Sleep with your head elevated to prevent water from pooling around the eye area.
Dark circles under the eyes can also be the result of health issues, such as chronic allergies. Go to
an allergist and get tested for allergies, especially to yeast, dairy, alcohol, and wheat. Cut back on
caffeinated beverages, alcoholic beverages, diet sodas, and salt.
Green Solutions for Wrinkles
If you are looking for a one-step organic treatment for wrinkles, then, sadly, you won’t find one—
not in this book and not anywhere else. Wrinkles are the result of hundreds of body processes, as well
as our own actions. We can protect our skin from sun damage, quit smoking, and limit the use of toxic
skin care. We can slow down free-radical damage, and we can eat well and supplement our bodies
so our immune systems stay in peak condition. Unfortunately, we have little if no control over age-
related processes, such as cell cessation and hormonal depletion, that result in reduced cell turnover,
decreased fat and collagen content, and hormone loss. Environmental pollution also speeds up skin
aging, and even if we move to less polluted areas, decades of living in toxic cities will eventually
show up on our skin.
It would take another book to address every factor that makes our skin age from the green point of
view; right now, let’s find out what we can do to slow down skin aging using organic, natural
cosmetic products. Every wrinkle takes decades to develop, so it’s very unreasonable to hope that a
smear of a cream will remove it completely and overnight. When you understand what can and what
can’t be done using cosmetic products, you’ll be able to make informed choices and avoid spending
money on products that are physically unable to live up to their claims.
What happens when we get wrinkles? Older skin has less fat in its dermis, which makes it look
thinner and more transparent than younger skin. Facial muscles lose their shape and density, which
causes facial features to sag and the skin to droop. Cell reproduction slows down, which shows up as
an uneven skin structure and increased water loss. Skin cells lose vital elements such as hyaluronic
acid, glycerin, and polysaccharides, which results in dryness and a parch-mentlike look to the skin.
The skin’s support structures, collagen and elastin, deteriorate after decades of reckless sun exposure
and hormonal changes, which results in sagging and wrinkles. Aging skin is more prone to allergic
reactions, irritation, discoloration, and even acne because of the declining state of the immune system.
Aging skin is more prone to allergic reactions, irritation, discoloration, and even acne
because of the declining state of the immune system.
A proper skin care routine can deal with some of these factors—but not all of them. Popular
wrinkle creams claim they can restore collagen and elastin, rejuvenate and repair skin cells, and even
reprogram the DNA to produce younger, healthier skin. No matter how tempting it is to resolve all the
issues of aging with one clever potion, it’s impossible. Instead of wasting money on another “snake
oil,” let’s see what we can actually do to delay the formation of wrinkles.
Protect the skin from environmental damage. Damage from the sun and free radicals resulting
from pollution, an improper diet, and an overabundance of toxic chemicals in skin care products
builds up in skin over time. This causes the DNA and RNA to stop skin cells from reproducing
quickly, which slows skin cell turnover and thickens the layer of dead skin cells at the top layer of
epidermis. Naturally derived or synthesized antioxidants, such as coenzyme Q10, idebenone,
anthocyanidins and polyphenols from grapes, lycopene from tomatoes, super-oxide dismutase,