In her book The Tweakments Guide: Start with Skincare, award-winning beauty journalist Alice Hart-Davis answers all the burning beauty questions we have. And unsurprisingly, most of it is around anti-ageing. The good news is that skincare for wrinkles does exist. The correct skincare products can genuinely help improve the appearance of wrinkles and ageing.
‘Using great skincare, and finding the right products that work for you, is the key to achieving a fresher-looking face,’ says Alice. ‘Yet many people don’t take skincare seriously because they don’t know what the right products can do for them.’ Before you head for expensive treatments, spend your money on the basics: your skincare for wrinkles, or any other concern, is the bread and butter of achieving – and keeping! – healthy skin. With Alice’s advise our beauty editor Jade Smith has handed over these skincare gems that will help you soften your wrinkles.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C will help your skin defend itself against the environment (though not to the extent that you can skip wearing sunscreen – always wear the sunscreen!). It will also help produce new collagen, which will soften the look of wrinkles, and tone down any pigmentation.
Try: Lamelle Vita-C Lipid Serum R930, dermastore.co.za. This cult product brightens and hydrates skin with a lipid-soluble concentration. This makes it ideal for dry and sensitive skins, since it keeps the lipid barrier replenished as it gets to work.
Peptide complex
Peptides are ingredients that act like chemical messengers to turn on particular biochemical processes in the skin. FInd the right key, or peptide, to switch on a process and you could be looking at a great result. The best-known peptide is Matrixyl 3000 – old-fashioned, but still reliable as skincare for wrinkles.
Try: Environ Focus Care Youth+ Tri-Peptide Complex Avance Moisturiser R1 490, Deluxe Shop OR BioMedical Emporium Peptide Therapy R1 735, biomedicalemporium.com.
Retinoid
Using some form of Vitamin A can be transformative for the skin because it kickstarts collagen production. At the same time it reduces the rate of collagen breakdown in the skin. Therefore this important skincare for wrinkles ingredient aids your existing collagen to last longer and new collagen to be made faster. Retinoids also speed up the rate at which older, slow-moving skin cells renew, which has an exfoliating effect on the skin.
They also reduce oiliness, which in turn reduces the chances of blocked pores and acne. And there’s even more! Retinoids also quieten down the production of excess pigment in the skin. Put together, all these effects make the skin look clearer and less wrinkled.
Try: Lamelle Correctives 3.0 RA Serum R850, dermastore.co.za. A well-formulated, lipid-based serum that prevents retinoid-associated dry or irritated skin.
Hyaluronic acid
Dry skin wrinkles more quickly than well-hydrated skin. So if your skin is on the dry side and you are building a skincare for wrinkles arsenal add a powerful moisturiser to your morning routine. This should be applied after your Vitamin C serum, before your sunscreen.
Try: Sothys Hydra 3Ha Hydrating Youth Cream, POR available at selected spas and salons. This contains mushroom extract that boosts hyaluronic acid and improves barrier function.
Sunscreen
The most vital skincare for wrinkles product you can own is a moisturising face sunscreen. You must wear it every day, because what really hastens ageing in the skin is daily exposure to ultraviolet light. Wearing sunscreen reduces the effects of UV light on the skin, and that means fewer wrinkles over time. In the end, prevention is better than cure.
Try: REN Clean Screen Mineral SPF 30 Mattifying Face Sunscreen Broad Spectrum R750, Wellness Warehouse.
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