Much like our other organs, our skin begins to age from the moment we are born. In a world obsessed with youthfulness, here's how you can look after your skin while embracing an ageing face.

On Mount Olympus, sometime around 800-900 BC, the gods and goddesses of Ancient Greece were served sweet nectar and ambrosia by Hebe, the goddess of immortal youth. A beautiful young woman, Hebe was symbolic of being in the "prime of life". Her counterpart, Geras, the god or spirit of old age (hence the English words "geriatric" and "gerontology"), was depicted as a haggard, wrinkled man, often leaning on a walking stick. Instead of beauty, he represented biological decline, and the fear of death. Together, Hebe and Geras are just one of the many representations of ageing in our culture and history that serve the reminder: no one can escape the passing of time.

Humanity's obsession with youthfulness has only intensified since Ancient Greece. Our skin, a living ecosystem, is at the centre of this – not only is it the largest organ in the body, but it's also visible – or as one group of researchers in France put it, "social". In fact, in their study of 1,300 people across 54 countries and five sociological age groups (Gen Z, millennials, baby boomers, Gen X and the silent generation), 85% of participants felt that their skin reflected their personality, suggesting it is tied in with their sense of self.

Much like our other organs, skin ages from the moment we are born – so the fight to keep it looking soft like a baby's is an expensive one. As of 2024, the global anti-ageing products market size was valued at approximately $52bn (£40bn) in 2024 and is expected to reach $80bn (£63bn) by 2030. But why do we try to resist an ageing face and how can we embrace it?

Our skin is incredible, really. While only a few millimetres thick, it makes up one-seventh of our body weight – for the average adult, around 2.7kg to 3.6kg (6lbs to 8lbs).

"The skin is a very important organ that we take for granted, even though it's the organ we wear externally," says George Murphy, a professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School. "The skin protects us – it's the major interface to the external environment, which is often hostile."

Our skin acts as a barrier from germs, infections and physical trauma, or anything else that might harm us, like UV from the sun. It also regulates our body temperature and produces hormones and vitamins. "It does so many different things that are absolutely critical to life," Murphy says. "If you lose most of your skin, usually that's fatal."

Our skin ages both intrinsically (inevitable, chronological ageing) and extrinsically (due to our external environment). In both cases, our collagen levels (a protein in the body important for skin structure) decrease and our blood vessels become more fragile.

"What happens with our skin when we age is that it loses many of the structural and functional components that are designed to protect us," says Murphy. Over time, our stem cells start to regenerate at a slower rate, which affects the functioning of each of the three layers of the skin – the epidermis (the outer layer), the dermis (the middle layer) and the subcutis (made of fat and connective tissue). Essentially, our skin thins,

© BBC