We spend our lives warding off lines, but wrinkles can be an asset.

Eventually, we’re going to get, well, a few lines. And that’s OK — maybe even a bonus.

After all, fine lines can be just as beautiful as the round-cheeked looks of youth. There’s something endearing about a laugh line and something genuine about an eye crinkle.

The folds or furrows that might bedeck our faces fall into two categories:

  • Dynamic wrinkles: These develop from repeated facial movements. If you pucker your lips around a straw frequently, for example, you might get lip lines.
  • Static wrinkles: These result from less elasticity and the takeover of gravity. Wrinkles that come with jowls are static.

Dynamic wrinkles may become static wrinkles over time. Fine smile lines, for example, may morph into more prominent nasolabial folds when our cheeks lose plumpness in middle age.

Creases that could crop up

  • Forehead lines: run horizontally across the top of the T-zone
  • Worry lines: create an “eleven” between the brows
  • Bunnies: etch the bridge of the nose horizontally between the eyes
  • Crow’s feet: radiate from the outer corners of the eyes
  • Laugh lines: also called nasolabial folds, create parentheses around the upper lip
  • Lip lines: form vertical hatches around the perimeter of the mouth
  • Marionette lines: frame the chin vertically, and as the cheeks droop, jowl wrinkles form

Our unique set of lines says something to the rest of the world. So, instead of removing our storylines, we should consider what they say first.

They mirror our overall disposition

Even when our faces are resting or neutral, we still provide cues to our emotions, and the wrinkles that form are part of what gives us away, a recent studyTrusted Source shows.

This is especially true for people with positive dispositions. If you’re habitually beaming and develop laugh lines or crow’s feet from smiles that reach the eyes, you’ll likely be perceived as happy or joyful.

They can highlight sincerity

Crow’s feet can be an indication to others just how genuine you are, says a recent study.

The eye crinkle we sometimes make when expressing positive and negative emotions is called the Duchenne marker, and it’s linked to how others perceive the intensity of our emotions.

And since wrinkles can indicate the expressions you’ve made over your lifetime, a pair of crow’s feet can help you appear more authentic.

The same goes for bunnies since we often wrinkle our noses during a big smile.

We can’t change our genes or the effects of gravity over time, but we can do our best to age gracefully.

4 tips to help you age with grace

  • Protect and repair: Arm yourself with sunscreen of at least SPF 30 or higher, make hats a part of your everyday clothing and sporting gear, and don sunglasses that protect against UV rays.
  • Make healthy lifestyle choices, when possible: This includes eating a balanced diet, staying hydrated, lowering alcohol consumption, avoiding smoking, exercising regularly, resting up, and reducing stress.
  • Choose products based on your skin’s condition: Essential oils, retinoids, vitamin C, and shea butter are just a few ingredients to add to your skin care toolkit.
  • Adjust crease-causing habits: Examples include sleeping on your back instead of your stomach or side, not resting your chin, cheeks, or forehead in your hands, being gentle with the skin around your eye area, and keeping a neutral face (be mindful of squinting or furrowing).

While they may not bring immediate pleasure as you see them forming on your face, remember that wrinkles are a map of your life.

You don’t have to hold back expressing joy or other emotions. Our fine lines can represent life’s worth-it moments, like uninhibited laughter and grins that have stretched across our faces.

Embrace wrinkles for what they are — the mark of our years lived to the fullest and without regret. What’s more beautiful than that?

Jennifer Chesak is a Nashville-based freelance book editor and writing instructor. She’s also an adventure, fitness, and health writer for several national publications. She earned her Master of Science in journalism from Northwestern’s Medill and is working on her first fiction novel, set in her native state of North Dakota.