As we age, the breakdown of collagen and elastin leads to visible signs of aging like wrinkles and sagging. However, with the right knowledge, healthy lifestyle choices, and skincare regimen, you can effectively preserve and stimulate these proteins for a firmer, more vibrant complexion.
Discover the key ingredients, treatments, and lifestyle choices that can help you achieve and maintain beautiful, age-defying skin.
The Crucial Role of Collagen and Elastin in Skin Health
Collagen, comprising 80% of skin proteins, provides structure and firmness. However, it starts to break down as we age, leading to sagging and wrinkles. Elastin, as its name suggests, maintains skin elasticity, also preventing sagging and wrinkles.
Preserving Collagen and Elastin
Protecting collagen and elastin is key to youthful skin. The best way to preserve collagen and elastin in your skin is by using a mineral-based SPF to shield fibroblasts (the cells responsible for collagen and elastin production) from sun damage.
Fibroblasts will significantly weaken their collagen and elastin production process when the DNA of the cell gets damaged from sunbathing and/or tanning beds.
Healthy Habits To Preserve Collagen and Elastin
Poor diet and sleep also directly impact the quality of our natural collagen and elastin production.
Diets rich in starch, sugar and processed food cause glycation in our skin — a process in which sugar molecules adhere to our skin’s collagen and elastin proteins, causing inflammation and collagen breakdown.
Recommended Skincare Products
Serum A-Glyca: When it comes to products that can be used to stimulate collagen and elastin, Serum A-Glyca is one of the most powerful serums to fight inflammation and collagen breakdown in the skin due to sugar intake in the diet.
Vitamin A and C Products: Vitamin A and C products are collagen-boosting gold standards. Vitamin A synthesizes new collagen, renews damaged cells, and fights free radical damage. Environ’s AVST Moisturizer 1 and C-Quence Serum 1 are gentle, effective options for daily use.
These two products are amazing introductions to vitamin A without any downtime, peeling, or sensitivities. They can be used in both your morning and nighttime routines.
Incorporating red and orange colored fruits and vegetables in your diet will also increase the chances of retinol conversion in cells. Red and orange peppers, squash, papaya, and carrots are great examples of viable fruits and vegetables.
Vitamin C is another crucial antioxidant that fights free radical damage in the skin and helps to boost collagen production. Our cells can not survive without vitamin C! It is crucial to incorporate vitamin C into our skincare routines as our body constantly uses its vitamin C reserves to fight and repair environmental and sun damage.
Vitamin C also supports our skin’s brightening process. Incorporating fruits rich in Vitamin C such as citruses and kiwi also boost the immunity of our skin cells. My favorite Vitamin C product is Environ’s Mela Even Cream.
Collagen Originel and Elastine Serums: Using serums such as Biologique Recherche’s Collagene Originel and Elastine in your skin routine will stimulate collagen to give the skin more volume and fullness, and encourage elastin production to soften wrinkles and lines.
Microneedling: This Gold Roller from Environ is an amazing collagen induction tool that can be used from the comfort of your own home. This roller inflicts tiny micro punctures into your skin, creating channels for potent serums to travel deeper into the skin. Here’s a demonstration on how best to use your microneedle at home.
Best Professional Treatments
Various professional treatments with a facialist or esthetician can be leveraged to increase the production of collagen and elastin.
These treatments include a combination of Microneedling, a classic and tested collagen induction therapy, and professional-grade LED red light therapy, which increases ATP production in the cell and helps our skin cells repair and produce more collagen.
Additionally, high-tech microcurrent electricity-based treatments can increase ATP production in the cell up to 500 times, injecting our cells with significantly more energy to produce collagen, elastin, and repair continuous DNA damage caused by environmental, lifestyle, and dietary factors.
Our current clientele can access these treatments in our studio — for more information on these services, please click here.
Combining healthy lifestyle choices, potent products, and professional treatments is essential for collagen and elastin preservation and stimulation. There's no one-size-fits-all solution and a holistic approach is key to slowing down the aging process in the skin.
