We all know that aging is invitable. It’s just a fact of life. To quote Trudy, the salon owner and ‘glamor technician’ from Steel Magnolias, “Time marches on, honey. And sooner or later, you realize it’s marching across your face.”
But what really causes aging? And how much can we actually do about

slowing the aging process? These questions have been asked for as long anybody can possibly remember and then some. Anti-aging and Cosmetic sciences have focused on this issue and made some remarkable strides, both in learning about the causes of aging and in devising ways to slow its progress.
Causes of Aging:
All aging in the body can be categorized into one of two distinct types of aging: Intrinsic Aging, caused by genetic programming, and Extrinsic Aging, caused by environmental factors. These two types of aging can often work in combination to result in premature aging.

Extrinsic Aging –
the aging caused by external sources affecting the body, is made up of many factors which can work in combination to age the skin care faster than what would be “normal” based on an individual’s genetic make-up. The most common cause of extrinsic aging is sun exposure, but there are other factors. Some of these are repetitive facial expressions, sleeping positions, gravity, and smoking.
Sun:
Unless protected, even a few minutes of exposure to the sun each day of a period of years can create noticeable changes in the skin. Skin cancer, freckles and age spots aren’t the only risks. The amount of photo aging that occurs depends largely on a person’s skin color and their history of exposure to the sun.Sun exposure is also responsible for spider veins on the face, rough and leathery skin, fine wrinkles, loose skin, blotches in the complexion, and thick, wart-like, rough, reddish patches on the skin called actinium keratoses. Persons with fair skin are more susceptible to photo aging effects than those with darker skin. The fair-skinned individual with a certain amount of sun exposure could develop serious effects from photo aging, while the darkest skinned person might only develop fine wrinkles and a mottled skin tone from the same exposure.
Photo aging occurs over a span of years. As you expose your skin to the sun, the skin loses the ability to repair itself and the damage accumulates. The exposure to the UV rays in sunshine breaks down the collagen in the skin and impairs the skin’s ability to make new collagen.
Facial Expressions:
For many years women were urged to perform facial exercises to maintain a youthful appearance. If you’re one of these women, stop doing it now. Studies have shown that repetitive facial movement actually leads to fine lines and wrinkles. Each time we use a face muscle, a groove forms beneath the skin’s surface which is why we see lines form with each facial expression. As our skin ages, and we lose elasticity, the skin stops being able to spring back and these grooves become permanent lines and wrinkles.