First, let's get a sense of what we're up against. Your dermis - the deeper layer of your skin - is where wrinkle-causing changes take place. Those changes are due primarily to the deterioration of your skin's three main structural components:Collagen: gives skin its durability
Elastin: gives skin its resilience and bounce
Hyaluronic acid: holds water and gives skin its volume
As we age, each of these three components decreases, and there's no way around that. Women will notice this most during the first five years after menopause, when collagen can decrease by as much as 30 percent. But there are plenty of things we can do to ensure that we don't lose 'em any faster than necessary:
Avoid outside influences that degrade the structure of your dermis, among them smoking, sun exposure, and poor nutrition.
As I've mentioned in the past, make antioxidants a regular part of your day - first and foremost through diet, and also in the form of topical skin serums (look for these in dropper-style bottles) or moisturizers. Some of the most common ingredients to look for are vitamins C and E, lycopene, green tea, rosemary.
Help stimulate your skin's natural collagen production - and slough off dead skin cells that inhibit maximum absorption of serums and lotions - with cleansers that contain natural ingredients and have using loofah to remove those cells.
Look for other skin care ingredients that can stimulate your skin to produce more collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid on its own. Retinoids, vitamin C, and and many organic ingredients have all been shown to do just that.
Drink lots of water. The enzymes in your skin need water to work properly. Look for the many new waters out there with added antioxidant ingredients - or add an "antioxidant booster" to your water. Drinking iced green tea is another option.
