Skin Elasticity: What Is It & Ways to Improve It
Getting older is a fact of life, and it definitely beats the alternative. The aging process has great benefits, like becoming (hopefully) wiser, making better decisions, and enjoying the freedom to live your life on your own terms.
However, we’d be lying if we said that every part of aging was a piece of cake. The physical parts of aging can leave us feeling tired, sluggish, and looking older than we actually feel. Our skin is the organ most likely to show signs of aging, even though other organs can age faster.
If you’ve noticed your skin is looking a little less than youthful, we’re here to help. There may not be an actual fountain of youth, but there are products and ingredients that can help improve your skin’s elasticity, collagen levels, and appearance.
Let’s talk about what causes our skin to lose its elasticity and look older and discuss simple ways to improve it.
What is Skin Elasticity?
Not sure what “skin elasticity” even means? We’ll show you. Gently pinch the skin on your eyelid in front of a mirror. Did it snap back into place instantly when you removed your fingers or did the skin gradually go back into place, forming little wrinkles?
That loss of “snappiness” is a loss of elasticity.
Elasticity is abundant in youthful skin because of the production of elastin. Elastin is a protein that gives your skin the ability to be pulled in one direction and return to its original place.
Elastin works closely with collagen, another skin protein that is vital for keeping skin looking youthful. Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body, and it helps to keep your skin looking plump and full.
Elasticity as You Age
So what happens to your skin’s elasticity as you get older? The short answer is, it can gradually worsen over time. Your skin tends to produce a lot of elastin and collagen when you are younger.
After the age of 20, your skin begins producing less and less of both collagen and elastin. In fact, you’ll end up losing about 1% of your collagen and elastin production per year once you are in adulthood.
Elasticity and External Stressors
It might be easier to blame your skin’s loss of elasticity solely on your age, but there are other factors that also play a part. One of the main reasons your skin is losing elasticity is because of free radical damage.
Free radical damage happens at a cellular level. Your cells are made up of molecules, and these molecules are balanced, which means they each have two electrons.
Free radicals are molecules that are unbalanced and only have one electron. Free radicals search out balanced, healthy molecules, and when they find them, they steal an electron from them, causing damage to the molecule.
When the molecule is damaged, the cell where the molecule lives is also damaged. Free radical damage happens in your body naturally, so some of it is unavoidable, however, there are free radicals in your environment that also cause extensive damage.
Sources of external free radicals include:
- Ultraviolet sun rays
- Cigarette smoke (including secondhand smoke)
- Pollution like factory smoke and smog
- Some household cleaning products
Free radical damage can appear in the form of spots of hyperpigmentation, fine lines, and wrinkles. It can also affect your skin’s elasticity, destroying your skin’s natural elastin and collagen, causing the skin to sag and look older than it is.
Skin Elasticity and Diet
Your diet is also partially to blame for the loss of skin elasticity. While nothing in your diet is directly responsible for your skin’s loss of elasticity, it can be a two-fold issue.
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Extreme weight loss. If you experience extreme weight loss, your skin will likely lose some of its elasticity. This is because the skin has been stretched more than it should cover excess weight. Once the weight is gone, the skin has lost its ability to snap back.
- Lack of antioxidant-rich foods. Your best protection against free radical damage is antioxidants. Antioxidants act as a shield for your skin cells, offering up one of their electrons to free radicals so that your skin cells are protected.
Your diet is an important part of your overall health and wellness, and the health of your skin suffers when your diet is off-balance.
Ways to Improve Skin Elasticity
We’ve just given you some pretty sobering news about your skin’s elasticity, but thankfully, you can do something about it.
In addition to making lifestyle changes such as stop smoking if you are a smoker, and eating a better diet, you can use products that contain ingredients proven to help increase your skin’s elasticity and support collagen production.
There are a lot of products on the market that claim to turn back the hands of time, but only some of them work. There are also a lot of harsh chemicals in products that can be harsh on your skin and potentially toxic to your body.
To truly turn back the hands of time and protect your skin from chemicals, you’ll want clean, clinically proven ingredients.
Here are four ingredients to improve your skin’s elasticity:
1. Marine Algae
Marine algae are somewhat of a skin superfood. Algae is rich in amino acids that make up both collagen and elastin. It’s also a powerful source of essential fatty acids, which helps keep your skin hydrated and enables your skin to better lock in moisture.
Marine algae have the ability to calm skin irritation, soothe inflammation, and work to reduce the effects of free radical damage like sun spots, fine lines, and wrinkles, and yes, loss of elasticity.
Products that contain marine algae can help boost your skin’s hydration, keep your skin feeling and looking firm.
2. Hydrolyzed Marine Collagen
Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body, making it one of the foundational compounds that support your skin. It makes sense that supplementing with collagen can help improve your overall skin texture, tone, and feel.
Collagen works with elastin to keep your skin supported, full, and youthful-looking. It’s important to make sure your collagen is sourced properly and formulated so that your skin can actually absorb it and use it.
Marine collagen, taken from the scales of deep-sea fish, is biocompatible with human skin and composed of smaller amino acids which make it easier for your skin to absorb.
Studies show that fish-derived collagen can help protect against collagen loss, boosting your skin’s natural collagen production and protecting against the oxidative stress that leads to skin aging.
3. Byfermented Pseudo Alteromonasmicroorganism
It’s a long name for an ingredient, but this marine active also helps stimulate your skin’s own collagen and elastin production, helping improve texture and firmness, and increasing your youthful appearance.
4. Byfermented Exopolysachharide
One of the most valuable ingredients in your product arsenal is byfermented exopolysachharide. A derivative of brown kelp, this ingredient helps to stimulate your skin’s hyaluronic acid production, which helps your skin retain moisture.
This ingredient also helps to improve firmness and elasticity naturally, from deep within your skin at a cellular level.
Ingredients at Work
The right ingredients should be included in the right products, and when they are, those products work synergistically with your skin to help reduce the visible signs of aging, brighten your complexion, and put the snap back in your skin.
If you’re looking for a total skincare solution that includes clean and clinically proven age-defying ingredients, One Ocean Beauty is your go-to. Our products are 100% non-toxic, clean, and contain ingredients derived from the ocean and proven to help improve your skin health.
Product to try: One Ocean Beauty’s Revitalizing Sea Serum. Our serum delivers on the promise to improve your skin by stimulating collagen and hyaluronic acid production naturally, with marine active ingredients.
Clinically proven to decrease the visibility of fine lines and wrinkles, and improve skin texture, our serum is lightweight and easily absorbed for a comfortable finish that you can use daily.
The Bottom Line
You can’t reverse aging, but you can definitely slow down the hands of time and improve your skin’s elasticity by protecting it from free radical damage and using products with intentional ingredients.
One Ocean Beauty sources our ingredients from the ocean; it’s at the heart of every product we carry. We also take measures to protect and restore the oceans so that they’ll be here for future generations.
Using One Ocean Beauty’s age-defying marine skincare means you’ll improve your skin elasticity while doing your part to contribute to ocean restoration and preservation. It’s a good decision for both your body and mind.
Sources:
Fighting Against Skin Aging | NCBI
Why Does Skin Wrinkle With Age? | NCBI
