What's the real age of your skin?

Signs of ageing can depend on a wealth of factors - genetics, lifestyle, exposure to the sun, environmental pollution, smoking... Which means our skin may not have the same age as us. Making it hard to give our skin an actual age. What's more ageing is not just about wrinkles, but also about how we feel and see ourselves.

- You love lazing in the sun, which is responsible for 90% of the signs associated with ageing skin. Without adequate protection, wrinkles can appear during your 20's. By the time you're 30, your skin will look like a 40 year old's, with wrinkles and liver spots having made their mark.
- Smoking: smoking dulls and dries our skin. Resulting in spots, uneven skin tone and a fragile epidermis. And that's not all. Smoking alters the structure of the dermis, reducing its flexibility and tone. Wrinkles are more numerous, wider and deeper.
- You have a poor lifestyle: yo-yo dieters may see a loss of firmness. A 20 year old woman may well end up with as much loose skin which generally appear around 40 year old.
- You're stressed out: stress-related facial expressions can cause wrinkles - frown lines are a classic sign.
- You have well hydrated skin thanks to drinking enough water and pumping your skin full of moisturising active ingredients such as hyaluronic acid.
- You follow a strict beauty regime by thoroughly cleansing both morning and night. This is THE golden rule to keep looking as young as possible. This includes exfoliating or detoxifying masks once a week to get rid of dead cells that can clog pores and keeping your skin well moisturised.
- You eat a balanced diet: not too rich, not too greasy, loads of veg and fresh fruit, packed with omega 3 and skin boosting nutrients.
- You sleep 10 hours per night and avoir sun exposure.