Flammaging: The Quiet Fire Ageing Your Skin From the Inside

By Joanne Sherlock Falk, Clinical Skin Specialist, The Universal Glow
Published October 2026

Flammaging is chronic, low-grade inflammation that ages your skin from the inside out, and you can't scrub, peel or inject your way out of it.

I've spent 32 years in this industry, dual-licensed, and I've watched women spend thousands treating the smoke while the fire keeps burning underneath. So let's put the fire out properly. Here are the questions I get asked most, answered straight.

What is flammaging?

Flammaging is my word for the slow, quiet inflammation that speeds up skin ageing. Scientists have studied this idea for over 25 years under the name "inflammaging." I took that science and brought it into the treatment room, because most people have never heard of it, and it explains so much of what I see on skin every day.

Think of it like a pan left on a low heat. Nobody notices it until the bottom is burnt. Your skin works the same way. By the time you see the damage, it's been simmering for years.

What does flammaging look like on the skin?

Redness that never quite settles. Sensitivity to products you used to love. Dullness, uneven tone and pigmentation that keeps coming back. Fine lines turning up earlier than they should. Breakouts in your 40s and 50s that make you feel 15 again, and not in the good way.

Your skin is always the last place to show what's really going on underneath. That's why my philosophy is Brain First, Gut Second, Skin Third.

What causes it?

It's rarely one thing. It's usually a stack of small things adding up. The big ones I see:

Sun exposure without proper protection. UV is one of the fastest ways to fire up inflammation. Sunscreen is your stop sign.

Over-exfoliation. I've been calling this out since 2023. Acids every night, scrubs, peels, the whole lot. You're not resurfacing your skin, you're wearing down the barrier that protects it. My rule for glycolic is twice a week maximum, evenings only, never in the daytime.

Stress and poor sleep. When stress hormones stay high, inflammation stays high. Your skin hears every argument you've had this week.

Your gut. This is the gut-skin axis, and it's one of the most exciting areas in skin science right now. When your gut is out of balance, your skin often tells on it.

Sugar. Too much sugar binds to collagen in a process called glycation, which leaves it stiff and weak. Think of it as caramelising your face. Lovely on a dessert, less lovely on your cheekbones.

Hormonal change. Perimenopause and menopause bring falling estrogen, and with it thinner, drier, more reactive skin. This is the stage where so many women come to me feeling like their skin has turned on them overnight.

Where do mitochondria fit in?

Mitochondria are the tiny power stations inside your cells. When they're healthy, your skin cells have the energy to repair and renew. When they're worn down, they leak more of the damaging molecules that fuel inflammation. Tired power stations, more fire. This is why the conversation in skincare is moving from "anti-ageing" to skin longevity and skinspan, meaning how long your skin stays healthy, not just how young it looks in a filtered photo.

If you want to know what's actually driving your skin, this is exactly what I look at in my Skin and Gut Audit. Book your Skin and Gut Audit ($75, 45 minutes) here: https://bookedin.com/book/the-universal-glow-

Can a cream fix flammaging?

On its own, no. And anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a new bottle, not a new formula. Topicals matter, and the right ones support your barrier and calm the skin, but they're one part of the picture. If your gut, your stress and your sleep are all pouring petrol on the fire, no serum on earth will win that fight.

This is the truth that cost me my job. In July 2025 I was fired for refusing to keep selling products I no longer believed were safe for my clients. I'm for the people, not the companies, and that hasn't changed.

So what actually helps?

Protect first. Daily SPF, every day, cloudy or not.

Stop attacking your skin. Fewer harsh actives, more barrier support. If your routine has more steps than your morning commute, it's time to edit.

Feed your gut. Fibre, fermented foods and less ultra-processed food give your gut-skin axis a fighting chance.

Respect sleep and stress. Not glamorous, I know. Still works.

Get assessed before you spend. Before you book thousands of pounds, or dollars, worth of treatments, find out what your skin actually needs. Plenty of women I meet have spent a fortune on procedures that never touched the real problem.

What's the bottom line?

Your biological skin age, how old your skin acts rather than how many birthdays you've had, is not fixed. Flammaging is something you can calm. But you have to treat the fire, not just keep painting over the smoke.

Truth is on Trend. Let us glow together.

Joanne Sherlock Falk, The Universal Glow
Licensed Facial Specialist, dual-licensed for 32 years, the last 5 in medical aesthetics as a top performer

For more on the gut-skin connection, listen to the Mind Gut Skin podcast on Spotify.

Book your Skin and Gut Audit ($75, 45 minutes): https://bookedin.com/book/the-universal-glow-