I’ve been an esthetician for almost 10 years now and one of the questions that I get frequently from clients under 35 is this: “Do I really need an eye cream?

”I’m always a little taken aback by this question! These same women understand the other parts of their skin routine like using cleanser, moisture cream, masks, and toner, but when it comes to their eyes, they assume that only “old” people need eye cream!

‍Here’s the deal: eye cream is for anyone at ANY age. Not just “old” people who are already starting to see wrinkles. Okay, maybe not ANY age (kids and preteens are definitely exempt), but I would say that once you hit your mid-20’s, eye cream is not something to skimp on.

But why? Twenty-somethings usually don’t have wrinkles and shouldn’t expect them for another ten years at least. Is eye cream just preventative maintenance to stop wrinkles from forming later when we’re actually “old”, or does it protect from damage that is occurring to your skin now that could cause wrinkles prematurely?

Well, it’s a bit of both.

How Our Skin “Ages”

While your skin might not be degenerating as quickly as when you are young (and the effects of gravity haven’t yet manifested in skin sagging), your skin can still be hit with stressors from the environment as well as recurring facial gestures. Think of “smile lines” and those little lines you get on your forehead and between your eyebrows when you frown. Facial expressions can pinch and squish your skin, and that stuff definitely adds up over time. However, those effects are even MORE pronounced when your skin is chronically dried out as opposed to moisturized. So “aging” has less to do with age than you might think!

While some of those stressors are unavoidable (because come on, I’m not going to tell you to stop smiling!), preventing wrinkles is a lot more about how you care for your skin. For instance, I have regularly given services to 30-year-olds who have more wrinkles around their eyes than many of the 50-year-olds that I treat. Why is this? It’s usually because this group of 30-year-olds have been exposing themselves to sun without wearing sunglasses AND ignoring eye cream. Spending time in the sun without sunglasses means you’re going to be squinting a lot, and again, if the skin around the eye is aggressively squeezed and is not properly hydrated, premature lines can begin to show.

How Eye Cream Prevents Aging

Essentially, eye creams are like face creams (which are super moisturizers formulated for sensitive facial skin), except they have a higher concentration of anti-aging ingredients and are usually delivered in a base that is more gentle for the delicate eye area.To sum it up, eye cream packs a double whammy of moisture and cell regeneration to wrinkle-proof your eye area.

Can’t I just use moisturizer around my eyes?

Here’s another question I get a lot, and the answer is “Yes, but…”So while one CAN wear normal cream under the eye (because it’s certainly better than nothing), it won’t be as effective as a targeted eye cream. Regular face cream is fine in a pinch (like if you forget to pack your eye cream for a vacation. It happens!), but I definitely suggest getting a high-quality eye cream for daily use. You’ll get much better results than you would with face cream alone!

Other tips for preventing premature wrinkles:

The good thing about premature lines is that with the right care, they can disappear. The bad thing is that if you have them and you ignore them, then they will transition from “premature” (warning that more permanent wrinkles will form) to “existing” (you definitely have wrinkles now), at which point you will have to do a lot more corrective treatment to get them to diminish or go away. So the best thing to do is prevent those premature wrinkles in the first place.

Already got your eye cream? Good.

Here are some other tips to prevent wrinkles:

• SUNGLASSES! Wearing polarized sunglasses will not only protect your retinas, it will stop you from doing that annoying squinting that directly leads to fine lines around the eyes. Remember what I said about repeated facial gestures causing wrinkles? Squinting is offender #1. Save your skin and wear some fun polarized glasses!
• Go hat shopping. Sun hats with wide brims are also a good idea to not only reduce squinting, but protect the skin on your face from sun exposure. They’re also super cute!
• Avoid being in the sun during peak hours. This is when UV exposure is higher, usually between 10am and 2pm.

No matter what your age, you can prevent and even reduce wrinkles by keeping your skin moisturized with an eye cream that contains rejuvenating ingredients. Have I convinced you yet?

Treat yo’self to The Portland Girl’s Whipped Coffee Eye Cream! This is a client favorite because it smells lovely and is very affordable, while also being packed with nature’s TOP anti-aging ingredients such as avocado oil, grapeseed oil, green tea extract and coffee extract to help reduce the appearance of dark circles.