The High Performance Journal Written By Dan Go - April 28th, 2026

When I was in my early thirties, I dated a girl for a brief time.

I do not remember much about the relationship, but I do remember one thing she told me: if I wanted to look younger as I aged, I needed to start moisturizing my face.

Thankfully, I took her advice, and I’ve been doing it ever since. I’m 46 now, and I have no wrinkles. My skin looks healthier than it did in my 30s, and along the way, I've gotten slightly obsessed about skin health.

Some people will say, “Dan, you’re Asian. You’re supposed to look younger,” and, my friend, that’s a massive cope.

Yes, genetics plays a role. Asian skin tends to age more slowly, but that head start is not what’s keeping me looking the way I do at 46.

What’s keeping me looking this way is 15 years of actually caring for my skin, while most people I know have spent the last 15 years ignoring it.

Genetics gives you a head start, but they don't finish the race for you.

So in today's newsletter, I'm going to give you the protocol I use to keep my skin younger at 46. It looked at 36.

Make sure you stay to the end so I can give you the routine I use at night that's kept my skin looking young over the past decade.

You ready? Let's go 🔥

Why Your Skin Is A Health Signal

Your skin is the largest organ on your body. Your skin is your first line of defense against pathogens, UV light, and environmental stress.

It also serves as a status report. When your skin looks dull, inflamed, or prematurely aged, it usually means something deeper is off, such as:

• Poor sleep
• High cortisol
• Gut dysfunction
• Chronic inflammation
• Nutrient deficiencies

When your skin is healthy, it usually means the system underneath is working. It's why I stopped thinking of skin as a vanity issue.

The way your skin ages is one of the most visible scorecards for how well you’ve taken care of your body over the past decade.

Why Skin Gets Worse As You Age

After age 30, your body produces about 1% less collagen each year. Collagen is the protein that keeps your skin firm, smooth, and elastic.

If you lose enough of it, the structure underneath your face starts to thin, wrinkles appear, the skin sags, and the bounce disappears.

That 1% may sound small, but over 20 years, it adds up. UV exposure, smoking, sugar, chronic stress, poor sleep, and a low-quality diet can all accelerate the loss.

These factors trigger enzymes called MMPs that break down collagen faster than your body can replace it.

Most people do nothing about any of this until it’s too late. They wake up at 50, look in the mirror, and wonder how they got old. You don’t have to be one of them.

Great Skin Starts From The Inside

Skincare products get most of the attention, but they shouldn't.

The biggest levers for how your skin ages are not in a bottle, they're in how you live.

Metabolic Health. Chronically high blood sugar attaches to collagen and elastin in your skin and turns those fibers stiff and brittle. The process is called glycation, and it's a major driver of wrinkles and sagging. Stable blood sugar means slower aging at the cellular level. The foundation of skin health is ​being metabolically healthy​.

Sleep: This is when your body does its repair work. Growth hormone spikes. Glymphatic clearance kicks in. Collagen synthesis ramps up. Skip sleep, and you're skipping the maintenance window. I prioritize seven to nine hours and have locked in my ​nighttime routine​.

Strength Training: ​Resistance training​ has been shown to upregulate the genes responsible for collagen production in skin and reduce inflammatory markers. I swear this has been my secret weapon to delaying skin aging. Three sessions a week are enough to move the needle.

Gut Health: The gut-skin axis is real. A diverse, well-fed microbiome reduces systemic inflammation and supports the skin barrier. Most of my plate is whole, unprocessed food, which creates good gut bacteria. I eat fiber daily to feed the good bacteria. For the most part, I avoid hyper-processed foods and processed sugars. ​Here's a guide on how to create a healthy gut​.

Sun Exposure: Get morning and evening sunlight on your skin. Avoid getting fried in the middle of the day. If you'll be out for hours, go heavy on the SPF. The goal is to get the benefits of the sun without paying the cost.

Hydration: Your skin is roughly 64% water. When you're under-hydrated, your skin loses volume and elasticity, the barrier weakens, and fine lines become more visible. ​Hydrated skin looks plump and smooth because it actually is​. I drink water with electrolytes steadily through the day and front-load it in the morning.

Protein Intake: Your skin is built from ​amino acids​. If you're under-eating protein, your body is going to deprioritize your face. Each day, I aim for about .7-1 grams per pound of bodyweight.

Key nutrients. A few ​specific nutrients​ do most of the heavy lifting for skin. Vitamin C is required for your body to actually build collagen. Zinc helps cross-link those collagen fibers and heal damage. Omega-3s reduce inflammation and reinforce the skin barrier. Vitamins A and E protect against UV and oxidative stress.

Most of these come standard with a diet built on meat, fish, eggs, fruit, vegetables, and nuts. If your diet is mostly processed food, your skin is running on empty.

This is the foundational protocol. Without these, no cream is gonna save you.

My Step-By-Step Skincare Protocol

Once the foundation is in place, what you put on your skin starts to matter.

This is the routine I do every night. It takes about three minutes after my shower.

1. Wash my face in the shower. Warm water, gentle cleanser. Nothing fancy.

2. Eye cream first. I use ​Herbivore Moon Dew​. The skin around your eyes is thinner and more prone to wrinkling than anywhere else on your face, so it gets treated first and gets treated gently. Protip: Use the tips of your ring fingers to lightly dab in moisturizer. Do not rub, or it will create more wrinkles.

3. Anti-aging serum. I use ​Wild Roman's nighttime serum​. It uses bakuchiol, which is a plant-based alternative to retinol that targets fine lines and dullness without the irritation retinol can cause. Antioxidant oils help repair and brighten the skin. This is the step that started everything for me back in my 30s.

4. Beef tallow face moisturizer. Wild Roman makes a ​grass-fed beef tallow moisturizer​ that absorbs fast and locks in hydration. Tallow is rich in fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) that the skin actually uses.

5. Body moisturizer. I do this, along with my face, after showering. ​Eucerin Advanced Repair Lotion​ has clinical studies showing improvement in very dry skin within days. Contains ceramide-3 and natural moisturizing factors.

That's the whole routine.

Great Skin Is More Than Looking Really, Really Good Looking

When I look at people my age, the ones who have aged well all have something in common:

They quietly took care of themselves while no one was watching.

They lifted. They slept. They ate real food. They drank water. They put cream on their face when their friends made fun of them for it.

Twenty years later, those small choices show up on their face.

You don't get to choose whether you age, but you do get to choose what aging looks like on you.

Take care of the body you're going to be living in for the next forty years, and that especially includes your skin.

Onward and upward. 🚀

- Dan

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Disclaimer: This email is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician.