How to Look Younger Naturally

There are so many natural ways to look younger than your age that really work! I want to share my favorite secrets to look younger naturally.

May 2023 Update: I love being 60, almost 61. This past year has been amazing in many ways. I grew a business and bought a house.

I don’t believe we have to look a certain way and aging is a natural process.

In my younger years, I didn’t feel attractive and this really is the first time in my life that I’ve given myself the opportunity to enjoy my looks. That being said, I also don’t want it to be the only thing I focus on.

I’m not in competition with anyone–I just want to feel great in my own skin.

Why It’s Good for You to Look Younger Naturally

The things that make you look younger naturally are also just plain old good for you.

• Nutrition: less sugar and more fat
• Exercise
• Relaxation

While most of us pay attention to our skin, our face is actually composed of bones, muscles, fat, and skin. You need to pay attention to all parts to get the best results.

My bathroom looks like most women’s these days—lots of creams and lotions that promise amazing results. But I have also developed habits that help me look my best.

But here’s the thing. If I wasn’t taking care of my skin from the inside out, these products wouldn’t make much of a difference .

Having great skin, fewer wrinkles, and looking younger does not come from a bottle or jar!

There are many natural ways to look younger than your age that really work. These are not overnight fixes so the younger you start the better.

However, these can help at any age! So, don’t worry about being too old to try them.

Secrets to Help You Look Younger

I’ve been doing everything I write about here for 5 to 15 years and more! These are the things that work for me and finally I’ve got them all down in one place to share.

I’m a grandmother now, but I’m not quite ready to look like one. I love when people think I look younger than my age.

I am 60 now and I am grateful that I have taken care of my nutrition, my emotions, and my skin for years. For now, plastic surgery or injections just don’t interest me. I’ve earned the face I have and I’m not trying to look 30.

That being said, I feel so youthful that I do want my outside to match my inside. So here are the things I do.

What Makes Your Face Look Younger?

When you think of looking younger, you probably think it’s about things you need to apply or inject into your face.

However, there are natural ways to look younger than your age without spending a ton of money or using invasive procedures.

Aging is inevitable. It’s one of those things we simply cannot stop. Yet, we can slow some things down and look younger than our chronological age.

For the record, I don’t look 20 or 30. That just isn’t going to happen! But I am able to look in the mirror every day and be happy about how I look.

Your look of aging is based on the condition of your bones, fat-pads, muscles, and skin. When you are trying to look younger you have to address all these parts of your face!

A few years ago, I was with a friend who was visiting a plastic surgeon. In his office, he had a brochure that explained the parts of the face and that is where I got the information below.

Until that day, I really didn’t realize that our face was way more than our skin. Instead it is our bones, our fat, our muscles, and finally the skin.

You have to tend all of your face to look younger!

The bones that support your face

The bones of your face change as we get older. It makes sense as we are all aware that our supportive bones in our legs or our backs are aging.

Yet, our facial bones change, and the contour of our face begins to look older. Anything that is good for your bones overall is going to be good for your face bones.

Fat pads under your face

Your face needs fat to look young. So, while dieting may get you into some smaller jeans, it could leave your face looking haggard.

Your fat pads provide volume, fullness, and contour. Lose them and you lose that plump youthful look.

When you lose your fat pads, or they migrate to below your chin, you start getting that droopy look and a double chin.

Healthy fat in your diet can help support the overall look of your face.

Muscles in your face

Growing up my mom always reminded me to not “wrinkle your forehead.” She knew that repeated motions tend to become permanent over time.

I can tell you in all honesty that I don’t have any wrinkles in my forehead. Thanks mom!

Our facial muscles lay under our fat pads and over time, repeated motions created lines and poor muscle tone adds to that loose saggy look.

There are also videos on face exercises and yoga. I love the idea of these but I haven’t really tried them on a daily committed basis.

Your facial skin

Here’s the part where most of us concentrate our efforts but it’s really just one part of your overall look.

It’s an important one however and one where we can see and feel the changes.

As we get older, our skin produces less oil and we lose collagen and elasticity. In addition, exposure takes its toll, and we see discoloration and damage from the sun.

Your skin needs protection and it also needs good care.

Understanding Your Face Better

So, you can see that by treating only your skin, you are missing out on three-fourths of the areas you truly need to address to improve how your face looks.

It’s important to be aware that your face and your skin are part of your body as a whole and that to look younger than your age, you have to take a more holistic view of your face.

There is no magic cream or supplement that will do it all!

How to Look Younger Naturally

I’m going to share what I do and I’m going to list them in the order that I generally prioritize them in my own life.

Remember, I’m not a doctor. That being said, if you were seeing certain kinds of doctors they might recommend surgery or injections to give you a younger looking face. Ouch!

My recommendations are non-invasive and thought to be safe.

So, here we go!

Look Younger Than Your Age with Food

Reduce sugar and and foods that act like sugar in your body.

In every post I’ve ever written about the skin, this is always my first recommendation. Sugar causes inflammation and that affects the quality of your skin.

As women in this country, we’ve been taught that sugar is bad for your weight, yet, it is really harmful to your skin as well.

It’s considered a treat or an everyday necessity depending on your outlook. Most people consider it an essential part of every holiday or celebration.

If you are otherwise eating a nutritious diet, a cookie at Christmas is not going to ruin your skin. But that is not how you eat most likely.

I can tell how some women eat by looking at their skin. Your diet seems to show on your face by your forties and fifties.

Diets heavy in sugar and foods that act like sugar in the body, result in a puffy, pasty kind of look, often with fat accumulated under the chin.

Women that eat low fat and keep themselves very thin, have a more haggard, dry, wrinkly look.

The thing is most women are making an effort to “eat healthy.” But much of what has been taught as healthy is really bad for our bodies, our health, and our skin.

There is a happy place in the middle—eating real food. Meats, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats.

You don’t have to believe me now. Give it a month and eliminate sugar and foods that act like sugar for a few weeks.

You can usually see and feel improvement in your skin within that time. The bonus is, while you are doing this you are also helping all the rest of your body.

In addition, give your skin plenty of good food to nourish it.

Eat more healthy fats

For years I have been telling people to eat more fat. Not just any fat, but more olive oil, more butter, more coconut oil, more eggs, and even more animal fat.

It is well documented and researched that fat does not make you fat.

For 50 years or so, people have forgotten that fat is actually a nutrient that our body needs to function properly. It is a vital nutrient.

Your skin definitely needs it. If you are eating real food, you can eat it in the quantities that make food taste good.

The fat that comes on junk food, fast food, and most processed foods is not the kind that is good for your body or skin.

Ways to Help you Look Younger

Smile and relax your face

As we get older, our faces settle into certain looks. Choose a happy one. Consciously rest your face in a neutral or cheerful look.

This is one of my favorite habits that make you look younger. It’s easy and it’s free!

For some of you, this might mean practicing in front of a mirror and thinking about it all day long until it becomes a habit.

It’s a worthwhile habit because having a pleasant look on your face makes you look younger.

Lines on your face can be softened by facial relaxation.

Tension can create lines between your eyes and along your mouth.

Tension lines are different than wrinkles, but they are just as detrimental to looking young. Fortunately, you have some control over them.

Relaxing your face can be learned. You can find guided facial relaxation videos on you tube. Try one or two and then practice doing it on your own.

Don’t eat all day

I believe that our bodies need time between meals, not just to digest the food, but to allow time for our hormones to process our meals.

I have read quite a bit of research that says taking a big break once a day between dinner and breakfast, such as 12 to 14 hours gives your body time to repair itself.  It’s not hard to do at all and is definitely worth trying.

I find that I sleep better since I’ve been fasting for longer periods on a regular basis. Better sleep and having that eating break seems to be a helpful addition to my skin care.

Plus if you aren’t snacking, you are less likely to eat foods that harm your skin.

Limit alcohol and avoid smoking

Both of these will age your looks. Smoking is non-negotiable; if you smoke please quit.

If you drink, remember it affects your sleep and how your face looks in the morning. Neither are friends of your face.

Supplements for better skin

I mostly I rely on food to provide my nutrition. However, I do supplement my regular food with collagen containing ingredients though, and I do this in two ways:

I make, and drink bone broth and I buy a high quality soluble collagen powder. Right now I use Bulletproof brand but there are other good quality brands.

I started making bone broth about five years ago and I wrote about the experience. In the beginning, I made a batch once a week and drank a cup or two a day.

I still like to make in once a month or so because I believe that it provides nutrients that I can’t get any other way.

I also supplement with collagen powders because it wasn’t always convenient to make bone broth.

Here is what I myself have experienced. My cheeks are definitely fuller, and all of my face feels firm. I’ve had two people ask if I use Botox.

Manage your emotions

When you feel better—you look better.  It’s completely human to suffer at times: to feel anger, hurt, disappointment, apathy, self-pity, frustration, and sadness.

Yet, if we stay too long in any of these places, it shows on our faces. A huge part of My Think Big Life, has been learning to manage and improve my emotions on a daily basis.

Now as a certified life coach, I can help women one-on-one to do this in private sessions.

However, I also send out a weekly email where I share lots of information that can be a huge help if you aren’t ready to work with a life coach.

Plus there is tons of information on this site as well.

Exercise

Moving your body daily is good for it. We all know that to some extent, yet because we’ve made exercise hard, we resist it.

Find ways to move that you enjoy. I love walking outside, riding my bike, and doing gentle kinds of exercise.

Two or three times a week, I do a little higher intensity cardio/toning kind of exercise.

Exercise doesn’t just tone your body and improve your health, it also relaxes your body and helps remove tension and that’s always good for your face.

It’s a great addition to the other habits that make you look younger,

My Look Younger Skin Care Routine

To me, this is the most personal thing. What works for me, may not work for you.

I do spend some money on skin care.

Here is how I take care of my face on a daily basis.

At night, I remove my eye make-up with a cotton pad and a non-toxic eye makeup remover.

I wash my face every night with a gentle cleanser.

I follow that up with a nighttime serum.

I end with a nighttime moisturizer.

In the morning, I just rinse my face in the shower. After my shower I use an eye creme and a daytime serum.

After that all soaks in, I apply a tinted moisturizer.

I don’t really like foundations because they cover up my skin. Good or bad, I like to see my skin, but I also like to have the coloring evened out. Tinted moisturizers do that for me.

Last, I put a little powder on to make my skin look natural.

How to Look Younger Naturally

The bottom line for me is that when I feel good, my face looks better.

I’ve come to realize that my face is simply part of my body and that everything I do to make my body look and feel better also helps my face.

When I feel good about my face, I feel better about doing things in my life. I feel more confident and I show up differently.

Here’s another thing. I do this for me. Most people don’t care what my skin looks like. But I truly believe that taking care of all of our body is healthy. If we love something, we take care of it.

When I take care of my face, I’m letting it know that I care. Caring for ourselves is probably the BEST thing we can do for ourselves.

We can celebrate our age AND we can celebrate by truly relishing this time in our life.