If your guess is sun exposure, congratulations, you're correct! With sun exposure being the number one cause of fine lines, wrinkles, age spots and premature aging, we can't help but find it interesting that the skincare market has exploded with expensive treatments and skincare regimens to fight the effects of this after the damage has been done; but in comparison, little has been invested to instead stop the problem before it starts.
With the costs of undoing sun damage and premature aging being so high, doesn't it make sense to either invest in your skin early on by avoiding sun damage to begin with (saving you $100's if not $1,000's later)?... or to help protect your skinvestment by making sure you avoid and prevent further sun damage following your skincare treatments (micro-needling, plasma pen, chemical peels, laser resurfacing etc.) and use of skincare products?
Best practices for this is to limit your time outside (if possible) and to use either sunscreen (make sure it is broad spectrum that protects you from both UVA and UVB rays, and is reapplied every 2 hours at least) or by wearing sun protective clothing and hats. Typically a combo of all these methods gives you best results. We believe that since UPF (sun protective clothing) automatically protects you against UVA and UVB rays and doesn't need reapplied, it is great to use on your skins most sensitive and thin areas (neck, chest, face and hands).
The thing about using sun protection is that we are keeping our skin healthier, longer, than we would if we were not protecting it-but we don't necessarily "see" results, because we are preventing damage from occurring in the first place. In a strange way I think we are more engaged in products and can find it more rewarding, sometimes, if we have a problem (sun spots or wrinkles) that we then spend money on a solution to see it get fixed. What are your thoughts?