Visibly aging can be a major source of insecurity for men everywhere. While men are often celebrated for becoming silver foxes, you scarcely see anyone being congratulated for their sagging skin.
Although everyone is different and experiences these changes at different points in their lives, there will come a time when we all experience our skin becoming loose, folding, wrinkling, and drooping. Wanting to hide this sign of aging is as natural as aging itself.
Lucky for you, we have compiled several tips and tricks for tightening your skin and restoring the youthful appearance of your face.
What Causes Sagging Skin?
Your skin becomes thinner and more fragile as you age, and your skin’s elasticity declines. In addition to losing some of the fat layers in your skin and the protection that comes with it, thus making it more prone to skin injury, you will also experience a reduction in elasticity and collagen.
With time, the collagen production in our dermis, the tough inner layer of the skin, is reduced significantly. This means that the collagen and elastin connective tissues break. Collagen is a protein that acts as one of the central building blocks for your skin, keeping it plump and preventing it from sagging.
As for elastin, the loss of elasticity in the skin is defined as elastosis. Elastosis causes the skin to appear looser and, at times, leathery.
How To Tighten Skin
Losing collagen and elasticity results in an older-looking appearance. One of the quickest fixes for this sign of aging is to tighten your skin.
Thankfully, there are several different methods to get tighter skin on your face ranging from exercise to skincare products to cosmetic procedures. Today we will discuss them all.
Exercise
Exercise is a method for tightening your skin that is accessible to everyone.
Generally speaking, weight training is a smart way to reduce the appearance of loose skin. Working out with weights can help to increase your muscle mass. With time, you will essentially replace your loose skin with muscle mass, providing you with an overall tighter appearance.
However, when it comes to tightening the skin on your face, it could be better for you to go straight to the source. While toning your body as a whole with weight training will always benefit you, performing facial exercises every day can help sculpt your features.
Brow Raises
First, let us discuss your eyes. One of the earliest and most obvious signs of aging is bags under your eyes and drooping brows. Loose skin, mild swelling, and dark patches around the eyes are all-natural symptoms of your skin losing collagen and elasticity. Thankfully, there are a couple exercises that you could perform to get rid of this undesirable appearance.
For example, you can try brow raises. Brow raises help to perk your eyebrows back into their original position. Get rid of your drooping brows by positioning two fingers above your eyebrows and pushing the skin downwards.
As you continue to apply this pressure, use the muscles in your face to move your brows up and down ten times in a row. Repeat this throughout the day until you have performed around six sets. In no time at all, you will have trained your eyebrows to stay raised.
Eye Toning
As for your crow’s feet, sagging eyelids, or the wrinkles below your eyes, you can try eye toning. Eye toning helps to eliminate puffiness and improve the appearance of your eyes. Start by positioning your index and middle fingers on your eyes to form a “V.” Then, press your middle fingers together at the inner corner of your eyebrows.
As you do this, look upwards and raise your lower lid in the same direction resulting in squinting. Then relax your eyes. Perform this motion a total of seven times.
Define Your Cheeks
Now let’s move on to your cheeks. Since a lot of the fat in your face is most visible in your cheeks, this will also be one of the most prominent areas that begin to sag when you age.
One way to combat this is to define your cheekbones. Try placing two fingers over your cheekbones and lifting the skin upwards so that it feels tight. Nest, form an “O” shape with your mouth. If done properly, you should feel some resistance in the muscles in your cheeks. Hold this pose for five seconds. Do this about 12 times a day to see improvement in the definition of your cheekbones.
Plumping Exercises
In addition to tightening up your cheeks and combating the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, you can perform plumping exercises. Try smiling widely so that the folds around your nose.
Press down on these folds located between your nose and lips. Remember to lift up the muscles in your cheeks to create resistance. Hold this position for a total of three minutes a day to strengthen your muscles and provide yourself with a more supple appearance.
Finally, you can try performing facial exercises that minimize the appearance of flabby cheeks and provide you with an overall slimmer look. Without straining your neck, tilt your head back to look upwards and push your chin forward. Hold this pose and suck in your cheeks, allowing your lips to rest naturally. Stay in this position for five seconds before resting your facing. Repeat this about 15 times to achieve the full effect of the exercise.
Chin Raises
Lastly, let’s discuss your chin. With age, the skin beneath your chin sagging may result in the appearance of a double chin. This is largely due to the muscle that connects your jawline to your shoulders loosening, resulting in droopy skin.
Workout your double chin to tighten this area of skin and provide you with a solid and sharp-looking jawline. While sitting up straight, tilt your head back to look up at the ceiling. Hold your head in this position and touch the roof of your mouth with your tongue.
If done correctly, you should feel pressure in your neck. Hold this pose for 25 seconds. Release your tongue and then move your head down slowly back into its natural position. Then, repeat this movement four more times.
Moisturizers, Creams, and Serums
The right moisturizer can do a lot to help plump and firm your skin and improve your appearance with noticeable results. We recommend using the moisturizer featured in The Re(Set) Collection.
Our all-in-one moisturizer, called The Refresher, is a water-based product that uses all-natural ingredients. This moisturizer is ideal for men looking to enhance their skin and treat signs of aging. Its formula, which includes chicory root, castor seed oil, vitamin C, and Indian ginseng extract, is specifically designed to tighten and lift your face.
These ingredients increase collagen synthesis, reduce fine lines and wrinkles, hydrate the skin, defeat sun damage, protect against free radicals, and keep your skin looking youthful.
You must apply your moisturizer twice a day, every morning and night, after washing your face to see optimal results. Doing so consistently will help tighten and resolve uneven skin texture, help with balancing your pH levels and retaining moisture, and avoid dry, flaky skin.
When choosing products, look for ingredients like aloe vera, peptides, vitamin E, hyaluronic acid, and retinol or retinoids.
Cosmetic Procedures
When in dire need, you are always welcome to turn to cosmetic procedures to help with the appearance of your aging skin. Keep in mind that these treatments will require more money than a moisturizer or facial exercise but can be extremely effective when discussed with a dermatologist beforehand and performed by a professional.
Surgeries like a face-lift or removing excess skin are optional but not ideal for those who hate needles or want to avoid excessive downtime for recovery from discomfort.
One non-invasive skin treatment that you can try is a chemical peel.
Chemical peels involve applying a chemical solution with an acid-base to the skin to dissolve dead skin cells from the epidermis or top layer of skin. This treatment aims to reveal the smooth skin sitting below the damaged layer, in turn minimizing the appearance of sagging or wrinkled skin.
Try ultrasound skin tightening for something more specific to treating sagging skin. This non-surgical skin tightening procedure uses focused ultrasound energy to heat deeper layers of the skin’s surface. The idea is that directing heat to this area of skin, particularly the dermis, will encourage collagen production. This procedure is known to tighten both the neck and facial skin when successful.
For a quick, though temporary, fix, you can consider more invasive procedures like getting Botox. Small doses of botulinum are injected into the skin when you receive botox. This toxin is used to relax your facial muscles, smooth your skin, and minimize the appearance of any wrinkles caused by sagging. This can help to improve the overall look of your aged skin. Note that, on average, Botox lasts for about four months.
Conclusion
At MadeMan, we understand that the decline in elastin production and collagen production is natural, meaning that sagging skin and wrinkles happen to the best of us. While it is impossible to avoid aging, it is very much possible to minimize the symptoms that come with it. Always wear sunscreen to reduce the side effects of sun exposure, and consult a dermatologist to see if you are a good candidate for certain procedures.
Overall, the key to tightening your loose skin is self-discipline. If you are consistently working out, performing facial exercises, and applying a premium moisturizer made for lifting and tightening, you should be able to repair and maintain a youthful appearance.
Remember that working with a dermatologist is always an option in more severe cases! See what suggestions they have in mind and look into the many cosmetic procedures available to see what best suits you and your needs.
Sources:
How long does Botox last? | American Society of Plastic Surgeons | ASPS
What is collagen, what is not | PubMed
