The ageing process is an essential step to making a good whisky. As it waits patiently in the oak barrel year after year, it matures proudly, and produces the rich amber colour and chocolate-laden notes that make it the quintessential gentleman’s drink the world round.
While there are many benefits to growing older ourselves, the passing years carry with it some side effects we all try our best to ignore.
One of those is wiping the shower steam off your bathroom mirror, reaching for your comb, and realising 5 minutes have just passed and you find yourself duck-facing sideways like a Kardashian on Instagram, examining a new wrinkle on your forehead. You frown and un-frown, thinking maybe it’s just the wrong angle. But it’s not. It’s there, and it’s not going away.
Ageing is most obvious on our skin. While it’s not noticeable day to day, as the months and years pass skin becomes more and more weathered looking, wrinkled, creased and blemished. It’s inevitable. No one can outrun it, or escape the process completely.
But you can slow it down, and stop it affecting your self confidence. While there’s no way to make the time go faster, by doing the right things and looking after body the right way, you can control the impact of ageing on the skin and make sure you don’t look like your old man’s leather jacket for a long time yet.
Here are 4 easy ways to stop the ageing process in it’s tracks, without spending longer than your girlfriend in the bathroom.
- Eat more fruit and vegetables
It may seem way too simple to be true, but maintaining a healthy diet has a big impact on your body’s overall health and the glow of your skin. Choosing fruit and vegetables over processed foods slows down brain ageing, fills the body with antioxidants that stop physical signs of ageing, and speeds up your skin’s metabolism.
While staying out until 2am sinking your favourite beer and smashing a burger feels good at the time, it also wreaks havoc on your ageing system. Heavy drinking increases the risk of heart disease, blood pressure problems and diabetes, and eventually gives you a sullen, tired look that reflects how your body feels inside. Healthy looking skin starts with a healthy body. Everything in moderation.
Exercise
We don’t want to sound like your mother, but regular exercise is one of the best ways to keep your boyish good looks in tip-top shape. As well as increasing blood flow around your body, exercise also reduces severe inflammation in the body which causes unwanted skin blemishes like wrinkles.
Aim to get out there and exercise at least 3-4 times per week. If you’re just getting started, begin with a regular walk and slowly ramp it up to gym workouts. You will boost your immunity to disease, improve your memory and stamina, and help you to get a good night’s sleep. And most importantly, your Blue Steel will stay on point for longer.
Avoid too much sun
Enjoying the warm sunshine does wonders for the body. Vitamin D keeps your bones healthy and your sleep cycles working, as well as helping keep those depression demons away. Too much exposure to the sun’s harmful rays, however, can cause irreparable damage to your skin, and render all of that effort towards getting yourself a tan wasted.
We’re not going to say you should avoid the sun, but it’s a good idea to make sure you do two things: balance it with some time out of direct exposure, and protect your skin with sunscreen and clothing, particularly if you’re out surfing or roaming the beach for a while.
Invest in high-quality skincare
Every 28 days your old skin cells are replaced by new ones, and for it all to happen smoothly and without skin dryness and flakiness your skin needs the right amount of oil and moisture at the ready. Regular low-quality soap can strip moisture and oils which is exactly what you don’t want for healthy-looking skin.
For those reasons, it’s important to get yourself a good body scrub and a high-quality body wash or cleanser. Use the scrub in the shower as regularly as possible with the body wash, and make sure you apply both rigorously to your face as well as all the other important areas. Quality and ingredients make a big difference with body wash, so make sure you pick something that contains plenty of natural oils and no nasties, and stick with it.
While we would all like whiskey to be some sort of magical fountain of youth, the reality is it’s not. The next best thing to stop the ageing process is to look after your skin by eating well, protecting yourself in the sun, exercising regularly and getting yourself some good quality shower companions. Until then, we’ll get to work on that magical whiskey. Join our mailing list to be the first to know when we figure it out.