Signs of Ageing – Skincare Advice for Women in Their Prime

Signs of Ageing – Prime Times

At the age of wisdom, it is time to take your life in your hands and shape it and make it what you want it to be. Skincare treatments and skincare advice changes through the ages, through your 30s, your 40s and your 50s plus.

Celebrate the Changes with a Gameplan for Each Decade

Skincare Advice for Your 30s

During this decade, you notice the first signs of ageing. In your 30s bone structure becomes more defined as skin loses plumpness when collagen and elastin fibres begin to weaken and production slows. Spots and adult acne are triggered by stress, pregnancy contraceptive and fertility drugs. Crows feet, smile and frown lines begin to show.

• Use a mild foaming cleanser and oilfree UV-screening moisturizer with antioxidant ingredients together with a lightweight eye cream to help protect against  further skin damage.

• Use AHAs to loosen debris and dead cells from pores and a gentle exfoliating scrub twice a week.

• Do facial exercises to keep skin toned.

• Use light-reflective, oil-free foundation; dust blusher on cheek apples and brow bones; apply light-reflective highlights on mid-lids and browbones.

• Experiment with eye make-up, blending to create soft, smudgy shapes, but steer clear of hard colours and harsh, black lines.

• Outline lips carefully or prime with “lipfix” formula to prevent feathering at the edges.

• Try vegetable “wash in, wash out” colour to cover a less than 10 per cent sprinkling of grey hair.

• Use mild, frequent use shampoo and  a lightweight, oil-free conditioner.

• Aerobics, such as step or cardiogym, boost cardiovascular activity, keep muscles toned and maintain stamina. Yoga helps to dissolve stress.

• Take B-complex if you’re on the Pill. Vitamin C aids collagen production and iron absorption. Start calcium supplementation and make sure you get enough EFAs.

Skincare Advice for Your 40s

Genetic factors that determine the way you age begin to kick in. Accumulated sun damage heightens a deepening frown, smile and crows feet. Eye bags, loss of tone around the jaw line, rings around the neck and a general loss of firmness all begin to show.

Oil glands become enlarged and the T-zone pores start to dilate. Your oily centre panel may become more apparent. Exfoliation is pivotal in your routine. Use AHA-based day and night moisturizers and apply serums directly to troublespots. Look for firming eye creams and consider compresses to relieve shadows and puffiness. Face masks may become great brightening allies. Mild foams are still the best cleansers; use astringent toners on the centre panel only.

Opt for medium-cover, demi-matt foundations with light-refecting pigments. Concentrate powder to the centre panel. Dust blusher over cheeks, brow bones, on the brow near the hair line and along the jaw line. Eye make-up should be neutral, low-key shadow and simple definition along the lash lines – strictly no hard lines.

Choose moist-finish lipsticks in warm beige, rosewood and coral tones. Try restyling your hair from long to short. Use mousses to build volume and practice scrunching hair dry to work a natural-looking texture into your style. Use a mild “frequent use” or moisturizing shampoo. A leave-in conditioner cares for tinted hair.

Opt for exercise that maintains stamina and flexibility – a combination of aerobic exercise and yoga is ideal. Exercise with weights helps maintain bone density and helps tone and spot-reduce trouble zones.

• Calcium supplementation is now important for bone maintenance.
• EFAs are important to enhance absorption.
• Magnesium helps ease depression.
• Antioxidant vitamins A, C and E are useful in helping to prevent age-related problems such as heart disease and cancer.

Skincare Advice for Your 50s

There are now very tangible signs of ageing. Skin begins to sag and thin as collagen and elastin production slow dramatically and firmness diminishes. First age spots may appear, as melanin bundles clump and produce uneven pigmentation. Hormonal fluctuations throughout the menopause can trigger acne flare-up but for the most part, skin becomes dehydrated, emphasizing lines and surface coarseness. However, research suggests that HRT minimizes collagen breakdown after the menopause and stimulates production of hyaluronic acid, skin’s own moisture-retaining connective tissue lubricant.

For day time, use moisturizing, firming creams with elastin boosters, sunscreens and antioxidant ingredients. Overnight, AHA-based creams resurface the skin and help moisture ingredients to penetrate. Serums are helpful in precision-treating more marked lines and wrinkles. Gentle foaming cleansers are still acceptable as they increase circulation and exfoliation.

If skin feels tight after cleansing change to a milk cleanser, then rinse or flannel off. Moisturize neck and hands liberally and frequently. In the salon, choose rejuvenating, firming or deep moisturizing facials.

Use a creamy light-reflective foundation and a warm tawny-pink, or soft coral blush. A pale beige, demi-sheen eye shadow opens up hooded eyes; the barest trace of brown powder shadow under lower lashes defines them. Opt for brown mascara and outline thinning lips with a neutral pencil, building slightly over the natural contour before filling in with a natural lip-tone lipstick.

Gentle acid demi-perms gently body-build thinning hair to look fuller by lifting it up from the scalp. Mousses also volumise hair but may prove “scurfy” if your scalp is very dry. Overcome this by moisturizing hair and scalp with a no-rinse daily conditioning cream, whether after mild-shampooing or between washes. Spray-on glossing serums polish grey hair to an attractive, light-catching sheen.

• Opt for low-impact exercise, such as swimming and T’ai Chi, which tones muscles and improves co-ordination. Yoga maintains flexibility and encourages relaxation. Power walking and dancing maintain cardiovascular activity Gentle weight training maintains bone density.

• Take R-complex supplements if you’re taking HRT. Antioxidants A, G, and E may help protect against cancer, heart disease, cataracts and arthritis. Vitamin also contributes to collagen production and general skin fitness, and vitamin E also improves skins ability to retain moisture. EFAs help relieve hot flushes, vaginal dryness and night sweats, and protect heart against risk of cholesterol.

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