3 Habits That Slow Down The Formation Of Wrinkles Naturally

Everyone is going to get wrinkles at some point. While injectables, filler, and plastic surgery can mask physical skin aging to some degree, they're not necessarily helping your skin age better or healthier. Of course, you should feel free to indulge in whatever skin care practices make you feel most comfortable, but you should also know that those treatments only tackle the aesthetics. 

If you aren't using a deeply hydrating moisturizer at least twice a day, you should start. "You would be surprised how many of the mild to moderate wrinkles on your face are simply due to lack of hydration," biotech scientist Lauren Otsuki, co-founder of biotech skin care brand Ourself, recently shared on the Clean Beauty School podcast. 

What does collagen have to do with skin aging, anyway? It's simple: A loss of collagen causes wrinkles. Let's not forget that your skin is made up of collagen; it's an essential part of the structure of our skin, bone, cartilage, and muscle that helps tissues to be more elastic and withstand stretching (so, for example, it keeps skin looking young and supple).

While you do make your very own supply of collagen naturally, it declines as you age. Starting in your 20s, collagen levels decrease about 1% each year1 (we know—much sooner than expected).

Plus, other lifestyle and environmental factors can reduce your collagen production, such as sun damage, high-sugar diets2, stress, and more—you can read about all of them here. However, consuming collagen peptides has been shown to help promote your body's natural production of collagen1 and result in plumper, firmer skin.

It doesn't matter if you're going outside on a cloudy day, you're sitting by a sunny window, or you "never get sunburned": Everyone should be wearing sunscreen daily. You know those fine lines, dark spots, and wrinkles that pop up sooner than you expected? That's probably due to sun exposure.