6 ways to start taking better care of your neck and décolletage

Your skin doesn’t stop at your chin, so why should your skincare routine? When taking care of your skin, it’s essential to treat your neck and chest with as much care as you do your face. A surprisingly delicate area, the skin here is inclined to age faster than its facial counterpart yet is often neglected. While many of us religiously cleanse, exfoliate, hydrate and treat our faces to in-clinic procedures, our neck and décolletage often go without.

Why do we need to look after our neck and chest?

The skin on the neck and chest is thinner than on your face which means it collapses more easily into wrinkles and folds, particularly given how we twist and turn and compress our necks so frequently throughout the day. Then, there’s the fact that there are fewer oil glands in this area to keep the skin supple. This gets worse when we hit the menopause and, thanks to the reduction in oestrogen, our skin becomes drier and loses elasticity. As the skin is thinner, the area is also more prone to environmental stress and UV damage.

The curse of tech neck

Does our fondness for technology make the problem worse? The term ‘tech neck’ refers to the effects of ageing that we may experience from consistently dropping our head forwards to look at our phone or laptop. When our heads are pushed forwards, we’re pinching the skin into folds, and the sagging of the muscle begins, as do wrinkles. This repeated movement can cause our skin to age prematurely and can develop into deeply etched horizontal lines over time.

Consider cutting-edge neck treatments

To take neck care a step further than just skincare, there is a slew of professional in-clinic treatments that can treat sagging and wrinkled skin and relax the neck muscles so that the lines appear softer and the neck more lifted.

Botox

Botox can reduce the virtual lines across the neck by injecting the strong platysma muscle to relax it. As we age, the muscle often gets stronger as the shrinking jawbone allows it to pull downwards more forcefully. Botox stops this problem in its tracks and, when maintained, is an excellent preventative method for future signs of ageing.

Fillers

For many people, facial fillers can make a massive difference to the neck’s appearance. When strategically placed, they can help restore the structure in the cheeks, chin and jawline, pull the tissues back into place, and improve the neck’s appearance.

Profhilo

Profhilo is one of our most requested treatments for the neck and the decolletage. It stimulates natural collagen production and long-lasting hydration within the skin, improving crepiness for a smoother and tighter appearance.

Profound RF

This radiofrequency micro-needling treatment is a little more invasive but provides incredibly effective tightening and lifting to the lower face and neck. It’s a unique treatment that combines microneedling and radiofrequency technologies for an advanced result. In studies, it has been shown to deliver the effect of a third of a facelift. Results develop over three months, up to a year, and last for two to three years.

What about skincare?

The best thing you can do for your neck and decolletage is to give it the same amount of UV protection as you do your face. Somehow, most of us forget about our necks when it comes to skincare, and if we do invest in expensive serums and sunscreens, we don’t always take them further south than the jaw. Which is fine until you hit your forties, but the older you get, the more frustrating it becomes as your neck seems to age faster than anywhere else, and your decolletage gives the game away about every single time it saw some sun.

Many wonder whether neck creams actually work, and we advise that it does help to have a targeted product to address specific neck concerns. Here are a couple of the best.

SkinCeuticals Tripeptide-R Neck Repair

This transformative neck cream pushes the limits of topical skin-tightening. The blend of anti-ageing ingredients targets visible signs of neck ageing, including horizontal lines, loss of firmness, and crepiness.

Neostrata Triple Firming Neck Cream

Combining a cocktail of ingredients from peptides and ceramides to hyaluronic acid, and vitamin C, there isn’t much this neck cream can’t do. While it’s antioxidant properties address lines, firmness and pigmentation, the amino acids work to tighten skin that has lost elasticity.

Disclaimer: Please be aware that results and benefits may vary from patient to patient taking into consideration factors such as age, lifestyle and medical history.