What Makes Skin Look Aged?

One easy way to judge a person’s age is through their skin. However, skin that looks aged may not only be suffering from wrinkles. There are many different effects that contribute to the look of aged skin. Not everyone ages the same, so if you are concerned about your skin, consider all of the qualities that make skin look aged:

Fine lines and wrinkles

As you age, your body becomes less efficient at repairing damaged molecules. Wrinkling starts out in the skin’s thick inner layer, the dermis. Here, your skin forms a natural polymer of collagen fibers woven with proteins. When skin ages, collagen levels decrease, causing these woven materials to become loose and even clumpy, creating a loss in skin elasticity. This is what leads to wrinkling, along with damage from free radicals, an unstable molecule that damages cell function. Free radicals can be difficult to avoid, as they can be found in our air, water, products, and even sunlight.

You will see the most wrinkles on the parts of your face that often become folded from expressions—around the eyes, the smile corners of your mouth, and the creases on your forehead.

Sagging

This loss of skin elasticity is what also causes sagging. Skin will commonly sag along the jawline, mouth, and eye area.

Dryness and thinning

Dryness and thinning are perhaps the most under looked effects of aged skin. As you age, multiple changes in your biology will result in these problems. Sebum pores are enlarged, and yet producing far less sebum. On the other hand, fat cells shrink, diminishing the natural padding and insulation that these cells provide. Fat cells will naturally “spread” to fill in thinned areas and wrinkles. With this decreased padding, it becomes more difficult to cover all the damage.

Discoloration

Aged skin will often have discoloration due to issues with pigmentation. This could be a generally uneven color, dark spots, or light spots. Discoloration occurs due to aging, but can be sped up through damage and even some medications.

Uneven texture

Not everyone has strictly dry or oily skin. Aged skin is often uneven in texture, varying due to large pores, patches of dry or oily skin, blemishes, and other factors. As collagen levels decrease, the skin may not be able to maintain an even and full skin texture, losing an even skin tone as well as firmness and structure.

It can be frustrating to attempt to diminish these effects, not only because there are so many products out there to choose from, but also because different products tend to address only one or two of these issues. Using multiple products can be confusing and expensive. Instead, you should look for one product that can effectively reduce the look of all of the problems that plague aging skin. For a product to accomplish all of this, look to the power of natural ingredients to take on aging skin. One of the must buzzed-about products right now, NeriumAD, utilizes the patented NAE-8 extract to produce scientifically proven results. This miracle product can smooth the look of wrinkles and lines, increase firmness, improve the appearance of skin tone and texture, and contribute to your looking and feeling rejuvenated.

Herbal Superpowers: Nerium Oleander’s Folk Tradition Shines in Modern Use

Growing up, I liked to pretend my grandmother’s garden was a mysterious tropical Eden. She had the typical short white picket fence bordering the garden, and the matching archway entrance had long been covered by vines that curled around my fingers and brushed my cheek as I walked through. Grandma’s neat walking path took me through towering tomato plants, tantalizing mint patches whose scent seemed to follow me for hours after, and bushy, blooming sweet oleanders.

Grandma would tell me her garden had superpowers. I mistakenly thought she was playing along with my fantasizing, perhaps trying to get me into actually taking care of the plants rather than trampling them. I would imagine abilities for these plants:

“That bush is a truth serum!” I would tell her as she trimmed her darlings.

“This aloe can heal burns,” she said. I thought she just didn’t have a very active imagination.

I jumped to my next subject. “This flower can shoot lasers!”

“Chamomile can help you sleep.”

I happened upon one of my favorites, the oleander, which was growing strong with long narrow leaves and puffy white and red flowers. “That one,” Grandma said, before I could come up with nonsense, “is one of the most potent herbs in the world. It’s been used for thousands of years.”

I reached for a leaf, but found Grandma swiftly at my side. “Don’t pick at my plants, you know that. Anyway, it’s toxic unless used right.”

I was confused, remembering I’d been told never to eat oleander. How can something toxic be used as a medicine—for centuries? I would find that oleander had long been used to boost the immune system, as an antimicrobial, for skin care, and a range of other promoted uses. Grandma noticed my confusion. “Medicine is only good when used in a certain way. If you don’t follow the directions, use too much, or too little, you are not going to have a good time. Listen to the professionals. Let me show you.”

Following her into the house, I wondered what concoction she’d show me. She’d been working with an herbalist to stock her shelves with jars of liquids that made the room smell like flowers. Grandma brought fresh oleander to her herbalist, who had learned from thousands of years of folk tradition how to use the plant safely and effectively. “If you could get to the extract without damaging it, then you’d really have something,” Grandma surmised, like she was onto the next big thing. She was.  

As I grew into an herbal amateur myself, I kept an eye on what this powerful plant I’d come to know as Nerium oleander could do, and while it’s at the forefront of a variety of medicinal uses, as an aging adult, its skincare applications caught my attention. I was more interested in science than folk tradition when it came to results, and one product, NeriumAD, is at the forefront of this path. The patented NAE-8 extract from Nerium oleander is extracted via a patent-pending process that preserves the plant’s beneficial properties. This extract is used in a safe formula that, in clinical trials, showed an average of 30% improvement in the appearance of wrinkles and discoloration, a superpower that would have impressed me as a child. I think Grandma would approve.

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