How To Tighten Neck Skin: 7 Tips To Keep It Taut + What Causes Sagging

So while some of these tips can offer results over time (slowly but surely), they're best used as proactive prevention steps. And it's never too late to get started:

Check out our picks for the best neck creams, for more guidance.

On that note, you'll also want to keep your skin hydrated in order to prevent any more sagging. "Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize—this can improve the appearance," board-certified dermatologist Hadley King, M.D., tells mbg about tending to crepey skin. 

Bonus points if you apply a lotion straight out of the shower: Trapping in that lingering water with a rich cream can speed up the repair of a compromised skin barrier.

Collagen supplements can even help support your skin's hydration levels, which is important for maintaining supple, smooth neck skin.* In fact, a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial found that participants' moisture levels in the skin were seven times higher3 than those who did not take the daily collagen peptide supplement.*

Considering UV damage can contribute to faster collagen and elastin breakdown (which we explain further below!), protecting your neck with sunscreen is a must. "Start early (now is not too late!) and vigilantly protect your skin from the sun," agrees Kim. See here for our favorite creamy options that melt into your complexion. 

For what it's worth, you never want to pull or tug at your delicate neck skin in any direction—but many experts will tell you that gentle, upward strokes are best. See, gravity already pulls your skin downward over time and contributes to sagging, so why encourage the process by dragging it in that direction? Of course, this is not the be-all and end-all for tightening neck skin, but it is a helpful skin care tip to keep in the back of your mind. 

With face yoga, you're intentionally toning the facial muscles, which can promote blood circulation in the skin and actually help tighten the area. Experts have targeted exercises just for the neck area, too: Says Koko Hayashi, face yoga instructor and founder of Koko Face Yoga, perform this trio just one to three times per day to see results. "Facial muscles are smaller, so you don't need as much exercise," she says. "You'll notice a difference quickly."

That said, her No. 1 tip is to place your tongue on the roof of your mouth "whenever your face is resting, except when you're talking, eating, or drinking." No need to use force—it's not so much about the pressure itself as it is about training your natural tongue posture to remain on the upper palate.

To tone the neck specifically, Hayashi loves this quick exercise. Although, she recommends avoiding it if you have any neck pain whatsoever: 

Make sure you're not wrinkling your forehead while you look up to the ceiling ("You don't want to cause more wrinkles by doing the exercise!" Koko notes). If it's difficult not to knit your brows together, closing your eyes makes it easier. 

To target the sides of your neck, follow the same exercise as above with slight tweaks:

For example, they might perform skin-resurfacing treatments, like microneedling—which can improve skin texture by using small needles to prick the skin and trigger collagen repair. Much more research is needed, but studies are starting to consider microneedling as a safer skin alternative4 to more invasive resurfacing technologies like lasers (although, the results are often less dramatic). But, again, chatting with your derm is your best bet. 

In terms of causes, we'll chat about three buckets: aging, posture, and rapid weight loss. 

"As time goes by, there is a longer duration and cumulative amalgamation of insult to the skin in the form of gravity, pollution, poor daily skin care, posture, and such," notes Kim. "The more damage your skin is exposed to and for the longer period of time, the more wrinkling and sagging you will see." 

Posture is interesting to note, as it seems to affect the neck in a pretty major way: When you slouch, your neck skin is constantly folded over itself, which can ultimately lead to skin sagging. Add phones and screens to the mix, and we're looking down a lot more than humans have in the past—which can lead to a 21st-century phenomenon known as "tech neck." It's related to skin aging, as it's poor posture over time—coupled with things as UV and free-radical exposure—that contributes to the looser skin. 

Finally, a note on weight loss: "Weight loss, when dramatic and within a very short period of time, can cause sagging skin because the fat loss was too quick for the skin to respond and tighten," Kim explains. If you leave it alone, that skin can tighten on its own—it just may take a very long time, which is why you might want to support the process with the skin care methods above. Of course, it might not bounce back entirely to its original state without the help of more invasive methods, but it's a start. 

The neck is one of the first areas to reveal signs of aging, as the skin there is often overlooked. While it can be difficult to treat once these texture changes crop up, it's never too late to give the sensitive skin on your neck the TLC it needs.