Wrinkles and other signs of skin ageing are rarely welcome, so it is not surprising that cosmetics manufactures produce a wide range of anti-age skincare products that are very popular among consumers. But how do you know that the product you choose is really effective? All you need to do is look at the ingredient list and see what anti-wrinkle ingredients the product contains.
To understand how to get rid of wrinkles, you should figure out first why and how they appear. Loss of skin firmness and elasticity is the primary cause of fine lines and wrinkles. When you move your facial muscles, your skin moves with them. While you’re young, the skin stretches and compresses with no visible signs of deformation, but as you get older, it becomes harder for the skin to return to its previous smoothness, which results in fine lines and wrinkles.
The structural framework of the skin is formed by collagen and elastin fibres, and filled with hyaluronic acid molecules. If the skin is young and healthy, it produces enough collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid to remain firm and smooth.
The amount of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid produced by ageing skin is not enough to maintain its natural firmness and elasticity, which results in the formation of fine lines and deeper wrinkles. The less collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid the skin produces, the more wrinkles you get and the deeper they are.
What affects the loss of skin firmness and elasticity? There are many different factors, but the main ones are age and ultraviolet radiation. Since ageing is a natural process, you can hardly do anything about it, but you can protect your skin from UV exposure by using sunscreen and/or moisturisers with SPF.
As a rule, the first wrinkles appear at age 30–35, but the production of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid usually begins to decline even earlier, at about 25. Because of this, a lot of people start to use anti-age skincare products in their mid-20s to keep their skin looking youthful for as long as possible.
This makes sense because it is always easier to prevent the problem or solve it at an early stage than to deal with it when things get really serious. As a rule, active ingredients used in anti-wrinkle creams, masks, serums, and other products have several beneficial effects at once. Let’s take a closer look at the most important of them.
Replenish Collagen, Elastin and Hyaluronic Acid
If your skin lacks collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid, anti-wrinkle products can deliver these substances to skin cells and replenish the loss. So when you’re choosing anti-age skincare products, make sure that they contain hydrolysed collagen, hydrolysed elastin and/or low molecular weight hyaluronic acid, which are easily absorbed by the skin.
Relax Facial Muscles
When your facial muscles are relaxed, your skin compresses and stretches less, and, as a result, has fewer wrinkles. Due to this, anti-age skincare products usually contain so-called muscle relaxants, typically peptides such as Argireline (acetyl hexapeptide-3 or acetyl hexapeptide-8), Matrixyl (palmitoyl pentapeptide-4), and Syn-Ake (dipeptide diaminobutyroyl benzylamide diacetate).
Stimulate Fibroblast Activity
Fibroblasts are biological cells responsible for the synthesis of the extracellular matrix and collagen. They play a critical role in wound healing and preventing premature skin ageing. To stimulate fibroblasts, anti-age products contain two types of ingredients: vitamins and exfoliants.
Prevent Dehydration
When the structure of the skin lacks moisture, the skin loses its turgor and becomes lax and sagging. Therefore, one of the most important benefits of anti-wrinkle skincare ingredients is their ability to prevent trans-epidermal moisture loss. Common ingredients that have this effect include ceramides, high molecular weight hyaluronic acid, natural vegetable oils, and lanolin.
Protect From the Sun
As we’ve already mentioned above, you can protect your skin from the sun with the help of sunscreen and moisturisers with SPF. In addition, anti-age skincare products usually contain antioxidants to minimise UV-induced free radical damage. Common antioxidants that can be found in anti-wrinkle products are vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin E (tocopherol), resveratrol, and others.
Taking into account all of the above, we can name some of the most popular ingredients in anti-age skincare products that help to reduce the appearance of wrinkles: vitamin A (retinol), vitamin B3 (niacinamide), vitamin B5 (panthenol), vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin E (tocopherol), resveratrol, ceramides, caffeine, peptides, AHAs (alpha-hydroxy acids), green tea, coffee, ginseng, ginkgo, carrier oils (grapeseed, jojoba, argan, almond, wheat germ, avocado), essential oils (geranium, orange, rosemary, lavender, rose), and more.