Home Remedies For Wrinkles & Lines

Wrinkles and lines are visible creases or grooves on the surface of the skin. Although they happen to everyone at some point in life, they may affect people at different stages and to different extents. Many individuals consider a cosmetic concern that can make you appear less attractive or even unhealthy, but the good news is that neither has a negative impact on your general physical health.

Significance of Lines and Wrinkles

Lines and wrinkles, especially on the face, are a natural, unavoidable consequence of growing older. Your skin contains fibers made of substances called elastin and collagen. The compounds help keep your skin firm and able to snap back into place, a feature known as elasticity. As your body ages, your skin gradually becomes looser and thinner due to weakened elastin and collagen fibers. The result is a number of common features related to aging, such as dryness, lines, wrinkles and sagging or more transparent skin.

Other Causes

Additional factors that contribute to lines and wrinkles include gravity, which pulls down on your skin, and repeated facial expressions, which cause grooves underneath the skin that show on the surface eventually. Smoking also introduces toxic chemicals and habits, such as puckering that speed up aging, while exposure to the sun and ultraviolet rays break down collagen and elastin faster. Unlike the case with aging, you can often change your behavior to control, delay or prevent the effects that such external factors have on your skin.

Basic Remedies

Common-sense remedies can discourage and reduce lines and wrinkles. For instance, not smoking and limiting your exposure to the damaging ultraviolet rays found in sunlight, sun lamps and tanning beds decreases your risk of developing or worsening wrinkles due to those causes. Always wearing a hat and a sunscreen product with a sun protection factor, or SPF, of 30 or more outside can successfully discourage wrinkles arising from sun exposure, too. Other strategies include applying a product containing retinol at night to encourage collagen production and using a moisturizer to make lines plumper, which reduces their visibility.

Role of Dry Skin

Dry skin contributes to lines, wrinkles and issues such as cracking and rashes, explains the National Skin Care Institute. Consequently, treating dry skin can help prevent or reduce associated problems. Several types of natural extracts and oils are able to improve the moisture level of your skin when rubbed in, and they may also reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles as a result. Effective natural substances include grape seed extract, rosehip seed oil and sea buckthorn oil, states the National Skin Care Institute.

Dietary Considerations

A balanced, nutritious diet improves the health of your skin, and it should include protein, which skin contains. To increase the dietary benefits, eat a large amount of fresh and unprocessed foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Also limit your consumption of processed and non-nutritious foods, especially those containing large amounts of saturated fat and sugar. Drinking a lot of water and avoiding alcoholic and caffeinated beverages can further promote healthier skin with fewer lines and wrinkles.