This Is Why Skin Health Is The One Beauty Trend Worth Caring About

In this guest blog post, Ingeborg van Lotringen shares her thoughts on the concept of ageing powerfully...

For all the fashionable talk about individuality, self-acceptance and pro-ageing, when I look back at attitudes towards the visible signs of ageing throughout my career in beauty journalism, I sometimes feel we have gone backwards, not forwards...

Just fifteen years ago, the talk in magazines was all about 36 being ‘the beauty age’: a time when a woman was considered to have grown into her looks (fine lines or not) and radiated grown-up contentment and self-assurance, allowing her to look like the best version of herself. Less than two decades on, the poreless, featureless ‘perfection’ displayed so relentlessly on social media seems to have made 36 look positively old. 

According to a new survey Face The Future conducted for their Beauty Beyond Time campaign among 2000 UK women, those aged 25-34 are keenest on the uptake when it comes to anti-ageing products (other surveys show they are taking the lead in ‘preventative’ dermal filler usage as well), and only 27% of women overall feel more confident about their appearance now than when they were younger. Almost half feel pressure to ‘look young’, especially when appearing at a social gathering (65%) or on social media (41%). Intriguingly, far fewer women are fussed about looking ‘young’ when dating (27%).

Could it be that we, consciously or subconsciously, put far too much onus on how our looks compare to other women’s - even ones we don’t and never will know?

If that is so, we really should make it stop. I did photoshoots with beautiful models for years, and the most stunning always had something ‘off’ – alien eyes, gap teeth, a face full of freckles. Their beauty was in their individuality and personality – not in the identikit full-lipped, textureless-skinned, dead-eyed (so as not to cause any expression lines) approximation of ‘eternal youth’ that comparison culture seems to have led to. 

Meanwhile, with skin my specialist subject as a beauty journalist, it became evident to me that the real key to ‘eternal youth’ is skin health. Which is almost entirely of our own making. Yes, some have luckier genes than others, but everyone can turn average or even bad skin into vibrant, glowing skin and stave off as well as soften inevitable signs of ageing in the process. I’ve seen it over and over again with colleagues that entered the industry, with all its access to professional advice and products (yes, we’re extremely lucky): their skins were transformed.

How you do it is not rocket science and it’s not sexy, but it’s fact. Here are just some of my main takeaways.

1. Cleansing

Skincare is pointless without cleansed skin, and not cleansing ages skin. But so does soap. Please invest in a dedicated facial cleanser and use it twice a day. It ought to be gentle and right for your skin type.

2. No Over Exfoliation

Over-exfoliation damages the skin barrier, which is ageing. Choose the mildest possible exfoliant for your skin type (polyhydroxy acids, or PHA, and exfoliating enzymes are the gentlest options) and don’t use it more than twice a week.

3. Hydration

Every skin needs moisture, even oily skin. For the latter, use a water-based serum, gel or cream-gel based on humectants (hyaluronic acid, glycerine). Normal and dry skins need creams with added plant oils and other emollients. Everyone needs ingredients like ceramides and essential fatty acids to keep the all-important skin barrier intact.

4. High Performance Ingredients

Vitamins A (retinol), C and B3 (niacinamide) are the most studied and proven anti-ageing ingredients (although far from the only good ones). But with vitamin A and C in particular, don’t go for super-strength formulations from the word go; incorporate them gradually or you will suffer inflammation, and inflammation ages skin. The gentlest form of vitamin A is retinyl palmitate; the strongest is prescription retinoic acid. One of the gentlest forms of vitamin C is tetrahexyldecyl (THD) ascorbate; the most powerful is l-ascorbic acid.

5. Protect Your Skin

There is no fighting the signs of aging without daily broad-spectrum SPF. Hyperpigmentation and fine line-causing UVA rays are there even when it’s cloudy. Pick an SPF moisturiser with a texture you love (there are now countless to choose from) and make sure it has added antioxidants to supercharge your protection.

6. Choose Wisely

Spend money on what’s in the pot, not what the pot looks like: luxury is not a guarantee for quality (I wrote a book about that).

7. Consider Your Lifestyle

Ultra-processed convenience foods are as ageing as cigarettes, so ditch them and concentrate on nutritious, fresh foods. For me personally, daily exercise has kept my skin clear and vibrant all my life - but too much stress has been its greatest ager.

Ingeborg van Lotringen has been a beauty journalist for 27 years. She was Cosmopolitan’s beauty director for 14 years and published her book, Great Skin (Secrets the beauty industry doesn’t tell you) in 2020. She is a columnist and writer for the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Times, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Health, Sheerluxe, Get the Gloss and more.