not spending time out in the sun often, daily application of sunscreen can protect your skin from even indirect exposure to the sun’s rays. Wearing sunscreen also completes your skincare regimen by allowing the active ingredients in your other products to work well. Some ingredients are great for your skin but make your skin significantly more sensitive to the sun. Applying sunscreen while using skincare products with hyaluronic acid, glycolic acid, and other similar ingredients is a must. These ingredients will make your skin much more sensitive to sunburn, so make sure you get your SPF on each morning!
Sunscreen should be applied at the end of your skincare routine after the rest of your products are already applied. Putting sunscreen on earlier in your skincare routine can hinder your skin’s absorption of the active ingredients in other products.
An ideal order for skincare products is to go from lightest to heaviest, beginning with anything that will be rinsed off. First, rinse your face with a gentle cleanser. After that, use an exfoliant. Next, toner. After toner come any serums, which need to be applied before any heavier ingredients. Finally, end your routine with eye cream, moisturizer and sunscreen.
Good luck!
Sources:
https://www.glamour.com/story/glycolic-acid-what-does-it-do
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/hyaluronic-acid-benefits
https://www.webmd.com/beauty/news/20000817/green-tea-could-be-good-for-your-skin-study-finds#1
