As we age, our skin naturally loses elasticity and develops wrinkles, making skincare an essential part of maintaining a youthful appearance. Key ingredients in skincare can help slow down the aging process by promoting collagen production and protecting against environmental damage. Some specific ingredients are especially known for their ability to support skin regeneration, reverse signs of aging, and rebuild collagen.
Chris Gibson, an esthetician with over 455K subscribers on Youtube, recently shared four “amazing” and “powerful” skincare ingredients you should add to your anti-aging routine because these “effective” ingredients “combat sagging, crepey skin” and also “fight free radicals.” According to him, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C serums, peptides, and retinoids are key when it comes to skincare. Read on to get all his insights.
1. Moisturizers With Hyluronic Acid Or Polyglutamic Acid
Gibson says moisturization is key when trying to maintain youthful skin. Unfortunately, as we age, various factors play into dull, aging skin, such as certain medications, stress, and lack of hydration. One way to combat this is to make sure your moisturizer contains either hyaluronic acid or polyglutamic acid.
“Hyaluronic acid is a water-grabbing molecule; it's actually a salt that attracts moisture and holds it there up to a thousand times its molecular weight, so it's a very effective moisturization ingredient.”
Polyglutamic acid is an “amazing ingredient” because it “locks in moisture.” This essentially helps your skin create more of its own moisture, and it's 5x more powerful than hyaluronic acid, especially aiding those that live in a dry climate.
2. Vitamin C serum
Gibson recommends a vitamin C serum that’s boosted with niacinamide because “it helps the vitamin C serum work better on your skin and calms the skin.” He recommends ones that have some amount of hyaluronic acid and a retinoid as well if you want something that can multitask.
Vitamin C can also “fight off free radicals, is a great antioxidant, and can actually help boost your skin’s own sun protection factor.”
3. Peptides
Gibson says that collagen peptides are not collagen itself; they’re actually the amino acids or building blocks of collagen in your skin.
Studies “show that people who use them “have proven what an important step this is to give your skin back the natural amino acids it needs to strengthen elastin fibers and hold onto and produce more collagen.”
This will help combat the “sagging, crepey skin” that we see as our facial structure collapses with age.
4. Retinoid
Gibson says this one is especially important to incorporate with all the other skincare ingredients mentioned above. He notes that retinoids, “which are derivatives of vitamin A, are the most powerful” when it comes to healthy skin and anti-aging. “Retinoids are able to reverse photoaging on the skin” because it's the only topical product we have that can do that.
"It strengthens elastin fibers, rebuilds collagen in the skin, and speeds up superficial circulation,” meaning it delivers oxygen and nutrients to your skin. This helps with cellular turnover and keeps the old dead skin cells at bay.
Gibson also shares in which order you should apply these. In general, moisturizers should go last.
He uses peptides first (don’t forget to apply around the ears!), then vitamin C. After that, you can apply your retinol, which should be used at night because the sun can break it down if used during the day. Last but not least, apply your moisturizer to lock in all that moisture.
