Here are the cheapest ways to reverse the signs of skin aging, based on the latest human clinical research.
Table of Contents
Free Ways to Fight Skin Aging
Let's start with things that cost nothing.
An easy area to overlook when it comes to skin aging is diet. But research has found important links. A recent review highlighted the foods that are considered skin-friendly, and those we want to avoid for their negative effects [1].
Antioxidants like vitamin C are key skin protectors. They shield the skin from oxidative damage, protect against photoaging, and promote collagen synthesis. Higher dietary vitamin E intake has been associated with less wrinkle formation and increased skin suppleness. Fruits, vegetables, and dried fruit are the main sources [1].
We also want plenty of phytonutrients and other compounds found in many plant sources. Regularly eating meals rich in these substances has been associated with improved skin appearance and decreased risk of photoaging [1].
What about things to avoid? Higher-fat diets have been associated with more rapid skin aging. So has a higher intake of refined sugar [1].
In short, minimize fatty, sugary foods — these are often going to be highly processed ones — and focus on adding lots of fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet. And it doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming to eat this way. You can create a ton of simple, cheap, and nutritious meals from basic elements like lentils, beans, chickpeas, and mixed vegetables.
The second thing is probably the last thing we normally consider when it comes to skin health: exercise. Several studies have found positive impacts of exercise on skin parameters. Consider a recent example that compares the impact of aerobic and resistance training. It also goes below the surface to see how exercise changes factors circulating in our blood that relate to skin health [2].
The study involved healthy, middle-aged women who weren't currently exercising. They were placed on a 16-week exercise plan. Half did aerobic exercise, and the other half focused on resistance training.
Researchers found that skin elasticity and the structure of the skin improved significantly in both groups [2].
But there was a distinct benefit for the resistance training group. They also saw improvements in the thickness of their skin. This is significant in the context of aging, since the skin naturally thins as we get older [2].
And what about how exercise changed factors in the blood related to our skin? In both groups, it markedly boosted the activation of genes related to the creation of collagen, hyaluronic acid, and other important aspects of skin function. Here again, the effects differed a bit. Aerobic training and resistance training overlapped in their effects but also made unique contributions [2].
So this study shows us that combining both types of exercise is best for maximum benefit.
Let's get practical with this. Aerobic exercise is familiar and can easily be free, as long as you have a pair of running shoes. But when most people hear "resistance exercise," they think about the gym — and gym memberships.
But there's a bit of a well-kept secret here. We can get significant benefits from resistance exercises without going anywhere near a gym or carving out big blocks of time in our schedule for a workout.
I advise my patients at the clinic to look for ways to include exercise snacks throughout the day. These are short, focused bursts of activity that have powerful beneficial effects on our bodies. But because the bursts are short, we can fit them within our existing routines, and we don't need to take a shower afterwards.
For example, I regularly work in sets of pushups or wall squats between patient appointments. I can do this in less than one minute. You can also try taking the stairs instead of the elevator and pushing yourself to climb quickly.
A recent meta-analysis examined the impact of exercise snacks on maximal oxygen uptake and peak power. Across the trials, exercise snacks produced a large improvement in maximal oxygen uptake and a moderate improvement in peak power compared to the control groups [3].
So exercise snacks actually work. The people who made these small bursts of effort saw their fitness measurably improve. Now this study didn't look at how this affected their skin, but it tells us we can see benefits from exercise even in small doses. There's every reason to think this lesson extends to the benefits related to skin health.
After eating right and exercising, there's one more key factor that helps us guard our skin's health from the inside out. It's sleep. But why is it so important?
For one thing, during sleep, the body focuses on repair and regeneration processes. For instance, the repair of skin cells with DNA damage appears to peak at night [4]. And poor sleep quality and duration are linked to increased signs of aging [5].
One study found that good sleepers had significantly lower scores on a measure of skin aging. Poor sleepers lost more moisture through their skin. They also recovered more slowly from irritation from UV radiation [6].
And another study found even just two nights of restricted sleep led to loss of moisture, reduced elasticity, and increased oxidative stress [7].
There are a few key things that can help a lot with better sleep. Create the right environment by making sure your bedroom is cool and dark. Get your phone out of your room and use a simple alarm clock instead. Screentime before sleep erodes sleep quality. And avoid eating 2-3 hours before bed so your body is ready to rest instead of processing your last meal.
There's one more free thing to address skin aging that's the easiest of all. And that's to avoid our skin's biggest enemy: the sun. It's much better to prevent skin aging in the first place than to try to repair it later.
Scientists estimate about 80% of facial aging is due to UV radiation from sun exposure [8]. The intensity of UV radiation from the sun is highest in the hours around the middle of the day. Avoiding sun exposure or covering up during these times is a strategic way to reduce cumulative damage to our skin [9].
Cheap Creams That Work
But there's a caveat here.
While covering up and avoiding midday sun is crucial, it's not possible — or advisable — to avoid all sun exposure. We'd have to live in a cave. So sunscreen is a must, particularly on the face and neck. If you could only spend money on one thing, let it be this. It is the most effective cream to prevent the signs of skin aging. But we need to make sure to get the type right.
First, let's look at how big a difference sunscreen use can make. A landmark trial in 2013 including over 900 adults gave us a surprise. The group who used sunscreen every day didn't show any signs of new skin aging after 4.5 years [10]!
A follow-up study showed that using sunscreen not only stops aging but can even reverse signs of aging in the skin. Skin texture, clarity, and mottled and discrete pigmentation were the most improved parameters by the end of the study (40% to 52% improvement from baseline), with 100% of subjects showing improvement in skin clarity and texture [11].
But there's a downside. Many of the ingredients used for chemical sunscreens can be absorbed through the skin. A study in 2020 showed that all six tested active ingredients were absorbed into the blood at levels above the FDA's safety thresholds [12]. The study doesn't show harm from these chemicals, it just shows that they are absorbed at higher quantities than the pre-existing safety thresholds.
The American Academy of Dermatology acknowledges this in their guidelines, where they state that the FDA wants more data on 12 ingredients before deciding if they are safe and effective [13]. These include ensulizole, octisalate, homosalate, octocrylene, octinoxate, oxybenzone, avobenzone, cinoxate, dioxybenzone, meradimate, padimate O, and sulisobenzone.
Is this something to worry about? The problem is that, presently, the evidence is unclear. Personally, I don't want to be putting chemicals in my body when we aren't sure what their long-term effects might be. This is particularly true when we have some reasons to suspect they aren't good.
An alternative to chemical sunscreens is mineral-based formulas. The two most common ingredients used here are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. These compounds are not absorbed through the skin. This lack of absorption led authors of a 2024 study to conclude that mineral sunscreens are safest, having the fewest potential adverse effects [14].
But they can leave a white sheen on the skin, and they wash off easily in water so if you're swimming, they aren't going to provide you much protection.
To make it even more difficult when selecting a good sunscreen, EltaMD is a really popular choice as a mineral-based sunscreen. But if we look at the ingredients list, while it does contain Zinc Oxide, it also contains Octinoxate, which is one of the chemical sunscreen ingredients flagged by that 2020 study as being absorbed through the skin [12]. Plus, octinoxate was banned in Hawaii due to its potential toxic effects on marine ecosystems [15].
You can see that it's a bit of a minefield when trying to select a sunscreen that doesn't have any of those 12 FDA-flagged ingredients, but still offers broad-spectrum protection with SPF50+.
So here's what I do. We can get the best from the chemical and mineral worlds.
There are newer chemical sunscreens that are superior to traditional options. They offer great UVA and UVB protection, but here's the critical point: they are large molecules and aren't absorbed through the skin. Examples include:
- TriAsorB (phenylene bis-diphenyltriazine)
- Bemotrizinol (bis-ethylhexyloxyphenol methoxyphenyl triazine, often abbreviated as BEMT or Tinosorb S)
These newer chemical sunscreen ingredients aren't available everywhere, though.
But since I'm lucky enough to live in New Zealand, I have access to sunscreens that don't have those 12 FDA-flagged ingredients. Instead, they use newer chemical ingredients like bemotrizinol.
A great option at a very reasonable price is Cancer Council Sensitive Sunscreen SPF50+. It doesn't include any of the flagged filters. It's about 16 Australian dollars, or about 11 US dollars, for a month's supply. If you live in Australia or New Zealand, this is a solid choice.
The one I'm personally using at the moment is more expensive — it's called Beauty of Joseon, which has newer filters including Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate (Uvinul A Plus), Ethylhexyl Triazone (Uvinul T 150), Methylene Bis-Benzotriazolyl Tetramethylbutylphenol (Tinosorb M), and Diethylhexyl Butamido Triazone (Iscotrizinol).
If I didn't have access to the newer filters like this, I'd use CeraVe 100% Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50. It has both titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, but none of the 12 flagged ingredients from the FDA. It's currently just $14 at Amazon for 2.5 oz — which should last about a month for daily use on your face and neck.
Plus, there's a bonus with this product: It includes hyaluronic acid and ceramides, which together boost moisture and help restore the skin's barrier function. It also includes niacinamide, a form of vitamin B3, which helps reduce inflammation.
Whatever type you choose, it's important to pick a sunscreen that has broad-spectrum protection. This means it guards the skin against both UV-A and UV-B radiation. And when it comes to the sun protection factor, or SPF, we want to shoot for at least 50 for maximum effectiveness.
And if you have just a bit more budget for skincare, there's one additional product I would consider. It's a medication that's a form of an essential vitamin. A key reason for the aging of our skin is the breakdown of collagen. This happens both because of damage from sunlight and as a natural result of aging.
This medication addresses this problem in two ways. First, it blunts the impact of the sun's UV rays on collagen. Second, it helps to stimulate the creation of new collagen. These two effects work together to push back powerfully against the aging of our skin.
So what is this impressive medication? It's a group of compounds called retinoids, which are related to vitamin A. Think of retinoids like personal trainers for your skin cells. Just like a trainer helps you get stronger, retinoids push your skin cells to work harder, helping them renew and making more collagen.
Retinoids also strengthen the skin's protective barrier, reduce water loss, and stop enzymes that break down the skin's support structure.
The oldest and most widely studied is tretinoin. It was first used to treat acne, but patients soon started to notice it seemed to help improve the appearance of skin in general. It even helped with the signs of aging and was approved by the FDA in the U.S. for this purpose.
Plenty of research has shown its effectiveness. One massive review that looked at 180 individual studies on tretinoin reported that topical use helped improve the signs of photoaging in terms of wrinkling, uneven coloration, and age spots in as little as one month of use [16].
Though it works really well, some people are sensitive to tretinoin. They can experience skin irritation, redness, and dryness — especially at first. This drawback led to the development of what are called third-generation retinoids, like adapalene, that cause less irritation.
But does that mean you have to sacrifice effectiveness? A head-to-head trial in 2018 set out to see if this newer-generation retinoid adapalene worked as well as the older and proven tretinoin. The study authors concluded adapalene was just as good as tretinoin in reducing the signs of skin aging [17].
So how do we use retinoids? First, it's important to note that it is recommended to use them at night before bed because they can cause irritation and increase your sensitivity to the sun. Plus, the retinoids can degrade in sunlight, making them ineffective. I always use sunscreen during the day along with retinoid treatment at night. Also, retinoid use is not recommended during pregnancy.
The most common side effects for retinoids are symptoms like dryness, redness, and stinging. Patients usually experience these most strongly when first beginning to use retinoids. These effects usually fade with time as your skin gets used to treatment. For this reason, I always have my patients start slowly with retinoids. They apply retinoids every third or fourth day and then gradually increase how often they use them as their skin gets used to them. Using a good moisturizer should help with any discomfort.
So what do these cost? With tretinoin, you'll need a prescription in most places. Your insurance might cover most of the cost, but you'll need to check into the details. It also comes in different concentrations. Again, I advise my patients to start at a lower dose and work up. Right now, a tube of 0.025% gel is about $15 for a one-month supply on Amazon, with insurance.
With adapalene, it's usually possible to get the 0.1% concentration without a prescription. Amazon has it for just $7.50 for a month's supply. For a higher concentration, you'll probably need a prescription.
So these are the cheapest ways to protect against aging skin. Most of them are free — eating well, exercising, sleeping properly, and avoiding midday sun. Add a good sunscreen and a retinoid cream, and you have a powerful, affordable anti-aging routine backed by clinical research.
References
1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12046069/
2. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-37207-9
3. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12354995/
4. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6777699/
5. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11845971/
6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25266053/
7. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389945721005761
8. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6047276/
9. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6025391/
10. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23732711/
11. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27749441/
12. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2759002
13. https://www.aad.org/media/stats-sunscreen
14. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11022667/
15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7648445/
