Anti-Aging: Follow These Tips For Younger-Looking Skin in Your 50’s

When you’re in your 50’s, hearing someone say, “You look younger than your age!” or “There’s no way you’re 50! What’s your secret?” is a compliment that somehow makes us feel good. Looking younger when you’re older is definitely a good thing – it is something to be proud of.  Especially because many women in their 50’s normally feel the daunting effects of skin aging and most of them have no idea how to turn back the clock. So what does it take to wear your age well? How can you possibly flaunt younger-looking skin in your 50’s? Check out these tips!

6 Ways to Save Your Skin in Your 50’s and Stay Fabulous

According to Los Angeles Dermatologist Jessica Wu, ’50s is a decade of collagen loss and saggy skin. That is because it’s the decade when the onset of menopause looms. Estrogen levels decline constantly, resulting in a sharp drop in collagen production. Collagen is a protein that supports skin strength and elasticity. Without sufficient levels of collagen, signs of skin aging like saggy skin, creases, fine lines, and wrinkles become evident.

Use Sun Protection

According to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, most of the skin changes that occur in aging skin are caused by the intensity of sun exposure. The sun’s UV rays cause the skin’s elastin levels to decline, leading to wrinkles and sun-induced skin aging like blotchy pigmentation and skin’s leather-like texture. To protect your skin from the sun, Mayo Clinic advised:

• Avoiding the sun during high-intensity hours, which is between 10 am to 4 pm.
• Wearing protective clothing and accessories like a hat with a wide brim.
• Applying a generous amount of sunscreen to exposed skin about 20 minutes before heading outdoors and re-applying it every 2 hours. Choose a sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher.
• Use a high-quality Vitamin C Serum at night to replenish the skin. Using this during the day will accelerate the sun burning your skin due to the acidic content of Vitamin C.

Do Not Smoke

It’s not a secret really. Smoking constricts blood vessels, resulting in a reduced amount of oxygen and nutrients that the skin cells receive. This, in turn, diminishes skin elasticity and speeds up the aging process. Mayo Clinic also suggests that repetitive facial expressions smokers do such as squinting the eyes and pursing the lips on the cigarette can cause deep lines in the face like crow’s feet and lines around the lips (smoker’s lines).

Don’t Wash Your Face Too Often

If you’ve washed your face before you went to bed, skip washing it in the morning. Instead, splash your face with cool water. According to Diane Berson, MD, a board-certified dermatologist, washing your face roughly and frequently can strip away the skin’s natural oil, leaving it dry. 

She recommended using alpha hydroxyl (AHA) facial cleanser at night. Take note that there’s no need to repeat washing your face in the morning as the acid components of the AHA cleanser act as exfoliators that can effectively remove surface oils from the pores for once-a-day cleansing. When looking for an AHA cleanser, check out the ingredients such as glycolic, lactic, citric, salicylic acid – basically, ingredients that end in “-ic”.

Moisturize Skin with Ceramides

Restoring lost lipids using a ceramide-containing moisturizer after cleansing is important to keep skin hydrated supple and smooth. Without lipids, the skin becomes rough, dry, and scaly. Other good moisturizer ingredients, hyaluronic acid, and glycerin can hold in moisture without making your skin greasy.

Use An Eye Cream

If you haven’t included eye cream in your anti-aging beauty regime, it’s time to use one. A good eye cream that can effectively target dark circles, fine lines, and crow’s feet contains collagen boosters like peptides, retinoids, or glycolic acid.

Try Collagen Supplements

When you’re shopping for a collagen supplement that can help revitalize aging, especially saggy skin, look for the hydrolyzed types I and III collagen.

If you’re fast approaching 50, your major concerns should be proper skin hydration, firming, and keeping skin discoloration or blotchiness at bay. But don’t worry! With these tips, it’s absolutely possible to win the war against aging skin and keep your skin fresh, radiant, and younger-looking in your 50’s and beyond.

LivingBetter50 is a magazine for women over 50, offering an over 50 magazine free download for women of spirit!