How to make skin look younger

This gets asked constantly and answered badly, usually by whoever is selling something. Here is the order that the things you can control actually come in, with the products near the bottom where they belong.

Written by Silka, who make and sell a microneedle roller serum in New Zealand.

Sun, first and by a distance

More of how aged skin looks comes from sun than from birthdays. Daily sunscreen on your face, and shade in the middle of the day, will do more for how your skin looks in ten years than every serum in the bathroom put together. It is free advice from a company that sells serum, which should tell you how confident we are about the order.

Sleep and water, unglamorously

Skin that is holding water looks fuller. Skin that is short of sleep looks flat and reads as tired, which is most of what people mean when they say someone looks older than they did. Neither of these is a product, and both are noticeable within days.

Stop scrubbing

A lot of skin that looks rough and dull is skin that is being over cleansed and over exfoliated. Taking the surface off repeatedly does not reveal younger skin underneath, it leaves the surface irritated and tight. Doing less is often the change that works.

Then, moisture that stays put

This is where a hydrating serum earns its place. Humectants such as glycerin and hyaluronic acid draw water into the surface and hold it there, and skin holding water looks plumper and smoother and catches light more evenly. It works while you keep using it, the way a moisturiser does, and it stops when you stop.

What none of it does

Nothing on this list changes the structure of your skin, and nothing sold over the counter in New Zealand can honestly say it does. Treat any number attached to an outcome, a count of years or a percentage, as a reason to be sceptical rather than a reason to buy.

The part that actually decides it

Whichever routine you will still be doing in six months beats the better routine you abandon in three weeks. That is the real reason short routines win, and it is worth choosing products on that basis rather than on how impressive the label sounds.