Anti-Aging Superheroes

Super Ingredients For Anti-Aging

Do anti-ageing ingredients really exist and if so should I be using them on my skin and which ones should I choose?

It can get very confusing when hearing about all the different ‘anti-aging’ ingredients that skin care brands say are the best. You may have specific questions like should I use a retinol on my skin or what are antioxidants and how do they work and should I use them?

Dr Alek Nikolic’s Fast Fact:

FOR ALL SKIN TYPES

There is no single wonder ingredient and for us to achieve the best result possible from our skin care regimes so the bottom line is that we need a combination of ingredients applied regularly to the skin both in the morning and evening after cleansing.

What Are The Anti-Aging Superheroes?

Our skins need certain basic core ingredients to fight against ageing so I will give a quick run down on what they are and how they work. The best products any skincare company can offer to fight wrinkles and aging include the following ingredients:

Sunscreen

I am a firm believer in using a SPF 30 or higher so if you moisturiser combo SPF is sitting around 20 then boost the skin’s defence by adding a sunscreen to your skin care regime. One of the most common replies I get from patients is that sunscreens make them feel greasy or interfere with makeup or even leave a white tinge.

The answer to this is to get samples of the different sunscreens and use them till you find the one that suites your skin. All the sunscreens we sell have been tested by numerous patients from my practice and the ones that do not leave any tell-tale signs can be found here.

Our biggest enemy when it comes to ageing skin and hence wrinkles is UV damage so our first priority should be sunscreen applied every day in the A.M. Research has shown that not only will it help with ageing but we can expect to see an improvement in pigmentation and glow to our skins with daily use.

Exfoliants

As we age our ability to get rid of the dead outer layer of skin cells is dramatically reduced (and this starts from the age of thirty) leaving us with a rough or textured skin surface. Furthermore a dull and sallow complexion starts to appear and with time wrinkles appear worse and we may even have dry areas visible on the skin surface.

Exfoliants are there to remove the unwanted and unneeded dead outer layer of skin cells and improve the penetration of skin care products and AHA’s and BHA’s have even shown t stimulate collagen and elastin production.

Antioxidants

These ingredients are a must have in any skin care regime as they have been shown to do the following:

Reduce inflammation
Repair and restore the skin against free radicle damage
Defend against environmental stress
Helps the skin to build more collagen
Increases the skin’s ability to heal itself
Antioxidants help fight sun damage.

Cell Communicating Ingredients:

Older skin cells are forced to become young again. The skin is an intricate network of cells engaged in various levels of communication at all times. The most prevalent molecules responsible for this communication are cytokines. Cytokines are proteins, or peptides, that function as biological messengers. Cell-communicating ingredients indicate to your skin cells that it is time to start generating healthier younger skin cells. In doing so, you prevent wrinkles and reduce the appearance of existing wrinkles.

Skin Identical Substances:

A product may only be called “Skin Identical” if it is naturally occurring in the skin. Skin Identical Ingredients are important because they are our skins repairing ingredients and they tend to improve and target the substances between skin cells known as the intercellular matrix which helps to keep skin cells connected and helps to maintain the skin’s fundamental external structure.

Skin Identical Ingredients in the outermost layer of the skin include: ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol, all of which help to keep your skin looking young and radiant.

The next layer of your skin is the layer that is able to retain moisture. The important Skin Identical Ingredients for this layer include hyaluronic acid, Glycerin, and lecithin.

Specific Uses:

Hold skin cells together and protect them
Replenish and restore the skin‘s external barrier making it soft and supple,
Diminishing dry skin conditions
Helps to build collagen
Improves the skin defence against environmental factors

By using a combination of the above ingredients we are literally getting the best of the best on our skins. All research so far indicates that these are truly the superhero anti-ageing ingredients for our skin care regime.

Here are some examples of each:

AHAs and BHA: