15 Surprising Things that Age Your Skin

by Real Beauty | May 10, 2012 | 1.1 Resources & Tips

15 Surprising Things that Age Your Skin

Healthy, glowing skin is usually beauty priority number one for women, so we’ve rounded up the most surprising bad skin habits you need to kick to the curb.

#1. Coffee

Caffeine is a major culprit when it comes to dry skin. Avoid the magnification of wrinkles and instead, quench skin by drinking lots of H2O. To make sipping on water more enticing, add fruit slices like orange or lemon to enhance the flavor.

#2. Skipping Meals

While dropping those last few pounds may be number one on your priority list, make sure you do it the right way. Skipping meals can cause skin to age faster and dry out more quickly. Always try to include vitamins C (oranges), B3 (peanuts), E (avocados), and A (sweet potatoes) in your meals to build up your skin’s health.

#3. Not Drinking Enough Water

It’s true, 8 glasses a day will keep your wrinkles away! Hydrating yourself daily will not only help to fight off aging, but also gives your skin a healthy glow. Skip the water, and you’ll be stuck with rough and ‘shrunken’ skin.

#4. Yo-Yo Dieting

Sticking to a diet is not an easy task. Between work, social life, and down time it’s not always easy to maintain one weight. However constant yo-yo dieting can negatively impact your skin–frequent weight gain and loss can cause the fibers in skin to loosen over time creating stretch marks and sag.

#5. Not Enough Sleep

Need an excuse to feel better about pressing the snooze button? Getting the recommended 8 hours of sleep a night will not only help you look refreshed, but it will also replenish and rehydrate skin. Not getting a good night’s sleep can result in dull skin and clogged pores.

#6. Missing the Eye Doc Appointment

Skipped your annual optometrist appointment? It’s time to pencil it into your calendar. Wearing outdated contacts and glasses will cause you to squint more, and in turn, lead to fine lines and wrinkles around your eyes. To avoid unnecessary ageing, make sure you visit your eye doctor at least once a year.

#7. Bad Lipstick

With three to five cellular layers of skin that rest upon lips, make sure your beauty regime includes them too! Dried out lips not only look bad, but also causes them to age faster. Look for lipsticks and lip balm that contain petrolatum, dimethicone, and glycerine to help keep your smackers hydrated!

#8. Dead Skin

You know when you can’t put down the loofah and scrub because it just feels so gosh darn good? We won’t lie, we’ve been there. We love a refreshing scrub every now and then, but over exfoliating can strip your skin of its necessary oils it needs to maintain your natural glow. Exfoliate skin once a week to keep it healthy.

#9. Frowning

Constant movements of the muscles in your skin from facial expressions are what lead to frown lines. To give your skin a rest, try avoiding scrunching and pouting of the face which will cause permanent wrinkles and lines in your skin.

#10. Stressing

Consider stress the heavy weight knock out when it comes to your skin. Not only can it cause blemishes, acne, dullness and rashes… but stress lines from facial movements will also ingrain in your skin over time. Best way to avoid stress? Take time to do something you enjoy like yoga, read a book, cook, or take a walk.

#11. Candy

Dear Sugar, it’s not you, it’s me… I’ll miss you! We know breaking up is hard to do, but keep in mind when you intake excess sugar it hurts the collagen nestled in your skin leaving you with sag. Fight your sweet tooth with organic fruits like pineapple or mango.

#12. Skipping the Gym

Exercise seems to be the cure for almost everything these days and rightfully so! Exercising helps to increase blood flow and give your face a healthy glow. In addition, it also cleans the body of toxins which are expelled during perspiration and cleanses dead skins cells allowing new ones to grow. Without regular exercise you may see an increase in age spots, so lace up those sneakers and hit the pavement.

#13. Driving

The seat-belt tan may be a girl’s biggest pet peeve in the summer months, but what you don’t know is that those sunburns on your arm add up! Since your left arm is always exposed to more sun when driving, make sure to lather up with extra sun block on that side. The same rules apply to those who are riding in the passenger seat with their right arm exposed.

#14. The Sauna

Bad news for all your spa buffs out there. Keep your sauna and steam room usage to a minimum. These spa treats can cause sagging (as they break down elasticity and natural collagen in the skin) over time.

#15. Too Much Makeup

Leaving the house without makeup on may feel like you’re walking around naked for a few minutes, but after awhile it’s kind of refreshing! Allowing your skin to breathe will help prevent clogged pores and breakouts while avoiding premature aging. So take a walk on the wild side – ditch your makeup every now and then.