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Beauty

3 Easy Ways to Firm Your Neck, Jowls, and Double Chin

Exercises and products firm your chin and take years off your face.

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It starts with a little loose skin here, some sag there, and by the time we hit our 50s, gravity plus a loss of collagen and elastin have caused the delicate skin around the jawline to droop and dangle, says dermatologist Deanne Mraz Robinson, MD. The result? Obvious agers like jowls and jiggly neck skin. Here, we provide some simple solutions that tighten and tone to turn back the clock!

Saggy jowls?

Facial exercises can lift those droopy pouches at the bottom of cheeks, says Dr. Mraz Robinson. “Increasing facial muscle mass under saggy skin fills out the area, diminishing laxity for a younger appearance.” In fact, women in one study who exercised their depressor anguli oris muscles (on either side of the chin) daily for five months were perceived by strangers to be three years younger than their actual age.

To Do: Lift your chin slightly and pull your mouth into a grimace, contracting your lower jaw so your neck tightens. Hold and say “hee” three times through clenched teeth; release. Repeat 10 times daily for results in one month.

Neck jiggles?

Combat hanging, jiggly skin with a cream that’s infused with polymers and niacin (like StriVectin Powerlift Instant Tightening Mask, $59, Amazon). “Like shapewear for the face, polymers form a temporary scaffold on the surface of skin to provide instant structure and lift,” says Dr. Mraz Robinson. And niacin (vitamin B3) stimulates collagen and elastin production to visibly firm skin over time for more permanent results. 

To Do: Apply the cream to skin in upward motions for an immediate lift that lasts at least 12 hours. Use three times a week to see lasting results in about four weeks.

Double chin?

Puffiness beneath the chin, whether from hormonal flux or water retention, can push any lax skin under the jawline forward, adding optical pounds to the face and neck. But a grapeseed oil chin wrap can help shrink it fast.

How it works: Grapeseed oil’s tocopherols (vitamin E compounds) absorb into skin to tone and tighten for a tauter look, and the manual compression from wrapping the face in a bandage helps free up trapped fluids so they can be flushed through the lymph nodes to reduce swelling and slim a double chin.

To Do: Massage 2 drops of grapeseed oil (like SheaMoisture 100% Pure Grapeseed Oil, $8.99, Amazon) onto your neck and chin. Next, wrap an elastic ACE bandage around your face, starting at the chin and pulling up around the top of the head so it is comfortably secure. (Take care not to wrap too tightly.) Leave the wrap on for 45 minutes to see an instant reduction in puffiness. Repeat once a day — you’ll begin to notice more longterm benefits after seven days.

This story originally appeared in our print magazine.

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