The Skinny on Skin
Your grandmother probably told you that what goes in your body will eventually show up on the outside of your body and she was right! Who knew!? Our bodies are like fine tuned racing cars. If we put bad gasoline or engine oil into the car, the car will revolt and not function as it should. Eating a diet high in fats, dense calories, processed foods and foods whose main ingredient is the oil it was cooked in, will all take a toll on your skin and not allow it to function as it should. Not taking care of your skin from the outside does the same thing. When we're younger, the natural estrogen in our bodies helps to keep the skin supple and smooth, and can help combat the bad diet and care fallout, helping us to look good.
But then menopause hits and all bets are off.
With the loss of estrogen and collagen, we loose that natural tendency to be able to fight off and counterattack the bad stuff we are putting in our bodies. So we have to be proactive, and in some cases - attack - the damage that could be brought forth. You wouldn't put regular low grade gasoline in a Ferrari. If you did, the engine wouldn't perform effectively. The same holds true for our bodies. If you put junk in, you get junk out and the first place it shows is on your facial skin.
This is the first in a line of blogs where I'm going to talk about skin care, because its a subject near and dear to me, plus there is so much information to impart about menopause and skin. There are a lot of ways to protect, heal, and even rejuvenate your skin during this time and I want to explore as many as I can.
Today we start from the outside: Skin care.
If you're currently peri-menopausal or in full blown menopause, you were raised anywhere between the 1950's until the 1970's. Remembering back to that time for a second, we hadn't heard of free radicals, anti-oxidants, or SPF. I, along with every girl who was my contemporary, worshiped the sun.
And I mean WORSHIPED.
Any day, any opportunity I had, I was outside sunbathing. Or in reality, destroying my skin. Slathered-on Baby Oil and sun reflectors were the accoutrement d'jour. The more I could smell my skin frying, the healthier I knew I would look. Never mind that I had to burn to a subtle crisp prior to the tan revealing itself once the peeling was done. I knew I looked better with a tan. Everyone does. In college, my dorm girls and I would sneak up to the roof and cop some rays between classes. There's nothing that says healthy skin more than smelling burning asphalt all around you and knowing your skin is getting the same intensity from the rays! There was no such thing as sun lotion with SPF. We were San Tropez Oil girls all the way. If you touched us, you came away feeling like you'd put your hand inside an oil slick. It never once dawned on us that we were doing any damage to our skin that we would pay for later in life. In our ignorance, we figured once the burned skin flaked and peeled away and the tan was revealed, we were fine.
Ah, the stupidity of youth.
Fast forward thirty years and I'm now paying the piper for that stupidity. A couple bouts with skin cancer and a face lined like a pleated skirt have taught me full force the error of my younger days. I've read some studies that posit up to 80% of a person's sun damage occurs prior to the age of 18. And the more sunburns you had during those years, the greater your chance of skin cancer and melanomas occurring later in life, in addition to prematurely aging the skin.
Protection Protection Protection.
No matter what age you are, start using a moisturizer with an SPF of 15 or more everyday, even in the winter months. I actually advocate a higher SPF for myself, but the standard from most Derm Docs seems to be that 15 is fine. And be liberal with it. Arms, legs, feet, face, tips of the ears and even hands. There are a plethora of products on the market now and sometimes it's just trial and error which one works best for you and your economic status. You don't need $100.00 body lotion from a kiosk in the beauty department of a major retail store - unless you want it! Drugstores and Target are just fine. If you are out in the sun exercising, gardening, whatever, make sure your reapply. Sweating, swimming and normal evaporation won't keep the product intact and working for 18 hours straight. And make sure you moisturize at night as well. Obviously you don't need an SPF formula while you are sleeping, unless you sleep during the day on the beach! But You do need a super hydrating cream that goes to work while you are resting. And slather it on. Protect the skin around your eyes with a good, emollient eye cream. Don't rub it in - that won't help it absorb better, it will just make more wrinkles from stretching the skin. Dab it on lightly and fully. I'm a big advocate for Chapstick too. In fact, I'm addicted to the stuff. If the skin around your mouth, and your lips themselves are dry, that will show itself in lines and wrinkles embedded into the skin.
Before moisturizing, always cleanse first. You need to avoid products that contain alcohol and harsh soaps, both of which can actually dry the skin and cause it to look worse that it actually is. Cleansing is about removing the junk that got into your pores and lodged on top of your skin during the day, so removing makeup first would be wise. Again, a non-drying, non-alcohol formula works best. Your pores tend to get a little larger and more noticable during menopause.I didn't even think I had pores until three years ago! Cleaning them well will prevent them from clogging and showing more damage. And my personal pet peeve about makeup - don't use water proof mascara or any kind of eye makeup that won't come off with something other than warm water or cold cream. If you need a sandblaster to get the mascara off, don't use that mascara. Opt for another, gentler formula. Too many chemicals near the delicate skin of the eye and eye lid region can actually do damage to the skin that no amount or wrinkle cream will correct. And all those chemicals aren't good if they seep into your eyes either, as you know they usually do.
STOP SMOKING STOP SMOKING STOP SMOKING STOP SMOKING STOP SMOKING.
Do I need to say more than that?
Wear a hat or a visor when outdoors. I'm a product of the Princess Diana 1980's. I LOVE hats and head wear. And I wear them. Religiously. Practically every photo of me taken outside in the past five years has a hat proudly displayed. Most women don't like to wear hats because they don't want hat hair. Well I can comb my hair if it gets messy from wearing a hat. I can't erase the wrinkles that come with sun damage if I don't wear one. If you don't want to wear a hat to block the sun's rays then at least wear sunglasses. Squinting can do more damage to the already thin skin around your eyes than anything else. And you will squint in the sun whether your eyes are dark or light.
More on skin care, makeup, and lots of other skin related topics to follow...
But then menopause hits and all bets are off.
With the loss of estrogen and collagen, we loose that natural tendency to be able to fight off and counterattack the bad stuff we are putting in our bodies. So we have to be proactive, and in some cases - attack - the damage that could be brought forth. You wouldn't put regular low grade gasoline in a Ferrari. If you did, the engine wouldn't perform effectively. The same holds true for our bodies. If you put junk in, you get junk out and the first place it shows is on your facial skin.
This is the first in a line of blogs where I'm going to talk about skin care, because its a subject near and dear to me, plus there is so much information to impart about menopause and skin. There are a lot of ways to protect, heal, and even rejuvenate your skin during this time and I want to explore as many as I can.
Today we start from the outside: Skin care.
If you're currently peri-menopausal or in full blown menopause, you were raised anywhere between the 1950's until the 1970's. Remembering back to that time for a second, we hadn't heard of free radicals, anti-oxidants, or SPF. I, along with every girl who was my contemporary, worshiped the sun.
And I mean WORSHIPED.
Any day, any opportunity I had, I was outside sunbathing. Or in reality, destroying my skin. Slathered-on Baby Oil and sun reflectors were the accoutrement d'jour. The more I could smell my skin frying, the healthier I knew I would look. Never mind that I had to burn to a subtle crisp prior to the tan revealing itself once the peeling was done. I knew I looked better with a tan. Everyone does. In college, my dorm girls and I would sneak up to the roof and cop some rays between classes. There's nothing that says healthy skin more than smelling burning asphalt all around you and knowing your skin is getting the same intensity from the rays! There was no such thing as sun lotion with SPF. We were San Tropez Oil girls all the way. If you touched us, you came away feeling like you'd put your hand inside an oil slick. It never once dawned on us that we were doing any damage to our skin that we would pay for later in life. In our ignorance, we figured once the burned skin flaked and peeled away and the tan was revealed, we were fine.
Ah, the stupidity of youth.
Fast forward thirty years and I'm now paying the piper for that stupidity. A couple bouts with skin cancer and a face lined like a pleated skirt have taught me full force the error of my younger days. I've read some studies that posit up to 80% of a person's sun damage occurs prior to the age of 18. And the more sunburns you had during those years, the greater your chance of skin cancer and melanomas occurring later in life, in addition to prematurely aging the skin.
Protection Protection Protection.
No matter what age you are, start using a moisturizer with an SPF of 15 or more everyday, even in the winter months. I actually advocate a higher SPF for myself, but the standard from most Derm Docs seems to be that 15 is fine. And be liberal with it. Arms, legs, feet, face, tips of the ears and even hands. There are a plethora of products on the market now and sometimes it's just trial and error which one works best for you and your economic status. You don't need $100.00 body lotion from a kiosk in the beauty department of a major retail store - unless you want it! Drugstores and Target are just fine. If you are out in the sun exercising, gardening, whatever, make sure your reapply. Sweating, swimming and normal evaporation won't keep the product intact and working for 18 hours straight. And make sure you moisturize at night as well. Obviously you don't need an SPF formula while you are sleeping, unless you sleep during the day on the beach! But You do need a super hydrating cream that goes to work while you are resting. And slather it on. Protect the skin around your eyes with a good, emollient eye cream. Don't rub it in - that won't help it absorb better, it will just make more wrinkles from stretching the skin. Dab it on lightly and fully. I'm a big advocate for Chapstick too. In fact, I'm addicted to the stuff. If the skin around your mouth, and your lips themselves are dry, that will show itself in lines and wrinkles embedded into the skin.
Before moisturizing, always cleanse first. You need to avoid products that contain alcohol and harsh soaps, both of which can actually dry the skin and cause it to look worse that it actually is. Cleansing is about removing the junk that got into your pores and lodged on top of your skin during the day, so removing makeup first would be wise. Again, a non-drying, non-alcohol formula works best. Your pores tend to get a little larger and more noticable during menopause.I didn't even think I had pores until three years ago! Cleaning them well will prevent them from clogging and showing more damage. And my personal pet peeve about makeup - don't use water proof mascara or any kind of eye makeup that won't come off with something other than warm water or cold cream. If you need a sandblaster to get the mascara off, don't use that mascara. Opt for another, gentler formula. Too many chemicals near the delicate skin of the eye and eye lid region can actually do damage to the skin that no amount or wrinkle cream will correct. And all those chemicals aren't good if they seep into your eyes either, as you know they usually do.
STOP SMOKING STOP SMOKING STOP SMOKING STOP SMOKING STOP SMOKING.
Do I need to say more than that?
Wear a hat or a visor when outdoors. I'm a product of the Princess Diana 1980's. I LOVE hats and head wear. And I wear them. Religiously. Practically every photo of me taken outside in the past five years has a hat proudly displayed. Most women don't like to wear hats because they don't want hat hair. Well I can comb my hair if it gets messy from wearing a hat. I can't erase the wrinkles that come with sun damage if I don't wear one. If you don't want to wear a hat to block the sun's rays then at least wear sunglasses. Squinting can do more damage to the already thin skin around your eyes than anything else. And you will squint in the sun whether your eyes are dark or light.
More on skin care, makeup, and lots of other skin related topics to follow...
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