1. Sleeping on Your Side

Newsflash, it’s not just how much (or, more importantly, how little) sleep you get that greatly affects your skin. Your sleeping position is also a major factor.

You see, sleeping on your side or tummy night after night smushes your face up against your bedding which causes your skin to fold, crease and intensify the wrinkling process. Ditto for the skin on your décolletage – especially if you’re a side-sleeper. 

The Solution? Sleeping on your back is the most skin-friendly sleeping position. Also make sure you're helping to reduce the formation of wrinkles by cleansing your skin thoroughly before bed and applying Night Elixir all over your face, neck and décolletage.

2. Swimming

While swimming is an incredible way to improve your overall health, the skin-damaging effects of chlorine are very real. How so? Well, water causes the skin’s pores to swell which allows chlorine to penetrate the surface, robbing your skin of natural oils, sebum and moisture.

All this adds up to serious dryness and dehydration which, as you know, is a sure-fire way to speed up premature ageing.

The Solution? Take a shower immediately after swimming, cleansing your entire face, body and hair. Gently pat your skin with a clean towel, then apply plenty of antioxidant-rich serum to counteract the damaging effects of chlorine. Try Pre-Eminent Beauty Serum, followed by Imperial Moisturiser to replenish and seal in lost moisture. 

3. Over Exfoliation

Exfoliating your skin like your life depended on it is one of the most common beauty mistakes. Sure, it feels satisfying to give your skin a good scrub, and exfoliating is essential for boosting cellular turnover and revealing fresher, brighter-looking skin. However, too much compromises your skin’s barrier function, making your skin susceptible to dryness, dehydration, irritation and wrinkles. 

The Solution? Avoid harsh, abrasive scrubs or rough, exfoliating mitts as these can be too much for the delicate skin on your face and neck. Instead, choose a gentle formulation like Natural Luminosity Scrub which has been mindfully created for everyday use.

4. A Sweet Tooth (Sorry!)

When your bloodstream becomes overwhelmed by sugar, sugar molecules attack your cells and attach themselves to proteins and fats in your skin, causing them to weaken and stiffen. This is a process called glycation and it’s one of the quickest ways to age you up, accelerating everything from fine lines and wrinkles to sagging and dull skin.

The Solution? The recommended amount of sugar for an adult is around 25g per day so, while eliminating all sugar is a) impossible, b) not advisable and c) boring, reading your food labels and making informed decisions will go a long way to significantly reducing the amount in your system. And watch out for hidden sugars in things like fruit juice, processed foods and wine.

5. Running (How So? ...)

Experts agree that exercise is a great way to improve your circulation, boosting the immune system and giving your skin a healthy glow. However, some believe that the consistent up-and-down motion of running can lead to wrinkles and sagging. There’s no real evidence to back this up, but running in the great outdoors can certainly lead to premature ageing in one other major way: sun damage.

UV radiation accounts for somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of external skin ageing. And that’s no joke.

The Solution? Protect all areas of exposed skin while exercising outdoors – face, neck, arms, hands, the works. Our Organic Tinted Moisturiser with SPF 25 is a great choice for your face and neck as it’s super lightweight and non-comedogenic so won’t block your pores while building up a sweat.

6. Not Getting Your Eyes Tested

Have you been avoiding your optician for years? Oh dear. This is not only detrimental to the health of your eyes but if you can’t see as well as you used to, you’re going to squint more. And what does repetitive squinting do? It wears grooves in the skin around your eyes and across your forehead, eventually creating frown lines and crow’s feet.

The Solution? Get your eyes tested, for starters, and wear sunglasses when you’re outside to prevent squinting in the sun. A twice daily application of Imperial Eye Gel wouldn’t go amiss either!

7. Air Pollution

It’s not just the environment that’s suffering because of the cars we drive and the fire pits in our back gardens. Our skin is taking a big hit, too. This is because, just like exposure to the sun, pollution produces free radicals in the skin which damage your collagen and elastin supplies and weaken your skin’s strength and structure. Hello fine lines and wrinkles!

The Solution? To rid your skin of air pollutants, you must cleanse thoroughly morning and night with Crystal Cleanser. Gentle, yet effective at detoxifying your skin, this rejuvenating cleanser also contains antioxidant-rich sunflower oil to help neutralise free radical damage. We'd recommend our Organic Facial Oil too to really help give the free rads the boot!

8. Drinking Through A Straw

It’s a well-known fact that smoking makes you purse your lips, repeatedly contracting the same muscles around your mouth and, in time, causing the skin to lose elasticity and become wrinkled. Bad news, friends: drinking through a straw does the exact same thing. OK, so it doesn’t have quite the disastrous effects. However, a similar breakdown of collagen is inevitable if you pucker up and drink through a straw regularly.

The Solution? If you’re constantly drinking water from a reusable bottle that has some kind of straw fixture, bin it. We’re all for hydration, absolutely, but invest in a bottle or cup that doesn’t have a straw. Or just drink from a glass.

9. Too Much Screen Time

Anyone own a digital device (ha)? Then listen up everyone because your phone, laptop, tablet and friends all emit something called high energy visible (HEV) light.

Otherwise known as blue light, HEV upsets your sleep patterns and, just like UV radiation, has been shown to cause the formation of free radicals in your skin which damages all the good stuff, causing oxidative stress, lines and wrinkles.

The Solution? Take plenty of screen breaks and avoid using all devices for at least two hours before bed. Ensure your skincare routine contains plenty of antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E and plant oils to counteract damage from those pesky free radicals. Our Organic Age-Defying Facial Oil is a great choice after a long day at your computer as it’s chock full of botanical oils to aid repair and strengthen the skin.

10. A Low-Fat Diet

Eliminating all fats from your diet is a bad decision if you care about your skin (and your entire body, tbh!). In fact, certain unsaturated fats are extremely important for your health and help keep your skin supple and strong. What are unsaturated fats? Well, they’re certainly not the ones you find in burgers and chips, that’s for sure.

Unsaturated fats are found in things like oily fish, avocados, nuts, seeds and tofu. Oily fish, for example, is brimming with omega-3 fatty acids which strengthen the skin’s barrier function, protect you from UV damage and help reduce inflammation. 

The Solution? Of course it’s prudent to reduce bad (saturated) fats in your diet from things like processed meat and baked goods. But don’t avoid fats altogether. Just stick to healthy unsaturated fats. Simple as!