Parchment Skin – Everything You Need to Know About the Natural Skin Aging Process

So-called parchment skin is part of the natural aging process. But what are the causes of these tissue changes and how do you properly care for the affected areas? We explain everything important.

This is how parchment skin is formed: causes

The veins on the back of your hand are suddenly showing through? After a slight tweak, the fabric needs a few seconds to straighten out again? In both cases, you suffer from what is known as parchment skin.

This phenomenon describes thinning skin that can occur anywhere on the body. How is it created? Quite simply: the organ steadily loses volume over the course of its life. After all, after the age of thirty, your body progressively produces less collagen. This structural protein ensures plump tissue. The same applies to hyaluronic acid, which provides elasticity. The result: your skin slowly collapses, becoming thinner and more sensitive.

External causes of this change include UV radiation, nicotine, and alcohol. The active ingredient cortisone also promotes parchment skin.

How to care for parchment skin

Can parchment skin be healed? Since it is mainly genetic: unfortunately no. Likewise, their development can only be slowed down to a limited extent. With the right care, however, you can pamper your largest organ every day and thus minimize the (approaching) signs of parchment skin.

From your mid-thirties at the latest, use anti-aging products with active ingredients that stimulate collagen formation every day. These include vitamin C, retinol, or Q10. Hyaluronic acid is also suitable for nourishing parchment skin, for example in the form of smoothing day creams, serums, etc.

Also, make sure that your day cream has a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30 to protect the tissue from UV radiation.

When it comes to cleaning, the same applies: only wash your face and body with mild products and lukewarm water. The thin fabric loses moisture more easily when exposed to heat. Also, avoid hard mechanical stimuli with parchment skin. So just pat wet skin instead of rubbing it dry.