Salma Hayek Pinault's Key to Youthful Skin? Moisturizer Sandwiches and This "Turkey Neck" Treatment

Salma Hayek Pinault's daily skincare routine is refreshingly bare bones. No retinol, no exfoliating peels, and absolutely no injectables. She doesn't even commit to a morning face wash—a tip she learned from her grandmother. "Your skin doesn't get dirty while you're sleeping," the award-winning actress and producer quips over Zoom.

That doesn't mean she's against the occasional in-office procedure: "I have been using radiofrequency for years. That is the only thing I did," she adds. "It was working for me, and then at some point, because I'm 58, I felt like I hit a plateau, especially with my neck—under the jaw, to be very specific. [I] started to feel like a turkey."

It's as if she manifested the call from Merz Aesthetics to discuss a collaboration with Ultherapy Prime. This FDA-cleared noninvasive treatment uses ultrasound energy to stimulate collagen and elastin production, thus making skin look extra firm and plump. "I said, 'Okay, I'm gonna give it a try, and if it works, we can continue the conversations,'" she recounts. Considering she has officially been named the first global brand ambassador for Ultherapy Prime, we can safely assume the treatment was a smashing success.

"It made me feel safe—the fact that they could actually be looking at my collagen in real time," she shares. "Normally, between two and three months is when you see the results. I started seeing the results in the second week." Of course, every candidate is different, but most people notice gradual improvements that lead to a more natural-looking effect. In fact, many commonly refer to Ultherapy as the "nonsurgical facelift," given its ability to tighten the skin sans incisions or downtime. "It is the gold standard for lifting, and it targets the SMAS (superficial musculoaponeurotic system) layer, which is the same layer we would lift in a facelift," board-certified plastic surgeon Jennifer Levine, MD., previously told Who What Wear about the procedure.

There's a major misconception in beauty that people who opt for in-office treatments must have a high-maintenance skincare routine. With Hayek Pinault, that could not be more false. "Chica, I am so, so, so busy. I have hundreds of [at-home] tools that I bought and never use," she tells me. "Have you seen my white hair? I just can't bother to [dye] it every three weeks, sit there for hours… I mean, I'd rather just have the white hair." Yes, noninvasive procedures like Ultherapy tend to be pricey, but in terms of time commitment, the investment is pretty minimal. Ultherapy requires only one session to see results, and they tend to last about a year without touch-ups. "I like really strong, effective—but not frequent—things that make sense," Hayek Pinault adds.

At home, she doesn't subscribe to a structured routine but rather listens to what her skin needs on a given night. For instance, if her skin is feeling dry, she likes to apply a lightweight moisturizer with a thicker layer on top (an editor-loved trick known as "moisturizer sandwiching"). "One of the light ones I like is Sisley's Black Rose [Cream]. It's kind of a jelly, and I really feel like it absorbs. And Charlotte Tilbury just came out with the Water Cream," she shares. "Then you can put on the La Mer, the Augustinus Bader, so that it kind of seals it. When I put on the first layer, I wait like 20 minutes to put on the second one."

Her biggest at-home tip for youthful skin, however, is sleep—and lots of it. "I really wish that when I was younger I had learned good sleeping habits," she says. "I think I always had good skincare discipline [because] my grandmother was so obsessed with it, and it was part of our bonding. She taught me a lot of things… I never go to sleep without taking my makeup off. Never. [But] I have a lot of lifestyle things that I wish I could do better." Magnesium supplements and aromatherapy help her wind down at night, and she notes that her experience with bioidentical hormone therapy has improved her sleep over time.

Moisture, sleep, and a once-a-year noninvasive treatment—not too elaborate of a regimen for an A-lister. "I don't try to look younger than my daughters," Hayek Pinault jokes. "I want them to know right away by the expression on my face when I'm not happy. I also want them to see my expression when I'm proud of them. You've got to decide what works for you. This works for me."

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