Trying To Hide Your Age? These 3 Body Parts Are Giving It Away!
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Unfortunately, as we get older... so does our skin! Our once-youthful, bright and firm complexion is replaced with fine lines, wrinkles, and the tell-tale signs of our older years. But you'll be shocked to know there are some surprising areas of our body that give away our age far earlier than other parts! We should be looking after these first to ensure we can keep our age a mystery! Without some extra TLC, these particular areas start to lose elasticity, show discoloration and succumb to fine lines. But luckily there are ways to stop the aging process from moving so quickly...
Skin is sensitive to its environment, but genetics also play a role. Some people are more likely to have dry skin, which can be down to conditions such as eczema or psoriasis. Others lose collagen in their skin quicker than others due to their genes - collagen is what keeps our skin springy and soft!
But what we do with our bodies and how we treat them actually makes a huge impact on how our skin looks, and how fast we age! Especially for these 3 areas... There’s a lot to be said for drinking enough water and feeding ourselves nutritious food, but our skincare habits are just as important. It’s not enough to buy one moisturizer for every part of the body – using separate products for each area will give the best age-saving results.
Here are the three body parts that age the quickest, and that need some extra special TLC to remain looking young and fresh!
HANDS
There’s a lot of emphasis on having a well-practiced skin routine for your face, but there’s not much emphasis on how we look after our hands. In fact, your hands are probably the first part of your body to age or make you look older than you actually are! Experts say that hands begin to age when people are in their 30s, and the biggest culprit is sun exposure!
Sun damage is said to be the biggest cause of wrinkles - on any body part, not only the hands. And unless you’re wearing gloves 24/7, your hands are constantly exposed. Even if you live in a colder, cloudier climate, the UV rays still creep through the clouds and penetrate your skin. This is why you should be applying sunblock to your hands every morning, and if you’re heading outdoors during the day, apply again after you wash your hands. This can take the form of a high-quality hand cream that includes SPF, as long as there is some form of protection there.
The other disadvantage to your hands? We put them through so much! Washing up and cleaning, using soap and chemicals, gardening and working hard - these can dry out the skin on your hands. Feeling the extremes of weather, too – walking in from a freezing cold day into a lovely heated room or strolling in from the sizzling heat into a beautifully air-conditioned room. This doesn’t do any good for our skin!
The trick? Moisture. The best way to battle scaly, cracked skin and brittle nails are by creaming up those extremities. Moisturizers that are made specifically for hands are designed to help this over-exposed skin recover from the environmental impact of our everyday lives.
EYES
Our eyes are the windows to our souls. But more importantly, they’re the biggest giveaway of our age on our face. These are two valid reasons for looking after the area around our eyes!
What is it about the eyes that give away our age? Well, the skin around the eyes is actually the thinnest skin on the face, which makes it prone to wrinkles and sagging earlier than the thicker skin on your cheeks. Add this to the fact there is no soft tissue underneath it to support the skin – such as fat or muscle – it’s just a hollow space in the eye socket. That leaves space for the loose skin to cave in!
Beyond anatomy, there is the environment as well. Your behavior affects the way your eyes look. Your sleep, work life, diet, and alcohol consumption can be detrimental to the skin around the eyes. Without providing your body with the right rest, nutrition and hydration, the skin loses elasticity and becomes dull in color. I’m sure you can relate to the turmoil of having dark, puffy under-eyes after a night of poor sleep, or the day after drinking one too many glasses of wine…
The problem is, our eyes are very sensitive. The skin is vulnerable to our lifestyle choices, which could be the reason that your eyes are making you look older than you actually are. Removing makeup using wipes or pads pulls at the skin, which stretches it. Squinting when looking at screens or when out in the sun will add to the number of fine lines appearing (we advise you wear sunglasses or get your eyes checked if that’s the case). And even laughter, smiling and frowning all express themselves through movement around our eyes.
The best way to treat your eyes is not by using your general face moisturizer on it. As we now know, the skin is extremely sensitive, and a lot of products won’t cater to the needs of the skin around the eyes unless they’re specifically designed to! Using anti-aging creams that are not for the eyes can cause burning and inflammation, which is the opposite of what we want!
Instead, you need to find a product that will boost collagen production and helps to tighten the skin, which will leave it looking full and firm. Find a product that is made for the eyes, which uses ingredients that won’t cause any redness or swelling.
NECK
The skin on our neck is more vulnerable than we realize. You may find yourself admiring someone’s young looking face, but then notice that their neck makes them look far older than they are. Well, the chances are, they neglected their neck from moisture and protection from the sun.
It might come as a surprise, but the neck should be treated just as the face is! You see, the skin on the neck is thin. Much like the skin around the eyes, it is more prone to wrinkling and sagging than skin in other areas! And to make matters worse – this sensitive skin is exposed to the sun daily. And as you know, sun exposure is the main culprit of wrinkles.
If you have a short hairstyle, or you tie up your hair regularly, your neck is constantly in the sunlight. So, you should be applying sunscreen or an SPF moisturizer to your neck as well as your face and hands! While we’re on that, you should put sunscreen on any areas that are out on show.
The other reason the neck often looks older than the face is the lack of moisture. More often than not, the beauty regimen ends at the chin, but if we don’t moisturize our necks as well as our faces, the skin will end up dry and coarse! No matter what you’re using, whether it’s a night cream or face moisturizer, you should move it down to the collar bone. Apply in upward motions towards the chin.
Final Thoughts
Preventing the signs of aging is as easy as pie – it just takes a few minutes per day to give each body part some TLC. There is a lot of focus on anti-aging of the face, but the fact of the matter is, there’s more to it than that. Our hands, eyes, and neck are susceptible to the aging process from an earlier age. Do you already have a regime that includes these parts of the body? If the answer is no, get started now. You may even find the Benjamin Button process beginning to happen!
Sources
https://www.prevention.com/beauty/a20473036/anti-aging-tips-for-hands/
https://oleda.growingbolder.com/i-can-hear-you-my-neck-looks-older-than-my-face-what-can-i-do/
