Month: January 2019

Is It Too Late to Start a Skincare Routine?

Does this sound familiar? You wake up, stumble to the bathroom to brush your teeth and get a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. OMG, when did those wrinkles, puffy eyes and age spots appear? How did this happen?

You formulate a plan; you will go over to Macys. Surely they will have a skincare product to reverse all this or at least something to cover it up. Inside the store,you are faced with beautiful,cosmetically perfect young sales associates at 20 different makeup counters. You panic. Which one do I approach? How can they know what my aging skin needs when they are young? You scrap that idea and go treat yourself to a Frappuccino at Starbucks. All that sugar???-keep reading!

I get it. Wrinkles show our wisdom and life experience; we want to embrace the character in our faces, smile lines and all. But we would still like to look the best for our age! Is it too late to start taking care of your skin in your fifties or sixties? No, not at all.

The focus should now be on maintaining skin health and ensuring your skin has everything it needs to protect itself from further damage. Irritation and inflammation are skin’s enemies at this stage.

Here are some rules for skincare success from the book “ The Best Skin of Your Life Starts Here” by Paula Begoun.

  1. Be consistent.
  2. Don’t expect instant results. (Remember it took years to accumulate the wrinkles, sunspots etc.).
  3. Feed your skin daily. (With antioxidants, peptides, to be discussed next post).
  4. Use retinol (for smoother, brighter, younger looking skin).
  5. Use a sunscreen with SPF30 every day (for protection against the sun’s harmful rays).
  6. Use an eye cream day and night; the skin around the eyes is thinner.
  7. Good nutrition plays an important role. (Sugar is a no no, because it causes inflammation)

What do you think? We can do this together. So many women have told me that skincare is too complicated and intimidating; there are too many products to choose from. I am not an esthetician, nor a cosmetologist. But I am a good researcher (from my paralegal days), and good at simplifying information (from teaching).

Join me for next week’s post where I will present a simple three step morning and evening routine and discuss products you can try to get started. Please leave your questions and comments. I would love to hear from you! Penny


Do You Believe Everything Happens For A Reason?

A funny thing happened to me on Christmas morning. Let me backtrack. The day before I was thanking God and the universe because a new year was about to begin, and everything was going so much better than last year. 2017 – 2018 was difficult due to illness in my family, an elective bunionectomy (don’t do it!) and the death of my sweet Yorkie Lucky. My prayers were answered and my family member was back to his jolly self and I was looking forward to a banner year.

Back to Christmas day– While walking, I tripped over a speed bump, fell on my left wrist, spent the day in urgent care getting x-rays to determine that I had a radial fracture. Now, I don’t do things halfway . I give it my all; of course I needed surgery with a plate and pins and am now still in a splint awaiting pin removal and physical therapy.

Why do I tell you this? It started me thinking about why this happened. Of course there had to a reason. As a result of frail bones I am usually a very careful walker, looking down to avoid a fall. Does everything happen for a reason or do we tell ourselves that to feel better and not beat ourselves up over random things that we cannot control?

After deliberating, I decided the reason for the fall was to slow down and pursue my hobby and forever passion.. healthy aging, skincare, beauty and lifestyle choices. I have decided to share my years of experience and write this blog. Even while working as an ESL teacher and a paralegal, I was researching these topics and trying on different products. My friends joke that I could open a Sephora annex from my condo. I want to connect with women who are similarly situated, who desire to pro-age naturally rather than anti-age, which suggests a battle that we need to fight and can never win.

I dedicate my blog to my beloved twin sister Jill (Dolly) who never got the chance to pro-age with me; she died 10 years ago and I know she is cheering me on from heaven.

I invite you along for the journey and welcome your encouraging comments.