What Happens to Your Face as You Age
One day you get all the looks and the next you get nothing. You don’t know when or how, but at some point you became unworthy of even a glance.
You may even not feel how you look, which makes you feel like an impostor in your own body.
So what the hell happened? Were you beat with the ugly stick in the middle of the night? Did someone swap faces with you?
Fact: we spend our entire life getting older.
The truth is we spend more time aging than we do developing. Our brains reach adulthood in our 30’s, and our bodies peak around that time. After that it begins slowly breaking down on a cellular level. Our ability to repair our own DNA leads us to show signs of aging. Stress can damage our DNA and accelerate aging[1].
Stress makes everything worse.
For most of us, life is hard. We deal with an insane amount of stress. We aren’t getting stalked by predators or have to worry about a saber tooth tiger mauling us while pooping outside, but that doesn’t mean the stress we have today isn’t as bad.
They didn’t have to deal with getting older because they probably didn’t make it past their 20’s.
Yep, caveman had it easy…
OK let’s talk about faces.
What Happens to a Man’s Face as He Ages
Aside from the usual increase in wrinkles there a number of changes a man may notice in his face as he ages.
- Ears get larger – Our ears continue to grow as we age which can change how our faces look. Your ears get larger and yet your hearing gets worse.
- You’ll look smarter – A mans hairline will naturally retreat which makes the forehead look larger, which makes you look smarter.
- Nose droops – the cartilage in the tip of the nose weakens which can give your nose a more downward curve at the tip.
- Wrinkly forehead – Wrinkles on the forehead are said to be “interest lines” and the more you have the more interests you have. As we age these lines get deeper and more pronounced, which makes you look like you have a lot to say.
- Eyes and brows – Men’s eyelids and brows start to sag down or darken which gives them the characteristic grumpy look that tells people you are not having it today. The wrinkles at the corner of the eyes also become more pronounced. The angle of the brow reduces.
- Graying beard – the beard is often the first place a man will find white hair, even before his head. These are little strands of wisdom sprouting on your face.
- Smaller jaw – our bone density changes which makes the jaw look smaller as we age. Men typically have larger jaws so we may be more aware of it shrinking as we age than other features. The angle of the jaw also drops.
- Larger eye sockets – the size of the eye sockets is one of the more prominent changes in the skeletal structure of the face as we age, and they appear to get larger as your bones shrink.
Most of the changes in skeletal structure for men happens in middle age and old age. It can happen much earlier in women as they appear to age faster than men.[2]
When a man notices he is aging it is usually because he is noticing more wrinkles and or the results of sun damage and stress which can make skin age faster.
Does Men’s Skin Age Quickly?
Our skin is thicker than women’s and tends to stay elastic longer which often makes us appear to age slower. Factors like sun damage and stress play a big role in how fast a mans skin ages. Both of which reduce collagen in the skin which is what makes our skin thick and elastic.[3] Over time our body produces less and less collagen, which causes our skin to break down.
You can support your bodies supply of collagen by supplementing with amino acids like lysine and proline, which are building blocks of collagen. You can also eat foods like fish and eggs.[4]
Can Men Stop Aging?
Unfortunately, no. Aging is a natural part of life. You can slow down the effects by limiting sun damage and stress, eat healthy, or reduce the appearance of aging with skin therapies or surgeries.
But what about creams? Creams are a 50 billion dollar business and if you do enough research on anti-aging then you will have cream coming out your eyeballs. There is an endless amount of creams and supplements available but these are often overpriced and not worth it. One study found that an inexpensive anti-aging cream that cost 15 times less than an expensive one was more effective at making the skin look younger[5]. Don’t waste your money.
To stop aging we would need the technology to repair our DNA which doesn’t exist yet. However, levels of DNA methylation have been studied in humans and found to be an indicator of a persons age, and has become a useful marker in anti-aging studies allowing us to understand better the results of anti-aging solutions.[6]
One such solution is calorie restriction. In fact, the connection between DNA methylation and aging was found in studies on calorie restriction, which has become a proven way to improve health and extend lifespan[6].
Can you reverse signs of aging?
To the man that wants to age better, or reclaim his youth because he is scared of the person he sees in the mirror –try calorie restriction with healthy diet, wear sunscreen, reduce stress by spending time in nature and exercise[7]. These are some of the most accessible ways a man can age better.
Also remember that you spend more time aging than you do developing. Know that you are the sum total of the things you do and not what you look like today.
And above all, keep your hard-on for life!
Resources
[1] Stress and Aging: How Stress Affects Premature Aging (marcellepick.com)
[2] Our Face Bones Change Shape as We Age | Live Science
[3] Is It Possible to Rebuild Skin Collagen? (healthfully.com)
[4] Why Most Anti-Aging Products Don’t Work – Dr. Wang Herbal Skincare (drwangskincare.com)
[6] The role of DNA methylation in epigenetics of aging (nih.gov)
[7] The effects of aging: can they be reversed? (medicalnewstoday.com)