Science says yes—and the secret lies in how others perceive your skin. Groundbreaking research reveals that even small improvements in skin tone and texture can significantly influence whether you’re seen as youthful, healthy, or vibrant.
Here's what matters most:
Even Skin Tone = Healthy Glow
Reducing dark spots and redness by just 25% made women appear significantly healthier. Because hyperpigmentation and redness subtly signal fatigue, while balanced colour suggests well-being.Smooth Skin Texture = Youthful Appearance
Softening wrinkles by 50% had the biggest impact on perceived age—but flawless isn’t the goal. Noticeable improvement mattered most.
The Sweet Spot? Balance. As researchers found, "growing old gracefully" comes from harmony between skin tone and texture - not erasing every line.
INTERACTION OF SKIN COLOR DISTRIBUTION AND SKIN SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY CUES IN THE PERCEPTION OF FEMALE FACIAL AGE AND HEALTH
Nadine Samson, Bernhard Fink PhD¹, Paul Matts PhD
BACKGROUND
Skin color distribution and surface topography are important visual cues that affect our perception of a person's age and health.
Recent studies have shown that skin surface topography is a stronger indicator of age, while skin colour distribution is more closely linked to health perception.
OBJECTIVE
To further examine the relative contributions and interaction effects of skin colour distribution and surface topography cues on perception.
METHOD
Two sets of images were created by gradually smoothing uneven skin colour distribution and removing skin surface topography cues (in 25% increments) using a digital image of a 61-year-old British woman.
A rating study was then conducted with 160 participants (80 men, 80 women) between 19 and 49 years old, primarily undergraduate students from the University of Goettingen.
Participants were shown pairwise presentations of images with varying degrees of skin colour distribution and surface topography modifications and asked to rate them for perceived age and health.
RESULTS
Removing skin surface topography cues had a stronger effect on perceived age than smoothing uneven skin colour distribution, especially for topography removals of 50% or more.
On the other hand, smoothing uneven skin colour distribution had a stronger impact on the perception of health, particularly for changes of 25% and greater.
CONCLUSION
Small changes in skin colour distribution and surface topography can noticeably impact how old and healthy a woman appears.
Specifically, wrinkles were found to be a dominant cue for ageing, while even skin tone was a strong indicator of health, supporting the notion of "growing old gracefully" where both features are in balance.
Click here to read the full study >
FUNDING INFORMATION
This project was funded by The Procter & Gamble Company and the German Science Foundation (DFG).
AFFILIATION
¹Department of Sociobiology/Anthropology, Institute of Zoology & Anthropology, University of Goettingen, Germany.
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