The best time to battle wrinkles is before they ever dare appear. If you’re lucky enough to know the dangers ahead of time, you can do wonders to protect your skin from sun damage and eventually wrinkles with sunscreen and shade. But even nominal bits of sun exposure such as crossing a parking lot or a short walk around the block can have lasting impact on your skin – and that’s nothing compared to the damage you’ve done baking yourself in tanning beds or beside the pool.

Considering Anti-Wrinkle Creams

There generally comes a time in the third or fourth decade that a woman realizes that her skin might not be quite as lovely as it was through her younger years. This is the time to begin a more concentrated effort to prevent wrinkles using an anti-wrinkle cream. Choosing the best anti-wrinkle cream will be a factor of your age, skin type and beauty regime, but in skincare, the best offense is most definitely a good defense.

In the perfect world, you’ve protected your skin as much as possible from childhood using sunscreen and shade. Now, as your skin begins to age a bit and loses a bit of its luster, you can protect it even more by applying anti-wrinkle creams. The products in anti-wrinkle creams are varied, but most work by infusing your skin with antioxidants and moisture designed to return elasticity to your skin.

It is the natural give and take of your skin that helps it remain smooth. As your skin ages, it looses this natural ability to spring back to smoothness, and tiny lines and creases begin to settle in. If you allow your skin to stay dry and unconditioned, the wrinkles and lines will multiply quickly. Moist, treated skin, however, is much more likely to stay supple and firm for years longer. This is especially true of skin that has been building up moisture and resisting wrinkles long before they appear.

The Benefits of Anti-Wrinkle Creams

There are hundreds of anti-wrinkle creams on the market, and each claims a unique set of benefits. At the most general level, you should expect your anti-wrinkle cream to do a great deal.

Moisturize – At the most fundamental level, your anti-wrinkle cream should add moisture to your face. The type of moisture will depend on your age and skin type, but moisture is the most effective weapon against aging.

Exfoliate – A gentle round of exfoliation each night or morning will help to slough away old, dry skin cells and allow the brighter, newer cells to show through. This does a great deal to minimize lines and wrinkles. Anti-wrinkle creams that exfoliate do so through light acids – not granules.

Nourish – Anti-wrinkle creams should nourish the skin with extra vitamins, minerals and even antioxidants to help protect the skin from the sun and other damaging elements. The products introduced to nourish skin can range from simple vitamins to complex and rare organics that can make a cream especially effective – and especially expensive.