The 'wake up call' that got Hailee Steinfeld to use an anti-aging moisturizer
Same girl, same.
Your late 20s are a weird, transitional time in your life: You're not quite the same JV adult you were when you first entered the real world, nor are you the fully-formed human you'll become once you get to your 30s. This "in between" time also happens to be when your body's natural production of collagen starts to slow down, meaning that for the first time in your life, you're a whole lot more prone to signs of skin aging.
I, personally, learned this lesson the hard way when I was 27 and a faint line that only used to appear appear when I raised my eyebrows became a permanent fixture on my forehead. I panicked, spent two days lightly reckoning with my own mortality, and booked a Botox appointment. The wrinkle itself wasn't that big of a deal, but the fact that it marked the first time I'd ever even thought about aging certainly was.
Last week, as I was preparing to interview 27-year-old actress Hailee Steinfeld about her partnership with Neutrogena's new anti-aging line, this story understandably popped into my brain. And when the two of us finally got on the phone, all I wanted to know was if she'd had her own quarter life crisis, "I'm getting older" moment yet.
"I had a little wake-up call when I learned that we lose one percent of our skin's collagen every year starting in our late 20s—I wish I had known that when I was 19—and I've discovered a gray hair on my head," Steinfeld tells me. "I feel like I constantly have conversations with people where I'm like 'Wait, I'm not 16 anymore—I'm in my late 20s.'"
Unlike me, though, instead of taking these moments as reason to panic, Steinfeld has opted for a far more holistic (and less alarmist) approach to aging.
"I've thought a lot about what I can do in my life right now that my future self will thank me for," she says. "And overall, that's taking care of my body and my skin."
Hailee Steinfeld's focus on skin longevity
With six years between us, Steinfeld and I are fairly perfect examples of the difference between how millennials (me) and gen Zers (her) approach skin aging.
While my generation is largely credited with normalizing injectables to get rid of wrinkles, hers has championed education around preventative skincare so that they don’t ever have to appear in the first place. These days, it isn’t about quick fix band-aid solutions or being “anti” aging—it’s about keeping skin healthy so that it can age in the best way possible.
For Steinfeld, that means turning to Neutrogena's Collagen Bank Moisturizer ($22). "If I don't properly take care of my skin these days, it has ways of telling me," says Steinfeld. "But I've noticed a difference in the last several weeks from using the Neutrogena Collagen Bank Moisturizer, which has become a staple because it has this long-lasting plumpness and glow."
Key ingredients: Peptides, collagen, SPF
Key ingredients: Peptides, collagen, bakuchiol
Essentially the moisturizers work by ramping up collagen production so you can bank it for later, when you really need it. “It does everything I need it to and more, and I’m so grateful these moisturizers came into my life *now,* when I need to preserve collagen more than ever," she says.
Honestly, I wish they’d been around when I was her age.
Doing favors for her future self
Caring for her skin is just one of the ways Steinfeld sends her future self a little bit of love.
“I love to workout, and I do that on a daily basis, I love a lymphatic drainage massage, a little red light therapy, and drinking tons of water,” says Steinfeld (my girl!). “I also try to remind myself to eat a healthy, balanced diet and drink water so that eventually I'll get to a place where I do those things subconsciously—I know my future self will be grateful for that lifestyle."
At 27, Steinfeld doesn’t really need to be worried about “aging” just yet (and, at 33, neither do I). But when the time comes, she’s got the right skincare routine—and mindset—to make the process as positive as possible.
“The idea of getting older is so exciting to me. We’re constantly changing and evolving, and it’s so exciting to think about where I’ll be five or seven years from now,” she says. “Are there parts of it that terrify me? Absolutely. But if I think too long and hard about that, I get stressed and breakout. So I’m choosing to focus on the exciting part. After all, I hear your 30s are great.”
Zo? Weiner is an NYC-based journalist who explores the intersection of beauty and mental health. Her work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Allure, GQ, Women's Health, Byrdie, and Bustle, among others.