Everybody, and I mean everybody, has expression lines. If you smile, scowl, wink, glare, or furrow, your face will shift itself and make some temporary crevices. And while you’re young, they tend to be very gentle and fleeting. As we age, they begin to settle in more and become pronounced features of our faces. Personally, I find expression lines, to be an endearing and beautiful aspect of our personalities! That being said, many of my clients ask for advice on how to reduce expression lines. In this blog, I will cover not only how to address minimizing your expression lines, but how they deepen as well. Well, what are we waiting for? It’s skincare time!
What Are Expression Lines?
When we talk about expression lines we are referring to the following: smile lines (also known as nasolabial folds and laugh lines), frown lines/scowl lines, forehead lines, brow lines, and crow’s feet. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but they’re the most common lines we tend to address.
Why Do Expression Lines Deepen As We Age?
Firstly, our skin produces less collagen and elastin as we age. This, in turn, causes our skin’s structure to weaken and become less supple. As a result, we gain fine lines, wrinkles, crow’s feet, lasting expression lines, et cetera. To a large degree, this is an unavoidable natural process for all of us going through life. However, as you likely know, there are steps you can take to slow and even mildly reverse collagen loss and overall loss of firmness. I’ve written and talked a great deal about this topic, so I’ll only cover it briefly in this blog post.
Second, and often less discussed, is the build-up and strengthening of fascia. I’ve mentioned fascia before while writing about the Anma Massage Tool, but here’s the short version again. Fascia is a protective layer of protein tissue that encases your muscles, organs, and other vital internal parts!
Fun Fact: The Latin root for fascia is ‘fascis’ meaning ‘a bundle’! Makes sense when you think about the tissue’s biological function holding other tissue like a band or wrapper.
For better or worse, as we age and make repeated expressions our fascia stiffens up a great deal. Subsequently, our lovely expression lines become deeper and increasingly persistent. Before you know it, these beloved creases become permanent facial features.
How to Reduce Expression Lines
So, here’s the good news: you can minimize and reduce expression lines after they’ve developed. Let’s cover all the steps you can take to improve these fascinating signs of aging.
Neuropeptides AKA Freezing Peptides
Let’s start with a fabulous, high-tech option: freezing peptides. I’ve written about these magical molecules before, but I’ll go ahead and recap here. Peptides typically function by acting as messenger molecules that give special instructions to receptors inside your skin. Neuropeptides, like Argireline or SNAP-8, essentially tell your muscles to tighten up a little. This discourages sagging and particularly deep expression lines. For this reason, they often get unfairly compared to botulinum toxin (Botox) in effect. They are definitely more subtle in effect than Botox, but they’re also easy-to-use, at-home topical skincare. If there’s no needle required, I call that a win!
Our Favorite Products With Freezing Peptides
Despite how intense and high-tech freezing peptides seem, they’re super accessible in skincare. You can find them in many forms and price points, so I highly recommend giving them a shot. Here are some of our favorites:
- Rhonda Allision Amino Peptide Serum: This fairly lightweight serum is a great starting point. With Acetyl Hexapeptide-8 (Argireline) to address expression lines and Matrixyl 3000 to increase collagen production, this serum is highly effective and at an extremely reasonable price! It also has loads of humectants to help increase hydration levels in your skin. The end result is plump skin with greater elasticity and diminished expression lines. If you want to give freezing peptides a try, I highly recommend picking up a bottle of this serum.
- Rhonda Allision Peptide 38: When you are ready for a step up, this potent serum provides cutting-edge peptides to reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and loss of elasticity while increasing firmness. I recommend this serum to my clients over 50 to use over their full face and neck, while many of my younger clients use this serum as a spot treatment on crow’s feet or forehead lines. For those who use botox, this serum can be used to extend the results of your treatments. Some of my clients have found they can now go 5 months between treatments while using this serum. Consider it an investment on your investment!
- Le Mieux TGF-B Eye Firming Mask: If you want to address crow’s feet, this is an excellent and elegant choice. Aside from minimizing expression lines around your eyes, they’ll hydrate, reduce puffiness, and fight dark circles. There’s also something quite luxurious about eye masks too, so the fun factor is definitely up there!
- Hevatox Gold Ampoule: Last but not least, we have the Hevatox Gold Ampoule. This highly effective serum utilizes a patented topical lifting protein that “freezes” facial muscles to reduce expression lines and smooth deep wrinkles. It also works to increase cell turnover, plump the skin, and provide visible healing and rejuvenation to mature skin.
Anma Massage
Like freezing peptides, I’ve talked a great deal about the Anma Massage Tool. This unassuming little massager addresses your fascia and helps make it more relaxed and healthy. It also feels fantastic and is extremely relaxing. I always feel a serious mood boost when I use my Anma Massager. If you want an in-depth written guide, you can read my previous blog post on Anma technique. I’ve also made plenty of video content on my YouTube channel, so you can start breaking up that stubborn fascia right away!
Nourishing & Preventative Skincare
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but prevention is often the best solution! It might be overstated, but it’s true. The following tips are simple but highly effective in giving your skin the boost it needs:
1) SPF/Sunscreen? Always!
When in doubt, put on SPF if you’re headed into contact with sunlight. Protecting yourself from harmful UV rays is the most important and straightforward part of skincare, but it’s so easy to miss or forget. Sun damage will deepen expression lines and damage your skin’s overall health. You can also limit sun exposure, but staying indoors and avoiding the sun all the time is no fun.
2) Use Skincare With Antioxidants
Another piece of advice that is so common that it can be easily forgotten. Make sure to look for skincare products with Vitamin C, Resveratrol, CoQ10 (Ubiquinone), etc. Antioxidants scavenge free radicals (potentially damaging cells often generated from trauma such as UV damage) and protect your skin from premature aging. While often a more preventative measure, certain antioxidants, like Vitamin C, are proven to boost collagen and elastin production.
3) Stay Nourished, Hydrated, & Well-Rested
Finally, taking care of your overall well-being sets your skin up for success. That applies to expression lines just as much any other skin goal. Drink plenty of water every day, eat a balanced diet with minimal added sugars, and get your beauty sleep!
And that’s all I wrote! Expression lines are a natural part of aging. My approach highlights the difference between what I call ‘Healthy Aging’ and ‘Anti-Aging’. ‘Healthy Aging’ is all about embracing the process and aging gracefully and in good health. ‘Anti-Aging’, while often well-intentioned, can be a bit negative and too focused on rejecting natural change. So, while you work on your expression lines and other skin goals, make sure to celebrate your skin for its inherent beauty! Until next time, always feel free to reach out in live chat or leave a comment 🙂
