THE SCIENCE OF AGEING: PART I

November 4, 2024

The Skin and Science Series

In this blog series, we unravel the intricate science behind it all. Our aim is to empower you with knowledge so that you can make well-informed decisions about your skincare routine. From exploring the intricate workings of various skin types to understanding the powerful ingredients that transform our complexion - each instalment of this series promises to provide you with valuable insights and practical advice.

TL;DR

Whether we like it or not, every time we celebrate another year of life, we also see all of that experience and time appear on our faces in the form of wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, and other signs of ageing. Finding the best way to keep the years at bay (while you continue to make the most of them!), starts with understanding how your skin ages and what will accelerate and slow down that process. Our aged skin begins to reduced oil production, while our faces take on the appearance of the upside down egg!

The ultimate guide to skin, science and ageing

When we take the cosmetic and beauty industry out of the equation, ageing is a natural process that happens to all of us. It affects our external appearance, from our skin to our muscle mass, our internal functions, from our heart to our digestion, and it can also affect our mental capabilities.

These effects are biological, and over time, through study and examination, we have been able to explain most of them through science. We know what breaks down, what builds up and what changes, causing our minds and bodies to age as months and years pass.

Like almost every other part of our body, our skin also ages, and just as we use medications, exercise, diet and other methods to help slow that aging process, we often use skincare products and even cosmetic procedures to slow down how our skin ages.

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Learning about the science of what’s happening to your face, skin and body and why, can help you determine the best skincare regime and interventions to help manage the aging of your own skin.

If you’ve ever been curious about why women and men’s face shape changes differently over time, what you can expect from your jaw line and neck, the best way to minimise wrinkles, and how your face texture will evolve, this is the resource for you.

In this exclusive blog, we explain the ageing process, and the science behind it, so you can become your circle’s skincare expert!

Congratulations – you’re aging!

Though this may sound sarcastic, ageing is a privilege denied to many, so let’s pause in a moment of gratitude before we deep dive into skin, science, ageing and the different ways men and women’s faces change.

And with that moment done – let’s get started!

As you may know, skin is the largest organ in our body and it’s arguably the most important one when it comes to our confidence and self-esteem, perhaps, especially for women.

Over time, as a society, we have come to believe that often, men and women age – at least in terms of appearance – at a different pace. In fact, it is commonly thought, or at least reported on in the media, that men only ‘improve with age’, while women decline.

When it comes to the science, the reality is men do have some advantages, and the male Y chromosome seems to be responsible for many of the skin-related benefits they can experience as they age.

In the next few sections, we’ll unpack the biology of ageing, this male vs female phenomenon, and the current research on what can be done to slow the process down for those who want to postpone it.

Oil and hydration

Question: Why is my skin drying out?

Wrinkles appearing in our skin is a normal part of aging and everyone develops them at different rates, but they can look much more pronounced when skin is dehydrated.

Though most of us have heard bad things about sebaceous filaments, sebum – a sticky, oily substance – is actually one way our skin stays moisturised and hydrated, throughout our lifetime.

Science tells us that men produce almost double the amount of sebum (oil) as women, and they tend to have larger pores as a result.

This means not only is male skin oilier and shinier than female skin, but men are also more prone to acne and less prone to dry skin.

Why do men generally make more sebum?

Well, sebum production is dependent on androgen hormone levels and men produce more of this hormone than females.

“More androgen = more sebum (oil) = larger pores = less dehydrated skin.”

The outcome of more sebum production is hydration.

This of course means the consequence of decreased sebum production is drier, cracked skin – and in turn, the more noticeable appearance of wrinkles.

While both men and women experience decreases in sebum production with age, the decrease is minimal in men.

To counter the decrease in sebum, women (and men) can use products with ingredients like hyaluronic acid to enable hydration.

Flipping the egg

Question: Why don’t I recognise my own face?

Our faces fundamentally change shape, some quite considerably, throughout our lifetime.

The way face shape presents at different stages in life can be considered an egg.

When we are young, that egg is upside down (tapered jawline with a narrow point), but as we age, the shape shifts, flipping the right way up to reveal a more squared-off lower face (a less sharp jawline).

In a detailed study of 88 faces of varying ages (26 – 90 years of age), the results showed the general age-related facial shape remained consistent between men and women, up until the age of 50.

At that age, potentially in alignment with menopause, female ageing trajectory seemed to take a sharp turn.

The degree of age-related facial shape changes was much more pronounced in females, particularly in early menopause, then males of the same age.

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The general facial shape changes included a flatter face, deeper nasolabial folds, and the classic ‘broken jawline’. Commonly, these are considered the most distinguishing features of ageing.

Though there is no easy ‘cure-all’ to this, prominent skincare ingredient, retinol, is proven to help improve the elasticity of skin as we age.

What is the broken jawline?

Our skeletal system ages too – well, it remodels over time. Let’s call it age-related bone remodelling.

Facial bones are what our skin, muscles and soft tissue rest on. So, if our facial bones change structure (even slight millimetre changes), it makes sense that the fat and muscle tissue on top of them also change position.

These minimal changes to bone structure can have a very noticeable effect on the surface of our skin.

This age-related bone remodelling follows a fairly typical pattern – particularly in areas of bone loss

The process occurs slowly at first, with the first signs of facial bone changes evident as early as our teenage years.

It increases more drastically in middle age for both men and women (between our 30s and 50s).

What men and women have in common is:

Flattening of the lower forehead
Flattening and hollowing in the cheeks
Increased area of the skin between the upper lip and nose (ergotrid)
Bones loss surrounding the eye socket (orbital bones) causing the eyes to appear more ‘sunken’, smaller and rounder.

Interestingly, men and women differ on the point of the jawline.

Women are more likely to experience a flattening of the jawline in what is unfortunately called the ‘L to I phenomenon’. This is the result of bone loss at the jawline that is particularly obvious around the age of 50.

Audrey Hepburn. Pinterest

So, how can you slow it down?

The jaw is the most responsive facial bone and undergoes changes regularly as a result of our activity and movement.

Most research in this area relates to changes in the jawline that are largely due to behaviour, namely, mouth breathing. This has been quite a well-documented phenomenon and the evidence goes all the way back to the 1800s!

George Catlin was an American adventurer and documented his research on mouth breathing from observations made during his travels in a book called Shut Your Mouth and Save Your Life (1869).

Catlin noticed the positioning of our tongues significantly changes the shape of our jaws. He described a loss of jaw line and overall narrowing of the jaw directly related to mouth breathing.

These findings were rediscovered again and published in 2018 (149 years later!), in another book, called ‘Jaws – The story of a hidden epidemic’, by orthodontist Sandra Kahn and biologist Paul R. Ehrlich.

Dr John Mew was another orthodontist who made similar observations. His young female patient experienced jaw regression (jaw retracted backward) following failed orthodontic treatment. Dr Mew noticed changes to the tongue positioning of this patient and developed what is effectively a mouth yoga technique to retrain the position of the tongue to preserve and even reverse jaw-bone loss.

His son, Dr Mike Mew later popularised this method and what shortly followed was a social media craze called ‘mewing’ – a simple, yet unproven method to widen the jaw for largely aesthetic purposes. Why not give it a go?

Maintaining muscle

Question: Why do I look ‘puckered’?

Facial muscle mass doesn’t seem to be particularly affected by ageing – at least that is what the majority of research has shown. In fact, there may be a slight increase to muscle tone as we age.

A recently described concept called ‘Dynamic discord with ageing’ is interesting. It explains how ageing skin responds to the pulling forces of muscles every time we make a facial expression, causing temporary or permanent wrinkles to form. Though the muscles movement may not be aggressive, our skin becomes more fragile as we get older, so the muscle movement can cause ‘folds’.

This can have an impact on our facial expressions – where muscle movement alone may have produced a smile when younger, when older, that same movement, combined with the more fragile and thin nature of the skin, and its subsequent folding, may cause a smile to look like a grimace.

Are females more inherently prone to this phenomenon?

Put simply – yes.

Considering that females have thinner skin (less collagen and elastin than men), they tend to experience this phenomenon at a higher level than men.

'The paper and tissue analogy'

Tissue is much thinner than paper and if we lift a piece of tissue by its corner, the entire tissue folds randomly over itself, almost fan-like, or crumpled.

If we do the same with a piece of paper, the paper might bow but due to its thickness and rigidity, it is unlikely to fold or ripple like tissue. Older skin is more like tissue paper, folding rather than bending to accommodate muscle movement.

An example of this is the classic duck-lipped pose which, during youth appears puckered, but in older age, appears pursed (unflatteringly called ‘coin-pursuing’).