How to Fix "Tech Neck" & Sagging Skin (At-Home Protocol)
I don't think tech neck and platysmal bands are in the same category at all. Like the platysmal bands, when people get that, where he was mentioning, it was like “Botox, Botox,” right? Yeah, you can totally do Botox injections there, but that's not going to help with tech neck. Botox injections aren't going to help.
Nothing's going to help with that.
Hey Jen, we have surveyed our Facebook group.
Yep.
And lots of feedback coming back on necklines, aka tech neck. Tech neck.
Yes.
Is this something that can be treated at home, or do you really need to see a professional for professional treatments?
Right, like a facelift, a neck lift, things like that.
Maybe a little therapy. I've heard different tightening methods and such.
What are your thoughts?
Yeah, well, my thoughts are if we're going to continue doing those same movements, I mean, just like, just like on your face and crow's feet and things, you know, you have like static lines, and you have dynamic lines, and when you're moving constantly, you're creating lines. So if you are always, I feel like, you know, way back in the day, before we had our cell phones, you know, we weren't always staring down like this. Like, we didn't have those lines; it was because you were, you know, 75, 80 years old.
Now you've got like teenagers and 20-year-olds that have lines.
Getting those creases.
And that's because we're constantly looking down.
Right, right.
You know, it's like, are we going to stop that? Probably not, right?
Right.
And I know I do think about it. I think about it a lot because I do it too. I'm always, I'm always on my phone looking up something or doing whatever. And it's like, I do like notice consciously when I'm doing, I'm like, “Oh my gosh, I really need to like, put my, put my head up.”
But like holding your phone up, like your arm gets tired. You're like, I'm like, “oh,” but you know what I did? Like, my daughter's gonna be doing some videos, and we bought a thing that goes around your neck, you hook your phone in, and you really hook it down so you can look down. But if you popped your phone up, you'd have to look down. So I did try that one afternoon. I was sitting on the couch, and I'm like, I wanted to watch some videos, and I popped it around my neck, and I popped my phone in there, and I kind of like bent it up. So it was like a normal thing.
And I just sat there and watched it. And I was like, you know, I wasn't looking down. So, not that that is a solution for, you know, when you're out and about in your phone, but like, if you were just sitting home, you're going to watch a movie on there. You're going to watch an hour-long video on there. I feel like, instead of staring down, maybe one of those little contraptions could potentially be helpful. And that's just like, it could help potentially in the long term.
You know, and I actually found it worked quite well for me. Like I thought, well, this is really nice. Or obviously, like watching a lot of videos on my phone. I like to just, you know, mirror it to your TV and things like that. So you don't have to look down at your lap; you can, like, watch it on your TV or computer screen, things like that. I'm trying to find ways to reduce the need to constantly look down.
I understand how frustrating this is because we all, we all are facing it as well. You know, as we age, of course, not only the looking down at our phones, you know, this is an area where, you know, you start to get some loose skin.
Where aging happens.
Aging happens, gravity.
Yeah.
Under, under your chin starts to sag, and your whole neck sags.
Yeah.
But yeah. I mean, let's talk about a couple of things that you can do for that at home.
So before we get started with a couple of suggestions, like, is there anything that you're doing at home? Like, what are you doing at home? Has something worked for you? You know, there are a lot of gimmicky things out there that really aren't doing much of anything, but if you find something that actually works, let us know.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Comment below because I've had…
Yeah, because not everything is a solution in a bottle. And not everything is a product.
I've heard about, you know, face yoga and things like that. I'm not sure about all of that. But you know, if you definitely have had good results with something, let us know.
For sure.
Yeah. Share it. Share it.
All right. So, obviously, we don't know what's going to work and what's not. So let's see what we have found out there and see if this actually works for you. Let's take a look.
Absolutely.
You know, I feel like I do that a lot when I'm thinking about it. I look down. I might like to stretch my neck up and go back and forth, but I mean, that's not going to, like, fix a line. That's just, you know, going to stretch your neck out from staring down. I mean, do you see anything positive about that?
I do not. And to be honest, I don't really see a lot of lines on her neck.
Right. She's probably like 25 years old. She really doesn't have anything going on to begin with. But I don't think that just little movements and doing some of this actually does anything for your skin.
Great for probably loosening your muscles.
For sure.
From looking down. I don't think.
I do that a lot.
I'll just like stare up. With the necklines.
No.
Might improve your muscles, but.
“Does anyone know how to get rid of these lines on your neck? I think they call it tech neck.
I do.
And here's what you want to do to fix it. Even though the skin on your neck is thinner than on your face, you still want to blend all the skincare you put on your face down to your neck. And make sure to use a rich moisturizer at night.
Something cheap like this one will do the trick. And if you want to go the extra step, you can make a DIY mask by applying retinol to your neck and wrapping it in cling film so it seeps deep into your skin. And lastly, you can also get a microcurrent device, which will help strengthen the muscles on your neck and get rid of those lines.”
Well, there's some interesting info there.
Yes.
Is it going to make lines go away just because you put some heavy moisturizer on and things like that? No, of course not.
Retinoids, you know, can they help? Absolutely, they can help, right? They're going to help to stimulate collagen and whatnot.
But he just said the neck is very sensitive. And then you're going to gather it on there with Saran Wrap.
Yeah, I don't see that helping in any way, shape, or form. You know, the Saran Wrap. Occlusive. It doesn't require occlusivity to make the, you know, a retinoid penetrate.
I'm a retinol-sensitive individual. I would wake up with hives the next day if I tried trapping that retinol in there like that. I feel I liked it when he said, you know, anything you're putting on your face, put on your neck. That's amazing.
100% good advice there.
Yeah, that was great.
Yeah, we always recommend that. And it is true that the skin on your neck and decollete is thinner, more sensitive, and more reactive than your face. And many people skip applying products to their necks and decolletage. Like, don't just even stop. Don't stop at your face. Don't stop at your neck. Don't stop here. Take it all the way down and make sure you're putting things there.
Now, what I want to say is like, occlusivity, like you want oxygen on your skin, right? Now, that's OK for something short. Let's say you put some numbing cream on, and you want to put a little Saran Wrap on to kind of aid in that penetration and stop it from drying out. But you don't need to do that to get a normal, active product to penetrate into your skin. They're already created with penetration enhancers. You don't need to do that. And as you said, that could lead to irritation, a rash, or similar symptoms.
It's not necessary. But yeah, good ideas to make sure to concentrate products on your neck. But that's about it.
OK. I have nothing against the silicone patches or, you know, whether they're imbued with something special. I think they're very, very beneficial. It's just it's not something that you can walk around with every day.
Right.
You know, it's obvious that it's there. And anytime I've tried to put something like that on, like your skin has to be completely clean, no products on it at all. And then they'll stick to you long enough. Like, there's some like chest ones where people are all concerned about the creases here, right? I remember trying to sleep with those, and they would always just flop off.
And I think the same thing's going to happen with your neck. If you can find something that's going to stick on, you know, that could be helpful at nighttime, you know.
So there's no moisturizer or anything? There's nothing, no product on that?
Some of them have a little bit of product on there, and some of them it's just to hold that skin taut, you know, like frownies and things like that. People put the stickers on just so you don't have to move those muscles. But it's not something that you could just use every day. It's not part of your life.
And then scrolling on your phone can limit you.
It could be, yeah. Let's say if you're home, obviously, and you're like, “Well, I don't want to keep bending down.” All right, go ahead. Stick it on your neck, then use it to keep from looking down. Like, “hey, all right.” But I don't think it's, like, something you can wear out.
No.
“We're certified dermatologists.
Let's talk about ways to battle neck wrinkles. We're all looking down at our phones. We're getting tech lines, vertical platysmal bands that people really are bothered by.
First up, wear sunscreen every day to protect the collagen here. No matter what, wear sunscreen.
Number two, do not smoke. Smoking will reversibly damage your skin. At bedtime, focus on using a retinoid. Retinoids can be quite irritating on the face and even more so on the neck.
So maybe start off with a small amount. I say a half pea-sized amount for your neck. Retinoids have been shown to increase collagen production.
If you have trouble tolerating a retinoid, you are not alone. Consider peptide-containing moisturizers or serums. So this one's by Paula's Choice.
This is a nice moisturizer by Ulla Henriksen. Drugstore brand Cetaphil peptides are cell-signaling products that can help increase collagen production. If you have a dermatologist, talk to them about Botox for either the horizontal neck lines or especially those vertical cords, those platysmal bands. We call them the Hulk muscle. We can help soften those vertical cords with Botox injection.”
All right. So I mean, obviously, he's got some good points here. You know, retinoids, we discuss retinoids being beneficial, of course. But also very sensitive.
So you might need to, I still suggest putting it there. I would suggest either diluting it into another cream, mixing it together, applying it, or sandwiching it: put one cream on, then put your retinoid on. That will help to, you know, slow the absorption. Peptides, of course, we can talk about that in a bit. We have a couple of peptides we recommend. I don't think tech neck and platysmal bands are in the same category at all.
Like the platysmal bands, when people get that, where he was mentioning, yeah, it was like “Botox, Botox,” right. Yeah. You can totally do Botox injections there, but that's not going to help with tech neck.
Botox injections aren't going to help. Nothing, no filler, nothing's going to help with that. That's just from, you know, skin moving. Obviously, you know, a neck lift or something is probably the best. Well, so we obviously have customers that have worked on this, right? We have some photos, and we're going to take a look at theirs to see what they've done. And, you know.
That's actually working.
That's working for them. Yeah.
Let's take a peek.
I remember these photos actually coming in.
Definitely tighter.
Big difference with the tightening. Even in the middle, you can see the difference. Just like people kept accusing her of these being false photos or something like that. And she's like, “No,” it's that she was doing that. She started with a milder peel, right? I think it was the Mandelic. And then she moved up to TCA because, you know, TCA helps stimulate collagen and elastin in the skin and can tighten the skin a little bit.
Yeah.
So it's not like he's going to get rid of it, but it certainly did improve her results.
Absolutely.
All the ones I'm going to show you were accused of being fake.
Seriously?
Yeah.
Wow.
I don't think that looks fake at all.
I mean, you can see all the similar.
You can see that.
Yeah.
You can see the similar lines, and, you know, your topography is the same.
And she was doing four months of coppers, which we'll get into.
Wow.
Look at the decrease in redness, too.
Yes, definitely. She's gotten rid of a lot of pigmentation damage. I still see like the little line, you know, there, but as I said, that's consistent.
If you look on the left-hand side, you see she's got some lines, and then look at the bottom one. They're softened a lot.
That is true. I see exactly what you're talking about.
Exactly.
Yeah.
I feel like the overall...
Like, this has only been how many months? Okay. This is four months. So let's just continue on.
Overall skin tone and texture. Big improvement.
Yeah.
She got attacked too, that she had, you know.
Yeah, yeah. Just because, like that's those platysmal bands right there. She's obviously, you know, maybe holding her head up, and those lines, those bands stand out a little bit more. But you can still see, you know, the natural lines in her face. Not everybody has a great before picture. You know, sometimes we have to deal with what we have.
True.
But I mean, I can definitely see a difference there.
Huge difference in her skin.
A lot of tightening under this area as well. Well, we know there are a lot of things in our daily life that kind of, you know.
Enhance this problem.
Exactly. And those are the roadblocks, let's say.
Right. Yes.
And those being, you know.
You know, sun damage. So you can throw blue light in there if you want. A lot of people are really concerned about blue light.
And that comes from your computer screen?
Mostly, yeah, from the computer screen and obviously from the sun. All UV rays damage your collagen and elastin. I mean, there's nothing greater that's going to age you than the sun. As much as everyone likes to have a little tan.
Yeah.
It's terrible.
What else? Thinning skin.
As you age, right? Your skin gets thinner. Our collagen production goes way down. Everything.
What about weight loss?
As you age. That's another huge one. That's definitely going to give you some hanging skin. Some loose skin in your neck.
Yep.
For sure.
Let's talk about some of the platinum skincare products we have that can definitely deliver results.
Yeah. So, first, you know, as we were talking about this, and I've said TCA a couple of times, TCA is like the standard anti-aging peel. And I would generally recommend, like when I tell somebody to do on their neck, we have a great neck and decollete video. I think we should probably link to that in here. But I talk about using TCA 7 on the neck because it's going to be the milder option. Obviously, we have, you know, 7, 13, 20, and it goes all the way up to 30. You don't want to tackle your neck with a nice, strong percentage.
You want to go low and slow. Use the TCA 7. I would tell anybody to start off with, you know, probably two layers. See how that goes. But it doesn't even really matter what TCA. It doesn't matter what the percentage is. It matters like how many layers you're applying and how consistent you're using the product.
But TCA has been shown in many studies to stimulate collagen and elastin activity in the skin. And actually, glycosaminoglycans, which are like your skin's natural moisturizing factor. So, a lot of times, you can get a little dry and flaky around the neck.
That will also help with that in the long run. But you know, TCA is not the only one. Other peels, could other peels help? I would rather, if somebody really has true problems, I would just jump right to TCA. It's okay to start with TCA, especially the 7.
And let them know this is a series. This is not a one-and-done treatment. Yes.
No, you're going to want to do a series of at least six to eight in a row. And we usually recommend, you know, maybe like once a month. But it doesn't have to be once a month.
You know, this is a more sensitive area. If you're more sensitive and you can only do this once every, you know, five or six weeks or once every two months, that's okay. Just keep doing it.
Consistency.
Right. So you have options beyond peels that can make a real difference in your skin. And we have needling. So needling, also known as collagen induction therapy, is another excellent tool you can use on your face and neck. And this kit right here comes with all six of our tools.
And it comes with all the serums: the EHR serum, which contains epidermal growth factor, hyaluronic acid, and raplexium. All of these will help stimulate healthy collagen in your skin. And, you know, you can go over your neck two, three times.
Yeah, it'll get a little bit red. But this is another excellent, excellent way.
And everything they need is in that suite.
Yeah, everything. This is a great product to start with if you want to do some, you know, needling on the neck. This is our microinfusion suite, the alchemy suite. And this comes with everything you need to do, like six treatments. I think this is another super one. And let's say you want to do both, right? We don't want you to ever do these together.
You can either do a series of this and then do a series of this. Or if you'd like, you know, you can do a couple of these and a couple of these. Just make sure you're waiting long enough in between the two. Because that's what, you know, people end up with. They're like, well, “I want to do both.” Or I want to needle and do... No, you cannot needle and do a peel at the same time, right? With needling, you have to wait at least two weeks.
So if you did needling, you can do more. Or you can do something else. You can do a peel. You can do an IPL treatment. You can do whatever you want. Just always make sure to wait long enough.
And then, of course, like the one customer, she used the copper. The funny thing is that's not even something that even comes to mind when I think about necklines and stuff like that. But that is an excellent product. That's a skin remodeling product. I always think of that for scars, mostly, and anti-aging. But I don't think of that for like neck treatment. I'm going to have to because that's good.
I do recommend our GHK Crepey Skin Escape.
That's a good one.
For the neck, lower face, and neck. I think it comes in a 1.7-ounce jar.
Yeah, it's a big jar.
Less is more. You only need a small amount of that.
Another option would be like the 7% GHK here. Because you could add this to something. Right? So, like other good products, our epidermal growth factor is, too.
Oh yeah.
You could add some of this GHK to your epidermal growth factor. And you know, if you want to pick a percentage, there's actually a chart that will come with this. A little piece of paper from Dr. Picard is included.
We also have a chart on the page. Deciding on what percentage you want the finished product to be. This is a 30 ml. There are many easy ways to add this.
I like to do a pump and then just one drop.
Just yeah. You can add a drop or two.
Instead of pre-mixing it, that's how I do it.
That's a good way. And it's not necessarily, well, what percentage is it? I don't know. It's good, though. It's there.
Don't overuse it.
One drop is legit like enough.
Yeah, I agree. I think that's really good. Other things that we have here that I would suggest. And if you go to any of our Dr. Platinum potions pages, or at least the two potion page and the four potion page.
Yeah.
Because we can put multiples of these in a product.
That's right.
We have some suggestions for certain areas of your face. And so, in the neck area, we have a couple of specific recommendations because they are really good for elasticity, collagen, and the skin. So the combination I would make is like a nice four-potion combo. I would first put the epidermal growth factor. And that is the same exact formula that is our Regenerate. Our Regenerate is added to that bottle.
And then we would use Skin Actera, Progeline, and SynTC. And I would put all four of those in our four potion combo. And that is like an amazing discount, too, because it's discounted twice. And then you get a lot of those peptides that that one dermatologist was talking about. Many different peptides can be helpful. And if you wanted, you could even take this and add your little drop of GHK to that.
Let's just go for it. If you're having problems and want to target them, hit it hard.
If you are already using Regenerate in your regular regimen, you could substitute the Regenerate for Citrus Stem Cell. Citrus Stem Cell and Progeline, that's a combination that I like to recommend. If somebody just wants a two-part potion, it just varies. But I know great results can be achieved.
There are so many activities, and so many are really, really good. I mean, you can go to any of those pages, and it's going to list out. I think there are 10 activities right now. It tells you specifically what they're for. And yeah, there are multiple things that will help with that. That's just like a recommended.
And these are concentrated ingredients. So this is certain, you see products out there that may have a…
half a percent or something.
Some of these ingredients are in there, but like this is…
This is like 35 percent.
Right.
And this one is, I think these are all 35. No, no, no. 35, 35. The Cinti-C has 75 percent.
Right.
And this is 2,000 international units. So when you're putting these together, I mean, you still have an insane amount. You could; the mixture you make could be added to another product.
Absolutely.
And it would still be stronger than probably anything that you're buying on a store shelf for a neck cream or whatever. And I don't think just putting like a heavy cream on, like one of those videos suggested, like, “oh yeah, just put... Heavy cream isn't going to make your lines go away. It's going to moisturize, and it might plump your skin a little bit.” But there are other things that can plump your skin too. Like I would recommend hyaluronic if that's what you…
Yes.
And we have hyaluronic in our…
Yes.
So, like, hyaluronic definitely helps pull water into the skin, and it can plump a little bit. I would say I was just thinking of something. If you're going somewhere and let's say these lines are really bothering you, you want something that can, like, tighten instantly.
Oh yeah.
We have our Lucky Potion.
Yeah. Yeah, that's a good thought.
That is something you could potentially, you know, even just add to your... Add a little bit into your... Whatever you're going to put onto your neck, your face cream, or your neck cream, whatever you're putting on, add a little bit. And that will at least tense that skin up a little bit. That could be like kind of an instant fix.
Like it's not going to give you long-term results in the aging process. However, these will. So we recommend applying these morning and night, and they're going to build in your skin as you use them, and you're going to see better and better results. Take a photo on day one.
Absolutely.
Take a photo on day 30.
Right.
And just, it'll motivate you to keep going.
Absolutely. And you know, and as you're just saying, take a photo, you're going to see results. How long before you see results? I feel like, at least 90 days, you're just at the very beginning of being able to look at pictures and see differences.
And I do want to mention, we don't have it sitting here. I wonder if I have any... Like Fusion A, we talked a little bit about retinoids, but I didn't really like putting one out here to think about. But retinoids obviously play a key role. So, as I said, if you have any kind of extreme sensitivity on your neck and can't use it every day, you can either use it fewer times per week or mix it with another cream or serum. Like I would do, maybe a pump of Regenerate, a pump of Fusion A. Now you've kind of diluted this in half.
Go ahead and put that on or sandwich it, right? Put your Regenerate on first, which you should do anyway. And then your Fusion A, and now you're kind of like slowing down that penetration and lessening irritation. But, you know, retinoids are also key.
What about essential effects?
Essential effects. That is a great alternative. Actually, I have one sitting right here.
Essential effects. This doesn't have actual retinol or retin-A. Like, there's not a retinoid in here, but it's natural vitamin A sources. So this is all essential oils. But then there's also the Bacuchiol in there. And Bacuchiol has been shown to produce results very similar to those of retinol.
So yes, if you have a lot of neck sensitivity, this is a good one. I forget this a lot. So whenever we think of this, it's always a win because it is a great option for somebody who's super sensitive. Personally, I would probably mix the two together. I'd be like, “Here's some of this and here's some of this.” And I'm getting natural vitamin A mixed with these, cocktail it, put it on. “Oh, I did a couple of drops of that 7% GHK.”
What about our Illuminate Neck Mask?
Oh my gosh.
The Illuminate Neck Mask.
Why did we not even think about that? Yeah. LED is another super one. LED and IPL.
Sure.
Either of those. IPL, that's done maybe two to three times a week.
We have the Vis IPL.
Sure.
With the LED, I mean, you can do that every other day, which is good. At least 10 minutes. You can obviously go up to 20, 30 minutes with that. Obviously, no downtime. Nothing like that. That's a great option, I didn't think of either. The problem is that there are many things that are helpful.
For sure.
There are a ton of things. It's like, in my mind, I try to compartmentalize and make it as small as can be when I really should be thinking the opposite.
And you obviously don't have to use all of these.
No.
We're just giving you options of things that you can use.
I like my options.
Agreed. Me too.
There are many things you can do professionally.
Yes.
Of course, CO2, lasers, picoture lasers. I don't know. I'm not a laser expert, but everything is helpful. Peels, needling, lasers, LED, IPL. And if it's just too bad, everything is just hanging. Those lines are really getting bad. Then yeah, surgery is an option. There is nothing wrong with surgery. You still need to do these kinds of things for your skin's health. These are helping your skin. They're helping your collagen. They're helping your elastin. When they move that skin around, they're like moving it.
They're cutting off the old excess skin. And so that skin is there, and it's placed in a new high place. But you still have to take care of that skin. You still need to stimulate more collagen and elastin. So it's like you would still do all this, and you would get surgery.
Yeah. This will help with elasticity, but it won't help with excess skin.
Excess skin, like for big-time weight loss. You lost 150 pounds or 200 pounds or something like that, which is possible nowadays with all the injections and stuff. I would say, you know, there's probably a good deal of people that come to us, and they're like, send their pictures. And you kind of have to be honest, like, listen, this is going to help.
Yes.
And this is so good for your skin. But there's always that point where, if there's excess skin, it must be cut off. It must be removed. It's not just going to tighten up in place again. It will be a little bit, but not, you know, sometimes you just have to do that route. And it's okay.
Depending on where you are, how much skin you have, and how much excess skin you have. If you just need a little bit of tightening.
Then you can probably handle it with some agents.
Age is also a factor. You know what I mean? So if your skin's going to be a little bit more…
Resilient.
Yeah. Accepting and resilient in your, say, 50s and 60s versus maybe the upper 70s and 80s.
Yeah. And we do get it. We do hear it a lot in that age bracket. You know, looking to fix it.
But you can improve it. I mean, obviously that first…
Obviously.
She was an older lady, and she had a lot of improvement.
She did. I think that she might've lost a lot of weight or something, too. I think that if I remember, because that photo has been up there for a little while, maybe a year or two.
Got it.
You know, and she could still end up... She's made huge strides.
Yes, absolutely.
But even she might want to, you know, go towards that surgical route or something. If she wants a perfect, tight, beautiful neck, she might have to do that.
Absolutely.
This is a shot two from the potions page where they're using Progeline and Skinectra.
Yeah.
Oh, nice.
So, that was a review of the product itself. And that's a huge improvement.
Seriously. Look at that. That's nice.
Absolutely. What a difference in the tightness of that skin.
It only took them two weeks, I noticed too.
Two weeks.
I'm saying it's just amazing.
Holy moly. So that's the issue that we're just talking about. Progeline and Skinectra.
Yeah.
Both of these are really good for tightening and stimulating the skin's elasticity. That's awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah. What a difference.
Consistency, again, is super important when you're using these peptides, because it builds up in your skin over time.
Yeah. And twice a day. Yeah. Once a day is okay, but twice a day is preferred with peptides.
Agreed.
So, I mean, there are a lot of things that we can do to help you. Number one, if you want to watch more videos.
Yes.
Go to our video page on the website. Type in neck. Type in decollete.
Type in your problems. It's going to pull up associated videos. So one that we have that I did in the front lobby, this aging decollete, crepey skin, pigmentation. That's a really good one. I talk about the TCA peel. I talk about what kind of actives and stuff to use, like regimens for that.
Of course, you can email us at support@platinumskincare.com. You can call us Monday through Friday. 1-800-917-3155.
Right.
Or you can visit us in our Facebook group. That's the Platinum Skin Care Gurus. And we're there all the time answering questions.
Yes. We are happy to help.
See you there.
