How To Strengthen Skin From The Inside Out This Year

The beauty industry is obsessed with regeneration—especially as of late, thanks to advancements in regenerative medicine and the longevity sciences. Countless new serums, creams, and treatments market the promise of regeneration, if you just slather on this magic goop of course. And we slather on these formulas in the hopes they can make our skin stronger, firmer, brighter, and more vibrant. I'm not discounting these claims—in fact, I use many of these advanced formulas in my own routine. Not only do I believe in their promise, but I see the results. 

But it's important to remember that the act of regeneration means the body needs to have the appropriate building blocks in the first place. Regeneration cannot simply be an external endeavor—you need to go internal as well. "You need to give your body the raw materials to regenerate," says board-certified holistic nutritionist Jennifer Hanway.

How do you build strong skin? Actually, let's simplify it even further: How do you build skin itself? The skin is a complex, dynamic organ1—one that interacts with almost all other systems of the body, is made up of several layers, and has many vital functions. 

The outermost layer—called the stratum corneum2 of the epidermis—is what we think of when we picture skin. It's made up of sheets of keratin, the top layer of which is mostly dead. The skin is in a constant cycle of pushing these cells higher to the surface, where they harden and eventually flake off. Keratin is not the only thing in the epidermis, however, as it also contains an assortment of lipids, minerals, microbes, enzymes, antimicrobial peptides, and antioxidants. 

Below the epidermis is the dermis, which is where the structural proteins live. Collagen and elastin make up the majority of this layer. It's what makes our skin firm, bouncy, and supple when we're young. And on the flip side, what causes sagging and loss of firmness as we get older and lose collagen.

But the skin does not function in isolation. It wraps around and interacts with muscles, lymph fluid, fat layers, and of course bone—all of which influence its outward appearance. "It's about facial balance, the position of things," aesthetic rejuvenation specialist Lisa Goodman, MPAS, founder of GoodSkin Clinics, told me during a past conversation on my podcast Clean Beauty School.

For example, muscle balance and composition can lead to asymmetries, which worsen with age3. And bone loss can lead to skin sagging, worsening under-eye circles, and jowling along the jawline.    

Our daily habits matter, especially within the context of creating a strong foundation for the skin. And to understand how lifestyle influences our overall appearance, we turn to the growing field of lifestyle dermatology4.