Why Your Neck Looks Older Than Your Face—and What Skincare Can Actually Do with Esthetician Katy Bacon

Katy Bacon (0:01)

G-L-A-M, Gloss Angeles.

Sara Tan (0:14)

Our necks, chests, and hands deal with the same sun exposure, collagen loss, and hormonal shift as our faces do, but we pay them less attention. Then one day, it can feel like everything in those areas aged overnight.

Kirbie Johnson (0:27)

Today, Katy Bacon, esthetician and global educator at Murad, is helping us understand why the skin outside of our face can age differently, what topical products can realistically improve, and which ingredients have the best evidence behind them. You can also read real reviews from 300 of our listeners about their experience with Murad's new neck serum through Gloss Angeles Confidential, which the brand has partnered with us on.

Katy, welcome to Gloss Angeles. We're thrilled to have you.

Katy Bacon (0:55)

Thank you, I'm so excited to be with you.

Kirbie Johnson (0:57)

Well, we have a lot to get into. We have a laundry list of different questions that we have been wanting to talk about. This episode is focused on the neck and the décolleté, and how it ages, and what we should be looking out for. And also, you know, do we need a product specifically for that area? Why is it better than a product that's made specifically for the face?

To kick things off, it seems like oftentimes, especially women, they wake up one day and then suddenly they feel like they look older. Does visible aging actually accelerate at a certain age, or are we just finally seeing years and years of cumulative change, damage, etc.?

Katy Bacon (1:44)

That's a great question, and there's probably a lot to unpack there. Yes, on both counts. So of course we have environmental factors that are going to accumulate. So the sun exposure we have, the lifestyles we lead, our necks are really exposed. And if I'm honest, most of us aren't always taking our sun cream down on our necks or our chests. I know for me, I would always put it on my face, but I would always forget to apply it to my chest or even the backs of the hands. So yes, there is a lot of accumulative exposure that creates aging, especially in pigmentation and those concerns that we see.

But hormones do play a big role. And so we know that there are kind of big bursts when it comes to skin changing. And I think that was all over social media for a while. 38 was one big burst with aging where you start to notice maybe textural changes, a bit of loss of elasticity, the unevenness of skin. And then there's another burst at 42 and then around 44 to 45

And these are where our hormones start to decline or shift and change in line with that perimenopausal year as we kind of approach that next stage. And so that's where you start to see that loss of elasticity. Maybe even, I would say my partner calls it a wobbly neck, but you start to notice crepiness or that tightness, that firmness isn't quite the same. And that definition of the jawline starts to change. So in terms of should we have a treatment for that neck? For sure. If that's a concern for you, that area is quite sensitive as well. We have less oil glands. So it tends to be slightly different in structure and function to the face. So having something purposefully created for that neck and décolleté area is really key if aging of those areas are your concern.

Sara Tan (3:23)

So what exactly is happening beneath the skin when it is starting to look thinner and looser and crepier and less resilient?

Katy Bacon (3:33)

We have structural changes that occur. So estrogen is one of the hormones. We have many, but it's one of these hormones that starts to decline with age. And estrogen is responsible for a lot of functions in our skin. It keeps our skin nice and hydrated, which is where in your 20s, you look beautiful and bouncy and juicy like a baby, you know? It's that radiant translucent skin. But as we age, we start to lose lipids and ceramides in our skin, it gets drier. And so our skin can lose water. It loses the ability to attract, hold and retain moisture in the skin. So in the neck, what we start to notice is it can be crepey, it can be a little bit drier, the skin does start to get thinner, we lose more water.

And so we start to get less resiliency. So you may notice more of those lines and wrinkles, uneven skin tone. Additionally, skin starts to appear thinner.

Sara Tan (4:22)

Okay, quick question. Back to the 38, 42 age range. Is that the same for men?