Let’s talk about an area that is just as important as our face but for some reason always gets a tad neglected when it comes to our skincare and beauty rituals. The neck and jawline area have the same delicate skin as our faces and endure a lot of the same environmental and UV damage. This delicate skin on our neck actually gets a bit more wear and tear from repetitive movements and certain postures. Creases, fine lines, and deeper wrinkles in the neck area is a common skincare concern. Having a lifted neck and defined jawline is a common skincare goal among my peers and clients!

While treatments like gua sha massage, red LED, chemical peels, and microdermabrasion can help treat and correct these fine lines I wanted to highlight some things in our daily life that we can adjust to minimize neck creasing and wrinkles.

scrub me secret: red LED light therapy is a really great treatment for stimulating collagen and elastin production and firming up our skin. When red LED is paired with something like facial massage or microdermabrasion it will boost those plumping and firming effects even more! I love stimulating the cells with massage or microdermabrasion before antiaging red LED.

There are a few things about our daily habits that we can adjust in order to achieve this goal of a smooth, flawless, and defined-looking jaw and neck.

Posture affects the skin under our chin and on the neck:

Our posture, the way we hold our head and neck, has an effect on the way our jawline and neck looks. Our spine is made up of vertebrae that ideally, need to stay properly aligned. The cervical and thoracic make up the top two sections of vertebrae that run from the base of our skull down the top, mid-back. When posture is poor these top two parts of the spine hunch forward, causing your neck to rest in a position that creates sagging under and along your jawline. So not only does sitting or standing with a posture like this visibly make our neck and jawline look less defined it also can cause wrinkling or contribute to future sagging.

Correct this habit:

Adjust your posture! Sit up or stand up straight, hold your core tight, expand your chest & shoulders, and hold your head high. Practicing this posture and being mindful of how you’re sitting and standing is a great way to build the habit of having great posture. Another bonus of practicing sitting and standing straight/aligned is that your core will stay engaged and support the lower back. Overall, this is best for our bodies but we also get that fabulous bonus of having a more defined neck and jawline.

scrub me secret: Rolfing is a bodywork therapy that focuses on alignment of the body and correcting postures. From what I’ve learned about rolfing, your technician will work with your muscles and connective tissues in the body to help put you into alignment and correct any bad posture. Having better posture will have a lot of benefits but most importantly it will result in a more defined neck/jawline and a smoother neck area. You can read my blog post about rolfing by clicking here.

Looking down often to read off our phones & devices causes neck creasing:

Smartphones and devices are a part of daily life. A new esthetic problem this is causing is a mid-neck crease or multiple creases/wrinkles in the neck. The constant motion of glancing downward and looking down at our devices for long periods of time is causing visible signs of aging for some.

scrub me secret: smartphones and other tech devices also emit a light called blue light or HEV light. This type of light, light the sun, has harmful rays that deplete collagen and contribute to aging. I talk about this a lot with my clients! Read more about this in my “screen time and skin damage” blog.

Correct this habit:

Instead of holding your phone at an angle where you have to look down at it, hold it at eye level. I like to hold my phone out, away from my face, and at eye level when standing. I also like to lay down and hold it above me. I got a good tip from a facial client the other day; when you’re standing up, hold your phone in one hand and use your free hand to prop your opposite elbow up. This makes it easy to look at your phone at eye level.

Not using your facial skincare on your neck can result in earlier signs of aging:

Carrying all your cleansers, exfoliators, toner, serums, and moisturizers, and SPF from your face, down to your neck is key to preventing aging. The skin on our neck experiences the same lifestyle and environmental damage that our face does. Our neck needs to be both protected with antioxidants and UV protection as well as treated with serums and moisturizers that support the skin’s proteins. Without this skincare, the skin on our neck can wrinkle and sag more quickly than our face.

scrub me secret: daily SPF for our faces, necks, and chests is one of the best ways to preserve the collagen and elastin in our skin. without this protection, harmful UVA and UVB rays from the sun penetrate and harm our skin tissues. it doesn’t matter if it is cloudy or sunny, the UV rays will always be out.

Correct this habit:

Just consider your neck as a part of your face when it comes to your skincare routine. Apply your facial care first and then whatever is leftover on your fingertips or cotton pad, use on your neck. I read it takes on average 66 days to form a habit so you’ll need to stick with it! In a bit over 2 months, applying skincare to your neck will be second nature.

scrub me secret: skincare items that I use to prevent aging are PCA and maelove vitamin c serum, the nourishing serum facial oil, a bakuchiol-based serum, and a gua sha stone for weekly facial massage. I also apply a daily SPF 30 to my face and neck.

Lifestyle habits that increase wrinkles & sagging skin:

Habits that create damaging inflammation in the body contribute to the aging of our skin. Things like smoking, excessive alcohol or drug use, excessive processed food or sugar intake, and living a high-stress lifestyle create this inflammation in the body.

Things that cause aging and damage the skin externally (from the outside) are tanning and sun exposure without SPF.

scrub me secret: practices that help anti-age our skin include a healthy diet and proper water intake. Read “Does drinking water help our skin?” and “6 Superfoods, supplements, and drinks that improve our skin.” for all the info!

Looking for more informational blog posts about aging skin? Check out my posts “Our ways of fighting aging” and “Whats causing our skin to age?”.