Five reasons you need a neck/décolleté cream

Necks may turn heads but they are so often overlooked when it comes to skincare, despite being the site of some of our greatest concerns. Whether you want to see improvements to lines, definition, texture (or all of the above), read on to learn all about the skin on your neck and décolleté and what it needs to live its best life. We tend to either forget about this area completely or at the very least, grace it with the presence of our face products once in a while. But the delicate skin on our neck and décolleté has a unique structure, and functions differently from the skin on our face – not to mention the onslaught of day-to-day challenges. Hello, perfect recipe for premature ageing. But with the right combination of ingredients, we can give the neck area the tools it needs to regain and retain its texture, structure, and radiance. The skin here needs gentle, yet hardworking technology to smooth and firm – a targeted neck product gives the specialised attention needed. Here are five reasons why our necks deserve more from us…

1. Sensitivity

The delicate skin on the neck and décolleté faces many challenges every day and over our lifetimes, so when it comes to skincare, hardworking ingredients are necessary. However, the skin on our necks is some of the most sensitive skin we have, so we need to be very careful when thinking about which products we apply to this area. Fiona Brackenbury, Skin Expert and Pro Facialist says, “The neck and décolleté is a very thin, delicate area, and really sensitive as well. It's less tolerant to a lot of things, so you’re quite limited to what products you can use here. It’s important to find a product that is super effective but delivered in a really gentle way to respect the neck and décolleté skin."

2. Tech neck

How often do you look down? At your phone? Your laptop? Your kindle? Modern technology isn’t doing wonders for our posture, and an unfortunate side-effect is deepened lines on our necks… You may have heard this (un)affectionately referred to as ‘tech neck’, and these lines can be hard to shift. “They tend to be about 5 times deeper than those on our face,” Fiona explains. “We lose 1.5% of collagen a year from our skin and then in our 40s and 50s we lose another 30%”. If we want to iron out lines, the skin on our neck needs extra help building and maintaining its collagen supply. Fiona recommends looking for a neck product formulated with peptides and nanopeptides. “Nanopeptides are exceptional, they’re really dynamic and effective, and that bit smaller, so they go that bit deeper to deliver powerful results.” These mighty messengers work within the dermis to rebuild the skin’s scaffolding, boosting precious collagen production and restoring lost volume.

3. Exposure

It is no secret that exposed skin is more vulnerable to the elements, whether that be pollution, fluctuating temperatures, or damaging UV rays. And did you know that the skin on our necks is some of the thinnest on the entire body? This means that it’s especially vulnerable to the effects of overexposure, especially sun damage. “The angle of the décolleté is literally like a sun magnet and yet most people don't apply SPF to this area,” Fiona explains. The effects of this can show up in numerous ways, but age spots are often the most evident – those darkened patches caused by sun exposure. Alpha arbutin is a superhero ingredient for pigmentation, especially when it’s encapsulated. Encapsulation allows for a more effective, precise delivery, by protecting the active ingredient so it can penetrate more deeply, where it can have the most benefit. Using a formula containing encapsulated alpha arbutin not only helps to fade age spots, but actually slows the production of melanin, and prevents dark spots from forming and darkening. And let’s all vow never to forget our SPF again.

4. Dryness

Have you ever noticed how our neck and décolleté can absorb endless amounts of moisturiser but never seem to be fully quenched? Well, this is because, the skin here has far fewer oil glands, which means it needs a lot more help staying moisturised. It’s important to bear this in mind when using face products on your neck, as those formulated to control oily or combination skin will only dry out the neck further. “With lots of oil glands, skin has this ability to keep itself really supple and moisturised, and it’s less likely to crease or become damaged. But when the skin becomes really dry, we see a lot of damage to the collagen and skin structure,” explains Fiona. This is where a neck and décolleté concentrate comes in. “But what the neck is a concentrate?” I hear you ask. Well, a concentrate has the hardworking power of a serum, with the gentle, nourishing texture of a super-rich moisturiser – a combination that is tailor-made for the dry and delicate skin on your neck and décolleté.

5. Gravity

Is gravity dragging you down? Fiona explains why your skin is especially sensitive to that pesky gravitational pull. “Our skin has two main layers – the top layer which is called the epidermis and the bottom layer which is the dermis. When your skin is young, firm and tight, they're really sandwiched together and then they become looser and looser and looser and drift apart.” This can look like sagging and crepey skin, and a lack of definition, which at one point or another, we all need a little help with. When searching for a neck product, the best things to look out for to address these concerns are decapeptides and specialised ingredients that fight gravity. Decapeptides are tiny superheroes that organise displaced dermal fibres and fill gaps, firming and restoring shape – wow. Look out for plant-powered anti-gravity technology too – phyto extract from the isodonis japonicus plant is a great example of this. The isodonis japonicus is a very delicate plant that grows to great heights, requiring astonishing integrity to hold its own weight, much like our necks. This technology works to strengthen the ‘glue’ holding the epidermis and dermis together, lifting sagging skin, whilst improving the skin’s gravity resistance in the future. And as we all know, prevention is better than a cure.

There are so many things that the skin on our neck and décolleté needs. It needs moisture, it needs collagen because that's its scaffolding, and it needs anti-gravity technology because gravity is constantly pulling us down. A targeted neck and décolleté product that’s clinically proven to lift, firm, smooth, and prevent and fade age spots, can rewrite your neck's future, so it tells a story of confidence. Things are looking up…