Alternative Titles: Always Moisturize Your Neck, Take Care of Your Neck, Care For Your Neck
The hands and the neck reveal the age the most; Much more and much earlier than the eyes and the face.
The skin on the neck is thinner than that of the face, making it more prone to damage and aging.
Perhaps the most important part, is that the neck dries out much more than the face, because it is exposed to 2 or 3 elements:
- Sunlight, the neck is exposed to sunlight the most, namely the back of the neck. The first place to always get sunburned for the majority of people is always the upper back, neck, and shoulders, or the nose (hence why lifeguards are often shown with white sunscreen there). The upper back and neck area is the tallest and most curved area, that is exposed to the sun first. This makes the neck receive the most UV rays, and therefore the most sun damage, resulting in wrinkles and impaired skin repair.
- Showers, perhaps more important than sun exposure is the exposure of the neck to the hot streams of water in the shower every day. We don’t think of moisturizing our necks after showering, washing our faces, or shaving, but it takes as much damage as our faces do, if not more because it has thinner skin. Anyone who does skincare always knows you have to moisturize your face after a hot shower, and those with dry skin know this too. Yet, how many of us moisturize our necks? Our necks are once again the first and foremost exposed to the streams of water in a shower. Picture how you spend the majority of the time in the shower, and your postures when you are at rest in the shower. Or when you first get into the shower, and feel the hot water hit your (upper) back or torso, the weight and tension of the day melting off. It all starts and ends with your neck. Your neck and upper torso and back are the areas no matter what direction you face, that water hits the hardest and the longest. This dries and damages the skin, which is not so different from the face or other parts of the body we scrub, except that we do not think to moisturize and care for the skin afterwards as we do our faces.
- Mechanical damage is a potential third element, which is how we itch, touch, massage, and rub our necks so much compared to other parts of the body. In the same way touching the face too much causes redness and acne, particularly from stress or tension, rubbing and touching the neck pulls the skin which damages it, wears away the natural barrier, or just plain leads to physical stress that needs to be recovered from. The swaying and turning of the neck in bed against pillows may also contribute to this to a degree.
This disproportionate ‘weathering’ and lack of care or awareness compared to the face and hands, makes the neck reveal one’s age much more, or rather, ages and is damaged disproportionally compared to the rest of the body. So be more gentle with your neck, and moisturize it as you would your hands – with natural skincare products or natural oils like coconut oil, as well as opting for less hot showers and less rubbing and scratching.
Apex of Men 