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.
- Be consistent.
- Don’t expect instant results. (Remember it took years to accumulate the wrinkles, sunspots etc.).
- Feed your skin daily. (With antioxidants, peptides, to be discussed next post).
- Use retinol (for smoother, brighter, younger looking skin).
- Use a sunscreen with SPF30 every day (for protection against the sun’s harmful rays).
- Use an eye cream day and night; the skin around the eyes is thinner.
- 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