The Science of Skin Aging

As we age, especially from approximately age 30 forward, there are significant changes occurring in all of the layers of the skin. Women often experience dramatic changes in their skin tone, texture, and laxity, including:

• In the deeper layer of the skin (dermis), our levels of hyaluronic acid, collagen, and elastin all start to decline as we age.

• Hyaluronic acid is like a sponge or water magnet that traps moisture in the skin. As HA goes down, skin starts to lose its bounce and looks less plump.

• Collagen fibers are like tight ropes and elastic fibers are like rubber bands, when we start to lose our collagen and elastin, our skin not only gets thinner, but it starts to sag and doesn’t bounce back the way it used to.

• Our skin cell turnover slows down as we age, resulting in dead skin cells piling up on the surface—this is why many of us feel like we’ve lost our glow, or our skin looks more dull. We can even see more texture and may start to notice rough patches.

• There are also significant changes occurring in the very top layer of the skin (stratum corneum): here, our skin’s production of natural oils and lipids, like ceramides, goes way down. When that happens, our skin becomes more dry and sensitive, and that means it’s also more reactive—things that never used to irritate your skin are now causing stinging or even a rash. So we have to pay extra attention to something called the skin barrier.

• Lifestyle can also have a profound impact on how pronounced these skin changes are and how rapidly they advance.

Becoming the CEO of Your Skin Health

Our skin is a living organ. In fact, it’s our largest organ, and our skin cells are very smart; they respond to the environment you create around them. If you create a micro-environment, a cellular milieu that encourages your skin cells to thrive metabolically, your skin will respond. 

You can not only optimize your skin health, but you can even turn back the clock so that your skin's age can become younger than your chronological age. In the same way that we wouldn’t let our muscles atrophy in the name of natural aging, and we can feel stronger and healthier in our 40s than we did in our 30s through strategic training, we can define goals and act on them for our skin.

Specifically, some key ingredients and ingredient combinations can interact with receptors in the skin and even create signaling cascades that will ultimately change the behavior of our skin cells. And since our skin is an organ we can actually see—unlike our liver or lungs—when we optimize skin health, it can have a significant impact on our confidence and self-esteem.