Health

10 Amazing Simple Steps To Aid With Wrinkles Prevention

Wrinkles are in essence folds in the skin, which get accentuated with time and under certain circumstances. One of the main causes is sun exposure on… Luna - June 16, 2017

Wrinkles are in essence folds in the skin, which get accentuated with time and under certain circumstances. One of the main causes is sun exposure on fair skins. However, there are many more reasons for wrinkles to appear at an earlier stage. There are some very easy guidelines on how to prevent wrinkles from forming ahead of time.

How to Prevent Wrinkles - Sunscreen

1) Sun damage

Sun exposure is one of the leading causes of wrinkles and other skin ageing signs. Additionally, it is also one of the causes of skin cancer, including melanoma, which can be life-threatening. Whenever you tan, you are essentially breaking down collagen and slightly (or not so slightly) burning the outer layers of the skin. This is an action that, even though considered beautiful, is actually damaging your skin.

Not only natural UV sun rays are damaging; artificial sunbeds are even worse. Tan beds provoke a faster reaction as they expose your skin to higher levels of UV rays. Fair-skinned people that expose their bodies to artificial tan beds have an increased risk of cancer and will produce wrinkles at a way faster rate.

By breaking down the collagen, you are directly contributing to wrinkles and fine lines. Not only on your face but also around other parts of your body. And even though Vitamin D is essential and sunlight is a source of it, you need to protect yourself. So if you’re planning on visiting the beach anytime soon, make sure to follow the suggestions stated below.

How to prevent wrinkles – Sunscreen

  • Even during winter or if you live in a relatively cloudy country, make sure to always use sunscreen on your face. SPF 15 is the best to always have in your purse or backpack.
  • During summer or if you live in sunny countries, not only make sure to apply a higher sunscreen (SPF 30+), but also maintain yourself hydrated with plenty of water.
  • Applying sunscreen once a day will not be sufficient. Make sure to reapply! During winter, reapply every 5-6 hours. In summer, reapply every 2 hours or more if you are sweating or taking baths.
  • Additionally, wearing protective clothing is a very good way how to prevent wrinkles. For example, you could wear hats, sunglasses, and long sleeves.

How to Prevent Wrinkles - Makeup

2) Sleeping with Makeup on

It may sound silly or even obvious. But many are the women out there who are about to head to bed without removing their makeup. Even just the simple the action of wearing makeup is damaging to the skin. But leaving it on for a good night sleep is even worse. If you really want to know how to prevent wrinkles, this is an important one for you.

Essentially, makeup clogs up your pores, thus breaking down collagen. What’s more, makeup collects pollutants during the day, so by leaving it on at night, you are putting your own skin at risk. There are several ways to prevent this apart from the obvious one. If you are a heavy makeup user, don’t worry, you don’t need to stop. Just be conscious of the makeup brands you use and make sure to remove it fully every day. Studies reveal that every night you sleep with makeup on, your skin gets five years older.

How to prevent wrinkles – Makeup Removal

  • First of all, try to use as little makeup as possible. The use of makeup leads to more skin problems than any others causes. Makeup is the principal cause of acne, eczemas, wrinkles, and fine lines. Even if you have acne and want to cover it up, you may be doing more damage than good.
  • Try to use hypoallergenic and natural makeup to prevent putting your skin at risk.
  • Remove your makeup every night with a gentle remover. The best option would be using a gentle, hypoallergenic oil such as sweet almond oil or coconut oil. You can see more information about it here.
  • Once you remove the makeup, make sure to apply a moisturiser. If you want to keep it natural, use argan oil as it has anti-ageing properties and it moisturises your skin.

How to prevent wrinkles - drinking

3) Alcohol Consumption

Your weekend drinks may be affecting your ageing process. Even though drinking some alcohol is still an accepted behaviour, it is a danger to your body. Overall health is affected by the consumption of alcohol. Not only does it affect your skin, but it can also precipitate underlying mental issues such as schizophrenia, depression, etc. As well as affect your liver and diabetes. If you are interested in how to prevent wrinkles as well as other health issues, just keep reading.

Alcohol is a diuretic, thus when drinking it, your body will become dehydrated. Dehydration directly affects your skin and will become more likely to develop wrinkles. As you can see, regular drinking habits are all-in-all negative for any person. So if you believe that you may be drinking too much alcohol in average, you may consider cutting down. It can be hard to cut down on alcohol consumption. However, you should seek the help of friends and family or professionals if necessary. Also, regular exercise and a balanced diet will help you tackle the process.

How to prevent wrinkles – No alcohol

  • The best way to tackle this issue is stopping alcohol completely. Alcoholic drinks can be substituted with virgin ones, juices, or simply water.
  • Your body will stay better hydrated if you change your habits from alcohol to water.
  • If stopping it is too hard, make sure to seek professional help. Your friends and family can be your support community whenever you feel like drinking.
  • Remember, alcohol does not only affect your skin but your overall body and mental health.
  • Change your routines. Instead of visiting the pub, go to a cinema or out for a dinner with friends.
  • Chewing gums are very helpful to stop any sort of addiction, including alcohol, give it a try!

How to prevent wrinkles - hot showers

4) Hot Showers

We all love a long, hot, relaxing shower. After a long day at work, it’s just the perfect way to prepare your body for a deserved sleep. It helps to relax your muscles and mind. However, not everything is positive. A short hot shower has positive features, but make it too long, and your body won’t like it. Long, hot showers can affect your blood pressure causing you to faint. Additionally, boiling water strips your skin from its natural oils. These oils protect your skin and keep it young and fresh. So by taking our beloved hot shower, you are causing damage to your skin.

Also, some people decide to use such a temperature that their skin turns red. This may seem fine as there is no pain. But redness is a sign of irritation, and it can turn into a burn. So, while we all like to be cosy, the water temperature needs to be controlled. No matter the temperature you use, make sure to always moisturise your skin after every shower. Either using gentle oils or creams, your skin needs to be revitalised after showering. Even more, if the temperature is higher than your own body.

How to prevent wrinkles – shorter, colder showers

  • You don’t need to drop the hot showers altogether. However, you need to control their length. So if you really cannot make it without scolding hot water, then keep it as short as possible.
  • If you can, lower the temperature, so it is only lukewarm instead of hot. This will allow you to shower for a longer time without the issues that come with hot water.
  • Otherwise, if you are capable to, use cold water. Cold water is perfect for your skin. Not only will it look younger and fresher, but it also helps it stay toned.

How to prevent wrinkles - smoking

5) Smoking

If you remember when we mentioned how to prevent wrinkles by stopping alcohol consumption, now there’s another addiction that we need to talk about. Smoking. If you’re a smoker, you might be reading this and rolling your eyes. You surely heard this before, but smoking is extremely endangering for our body. Many illnesses have been directly linked to smoking. Among them: cataracts, hair loss, psoriasis, damaged teeth and gums, age spots, and more.

This list also includes wrinkles. Both generic wrinkles but also very specific ones such as around your mouth from the act of smoking, and crow’s feet eye wrinkles. Whenever you quit smoking, many are the almost instant changes you will notice. For one, your nails and fingers will go back to their normal colour. Your teeth will become whiter. Your blood flow will go back to normal. Thus your skin will receive the oxygen it needs to stay healthy. Additionally, when you quit smoking, your skin will become stronger. This will help you slow down the ageing process.

How to prevent wrinkles – Quit smoking

  • Smoking is a very common addiction, and it can be hard to quit if you smoked for a long time. If you’re finding it hard to quit, make sure to contact a professional.
  • There are many ways to quit smoking; you just need to find your way. Either using patches or vaping your way down to zero nicotine. Or using chewing gums, exercise, and a balanced diet.
  • You will notice an improvement in your overall health. You will breathe better, cough less, exercise more, and feel more energetic.
  • Your skin will feel stronger and brighter. Make sure to complement this process with moisturising creams or oils to help your skin recover. This is one of the best ways how to prevent wrinkles.

How to prevent wrinkles - exfoliation

6) Too much exfoliation

We just got surpassed the half way of our how to prevent wrinkles list. And this one is a very important one even though you may have not thought of it before. Exfoliating is usually considered a positive action. It removes dead skin cells and helps to boost the production of collagen. Most spas offer it as a keystone service. So how could it be bad?

Everything has a limit. Exfoliation should only be done once a week for most skin types. Twice a week for very oily skins. However, many people overdo it, some even daily. This is extremely damaging for the skin. Our skin produces oils to moisturise and protect itself from free radicals and pollutants. By exfoliating every day or every other day, we are stripping our skin from its own protection. This is damaging to the point that the skin can get irritated, burn, or even produce eczemas and other skin conditions. Stick to the recommendation above of once a week, and remember to use gentle products.

How to prevent wrinkles – Limit your exfoliation

  • Limit your exfoliation to once a week, maximum twice a week for extremely oily skins.
  • Use gentle products to exfoliate. Avoid chemicals, instead mix oils with sugar and use that combination as a natural scrub. The oils will add a protective layer and moisture to your skin while the sugar will act as the exfoliator.
  • Do not rub too hard. Massage gently in circular motions. Even if you don’t see any skin residues coming off, you are exfoliating. It’s not always visible.
  • Apply sweet almond oil, argan oil, or coconut oil after your shower. This will help your skin stay moisturised and healthy even after exfoliating.

How to prevent wrinkles - side sleeping

7) Sleeping Position

The way you sleep affects many things in your life. For example, scientists say that sleeping on your left side or on your back is best for your digestion and heart. While sleeping on your right side or downwards are the worst for digestion or heart. Also, the amount of time you sleep can affect your mood, your health, and your skin. Everything must be taken into account.

Sleeping just a few hours is not good for the production of hormones and the absorption of nutrients. This will affect your mood, your weight, your concentration, and your skin. But scientists have also discovered that sleeping on the side has adverse effects on your wrinkles. No matter how good your pillow is, laying on your side is negative for your fine lines.

How to prevent wrinkles – Better sleeping patterns and position

  • Try to accustom your body to sleep on your back. It is not only good for your heart and digestion, but also for preventing wrinkles.
  • It can be difficult initially, just correct your posture every time you notice that you move to the side.
  • Additionally, change your pillow cover for a silk one. Silk is more gentle on your skin, so should you find yourself sleeping on your side, it will still be better than with standard cotton covers.
  • Also, make sure to get at least seven hours of sleep. The ideal time is between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. Listen to your body, if you’re tired during the day or it is hard for you to wake up… you are not sleeping enough! In order to fix this, have lighter dinners, turn off the TV or electronics half an hour before bedtime, read a book to relax your brain, and dim the lights. This will help you to fall asleep earlier and get enough hours of sleep.

How to prevent wrinkles - Eye-Wrinkles

8) Overlooking your Eye routine

When thinking of wrinkles, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Yes, that’s it, your eyes! Wrinkles can be found all over the body. However, wrinkles around the eye area are what represents ageing. So why do we tend to ignore a proper eye care?

The skin around our eyes is very thin. Thus it shows any sort of damage faster than other areas. Also, it is very hard to undo damage around the eyes for this same reason. With just a few steps below you will learn how to prevent wrinkles in the eye area. It is important to use different products than on other parts of the body because of the composition of this area. Also, some products should not get in contact with the eyes.

How to prevent wrinkles – Steps for a correct Eye care

  • Make sure not to rub your eyes. Rubbing produces damage by rupturing the small vein vessels around the eye area. If your eyes are itchy, wash them gently with cold water instead. Avoid rubbing at all cost.
  • Use gentle, fresh eye cream daily. The eye cream is different than the standard face cream. This is because of the same reason above. The skin around your eyes is thinner and more fragile, so it needs different care. Keep your eye area moisturised.
  • Use only gentle oils to remove your eye makeup. Most eyeliners or mascaras are waterproof, so it takes a lot of rubbing to remove them with normal makeup removers. Instead, if you use for example sweet almond oil and massage it gently in circular motion, it will remove all makeup and won’t produce any damage.
  • Additionally, wear sunglasses to prevent damage from UV rays. If you’re not a fan of sunglasses, make sure to apply SPF15-30 whenever you plan to go outside and wear a hat.

How to prevent wrinkles - Facial expressions

9) Facial Expressions

Most people tend to be very expressive when communicating their feelings. However, this expression is not always verbal. Our faces can deliver just as well as our voice. Some people also have very expressive faces and tend to make facial expressions all the time. Even though this is very useful and even funny, it can be detrimental to avoid getting wrinkles. Just by looking at your computer screen all day, or when reading, you’re most likely making a facial expression.

If you realise that you tend to frown, squint, or pout… you may want to reconsider your face expressions! These ones together with many others, if done daily, will definitely produce fine lines and wrinkles where your skin folds. No face is alike and so are facial expressions. If you notice distinct fine lines that you hadn’t noticed before, they may come from a facial expression. It is important that you try to make your skin as healthy as possible and avoid making hard facial expressions.

How to prevent wrinkles – Less repetitive facial expressions

  • You don’t need to become a lifeless robot. However, you need to be aware that repeating some facial expressions all the time will bring consequences for your skin.
  • Try to understand your own face and see what changes you can do to avoid certain lines.
  • Additionally, try to make your skin stronger by applying quality moisturising creams both in the morning and at night.
  • Avoid pulling or stretching your skin when applying or removing makeup. Also, when removing it, don’t use hard chemicals, instead use oils and massage gently.
  • Every now and then, use a deep conditioning and moisturising mask for your face. And make sure to always use specific eye cream for your eyes area as mentioned above!

How to prevent wrinkles - Hands Feet

10) Your Body Matters!

Even though wrinkles are usually seen and recognised only in the eye area, they appear in many more places around the body. When we start ageing, wrinkles and folds appear in our neck, ears, hands, elbows, and more. These fine lines are as important as the ones in our face. Our skin in this area tends to get soggy, which also makes us look older. And all these ones can also be prevented!

Weight control will help to prevent sogginess in a particular area such as the neck, underarms, and legs. However, other regions will not depend on weight loss but more on moisture and dryness. For example, it is extremely important to keep your whole body moisturised. This can be accomplished by applying a body butter or cream after each shower. That way the skin will lock the moisture of the cream better. However, this is not the only way. Check our list below for a better idea of what to do when in need of an extra step in preventing fine lines and wrinkles over your body!

How to prevent wrinkles – Hands, neck, and ears

  • Hands: If you work with your hands handling chemicals (for example cleaning liquids), you will most likely see changes in your skin. Your hands may appear older than your actual age. To prevent this, make sure to wear gloves if possible when working. Also, wash your hands with gentle products or just water instead of strong chemical cleaners. Scrub your hands once a week using a mix of oils and sugar. Be gentle and massage your hands in circular motions. Then rinse off with lukewarm water and apply a moisturiser. Always moisturise your hands daily.
  • Neck: Your neck is extremely important even if we tend to forget about it. Make sure to follow the same exfoliation routine as with your hands. Try to exfoliate once a week with a gentle scrub. Then apply a moisturiser. Also, whenever you apply your day or night cream, make sure to use the same and apply it on your neck as well.
  • Ears: It may sound silly, but your ears also need some care! Make sure to keep them clean and moisturised all year-round.
  • General: Your body needs to be taken care of. Exfoliate once a week and apply a body butter moisturiser.
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