If you made it here, I can assume a few things are true. Number one: you’re in the market for some skin-firming and/or tightening product to add to your beauty routine. Number two: you’ve also realized that there are about 1,000 different serums, moisturizers, and toners that all seem to claim the same ability to snatch your skin. But treating skin laxity—which can increase with age, menopause, or weight loss—involves a bit of nuance. Broad-spectrum SPF, retinol, and vitamin C are foundational to help protect and renew your skin, but there’s a crop of buzzy ingredients that can really take firming to the next level. “We’re moving beyond simply treating the visible signs of aging and starting to look at how skin functions and communicates at the cellular level,” says esthetician Angela Caglia. “That’s where regenerative skincare becomes so exciting.”
Peptides, growth factors, and exosomes have been dominating the regenerative skincare discourse this past year, and for good reason. They’ve all been shown to support renewal and collagen. And yet, it’s important not to group them altogether. “They are all quite different technologies,” says cosmetic chemist Krupa Koestline.
