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You want to get rid of forehead wrinkles. We understand. It’s one of the most common (and distressing) signs of aging. “Men are more susceptible to forehead wrinkles than women because our heads have a more rounded, convex shape,” says Dr Wassim Tatouk, a cosmetic dermatologist based in Knightsbridge, London. “We also have more muscle mass under our skin which exacerbates the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.”
While there’s no absolute cure for old age or wrinkles just yet, the right balance of diet, exercise, products, and treatments (and tweakments), it’s getting slightly easy to avoid the ‘angry frowny man’ look. In fact, there’s never been more tools available in the quest to be rid of forehead wrinkles.
“Start using SPF daily in your twenties. The earlier the better. That’s the best anti-wrinkle advice I can give,” says Alexia Inge, co-founder of online retailer Cult Beauty. “As one of the loftiest points of the body, the forehead is particularly susceptible to sun damage,” she says. “And the forehead has a high density of sweat glands which means that even when you are saintly with your sunscreen, it can often drip off.”
There’s a quick fix solution: “There’s a Swedish sunscreen, Evy Technology, which stays on and doesn’t drip. It’s endorsed by the Vitiligo Society and recommended for people with photosensitivity conditions.”
Diet and gut health are also key to maintaining a healthy, youthful complexion because certain supplements and foods can stimulate the production of antioxidants and collagen. Antioxidants protect skin from pollution and UV damage, while collagen is the protein that keeps skin looking plump. “ I’d recommend Omega 3, 6, and 9, which can be bought in capsules from most health food stores, collagen, lots of water and eating lots of natural pre and probiotics in your diet,” says Inge.
Nail the basics of skincare: plenty of water, a good night’s rest, healthy diet, exercise, and of course, moisturiser and SPF. Then, you can move into creams and lotions that women have been using for many years, but of which lots of men are still unaware. Chief amongst these magical ingredients is retinol.
“It’s a derivative of vitamin A and increases cell turnover in the skin,” says Dr Wassim Tatouk. “That means it helps to get rid of dead skin cells to reveal brand new skin. It also helps with the production of collagen.” He recommends Skinceuticals Retinol 0.3 face cream, which helps to even skin tone and reduce the appearance of fine lines.
Profilho is the new procedure taking skincare by storm, and Dr Wassim Tatouk is a big advocate of the injectable moisturiser. It accelerates the production of collagen and elastin, both of which are proteins that can make skin visibly plumper and smoother.
Glycolic acid peels are another option. They strip the skin to accelerate production of new skin cells. Laser resurfacing, which burns the skin to stimulate production of scar tissue, can also seemingly ‘sand down’ fine lines to make skin appear smoother.
For major wrinkles, there is one treatment that really can work wonders. That’s Botox. It relaxes the muscle to smooth out lines and wrinkles. But start small, and proceed with caution.
“I think that the practitioner has a big role to play as the adviser advising the patient,” says Dr Joney De Souza, a dermatologist based in Marylebone, London, who prides himself on a ‘less is more’ approach. “You need to think about how far you can go without getting weird results.”
Dr De Souza has seen a spike in younger patients asking for preventative Botox. “I have clients coming in their 20s to ask me about it, but in most cases, most people at that age do not need it,” says De Souza. “I would say that the 30s at the earliest is when the initial lines start to appear. And there is no point in doing it until the first lines appear.”
Far better, he says, to maintain a good skincare regime: UV protection, retinol, diet and exercise throughout your 20s to prolong a youthful and healthy appearance.
Because the vast majority of Botox treatments are administered to women, look for a practitioner that understands the male face and treats men regularly. “You need to understand what approach and where to inject,” says De Souza. “For instance, a man with really raised eyebrows is not a look most people want. So you need to make sure that a man’s eyebrow is a straight line and not too high. There are a lot of things that you need to understand a little bit, not only on the aesthetic side, but also on the technical side, when it comes to men’s faces.”
“One easy thing to do is to give a brow lift.I mean, a lot of women that come for treatment, they say, ‘Oh, I want a brow lift and my eyebrows arched.’ That works well for a woman's face but not for a man. A man's face needs to have a lot more expression.”
