How To Boost Cell Turnover In Your Skin & Prevent Premature Aging!

 

Written by: Samantha Wasielewski - Apr. 19, 2021

cell turnover  

It’s not often I come across a beauty secret that knocks my socks off, but this anti-aging trick for younger, more youthful, radiant skin is one that has me shook! 

It’s called cell turnover, and if you’re not sure what it is, you’re not alone. Boosting cell turnover to help improve the health and vibrancy of your skin is one of the best-kept beauty secrets, and estheticians and skincare experts alike swear by it! 

Well, cellular turnover for younger-looking skin doesn’t have to be a secret anymore, and I’m here today to let you in on everything you need to know about cellular turnover to prevent premature aging and your skin feeling completely refreshed! 

What Is Cell Turnover For Skin?

While cellular turnover might sound intense, it’s actually not as complicated as it sounds, and there are several things you can do right at home in order to achieve it.

Cell turnover is the process in which we shed dead skin cells and replace them with new, younger cells. This skin renewal process is what keeps our skin looking healthy and young. If it doesn’t occur, the older skin cells can build up and create a variety of skin issues that age the skin, like acne and hyperpigmentation, for example.

You know that white dust that puffs up when you fluff the pillows? Well, most of that dust is made up of dead skin cells that we’ve shed in the process of cellular turnover. 

Now, while cellular turnover happens on its own, as we begin to age, the cell turnover process begins to slow down, which leads to aging of the skin.

Boosting the rate of cellular turnover can significantly improve the appearance of your skin. But in order to do so, we need to understand how the cellular turnover cycle works, and how we can speed it up to achieve younger-looking skin! Let’s dive in…

Cellular turnover cycle

New skin cells are created in the deepest layer of your dermis, this is called the basal layer (1). As the cells get older, they move up through the different layers of our skin, towards the surface. During this process, the cells eventually die off and become inactive, creating an entire layer of dead skin cells. 

Once the dead skin cells reach the surface, they fall off in order to make room for the new skin cells to take their place. The result? Healthy, plump, radiant skin! This, in a nutshell, is the cellular turnover cycle. 

Cellular Turnover & Aging: How It Works

If you’ve ever heard the saying, “as smooth as a baby’s skin”, well, that’s because when we are infants, cellular turnover takes place in just 3-5 days. If only it stayed that way forever!

Once we reach our teenage years, this process slows down a bit, and usually takes around 21 days. And as we continue to age, cell turnover slows down more and more. By the time we reach our forties, the skin renewal process can take up to 60 days! (2) 

And what comes after that? Well, unfortunately, wrinkles…

Once we reach our fifties and beyond, it can take up to 90 days for the cell turnover cycle to occur. As the skin renewal process gets slower and slower, dead skin cells accumulate on the skin’s surface. Because of this buildup, skin structure begins to collapse, causing, you guessed it, more wrinkles. 😱

And because new cell production has slowed down and decreased, skin becomes uneven, dull, and rough textured. 

How To Boost Cellular Turnover 

While the slowing of cell turnover is inevitable, there are things you can do to boost turnover and keep your skin youthful and radiant.

Lifestyle, environment, and genetics play a key role in how your skin ages, but these simple tips can help stimulate your skin renewal process for faster cell production and an increase in cell turnover!

1. Exfoliation

Exfoliating helps remove dead skin cells on the skin’s surface. (3) Because you are “disrupting” the cell turnover cycle, newer cells are generated quicker, increasing the rate of cellular turnover. Skin scrubs help loosen the dead cells, causing them to fall off. 

Many dermatologists also suggest adding retinol into your skin care routine as you get older. Retinol causes the skin renewal cycle to happen even faster because it pushes dead skin cells off the top layer. 

2. Laser resurfacing

While a bit more intense than exfoliating at home, dermal, or laser resurfacing, also helps boost cell turnover by using heat to remove layers of dead skin cells. With beams of light, this process triggers faster cell turnover, and the results can last for years!

There are many different types of skin laser treatments, so be sure to visit your dermatologist to find out which one is best for you. Just let them know you are looking to boost cell turnover!

3. Diet

We encounter free radicals everyday throughout our lives. Free radicals cause oxidative damage to the skin, which leads to premature aging. You can help combat these free radicals by consuming fruits and vegetables that are high in antioxidant protection. 

I know, I know, you’ve probably been told one too many times about how important these food groups are for your diet, but now that you know how the skin renewal process works, you know just how important diet and lifestyle are to this cycle. 

4. Take a collagen supplement

Collagen supplementation helps increase skin firmness and elasticity, reduces wrinkles and cellulite, and keeps skin looking young—everything you want and need from cellular turnover! 

Doing something like laser resurfacing, specifically ablative lasers, not only sheds dead skins cells at the surface, but also helps increase collagen production.

If you’re not really into the whole laser thing, don’t worry! By simply adding a collagen supplement, like Super Youth premium collagen peptides, into your diet, you won’t need to solely rely on cellular turnover for younger-looking skin. Collagen helps reverse signs of aging in our skin, and it’s easy to add into smoothies, recipes, or even just plain water! Combine this with the other cell turnover tricks, and you won’t be able to hold back your smile every time you look in the mirror!

The Bottom Line On Cell Turnover & Skin Renewal

While no one can avoid the dreaded slow down of cell turnover, these tips and tricks to boost the cycle will leave your skin healthy, young, and glowing! Check out Super Youth Multi-Collagen peptides to speed up cellular turnover, smooth wrinkles and cellulite, revitalize your gut health, and help you reach your weight loss goals quicker!

 

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