Soothing Radiance Mask
($39.95) feature a natural berry extract that offers antioxidant protection for sensitive skin.
We constantly move and exercise the skin around our mouths as we talk, eat, laugh and live – so this area is more susceptible to wrinkles. The good news is, there are treatments and cosmeceuticals to help minimise the appearance of lines and treatment for wrinkles around the mouth.
Retinol and niacinamide are powerhouse ingredients and are excellent for collagen stimulation and increasing natural hydration levels to reduce the appearance of fine lines, so ensure you are using serums with high levels of vitamins A (as retinol or Hydroxypinacolone retinoate) and B.
Adding in a great vitamin C in the form of L-Ascorbic acid crystals or ethyl ascorbic acid serum also provides a fantastic antioxidant for general skin health, while using peptides such as Acetyl hexapeptide-51 ensures you’re providing your skin with a peptide known for incredible regenerative abilities. This ingredient is able to program damaged cells to repair and reverse cellular ageing in skin.
A great way to pay attention to the area around the mouth is through the daily use of an at-home skin roller. Well-made rollers with biodegradable needles that are more comfortable to use with shallow needles (such as the Synergie Rejuvaderm Home Roller) will create small, non-invasive holes in the upper layer of the skin. This will dramatically improve the penetration of products, particularly serums. At-home rollers are very comfortable to use around the sensitive mouth area. You can also consider clinical needling treatments. These are less comfortable as the needles are longer, but they are excellent at stimulating collagen and softening fine lines.
Is there anything I can do about saggy jowls?
Taking care of your neck is as important as taking care of your face and it’s a dead giveaway of ageing skin. Don’t forget to extend your morning and evening serums and moisturisers to your chin and neck to help prevent skin from sagging, before it becomes too noticeable. However, when skin begins to lose its firmness due to ageing or environmental factors, look for products including Acetyl tetrapeptide-2, which provides firmness to the skin of the neck by enhancing the assembly of elastin (for elasticity) and increasing collagen production (for firmness). This ingredient is particularly important to the neck as this area loses elasticity faster due to the thinner skin. Sagging skin is more difficult to treat with cosmeceuticals. However, if saggy jowls are a real concern, I would recommend looking into clinical treatments such as radio frequency skin tightening and high-frequency ultrasound treatments. These will provide a far more effective, deeper treatment for lifting saggy jowls and tightening skin under the chin.
How can I stop my skin getting dry and itchy this winter?
Central heating, temperature fluctuations and cold winds can play havoc with our skin during winter and result in dry, irritated and cracked skin. Invest in products with high levels of hydrators such as hyaluronic acid, and high-quality non-clogging oils such as olive squalene, shea butter, macadamia oil and sea buckthorn oil to prevent moisture loss.
While it is important to keep your skin hydrated and the water ‘in’, it is also very important to exfoliate, as skin can tend to look dull in winter. Frequent use of well-formulated chemical exfoliants such as AHAs and BHAs will keep the skin soft and free of dead skin without irritation.
Also, if the skin is dehydrated, the outer layers can no longer perform their protective function, and this leads to irritation and skin itch. This is why hydrating agents (hyaluronic acid and NaPCA) and noncomedogenic emollient oils (such as squalane and meadowfoam seed oil) are essential in winter.