We have the ability to influence many things in our lives. We can choose what to study, where to live, a life partner or our friends. But there are other things we have no control over, like the passing of time. Unfortunately, there’s no way to stop the clock — but we can arrange things so as to squeeze as much good as we can out of every moment.
Our appearance is one thing that necessarily changes with time, and relentlessly so. Time affects our faces especially, changing the density of the skin, adding wrinkles, or changing its shape. Here, we’ll take a look at the latter, and consider how our face shape can change with age — and what we can do about it!
Collagen and elastin — our face’s two best friends
As the years pass, the number of collagen and elastin fibers in our faces begins to decline. Together with hyaluronic acid, these are the building blocks of our skin. The amount of collagen in skin decreases by about 1% per year. The process begins just after the age of 25, resulting in the appearance of furrows and wrinkles (first at the surface, and then deeper). There’s no doubt about it: It’s just as unfair as it is inevitable! But there are ways to delay these processes — and we can help.
How is face shape affected by aging?
Before we get into how to maintain a youthful appearance, let’s talk about how our face shape changes with age. Everyone’s face is different, and that includes shape.
The face shape that ages the fastest is oval and oblong, with a small nose, a shapely chin, a high forehead, and round cheeks. Why? Nasolobial folds appear the fastest on this face shape. The cheeks also begin to droop rather quickly — „jowls” form, and the sagging skin begins to „protrude” past the jawline.
Time is kinder to a round face with a small chin and fuller cheeks. Faces like this often possess a good skin tone. The first sign of aging on a round face is crow’s feet around the eyes, or laugh lines. Faces like this also tend to show sagging skin on the neck, and a drooping chin.
The passage of time shows last upon a square face, characterized by symmetrical lines and a strongly defined jawline. A square face ages around the eyes first — followed by a loss of elasticity around the lips, which begins to form a horseshoe shape.
Can we slow down the aging process?
The answer to that question is: yes! We can actually influence how quickly our skin ages. Are you wondering how you can slow down time? Start by developing good daily habits — get enough sleep, drink at least two liters of water a day, exercise regularly to strengthen your muscles, and find time to relax. Use sunscreen (even in winter). If you smoke cigarettes, quit as soon as you can, and keep alcohol and sweets to a minimum. Include as many fruits and vegetables in your diet as you can…. And don’t forget to care for your skin, using high-quality products.
These habits are a base — there’s still a lot more you can do for your skin. Regularly taking collagen supplements (or drinking collagen_ can slow down your skin’s aging process and support its own natural ability to create this protein. You can also invest in freeze-dried fish collagen, which supports the body’s reconstruction of protein fibers. Remember, collagen is produced faster when you have enough vitamin C, so find a supplement that combines both of these nutrients.
It’s also possible to both exercise and massage your face. This can help you to keep a young, firm face shape as you exercise its muscles. Facegroovin’ offers a number of options to help delay the facial aging process! Make a short face massage a daily habit — for example, when you remove your makeup. You can massage your face with your fingertips, a gua sha tool, or even a kitchen spoon! „I don’t have time” is no excuse — here at Facegroovin’, we don’t have much of it ourselves. The app allows you to choose sets of exercises, filtering by the number of minutes you can devote per day. Or maybe we should say: the number of minutes you can invest. Because after all, taking care of yourself should be an investment and a pleasure — and not just another thing you need to check off on your to-do list.