Skin Tightener for Face (Comprehensive Strategies)

As you age, several key elements for your firm and elastic skin decrease. As a result, you’re likely to develop some classic signs of aging skin such as wrinkles and sagging spots. Skin tightening is a challenging thing, especially after 40. Non-invasive procedures are available, but they cost a fortune. Whatever, skin tightener for face needs comprehensive strategies for optimal results. Here are steps of how to do effective home facials to help tighten your skin naturally.

Cleanse

First off, cleansing is necessary to make sure the skin is free of unnecessary things (e.g. oil, dirt, or makeup) before applying your primary skin-care regimen. Without this procedure, active skin-tightening ingredients are less likely to penetrate properly into the deeper layers of your skin.

To gain the benefits most, wash your face properly! Do this for at least a few minutes, depending on the level of heavy makeup you have.

Unfortunately most of us often go to bed and take a rest as soon as possible after a long day. We’re likely to jet through the face cleansing process.

Use lukewarm water to start rinsing your face. Get a dime-size of your favorite cleanser most appropriate for your skin. For example if you have dry skin, an oil cleanser is probably your best bet.

Apply the cleanser gently on the face with your fingers in circular motion. Start it at your chin, and then work upward.

A gentle, medium pressure is OK (recommended) to drive toned appearance for your facial muscles – but don’t tug or pull the skin. Then rinse again with lukewarm water, and gently pat the skin dry!

Get a boost for skin tightener with exfoliate

Along with slower skin turnover with age, your dead skin cells are likely to pile up. In time, these unnecessary things stay attached on your skin for longer period of time. As a result your skin is probably a little scaly, getting in the way of your glowing appearance.

Now let’s say you have a squeaky clean face after cleansing, so it’s time for exfoliating (a powerful way to help ease aging spots including saggy, loose skin). Exfoliating also carries a smoother, healthier appearance especially if you do it properly.

Other benefits; it boosts the penetration of the skin tightening ingredients and improves blood flow. Also, it removes dead skin cells (nothing can penetrate and work well when your dead skin is in the way).

Don’t worry there are a tone of exfoliating products to choose from, the best one is usually dependent on your skin type and personal preference. And if you’re looking for more affordable option, a homemade facial scrub is also worth a try.

The good news, it’s easy to make a DIY customizable face scrub on your own. The key is you understand the most potential ingredients that meet to your skin.’

In general, the recipe consists of 3 important elements;

1. The main ingredients, exfoliant (2 tablespoons).
2. Extra, skin-enhancing ingredient (1 tablespoon).
3. And liquid or oil to dilute all ingredients.

There are a number of exfoliating ingredients to choose from. But it’d be better to start this with science:

1. Baking soda (best for oily skin type). It feels like at-home- microdermabrasion, absorbing excess oil from the skin more optimally. Plus it’s a kind of natural antiseptic, containing anti-bacterial properties [1]
2. Ground rice to help ease wrinkles and skin discoloration. Many Asian women love it!
3. Ground almonds to promote more hydrated and nourished skin, recommended for mature skin since it works gently. Also, they have antioxidants [2]!
4. Oatmeal, which is commonly used for sensitive skin. It gently soothes irritation and unclogs the skin pores.

These skin-enhancing ingredients would make the main exfoliating ingredients work more effectively and ease counterproductive effects of exfoliation (e.g. skin irritation and inflammation).

There are many choices to explore, some are as follows:

1. Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) — well known as a garnish vegetable, spice, and herb. It hosts some anti-inflammatory properties [3]. So I think it is good idea to pick a bit of this green vegetable for exfoliating. Bonus, it may also help fade mild age spots.
2. Turmeric! Nowadays green beauty is increasing popular, and here turmeric is a much larger piece of the pie due to its potential benefits for skin regeneration healing [4]. This most studied herb might also help boost collagen production in the skin [5].
3. Honey contains amazing essential nutrients, which some are good for your skin care regimen. For example, it has antioxidants (necessary for fighting against wrinkles and dry skin). Also, it provides anti-bacterial properties [6].
4. Avocado, a good alternative to help make hydrated skin more likely since it carries moisturizing effects. Plus, it’s loaded with other skin-health goodies like antioxidants, vitamin E, lecithin, and potassium – all are easily absorbed through the epidermis (outermost layer of your skin) to help improve skin cell turnover [7].

Put all ingredients in small bowl, and then add liquid to mix all ingredients. For example, choose one of the following liquids (this depends on your personal preference):

1. Yogurt, containing some goodies for glowing skin such protein, fat, and lactic acid (a part of the alpha hydroxy acid family). Protein and fat of yogurt may help ease your fine lines and wrinkles.
2. Coconut oil, high in fat to moisturize the skin [8]. It also has antiseptic properties and may help maintain the normal pH balance of the skin. Furthermore, it contains lauric acid to help fade fine lines and soften the skin.
3. Aloe Vera, providing a moisturizing effect. It’s also loaded with anti-inflammatory properties. One study showed it might work in boosting the amount of collagen [9].
4. Egg whites. Protein is important pillar for your skin health, that’s why eggs whites are also a good choice. The protein content of the whites may help improve your skin firmness and tighten the pores.

Still, moderation is necessary since exfoliating would become counterproductive if you do it every day!

Excessive exfoliating may cause skin irritation, breakouts, thin the skin, and other negative reactions. So avoid over-exfoliating, especially for sensitive skin!

In case if you have sensitive skin, once a week is usually enough – and choose the right, gentle ingredients (for example; oatmeal, honey, and aloe).

For combination or normal skin, 2-3 times a week with the following mix-up face scrub should be OK;

1. Ground almonds, avocado, and coconut oil (dry skin).
2. Baking soda, turmeric, and egg whites (oily skin).
3. Ground rice, parsley, and yogurt (mature skin).

Take the scrub with your ring and pinky finger, then move it around the face (do this gently, the lighter pressure is better). Avoid eye area! After a few rotations over the face, then rinse with lukewarm water!

Avoid any deep exfoliating with clay if you have sensitive skin. Because this could extremely strip the natural oils of your skin, making wrinkles more likely!

Steam

At a glance, steam has nothing to do with your skin tightness. But it has several functions to make your skin tightness and firmness more likely, these include:

1. It removes obstacles (e.g. trapped sebum and dirt deeper in the skin) that inhibit skin care ingredients to penetrate deeper into the skin.
2. To help open up your skin pores so the skin is relatively easier to absorb your skin care products.
3. To improve blood circulation. This may carry a bit different to boost your collagen and elastin.

Even with a few adjustments, steam would also help tighten and tone your face. For example, add geranium oil (as the name suggests, derived from geranium flower) for extra skin-tightening effect.

What to understand, there is also a potential risk for a stem burn, so do this carefully! Take a towel, drape it over the head and then slowly lean your face into the steam (maximum 10 inches away, increase the distance if necessary to be more comfortable, don’t go to close to the steam).

Also, limit each session of your stem for about 10 minutes (maximal), this is important to prevent the risk of skin irritation. And use warm water, not hot!

How often? This may vary between individuals, depending on your personal preference. But in general, consistency is probably the key. Moderate advice, do this once a week regularly!

Skin-tightener mask

And when your skin is ready to effectively absorb the nourishing ingredients, it’s time to apply skin tightening mask. Home facial mask, with the right ingredients, may help rejuvenate the loose skin and improve skin elasticity.

Nowadays, we can find a gazillion face masks. But it’s hard to find one that really works when it comes to tightening the skin.

Home facial masks to look for when it comes to tightening skin are those that carry:

1. Skin moisture (hydration).
2. Vasoconstriction, contraction of the muscular wall of the vessels in order to improve blood flow and circulation.
3. UV rays protection.

First things first, make sure your skin is OK to use clay mask since it has a strong exfoliating effect. This is particularly true for sensitive skin, do a patch test first to keep safe!

Clay mask might help improve the amount of collagen fiber. Unfortunately, there is still no strong scientific evidence on this.

Although its effectiveness on skin collagen fibers is still debatable, it’s undeniable that clay mask is one of popular home skin tightening masks. So it’s not bad idea to try it:

1. Mix green clay (1 part) and liquid (2 parts). The liquid can be jojoba oil (dry skin), water (oily skin), or milk (for combination skin).
2. 1 tablespoon honey.
3. Mix all ingredients, add more liquid (if necessary)!
4. Then apply the mask! You can use a makeup brush.
5. Leave it for several minutes (10-20 minutes), then rinse off!

A tip; you can also add an essential oil (choose one that meets to your skin type), such as; lavender, geranium, sandalwood, rose, or clary sage.

As written earlier, eggs (especially egg whites) are good source for protein. Also, they are loaded with other beneficial properties to help boost your skin health such as antioxidant, albumin, and vitamin A.

With other ingredients (honey and fresh lemon), egg-white face mask might help shrink skin pores and ease your loose skin.

1. Take 1 egg, and crack it. Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. Then beat the egg whites until they’re stiff.
2. 1 tablespoon honey.
3. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice.
4. Mix all ingredients in a bowl!
5. Apply the mixture, leave for about 20 minutes and rinse!

OTC skin tightening solution

DIY home facials with natural ingredients are worth a try, though the efficacy for skin tightening can vary.

But to gain the benefits most, it’s also recommended to use professionally-formulated skin tightening products since they have tried-&-true properties in the right concentration tested to work effectively. Again what they contain will play a key role.

Based on science, here are a few ingredients to help boost skin elasticity and firmness more effectively:

Your skin consists of several fundamental building blocks, and here proteins play a key role. Without protein, the skin is likely to feel loose and look saggy.

There are many fragments of proteins, peptides are one of them.

Peptides contain certain formations of amino acids to help carry anti-aging effect on the structure of your skin [10]. They may help boost your skin collagen production, a wonderful asset to help ease fine lines, wrinkles, and firm the skin.

I don’t want to say that peptides are all what you need since there is no single solution. Multi-ingredient solution is usually necessary to optimally tighten the skin, and peptides would be one of wonderful assets to help deal with.

In the industry of skin care products, it’s easy to find trendy ingredients that come and go. But the story is a bit different for hyaluronic acid. Because it’s not only about a trend but also one of the best ingredients you need to try at home!

To have glowing appearance, you need skin’s youth-supporting matrix, and here we’re looking for hyaluronic acid (a glycosaminoglycan).

Hyaluronic acid is an important naturally-occurring substance to help the skin retain moisture. It’s a vital part of your skin’s youth-supporting matrix since it’s the chief glycosaminoglycan in your skin! It also plays a role to help keep your skin constantly safeguard and renewed [11]!

Unfortunately, the ability of your skin to have natural hyaluronic acid decreases with age, making your skin to dry and lose elasticity. Lack of hyaluronic acid also would drive wrinkles more likely. That’s why it’s a must to include hyaluronic acid in your skincare regimen.

What’s more?