How does Age Affect our Lips?
Lips are a focal point of the face, providing that much-needed balance to the eyes and nose. Apart from helping us talk, express emotion and eat, they’re also vital in attracting the opposite sex. A remnant of primitive times, we seem to be biologically programmed to believe that bigger lips are better when it comes to looking for a mate. These days, of course, we don’t necessarily need a partner for survival or solely to have a baby, but even so, lips are inextricably linked to our sexual attractiveness and how we feel about ourselves.
Sadly though, it becomes more difficult to keep our body and face looking youthful and vibrant as we grow older. The lip area is hard to tackle because it’s often particularly vulnerable to the signs of ageing. Fortunately, there are products out there that specifically target the lips, without having to resort to more invasive dermal fillers or surgery. These work to protect the lips and skin around them from environmental stressors that cause ageing, helping to keep them looking their best. If you’ve not already added a lip care product to your daily skincare routine, maybe now’s the time.
What Happens to Lips as we age?
Thin Lips
The skin on our lips is always incredibly thin, which is why it’s possible to see tiny blood vessels underneath it. But as we age, the skin gets even thinner, flatter and more fragile, which can immediately make you look older.
The shape of our lips is in part due to collagen, which plumps and firms them up. This all works well when we’re young, but over time, collagen production decreases, prompting lips to lose their fullness and firmness.
Wrinkles
Skin above, below and at the corners of the lip area can show the tell-tale signs of ageing early on. It’s all thanks to the fact that we use our lips so often for eating, drinking, talking, smiling, and laughing. Not just that but they’re on our face so sun damage is often a factor.
Deep set wrinkles and vertical lines often appear above the lip area, as well as drooping corners, loss of the cupid’s bow and a lack of definition around the vermillion border.
Apart from the sun’s damaging rays, smoking can contribute to premature ageing. Genetics or hormones might also play a part, but more research is needed to fully understand why they’re affected so badly.
Lip Hair
Hair above the lips can be another bugbear for many women and it often increases around the menopause. Luckily, it's easily remedied by the myriad of available treatments like waxing, plucking and laser hair removal.
Dryness
Youthful lips always seem to appear soft and wonderfully smooth, not ravaged by time nor the elements. Cold, windy weather can be especially harsh for lips, leaving them dry, chapped, flaky and sometimes sore. Keeping lips well moisturised and protected from the elements will go a long way in keeping them looking healthy.
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Using Retinol At Night
Begin your lip routine by massaging in the popular iS CLINICAL® Lip Polish up to 3 times a week. This gentle but powerful scrub, harnesses the properties of Vitamin C and E, blended with the most wonderfully rich botanical butters for exfoliation, stimulation and renewal plus providing that all-important antioxidant protection. After use, expect lips to feel softer, smoother and more hydrated. You’ll also be pleasantly surprised at how easily your lipstick glides on too!
After scrubbing, apply iS CLINICAL® Youth Lip Elixir, or as we like to refer towards it, the ultimate moisturising crème complex. This highly effective formula delivers an intense moisture shot containing transformative ingredients like Hyaluronic Acid, Vitamins C, E and B5, Shea and Cocoa Butter.
This is a great lip treatment for wintertime because of an additional innovative ingredient, a clinicals proprietary combination of Extremoyzmes® which provide unrivalled multi-level protection from those harsh, winter environmental aggressors.
Lip condition and health is instantly improved, meaning that they’re left remarkably smooth, soft and plump, minimising fine lines and wrinkles too.
Alternatively, for dryness or chapped lips, you could also try the fast-acting SkinCeuticals Antioxidant Lip Repair to boost hydration and soften them. With powerhouse antioxidants, Vitamin E and Silymarin, this potent concentrate will banish the blues by soothing, smoothing and rehydrating the lip surface, as well as rejuvenating and defining the look of lip contours.
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