Forehead Wrinkles: Expression Lines, Static Lines and What Helps

Forehead wrinkles form where the frontalis muscle folds your skin. Daily SPF, a retinoid, steady hydration and a gentle nightly ritual help soften their look.

By the Radiant editorial team8 min readUpdated

Woman in her forties smoothing her forehead outward with the fingertips of both hands

Key takeaways

  • Forehead wrinkles form where the frontalis muscle folds the skin each time you raise your brows.
  • Sun exposure, smoking and age make expression lines more likely to become static lines that stay visible at rest.
  • Daily broad-spectrum sunscreen up to the hairline is the best-evidenced habit for helping prevent forehead wrinkles.
  • Retinol, vitamin C and hydrating moisturizers help soften the look of fine lines with consistent use over months.
  • Deep, static forehead lines rarely respond to at-home care alone; a board-certified dermatologist can discuss in-office options.
In this guide

Forehead wrinkles are horizontal lines that form where the skin folds each time the frontalis muscle lifts your brows. You cannot erase forehead lines at home, but daily sunscreen, a retinoid, steady hydration and a gentle evening ritual help soften their look.

For the ritual, we pair a peptide moisturizer and a vitamin C serum with our GlowLift™ Infinity face sculpting device.

Why do horizontal lines form across the forehead?

Forehead wrinkles are caused by the frontalis muscle folding the skin again and again, combined with slow changes in the skin itself. Sun, smoking and age reduce the skin's ability to bounce back, so expression creases set in. The shape of your frontalis decides where your lines appear.

The muscle that raises your brows

The frontalis is the broad, thin muscle that lifts your eyebrows, so the skin above it gathers into horizontal folds. Comparing 20 cadavers with 20 volunteers, surgeons found four frontalis shapes, each with its own pattern of lines (Abramo et al., 2016).

Sun, smoking and time

In a study of 186 pairs of identical twins, the twin with more sun exposure and less sunscreen use looked older, and facial wrinkles were more evident in the twins who smoked (Guyuron et al., 2009).

In 3D imaging of 200 men and women aged 20 to 70, forehead lines deepened steadily with age and were the first visible wrinkles in men (Luebberding et al., 2014).

Are your forehead lines expression lines or static?

Expression lines, also called dynamic lines, appear only when your forehead moves and fade when your face is at rest. Static lines stay visible even when your face is relaxed. Expression lines usually come first, and some become static as skin loses elasticity and the same folds repeat.

To check, relax your face in even light. Lines you can still see are static; lines that appear only when you raise your brows are expression lines.

Expression lines call for prevention and good skin quality. Static lines can look softer with the same routine, but deep ones are where in-office options come in.

Which daily habits help prevent forehead wrinkles?

The best-evidenced way to help prevent forehead wrinkles is daily broad-spectrum sunscreen, applied to the whole forehead up to the hairline. Not smoking, keeping skin hydrated and using a retinoid at night add to that protection, for the skin that does the folding.

  • Sunscreen every morning. In a 4.5-year randomized trial of 903 adults, the daily sunscreen group showed no detectable increase in skin aging (Hughes et al., 2013). See whether SPF prevents wrinkles.
  • Do not smoke. Smokers showed more facial wrinkles in the twin study above.
  • Keep the forehead hydrated. A light moisturizer keeps the surface supple, so folds look softer.
  • Add a retinoid at night. See the ingredients below.

Small rituals that add up over years are our approach to skin longevity.

Which ingredients help soften forehead lines?

Three well-studied ingredient groups soften the look of fine lines: retinol, vitamin C and humectants such as hyaluronic acid and glycerin. Retinol supports smoother-looking skin over months, vitamin C adds antioxidant support under sunscreen, and humectants plump the surface with water.

None of these studies measured forehead lines or tested our formulas, so read them as evidence for the ingredient, not for a finished product.

What is a good routine for forehead lines?

A good forehead routine takes about five minutes in the morning and seven at night: vitamin C serum, moisturizer and sunscreen up to the hairline in the morning, and in the evening a retinoid a few nights a week, moisturizer and a gentle upward glide.

  1. Cleanse gently, morning and night. Use a mild cleanser and lukewarm water.
  2. Morning: press in vitamin C. A few drops of Radiant C-F Glow Drops on forehead, face and neck; let it absorb.
  3. Morning: moisturize, then sunscreen. Smooth on BerryPeptide Plumping Moisturizer, then a broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher up to the hairline and temples. Reapply outdoors.
  4. Evening: a retinoid, two or three nights a week to start. A pea-sized amount on dry skin. Skip it on irritated skin, and ask your doctor first if pregnant or breastfeeding.
  5. Evening: moisturize with upward strokes. Sweep BerryPeptide Plumping Moisturizer from the brows toward the hairline.
  6. Glide with GlowLift™ (3–4 minutes). In warm mode on Level 1, sweep the gua sha edge slowly upward from brows to hairline, center to temples, for 2–3 minutes. Finish with a 1-minute cold-mode pass for a refreshed look.

GlowLift™ Infinity is a 5-in-1 at-home face sculpting device that combines contrast therapy (warm and cold modes), EMS muscle stimulation, LED light, high-frequency vibration and gua sha-inspired sculpting to support firmer-looking, more defined skin. It is FDA-cleared and uses EMS rather than microcurrent (see EMS vs microcurrent).

No at-home device has been shown to erase forehead lines, so its role here is supportive. We keep the forehead step to warm mode, cold mode and the gua sha edge, and save EMS for the jaw and cheekbones. Gua sha research covers facial contour, not forehead lines: see whether gua sha works.

If you add EMS there: do not use an EMS device if you are pregnant or have a pacemaker, implanted defibrillator or other active electronic implant, or on broken, irritated or infected skin. If you have epilepsy or a diagnosed skin condition, check with your doctor first.

How do needle-free and in-office options compare?

Needle-free at-home care, such as sunscreen, retinol, vitamin C and moisturizer, protects the skin and softens the look of fine forehead lines over months. In-office treatments act faster on deeper lines: neuromodulator injections relax the frontalis for several months, and fractional lasers resurface the skin.

Option What it does What the research shows Downtime Best for
Daily broad-spectrum sunscreen Sun protection 903 adults, 4.5 years: 24% less skin aging with daily use (Hughes et al., 2013) None Everyone
Retinol (0.1%) Supports smoother-looking skin over months 62 adults, 52 weeks: crow's feet fine lines improved 44% vs vehicle (Randhawa et al., 2015) Possible dryness at first Fine expression lines
Vitamin C serum Antioxidant support under sunscreen 6 months: 5% vitamin C improved photoaged skin vs the same cream without it (Humbert et al., 2003) None; mild tingle possible Sun-exposed, dull-looking skin
Hydrating moisturizer Plumps the surface with water 76 women, 60 days: better hydration and elasticity vs a plain cream (Pavicic et al., 2011) None Lines that look deeper on dry skin
Massage ritual (gua sha, GlowLift™ warm mode) Helps products spread Studied for facial contour, not forehead lines (Ahn et al., 2025) None Making the routine consistent
Neuromodulator injections (in-office) Temporarily relax the frontalis Two phase 3 trials, 1,178 people: 97.8% of those 35 and older improved by at least one grade at full brow raise after 30 days (Palm et al., 2020; manufacturer-funded) Minimal; repeat visits Moderate to deep expression lines
Fractional laser (in-office) Resurfaces the skin in tiny columns Review: less downtime than full resurfacing, but several sessions may be needed (Hamilton et al., 2018) Days, depending on the device Static lines and sun-damaged texture

The rows come from different study designs and populations, so they are not a head-to-head ranking.

When do forehead lines need a dermatologist's eye?

See a board-certified dermatologist if deep, static forehead lines still bother you after several months of consistent care, or to discuss injections, lasers or peels. See one promptly for anything new on the forehead, such as a changing mole, a rough patch that does not heal or a sore that bleeds.

See a doctor for sudden changes, such as one brow that drops, a forehead that will not move on one side, or numbness. For questions about how our products fit your routine, use our contact form.

The bottom line

Forehead wrinkles start as expression lines from the frontalis muscle and set in as sun, smoking and time take their toll. At home, you can protect against deeper lines and soften the look of the ones you have.

Start with broad-spectrum sunscreen up to the hairline every morning. Then add a retinoid at night, BerryPeptide Plumping Moisturizer and a slow upward glide with GlowLift™. Deep static lines are a conversation for a dermatologist.

Sources

  1. Abramo AC, Do Amaral TPA, Lessio BP, De Lima GA. Anatomy of forehead, glabellar, nasal and orbital muscles, and their correlation with distinctive patterns of skin lines on the upper third of the face: reviewing concepts. Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2016;40(6):962–971. doi:10.1007/s00266-016-0712-z PubMed 27743084
  2. Guyuron B, Rowe DJ, Weinfeld AB, et al. Factors contributing to the facial aging of identical twins. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2009;123(4):1321–1331. doi:10.1097/PRS.0b013e31819c4d42 PubMed 19337100
  3. Luebberding S, Krueger N, Kerscher M. Quantification of age-related facial wrinkles in men and women using a three-dimensional fringe projection method and validated assessment scales. Dermatol Surg. 2014;40(1):22–32. doi:10.1111/dsu.12377 PubMed 24267416
  4. Hughes MCB, Williams GM, Baker P, Green AC. Sunscreen and prevention of skin aging: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2013;158(11):781–790. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-158-11-201306040-00002 PubMed 23732711
  5. Randhawa M, Rossetti D, Leyden JJ, et al. One-year topical stabilized retinol treatment improves photodamaged skin in a double-blind, vehicle-controlled trial. J Drugs Dermatol. 2015;14(3):271–280. PubMed 25738849
  6. Humbert PG, Haftek M, Creidi P, et al. Topical ascorbic acid on photoaged skin. Clinical, topographical and ultrastructural evaluation: double-blind study vs. placebo. Exp Dermatol. 2003;12(3):237–244. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0625.2003.00008.x PubMed 12823436
  7. Pavicic T, Gauglitz GG, Lersch P, et al. Efficacy of cream-based novel formulations of hyaluronic acid of different molecular weights in anti-wrinkle treatment. J Drugs Dermatol. 2011;10(9):990–1000. PubMed 22052267
  8. Ahn SH, Hwang UJ, Han HS, et al. Comparative effects of facial roller and gua sha massage on facial contour, muscle tone, and skin elasticity: randomized controlled trial. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2025;24(6):e70236. doi:10.1111/jocd.70236 PubMed 40439289
  9. Palm MD, Few J, Patel T, et al. Efficacy, patient-reported outcomes, and safety for millennial subjects treated with onabotulinumtoxinA for moderate to severe horizontal forehead lines. Dermatol Surg. 2020;46(5):653–661. doi:10.1097/DSS.0000000000002216 PubMed 31625954
  10. Hamilton M, Campbell A, Holcomb JD. Contemporary laser and light-based rejuvenation techniques. Facial Plast Surg Clin North Am. 2018;26(2):113–121. doi:10.1016/j.fsc.2017.12.002 PubMed 29636145

Frequently asked questions

There is no fixed age. In a 3D imaging study of 200 adults aged 20 to 70, forehead lines deepened steadily with age. They were the first visible wrinkles in men, while women usually noticed lines around the eyes first, and perimenopause seemed to speed up wrinkle development in women (Luebberding et al., 2014).

Forehead lines run horizontally across the forehead and form when the frontalis muscle lifts the brows. Frown lines, often called 11 lines, are vertical creases between the brows, formed by the muscles that pull the brows together. Anatomy studies link each muscle shape to its own pattern of lines (Abramo et al., 2016).

On the forehead, we suggest warm mode on Level 1 with the gua sha edge, in slow upward strokes from the brows to the hairline over your moisturizer, then a short cold-mode pass. We keep EMS for the jaw and cheekbones. Avoid the eyelids, and do not use GlowLift™ Infinity on broken or irritated skin.

We found no study that tested facial exercises on forehead lines. Forehead lines form when the frontalis contracts, so repeatedly working that muscle is unlikely to smooth them. Daily sunscreen, a retinoid and steady hydration have better evidence for the look of fine lines, and a gentle massage step can make the routine easier to keep.

Yes. A simple split works well for most people: a vitamin C serum such as Radiant C-F Glow Drops in the morning under sunscreen, and retinol in the evening. Start retinol two or three nights a week, follow with moisturizer, and skip it on irritated skin. Check with your doctor before using a retinoid if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.

No cream removes forehead wrinkles. Creams can help soften their look: retinol improved fine lines over a year in a vehicle-controlled trial (Randhawa et al., 2015), and hydrating creams improved skin hydration and elasticity in 60 days. Be cautious of products promising to erase lines, and pair any cream with daily sunscreen.

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This guide is for general education and isn't medical advice. If you have a skin condition or a health question, please speak with a dermatologist or your doctor.

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