The skin just below the neck—the upper chest and cleavage known collectively as the décolleté—can be a major indicator of a woman’s age. The skin is thin and delicate and is more susceptible to the damage that can lead to unsightly cleavage lines.

Cleavage lines are wrinkles that form when collagen and elastin below the skin begin to break down. This breakdown occurs because of age, sun exposure, and the repeated wrinkling caused by sleeping on your side.

But there are steps you can take to get rid of cleavage lines, prevent new wrinkles from forming, and help smooth out the ones that already exist. This article will show you 7 ways to fight wrinkles at any age.

1. Eat wrinkle-fighting superfoods

Your diet has a powerful effect on all parts of your body and can help prevent cleavage lines. Eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, and lean protein helps your body function properly. It also helps provide your skin with the vitamins and minerals it needs to stay smoother longer.

But you can take the benefits of a healthy diet one step further by adding a few wrinkle-fighting superfoods to the mix. Foods like kiwi, tomatoes, almonds, and avocado work from the inside out to provide such important nutrients as vitamin C, monounsaturated fats, anti-inflammatories, antioxidants, and omega 3 fatty acids just to name a few.

2. Drink plenty of water

Like the food you eat, the water you drink has a major effect on the health of your skin. Water provides moisture that keeps your skin soft and supple. And it helps to remove impurities and toxins that can accumulate and cause damage. Because of this, it is important to drink plenty of water every day.

Start your day off right by drinking 2 cups of water first thing in the morning. Then, throughout the day, sip from a water bottle until you’ve consumed at least 6 more cups. And we’re not talking about liquids in general (e.g., sports drinks, coffee, pop, or tea). We’re talking about pure, clean water. Substitute clean water for your afternoon cup of coffee to help soften and get rid of cleavage lines.

3. Wear sunscreen

The sun is necessary for your health and well-being, but too much can be damaging to your skin. The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays speed the breakdown of the collagen and elastin in our skin. These proteins push out from underneath to provide support to the outer layers of skin. When they begin to break down, be it from age or sun exposure, the skin on top begins to sag inward and form lines and creases. These lines and creases eventually lead to wrinkles.

To prevent this damage from occurring (or continuing), always apply sunscreen before you leave the house. Choose a sunscreen with at least an SPF rating of 30. This level of protection counteracts 97% of the damaging UV rays. You could go as high as SPF 45 (which protects against 98% of the damaging UV rays), but don’t be fooled by expensive, ultra-high SPF numbers. No sunscreen is 100% effective. 97 or 98% protection is just about the best you can do without covering up completely.

And just because you go from house to car (or other transportation) to office and back again, don’t think you’re not getting the sun’s UV rays. Windows provide some filtering but you’ll still get the negative effects. To prevent this overexposure while inside, be sure to reapply your chosen sunscreen every two hours.

4. Exfoliate and cleanse

Exfoliation is an important part of our skin care routine. It helps remove old, dead skin cells that can clog pores and make your skin look older than it actually is. Exfoliation also encourages proper skin-cell turnover. That helps new, healthy skin cells to grow and replace the old, dead ones.

Choose a gentle product like SiO Beauty's Décolleté Cleansing Discs. Use these cleansing discs at night to lightly exfoliate and clear pores. They have the added benefit of preparing the skin to repair itself properly. And when used in conjunction with a moisturizer and some type of chest support (as we’ll see below), these cleansing discs can help smooth and repair cleavage lines while you sleep.

5. Moisturize

Moisture is an important component of healthy skin. Especially so in the thin, delicate skin where cleavage lines appear. We get a lot of moisture from the water we drink. But we can supplement this moisture by applying a topical moisturizer. Cream-based moisturizers work from the outside in to keep the collagen and elastin healthy and strong. This, then, makes your skin look and feel its best.

Regardless of your age, apply a moisturizer every day to give your skin a youthful glow and help prevent cleavage lines. A quality cream, when applied in the morning, can hydrate, smooth, and brighten the skin around cleavage lines all day long.

For best results, try using a moisturizer after washing or rinsing the skin of your décolleté with warm water. The heat of the water helps open pores so the moisturizer can penetrate to the layers underneath. If oily skin is a problem, be sure to use a lightweight moisturizer that is oil-free.

6. Get support while you sleep

Gravity can do significant damage to the delicate skin of the décolleté. This is especially true when we sleep on our side. Gravity forces the top breast farther past the body’s midline than is normal. This causes the skin to stretch and wrinkle. And as much as we sleep, that’s a lot of time for gravity to work its negative effects.

To prevent cleavage lines from forming, try wearing a product that provides support to this delicate area while you sleep. SiO Beauty’s SkinPad is the best of these products because it gently adheres to the skin of your chest to provide much-needed support. You don’t have to wear elaborate bras or worry about small pillows that can move when you turn over.

7. Heal your skin while you sleep

SiO Beauty’s 24-Hour System can’t help you eat right, drink enough water, or remember to apply sunscreen. What it can do is provide an all-in-one system to cleanse, moisturize, and give support to your décolleté while you sleep. SiO Beauty’s 24-Hour System takes the healing effects to the next level by doing what other products can’t: smoothing existing cleavage lines.

We’ve already discussed how the SiO SkinPad is worn at night to provide support to the décolleté. But the SiO SkinPad’s unique design works to create a micro-climate between the pad and skin that pulls moisture to the surface. This moisture helps heal existing cleavage lines and restores the natural, youthful beauty of the décolleté. But the healing doesn’t stop there. The chemistry of the SkinPad also acts to prevent future cleavage lines from forming.

Used together, SiO Beauty’s 24-hour system can help smooth out those deep cleavage lines in just a few nights. But don’t just take our word for it. Celebrity dermatologist Dr. Dendy Engelman talks about the power of the SiO system:

“My patients ask what they can do to treat existing wrinkles on their chest and cleavage and prevent new ones. In the past it was only in-office procedures, which could require multiple visits and be quite expensive. SiO offers the first, clinically-tested, affordable at-home solution for the décolleté that creates a unique micro-climate reducing wrinkles in just 8 hours.”

The best way to get rid of cleavage lines

While these solutions are great by themselves, the best method for getting rid of cleavage wrinkles is a combination of all four—superfoods, water, sunscreen, and SiO Beauty’s 24-Hour System. So don’t settle for cleavage lines. Add these preventative measures to your routine and fight those unsightly lines all day and all night.