The disclosed embodiments provide skin stimulating devices and methods that address the aging effects of skin at a protein level. Particularly, cyclical mechanical strain is used to regulate specific proteins within the skin, so as to produce specific effects. As a non-limiting example, the disclosed embodiments can be used to increase the production of certain proteins (e.g., hyaluronan synthase 3 (HAS3); fibronectin; tropoelastin; procoll1; integrin, etc.) in the skin, which results in anti-aging effects by increasing epidermal cohesion.