In this day and age, it feels like skin care and anti-aging is always top of mind. With new skin care discoveries seemingly every day and new treatments rising in popularity, social media is constantly buzzing about the latest in anti-aging.
The newest topic of conversation? Straws. As it turns out, a lot of folks on the internet are concerned that their straw-usage might cause wrinkles around their mouths. But does it really? Here’s what experts have to say.
Do you get wrinkles from a straw?
According to Allure, drinking out of straws regularly can cause wrinkles.
As board-certified dermatologist Dhaval Bhanusali told Allure, “When you use straws, you’re pursing your lips repeatedly, leading to the appearance of perioral wrinkles earlier.”
Bhanusali continued to explain that wrinkles do “take years to form,” but if you’re using straws often, “you might see them around your mouth sooner if you’re a straw user than if you weren’t.”
Board-certified dermatologist, Lily Talakoub notes that it isn’t the straw itself that causes wrinkles, but the motion of “pursing your lips regularly.” As celebrity esthetician Reneé Rouleau told Marie Claire, pursing your lips “will encourage the breakdown of collagen and elasticity more quickly.”
On the other hand, as Insider points out, “there’s no official research linking straw use to wrinkles ... you’d have to sip on straws constantly to get such drastic lines in the first place.”
As Allure puts it, using straws could cause wrinkles — as well as other things, too. According to board-certified plastic surgeon David Shafer, “smoking, intense and repeated sun exposure, and lack of hydration can all speed up the arrival of wrinkles on someone’s face.”
“Genetics can play a role — daughter looks like mom, mom looks like grandma — as well as anatomy,” Shafer explained. “If there is a lack of underlying skeletal, dental and soft tissue support to the lower face, the skin is more likely to wrinkle.”
Is it bad to drink from a straw everyday?
While drinking out of a straw isn’t bad per se, doing so every day could have some adverse affects on your skin. Talakoub told Allure that a few of her patients that used straws every day “over a span of five to 15 years” caused “the muscles to create lines.”
How do you prevent wrinkles from drinking from a straw?
If you want to prevent those little wrinkles around your mouth, it might just be easier to avoid straws altogether. At the very least, don’t use a straw every day and try to avoid pursing your lips as you do so.
In general, one of the best ways to avoid wrinkles from drinking from a straw, or wrinkles in general, is just by having a good skin care routine and being diligent. The American Academy of Dermatology suggests the following:
- Use a gentle cleanser twice a day and after “sweating heavily.”
- Wear sunscreen everyday.
- Use moisturizer every day.
- Avoid using products that irritate your skin.
- Have a healthy and well-balanced diet.
- Don’t drink alcohol in excess.
- Exercise often.
- Try to avoid “repetitive facial expressions.”
- Don’t smoke.
- Avoid tanning — instead, use self-tanner.
What are anti-wrinkle straws?
Anti-wrinkle straws are straws that you can still sip out of, but are designed in a way that stops you from pursing your lips. There are multiple designs — including tips that you can attach to your straw — but the most common type are also known as sideway straws.
Sideway straws are designed to curve horizontally at the top of the straw, with an opening at the top. This allows users to simply place their mouth at the horizontal opening of the straw, letting you sip your drink without pursing your lips.
Do anti-aging straws work?
As Joshua Zeichner, associate professor and director of Cosmetic and Clinical Research, Department of Dermatology, Mount Sinai Hospital, told Insider, anti-aging straws are “not completely foolproof, as there is some folding of the skin around the mouth when using them.”
And, as Insider points out, anti-aging straws might be more trouble than they’re worth — you’d have to take them everywhere you go and clean them constantly.
The best anti-wrinkle straws
1. Anti-wrinkle straw 2-pack
Price: $11.99.
2. Anti-aging drinking straw tip, 2-pack
Price: $17.02.
3. Stainless steel anti-wrinkle straw 2-pack
Price: $16.99.
4. Anti-wrinkle straw 2-pack, compatible with Stanley cups
Price: $11.99.
5. LipSip anti-wrinkle straw (with detachable LipSip)
Price: $14.95.