Healthy skin is not just what you put on your face, and goes beyond skincare. What makes the skin retain its vitality is the soft cushion of collagen and elastin underneath the dermis. Not only is it necessary to boost collagen, but it is also necessary to not engage in activities that are damaging the collagen in your skin. A healthy diet, a healthy lifestyle, one’s mindset and even genetics play a huge role in how we age. Along with that, with today’s skincare market, it is easy to get overwhelmed in the world of age-rewinding but skin-stripping topicals. So today, we talk about what not to do if you want to preserve the collagen in your skin.
From the list of things you can control, we singled down the day-to-day activities that might be working against us to preserve collagen. Here is a list you can start on today. We cover everything from sleep directions, to diet to supplements. Let’s dive in.
Stop Sleeping On Your Stomach
Sleeping on your side or on your face may be a thing of comfort for many however it is detrimental to your skin. When your face hits the pillow, not only is it coming in contact with all the dirt, grime and oils on the pillow cloth and from your hair, but it is also going to result in wrinkles.
Forehead lines from sleep marks might become permanent if you do not break the habit of sleeping on your face. Sleeping this way also causes collagen to crack up under this area. The goal is to not stress the skin under the face for elastin and collagen to stay upright and bouncy.
Sleeping on your back also reduces a puffy appearance the next morning. Thus, sleeping on your back is the least collagen-damaging way of slipping into slumber.
Stop Rubbing Your Eyes And Pulling Your Cheeks
Your body and under eyes have very different skins. Undereyes are made of thinner skin. Thus, your violent motions while removing makeup from underneath the eyes, or eye rubs when you’re sleepy are not very helpful to the collagen underneath your under eyes, because it breaks those collagen networks.
Pulling any part of facial skin is not only unfavourable for your skin barrier, but it is also damaging the collagen in your skin. Acupuncture therapists, massage therapists, estheticians, and dermatologists know how to massage the facial skin without damaging the collagen in your skin, but do not trust yourself for the same process.
Avoid touching your face and wrinkling it with detailed eyebrow frowns and smile lines. Also, when drinking with a straw, instead of slurping the liquid with an “O-shape” mouth, grab the straw between your teeth, and use suction to drink the liquid, without moving your lips. This method evades smile lines from settling.
Don’t Overdo Retinol Or Bakuchiol
As much as skin replenishment and collagen stimulation are important, it is as necessary to understand that retinol can not be used all days of the week during any hour of the day.
Retinol application is advised in regular intervals, as Dr Whitney Bowe explains in her skin cycling method. Retinols or Bakuchiol should be used at night only because their penetrative action is possible by breaching your skin barrier, and you do not want the purge to be worsened by the pollutants and the irritants of dust.
Smoking Is Damaging The Collagen In Your Skin
Several studies have shown how tobacco consumption impairs collagen production and leads to the production enzyme called MMP which is damaging the collagen in your skin and causes an imbalance in the dermal connective tissue metabolism.
By dissolving the connectivity between collagen networks in the dermis, your skin loses its elastic feel and gradually grows susceptible to sun damage, free radical damage, dark spots and wrinkles.
Liquor is a great party prop, and controlled alcohol is even great, but alcohol in unmitigated amounts is bound to be corrosive to your system and gradually decline the overall health of your body functions, including collagen connectivity. Alcohol is a toxin, at the end of the day and is doing severe harm by damaging the collagen in your skin.
Consistent Skincare Is Key.
Whether you have a dermatologist’s prescription medicines, a routine borrowed from tik to, or even the most humble and sincere CTM routine, once you know what works for your skin, be consistent with it.
Less is always more with skincare. Hydration trumps Exfoliation. And SPF is a non-negotiable. These are the only rules with age-defying skincare, and the most you could do externally to reverse all the ways you have been damaging the collagen in your skin. Gentle products will always do more for your skin barrier than pH-sensitive topicals that come with their own instruction manuals.
Sugar Is A Nemesis. Limit It, Don’t End It.
Foods high in sugar begin the process of glycation in the body. The process of glycation is sinister because once sugar molecules are introduced into the body, they attack the proteins and fats in the system. The byproducts formed at the end of this process significantly deteriorate the quality of the protein in the body causing it to become weakened and less limber.
This process is damaging the collagen in your skin and causes an overall appearance of dullness. Thus the next time you reach out for gulab jamun drowned in sugar syrup, reach out for dark chocolate instead.
Face Exercises And Collagen Supplements Work When You Do
Yes, Collagen supplements, Face Exercises, Face Icing, the whole chaperone works, but only when you do. It will be no point to ingest new collagen in your body when high levels of glycation are killing that collagen the moment they enter.
The right kind of Collagen supplement is the one that is the most bioavailable. That would mean that the process of protein synthesis from the supplement you ingest is easy to facilitate by your body. Marine collagen, in its hydrolyzed form, will be the most bioavailable collagen supplement that you could find for your body. Grade One’s Marine Collagen is in a Hydrolyzed form which promotes collagen synthesis in the body.
These supplements, when supplemented with appropriate nutrition, diet and exercise, will definitely work their way into your body’s complex protein chain and aid in the process of collagen synthesis and retention.
Conclusion.
Collagen and Elastin are the building blocks of your skin, like the bricks that hold the entire building. If you have them standing strong and upright for a longer time, the building will definitely stand tall. Yes, genetics, race, geography etc. matter a lot in determining the collagen genesis in your skin, but of the factors that are damaging the collagen in your skin, the above list will guide you to take the right steps in the right direction for sustaining collagen in your body.