“Aging and its evidence remain life’s most predictable events, yet they also remain matters we prefer to leave unmentioned, unexplained.”
Joan Didion
I can think of little else these days than the loss of my collagen. It’s synonymous with the loss of my youth. And like any perceived loss, there’s an inherent need to hang on to it.
Until death us do part.
I’m already seeing the effects of this loss on my skin. My scaffolding (which is basically what collagen is), is slowly (or not so slowly these days) shrinking like a magician’s table. It’s no longer supporting the tablecloth above (my skin), leaving it to fold and sag and wrinkle.
Like Kate Winslet calling out to the rowboat that almost left her to die in the freezing waters in Titanic, I call out
“Come back! Come back!”
I’m Kate Winslet and that rowboat has my collagen.
And yours.
But despite the evidence, I remain hopefully optimistic, like a baby seal. Some might say that I remain delusional, but isn’t it the same thing?
I replace my waning collagen with fillers, stimulate what’s left of it with lasers, do what I can to keep it a prisoner in my own body.
But all that costs mucho dinero $$$. Luckily, I have learned a thing or two what to do (or not do, in this case. And by “I” I mean “we”) to salvage my collagen so I don’t have to fork over my youngest child’s college tuition in for the sake of my percieved youth.
It just requires some lifestyle deletions.
You may be unknowingly (or knowingly, depending on the particular offense) doing things that speed up the depletion of your collagen, in which case I say to you: STOP NOW.
Your youth depends on you making some changes — Marie Kondo-ing a few things. Things that may bring you joy in the short term, but in the long term, when you look in the mirror and wonder what the hell happened to your face, will make you regret those blissful and ignorant days.
You can have the best skincare routine, use the most expensive products, but you’re wasting your money if you don’t change your habits.
Tweet that.
Let’s begin…
You get too much sun exposure
You know this. I know this. Repeated exposure to the sun breaks down collagen and impairs the ability for your body to make more of it. If you are not using an SPF every day rain or shine indoors or out, you are exposing your skin to the worst offender of collagen thievery — the sun.
Imagine if you will that you are a vampire. It’s Halloween week, so it’s timely.
When you expose your luminous, youthful vampire skin to the damaging rays of the sun, it will burn and melt off, exposing a ravaged, dried up grotesque-looking mortal. Sure, that’s fiction. And I am being a bit dramatic. But it’s not too far from the truth.
Your collagen is melting away, so to speak. And you will be left looking, although not quite grotesque, that’s just mean, but wrinkly, saggy, OLD.
Sometimes you need a harsh visual to set you straight. So there it is.
You smoke
Next to the sun exposure, smoking ages skin faster than anything else you do. They first discovered this in 1965 when the first studies were done on the effects of smoking on the skin.
And yet.
Women are still smoking.
Why?
I know the answer to that. It’s addictive. And some use it as an appetite suppressant. But what good is being skinny if you have the face of a troll?
Oh, and there’s also the little issue of lung cancer.
A colleague once said to me after I mentioned his unhealthy habits and suggested he stop smoking (and doing other unhealthy things), “Live hard, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse.”
To which I responded, “You’re an idiot.”
Not really, but I thought it.
Okay, here goes. In the spirit of full disclosure and to prove to everyone and myself that I too do stupid things (shocker), I had a cigarette this past weekend.
I never knew you smoked? You might be thinking.
I don’t.
I’ve never smoked unless you count the one pack I had when I was 18. But this past weekend I was in a relaxed environment, tipsy on tequila, and was telling my beautiful friend that she shouldn’t smoke (for the very reason I mention here – that it make you old before your time). And then I grabbed a cigarette and smoked it, just to see what all the hype is about.
I don’t remember if I smoked the whole thing or not (again; I was tipsy on tequila). But I kind of got it. At that moment. Only.
The next day, in the blurry light of sobriety and a hangover, I looked in the mirror for signs of damage. There were some, but not because of one cigarette. Tequila dehydration was the culprit.
And on that note…
You drink too much alcohol
Alcohol robs your collagen by way of vitamin A (Retinoid), which is an antioxidant that helps in skin cell renewal and turnover.
Vitamin A is also important in the production of collagen.
You don’t have to take my word for it. You will see the results of alcohol yourself. I do. And I swear every single time that I will never ever drink again.
And still, I do. Although less and less these days. I strive for balance and have adopted the 80-20 rule.
80% healthy 20% YOLO.
Same with the next one.
You eat processed foods
That’s anything that doesn’t grow in or run around on the ground. Not only are these foods inflammatory, but they aid in free radical aging, which aids in collagen depletion.
This is hard to do. No question. I love crackers. Who doesn’t love crackers, or chips, or…anything processed? And every once in a long while you can treat yourself (“treat” is not an accurate term since what you’re really doing is “treating” your skin and body poorly)
Most of the time, stick to real whole foods. Good for your health, good for your body, good for your skin, and hair and mood and basically every bit of you.
You eat sugar
Here, do as I say, not as I do. Because this is the one I struggle with the most. My preferred way to damage my skin.
But sugar speeds up aging. Let me repeat: Speeds up aging. Is there anything else to say (self)?
A note to the remaining soda drinkers: Please stop. Yes, sometimes you just want a Diet Coke, as the commercial says, but sugary sodas, even the ones with fake sugar, are terrible for your skin, not to mention your health. They damage your mitochondria, which if you remember from high school science class, has an important job in your cells.
In fact, if you must, “Take the gun, leave the cannoli”. (The Godfather reference.)
Eat the cracker, dump the soda.
You may as well stick a hose in your mouth down to your very cells and suck the collagen right out of you. How’s that for a visual?
So there you have it. Some (not all) of the things that deplete collagen. But a good start. I hope it helps you make the right and youthful choices in your own life.
Stay young, Chickie!
xoxo