Mary March 29, 2017 2 Comments

For younger and older women alike, the most important thing we can do for our skin is to look after it. Let me tell you one thing. If you neglect it you’ll pay the price in later life. Trust me! The way we care for our skin impacts not only our long term skin health, but also the health and appearance of our skin in the short to medium term. The importance of a good skin care routine for women over 50 cannot be overstated. We must look after our skin! In my eyes the easiest way to do this (and anything we have to do regularly) is to establish a routine. Routines are great – the more automatic things become and the less we have to think about them, the more likely we are to do them. So in this post I aim to share with you my top tips on skin care. I will also present what I think is the best skin care routine for women over 50, to help keep your skin looking and feeling as young as possible.

My Top Skin Care Tips For Women Over 50

Now I am no dermatologist but I do think that I know enough to offer some tips. I have done a lot of research over the years, both formal and also trial and error. I can tell you that the tips I will give below sound like common sense but it is amazing how many of us don’t actually do all of these things. Even though we know what will happen to our skin. Often we are our own worst enemy. For example we will make sure our kids are covered in sunscreen whenever they want to go outside while often we will go out without any. That is one of the pitfalls of motherhood – as soon as we give birth we are immediately relegated to 2nd place. Forever.

Well I am here to tell you that there is nothing wrong with looking after yourself! You obviously wouldn’t sacrifice your kids (well depends what they’ve done!) but you can always look after yourself without neglecting anyone else. The thing is that often our skin is so delicate that neglecting any one aspect of it can make a big impact and take days to recover from. If you keep on top of the things I tell you below then you will give your skin the best chance to flourish.

Stay Hydrated

This is one of those things that is so obvious but so often overlooked. I was one of those people that was always too busy to stop and get a drink of water, even though I was thirsty. I was like this all through my twenties until I realized just how important it was. I actually had to force myself to drink more water and I’ll be honest, at first it was a big effort. Sounds crazy huh. Even though I was thirsty I was so wrapped up in life that I would not want to stop and look after my poor body. What a fool I was. I thought that the meaningless tasks that were occupying my time were more important than my health. Just writing this now is devastating and I cannot believe that I used to think like that.  Oh well, better late than never I say!

It is so so important to prevent yourself from becoming dehydrated, for so many reasons. I am not going to go into the science but for me the biggest things were headaches and dry skin. Both were fixed by simply drinking more water. Our skin does not like being dehydrated and it is sort of obvious when you think about it – would you prefer the surface of your skin to look like a raisin or a grape? Grape for me please!

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Beware Of The Sun

The sun – giver of life. So lovely and warm, yet at the same time oh so destructive to our skin! Now when I was young there was not a lot of emphasis placed on the negative sides of sun exposure. On the contrary – I was often told to go outside and get a tan because I looked like a ghost! I think many others can probably relate to this too. It was a very different world to the one we live in today.

Kids learn about sun safety now from a young age, it is taught in schools and the awareness of the potential dangers of the sun is much greater than it used to be. For the younger generation, it is much easier to avoid sun damage than it is for us ‘older’ women. Even though we mostly know better, we have grown up being rather complacent with regards to the potential damage the sun can do and many of us are now paying the price. For most of us older women, our skin is prematurely aged as a direct result of excessive sun exposure. Melanomas and sun spots are another, much worse aspect of this that many of us also have to contend with.

So, I can say with absolute confidence that it is vitally important to minimize our exposure to the sun, especially in the middle of the day when the UV rays are strongest. Even 10 minutes can do permanent damage!

I have written a post all about sunscreen for women over 50

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Keep Your Skin Clean

This is another obvious one that many of us (myself included) often fail to put into practice. We all know how important it is to keep our skin clean and not touch our face, yet so many of us don’t do it! We know that touching our face with dirty hands is a great way to get oily spots and pimples. But we still do it. We know that dirt on our face clogs our pores and causes breakouts. But we still forget to wash our faces.

Most people wash their face at most in the morning and at night. Really we should be cleaning it regularly, particularly after being in an oily environment like the kitchen when we are cooking, for example. Keeping the skin on our faces clean is another one of those things that you have to turn into a routine. One bad day can ruin the skin on our face and it can take days to recover from this. Usually it will happen just when we are going to a wedding or something, too.

Check out what I think are the best face washes for women over 50

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Moisturize!

Of course this is one of the most important things we can proactively do to benefit our skin. Once again, we all know this but many of us neglect to regularly moisturize. It is so important. I can’t  say this enough. The easiest way to keep our skin as healthy as possible for as long as possible is to moisturize it regularly. It really is that simple. Some moisturizers are better than others, especially if your skin is oily or dry. But, any moisturizer is better than no moisturizer so I highly recommend this becomes routine. What I do is keep moisturizers everywhere. In the bedroom. In the bathroom. In my car. In my purse. Etc Etc. The easier it is to do the more likely we will do it. Moisturize!

I’ve also written about what I think are the best skin are products for women over 50, including moisturizers.

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My Recommended Skin Care Routine For Women Over 50

I’ll now take you through what I think a typical day of skin care for a woman in her 50s should involve:

In The Morning

• Cleanse – When you get up, wash your face with a good quality face wash/cleanser to remove any unwanted build up that may have accumulated during the night. If you can make this activity part of your routine (like brushing your teeth) then you’re off to a good start.
• Moisturize – Once your face is clean, apply a good moisturizer.

If you can make these 2 things automatically the first things you do each day you can then enjoy your morning tea/coffee/breakfast knowing that your skin is as healthy as it can be.

During The Day

• Cleanse – Any time your face gets dirty/sweaty/oily, clean it! It may be a pain but if you’re careful you can do this without removing your eye makeup. But redoing your makeup is surely better than a breakout! If you can make this routine (like washing your hands) then it should be easy.
• Moisturize – Before your face becomes dry, moisturize it!
• Stay Hydrated
• Be careful Of The Sun

At Night

• Cleanse –  Cleansing your face before bed is really important. You need to wash off all your makeup, dirt/oil buildup from the day or any cooking you may have done etc before you go to bed. Very important!
• Moisturize –  Once again, moisturize. Whenever you wash your face you must moisturize it afterwards so that your skin doesn’t dry out.
• Serums/Anti-aging creams – Night time, before you go to bed is the best time to apply anti-aging serums and other anti aging products such as skin tightening creams.

Routine, Routine, Routine

So as I said, I believe the best way to look after your skin is to make a good skin care routine a daily habit. The more automatic you can make these things the easier it will be for you to consistently do them. The more you consistently do these things the better off your skin will be. The better the health and appearance of your skin the better you will feel. The better you feel about yourself the happier you and everyone around you will be. Happily Ever After!

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