Whenever your skin comes in contact with something it doesn’t like—from a harsh product to pollution in the air—it tends to have the same response each time… inflammation. It’s our bodies’ natural response to anything it thinks doesn’t belong. 

There are two kinds of inflammation:

• Acute inflammation: occurs rapidly and is our body's response to injury or infection. This is the “good” kind and necessary to promote healing.
• Chronic inflammation: happens when our body is unable to eliminate the cause of inflammation and continues to keep the body in a chronic low grade inflammatory state.

But did you know that the more often we experience inflammation in our bodies throughout our lives, the more likely we are to experience chronic, low-grade inflammation when we’re older—without any clear triggers? This is called “inflammaging”.

When an inflammatory response gets triggered, that inflammation—while a result of our immune system trying to protect us—can damage our skin cells. This damage can accelerate skin aging, leading to fine lines, wrinkles, crepey and slack skin, etc faster than we might like. That’s why reducing inflammation in the skin is at the core of our brand’s philosophy on skin longevity.

Reducing inflammation in the skin is at the core of our Graydon Skincare’s philosophy on skin longevity.

To us, skin longevity is, “investing in quality ingredients and habits that nourish your skin and support it as it ages. When focus is placed on promoting skin health and resilience, rather than unattainable goals like ‘flawless’ or ‘glass’ skin, we make space to see how truly remarkable our skin is at every stage of life.”

Gorgeous, resilient, healthy skin at every age sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Caring for your skin now not only makes a huge impact on your skin’s longevity, it can also help you prevent or better navigate inflammaging.

I touched on what inflammaging is briefly above, but let’s take a closer look at what it really means—and why it matters for your skin at any age. You might have heard the term before. It’s starting to gain some momentum in the skincare world and there’s some new research being done on the topic that reinforces much of what we already know—that high quality, gentle skincare and healthy lifestyle habits help you age better.

Toward the end of the article, we’ll also share some product recommendations and give you some ideas on how to deal with inflammaging (spoiler alert: it’s the same way you deal with most skin inflammation).

What is Inflammaging?

Inflammaging, at its most basic definition, is chronic, low-grade inflammation that slowly develops with age. As we get older, our immune system becomes more fragile and less precise, meaning an inflammatory response might get triggered more frequently when it isn’t needed. Unlike when you get a sunburn or sprain an ankle, this lower level of inflammation is often invisible to the eye, but it can still cause damage over time.

Like many things related to aging and how our bodies change, there are ways that we can unknowingly accelerate the natural “aging” process we as humans all go through. For example, you might know that collagen and elastin production in our skin naturally slows down with age—however, factors like UV damage, pollution, poor sleep, etc can make that natural decline in production a much faster process.

The more often your body has cause to trigger an inflammatory response when you’re younger, the faster this imprecision will develop. Think of it this way: whether your skin gets inflamed 5 times in one month or 5 times over six months, it’s still the same number of flare-ups—but when they happen closer together, it puts more stress on your body. If we can make inflammation less frequent, it’s better for our bodies long term.

Used more loosely in a skincare setting, “skin inflammaging” refers to the link between chronic inflammation and accelerated skin aging.

Why is Reducing Skin Inflammation Important?

So far, we’ve painted a clear picture that there’s a link between inflammation and skin aging, but what does that actually look like on the skin? Some of the short term impacts of inflammation are more recognizable, such as a hyperpigmented mark left over after a swollen pimple, or dry, itchy skin left as a result of a rosacea or eczema flare up, or even textured skin as a result of a sunburn after the redness has faded. While the inflammation in and of itself is something to be addressed by calming/soothing ingredients—it can cause other skin issues that need additional support as well like fine lines, wrinkles, texture, hyperpigmentation, enlarged pores, acne, dry skin… the list goes on and on.

Inflammation is our immune system’s first line of defense, and is a sign (when it appears on our skin) that our skin has been damaged in some way.

That’s why reducing inflammation is so important—inflammation is our immune system’s first line of defense, and is a sign that our skin has been damaged in some way. It’s also hard on our system and our skin’s ability to function to constantly be in a state of reaction rather than regulation. An inflammatory response distracts the skin from being able to carry out its normal, healthy functions like cell turnover, skin barrier function, wound healing, and more.

Now that you know the connection between inflammation and aging, let’s get into how to reduce skin inflammation and inflammaging—using both skincare and lifestyle habits.

How to Reduce Inflammaging: Skincare & Lifestyle Solutions

There are both skincare products and lifestyle/habit changes you can make to reduce inflammaging. Topically, certain types of skincare products and ingredients can not only soothe and repair skin after damage, but also mitigate damage in the first place. 

In regards to lifestyle/habit changes, keep in mind that your skin is often a barometer for your body’s overall health. When you heal your body, you heal your skin… and vice versa. That connection is important to remember, especially when it comes to inflammation.

Skincare for Inflammaging

When skin inflammation happens, we want to soothe our skin and bring it back to healthy as quickly as possible. And, in the meantime, we want to build up our skin’s resilience and ability to protect itself so that damage and inflammation don’t happen (at all or as severely) in the first place.

With these goals in mind, the priority for your skincare is to choose products and ingredients that reinforce the skin barrier, are anti-inflammatory and soothing, and feature antioxidants for damage mitigation.

Soothing Barrier Support for Inflammaging

A healthy skin barrier means your skin has better moisture retention and a better capability to prevent external irritants of bacteria (which would trigger inflammation) from getting in your skin.

Your skin barrier is essentially the first line of defence against external invaders to the skin. Graydon often uses a “brick and mortar” analogy to explain the structure of the barrier: 

The barrier is like a wall defending your skin. The “bricks” are your skin cells, and the “mortar” is the oily lipid bilayer made up of ceramides, lipids and fatty acids. Both components of the barrier are essential to its—if we’re keeping up the wall metaphor—structural integrity.

When the skin barrier is damaged, your skin is more likely to be unable to defend itself from external damage, leading to short term effects like skin dryness, acne, texture, and dullness and long term effects like crepey skin, fine lines and wrinkles, and sagging.

Alongside barrier support, choosing products/ingredients that are soothing and anti-inflammatory are key. In general, anti-inflammatory ingredients not only soothe inflammation when it happens, but also promote the repair and maintenance of the skin barrier.

Skin therapist Seanna Cohen explains the importance of caring for the skin barrier: “Anyone who has suffered with eczema knows how difficult the continual cycle of chronic inflammation is to keep at bay, particularly if triggers are unknown or unmanaged. It takes at least 30-45 days for skin to regenerate and recuperate from a damaged barrier and so consistently reinforcing the skin by applying moisturizing products rich in skin-barrier identical ingredients like ceramides, hyaluronic acid, fatty acids, etc. is essential to stop the chronic damage that can occur to the skin's moisture barrier, which is the top line of defence against environmental aggressors.”

Some of our favourite barrier supporting and anti-inflammatory ingredients to use at Graydon Skincare include botanical oils that are rich in omega fatty acids. They contribute to the lipid bilayer and are also, according to Seanna,  pretty crucial for combating the inflammatory response.” 

Many of these ingredients are also rich in antioxidants, another key part of supporting the skin against inflammation (check out the bullet point list further down).

Antioxidant Skincare for Inflammaging

Antioxidant-rich skincare is a must for protecting your skin against the damage that causes fine lines, wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, sagging, and more.

Why? Because antioxidants neutralize free radicals, which prevents oxidative stress. 

I can take a guess right now—that sentence was pretty confusing to read. So let’s break it down. Free radicals are oxygen molecules that are missing an electron. A free radical will steal an electron from one of your healthy skin cells to make up for what it has lost. The only problem? Now that healthy cell is the one that is damaged and missing an electron, so it goes off on another heist, continuing a chain reaction of damage. This accumulative damage becomes oxidative stress, which damages your proteins and DNA cells. Seanna compares a free radical to “a really angry, revengeful ex who will do anything to make themselves whole again—even if it means breaking up perfectly healthy cells and their electrons.”

Now, we do naturally have free radicals in our bodies. In a perfect state of health, these free radicals would be balanced out by the antioxidants we also naturally have in our bodies.

Of course, no one is magically, perfectly healthy. UV damage, diet, sleep, pollution, stress, and more can all create an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants. That’s just life! We can try our best, but perfect isn’t possible. That’s okay—antioxidants in your skincare and diet can help fill the gaps.

By protecting cells from damage, antioxidants help you age better.

You won’t see “antioxidant” as an ingredient on a skincare product. Instead, skincare ingredients themselves can be considered antioxidant-rich. These antioxidant-rich ingredients include a wide variety of skincare favourites like retinoids, vitamins C and E, and niacinamide. It also includes a ton of natural and plant-based ingredients like green tea, malachite, shiitake, moringa, and more (which I will link below).

Ingredients to Look For: Antioxidant-rich, Anti-inflammatory, Barrier Support

Curious about what ingredients to look for that are anti-inflammatory, barrier supporting, and antioxidant-rich? We use many in our products—and have “ingredient highlight” articles where we do deep dives into each.

Here are some ingredients to check out:

• Raspberry Seed Oil: a soothing occlusive oil that brightens and softens skin.
• Chia Seed Oil: a fatty acid-rich oil that supports the barrier and improves skin texture.
• Rosehip Oil: a dry oil that is rich in fatty acids and vitamin A to soothe and defend skin.
• Prickly Pear Seed Oil: an acne-fighting oil that moisturizes and protects skin.
• Torula Oil: a biotech oil that nourishes the skin and contains provitamins A and D.
• Goji Seed Oil: a hydrating oil rich in vitamin C and other antioxidants.

Skincare Products to Prevent Inflammaging

All the ingredients shared above are featured in Graydon products. That’s because we value gentle, multi-functional products that use ingredients with a variety of skin health supporting benefits. It’s part of our entire ethos to create sensitive skin friendly, pro-aging products that fit into a streamlined routine.

This means that pretty much all of our products are anti-inflammatory, barrier protecting, and antioxidant rich. You can’t really go wrong. However, we’ll share some of our favourites below. You’ll notice they’re all serums and moisturizers because those types of formulas best lend themselves to the fatty acid rich oils your barrier loves—oils that are less common in cleansers, toners, mists, etc.

Moon Boost

Moon Boost is an oil-based serum packed with antioxidant protection. Boasting vitamins A, C, D, and E for a full roster of antioxidant protection, Moon Boost is great at preventing the oxidative stress that can age your skin. Plus, omega 3 and 6 fatty acids in the serum plump and soothe skin, all while replenishing the skin barrier. On top of these benefits, Moon Boost also brightens and firms skin.

Jade Moon

Just like Moon Boost, Jade Moon is a serum packed with luxurious oils that replenish the barrier and are rich in antioxidants, like prickly pear, goji, raspberry, and chia seed oils. Jade Moon also boasts some additional anti-inflammatory ingredients like turmeric, sacha inchi, and oat oil. This serum is designed to comfort and soothe your skin barrier with moisture replenishing lipids.

Skin Stuff

Skin Stuff is filled with nourishing, protective ingredients and antioxidant protection. Rosehip, evening primrose, and blackcurrant all help prevent oxidative stress and moisture loss, while ceramides repair and strengthen the skin barrier. Plus, Skin Stuff feels light on the skin and is perfect for even those with highly sensitive, reactive skin.

Berry Rich

Berry Rich is a velvety-rich moisturizer that uses vegan probiotics to reinforce the skin barrier. The bonus of having a healthy barrier is that your skin will look more plump and luminous! Berry rich also contains antioxidant-rich blueberry seed oil and a number of ingredients that protect, nourish, and deeply hydrate the skin.

Healthy Habits to Prevent Inflammaging

There are many other factors that contribute to skin health like diet, sleep, stress, exercise, and lifestyle choices like smoking. Forming healthy habits related to these wherever possible will improve your skin health—and overall health too!

Add Antioxidant-Rich Foods to Your Diet

Antioxidants aren’t just effective in your skincare, they’re also an extremely valuable addition to your diet! Just how antioxidants in your skincare can neutralize free radicals, they do the same when ingested. The good news is that tons of healthy, delicious foods have antioxidants in them—it’s hard to go wrong when you make sure you have fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and whole grains in your diet.

Want simple, healthy meals packed with antioxidants? Here are some of Graydon’s favourites:

• Graydon’s Favourite Guacamole Recipe
• Rich + Refreshing Cherry Chocolate Smoothie
• Brat Green Salad and Avocado Toast
• Black Bean Brownies with Whipped Coconut Cream
• Graydon’s Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Get Your Body Moving

Did you know that when you exercise, your muscle fibres actually produce anti-inflammatory mediators? Getting your body moving, even if it’s a quick stretch at your desk so you aren’t sitting all day or a walk around the block with your furry friend, putting the body into motion can help with inflammation.

Though doing more difficult wokeouts like lifting weights or an intense HIIT class make a huge impact on your health—let’s be honest, we’ve all seen the fitness influencer before and after pics on our feeds—making time for movement of any kind still makes a difference. Low impact, purposeful movement makes a nice complement or substitution to any more strenuous exercise depending on your fitness level.

Graydon is obviously a supporter of yoga—she even wrote this article sharing 8 reasons why it’s a great addition to your routine. Not only does it add movement to your day, it also helps you with the next way to reduce inflammation: working on your stress levels.

Find Your Zen 

Stress and inflammation are related, especially chronic inflammation. According to this study, “stress-induced chronic low-grade inflammation is the common soil of a wide variety of chronic diseases.” 

Doesn’t that information make you feel very calm and relaxed? We all know managing our stress is easier said than done, but making time for a little self care—whether your “happy place” is meditation and an herbal tea at home or a great day out with friends—can go a long way.

Want something you can do right now? Try a quick grounding technique or a simple gratitude practice.

Prioritize a Good Night’s Sleep

According to Harvard Medical School, “Research has found that sleep deprivation is associated with markers of inflammation, such as increases in inflammatory molecules.” Getting the right number of hours of sleep is important, alongside the actual quality of your sleep. 

You probably already know what works for you—you might put on white noise, crank up the humidifier, turn on your fan or crack a window, or make sure there’s no light to bother you. However you get your sleep, try to give yourself a good environment and stick to about the same bed time and wake up time—your circadian rhythm will appreciate it.

Since sleep has such an important impact on your skin, you can turn in for the night early knowing “beauty sleep” is a real thing!

Reducing Inflammation: Great Skin Now, Great Skin As You Age

At the end of the day, trying your best to take care of yourself—and finding moments of self care whenever you can—makes a massive difference and is always worth it, especially when it comes to reducing inflammation and making inflammaging less likely. 

We already know inflammation can have an impact not only on your skin, but your overall health, so building the habits and the skincare routine to protect yourself now will have your future self saying thank you!

If you’re ready to build an anti-inflammation skincare routine, start here:

• Jade Moon Superfood Serum
• Moon Boost Multivitamin Brightening Serum
• Skin Stuff Ceramide Moisturizer
• Berry Rich Probiotic Cream

Here’s to aging better and supporting our skins’ longevity!