Jess Hardiman
A skincare expert has explained why Jennifer Lopez doesn’t appear to age, having reached the age of 53 looking younger than many people in their thirties.
Dermatologist Dr Dray recently shared a video on her hugely popular YouTube channel to address why Lopez ‘never seems to age’, asking in the description: “Is it botox? Is it fillers? Anti-ageing skin care?"
Dray explained how the star has previously received ‘a lot of criticism’ online for saying she’d 'never had any botox, fillers or any cosmetic procedures’.
Advert
“There are many other factors that go into skin ageing,” Dray said.
“I think people are under the impression that getting botox, fillers and having cosmetic procedures is really why these people look so good. And it’s more than that.”
The expert went on to say there are a number of things we are exposed to throughout our lifetime that contribute to the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines and other signs of skin ageing.
Sunscreen
This includes protecting your skin from the sun’s harmful UV rays – something Lopez has openly spoken about.
“The main factor is UV rays from the sun, and J-Lo is pretty vocal about the fact that since the age of 22, she has been really diligent with sunscreen,” Dray said.
Diet
While it’s nice to pretend that our bodies enjoy all the junk food and bottles of wine that we feed into them, we all know about the importance of a healthy diet.
While Dray doesn’t know what J-Lo eats on a day-to-day basis, she said diet ‘plays a major role’ when it comes to ageing.
"I don't know what J.Lo's diet is," she continued.
"But if we found out what her diet is I don't think people should follow it to a T. Everyone's nutritional needs are unique to them and it's not necessarily helpful to follow a celebrities diet, because they are going to have different nutritional needs.
"However, we know things that are good for the health of our skin include healthy fats, getting enough protein, vitamins and minerals, and vitamin C for building good healthy collagen.
"If you have a balanced diet you are going to get the nutritive requirements but if you survive on sugary processed foods that is not going to set you up for healthy skin. No amount of botox or fillers is going to change that."
Exercise
Again, the impact of staying active is pretty well known, as hard as it feels to drag ourselves to the gym at 6:00am on a cold January morning.
Lopez is known to work out a lot and has been ‘dancing non-stop' for decades, with Dray saying exercise helps skin by improving circulation and reducing inflammation in the body.
"Another reason that she looks so good I am willing to put money on is that she is very active," she said.
"She exercises. She has said this in interviews.
"Have you ever been to one of her concerts? She dances a lot.”
Dray said being active is ‘very important’ not just for the skin, but also the health of your ‘total body’, saying that, just like J-Lo, others shouldn’t let age hold them back.
"Just because you get to a certain age don't fall for that nonsense of, ‘Oh I'm getting old, I need to slow down, I'm too old to do this, I’m too old to do that'," she added.
Genes
Finally, Dray says there are sadly some things that are outside of our control, as they come down to genetics – including the ‘thickness of your skin’, dry skin conditions like eczema and whether or not you are ‘pale’.
"Genetics definitely play a role in how quickly your skin and total body will age," Dray said, adding: "Things in our environment that contribute to ageing of the skin do so largely by generating free radicals that damage proteins and lipids in our skin and the DNA in our skin cells.
"We have different enzymes in our skin that help combat those free radicals. Some people's genes make it so that their enzymes are better perhaps."