Can you actually be bothered with a faffy skincare routine?

[giniaone]

My SIL who is late 40's has the most beautiful skin for any age and legitimately does look many years younger than her age. Her skincare routine is a bit of a faff and she apparently breaks her face down into zones and treats them all accordingly so eye area, nose, chin, cheeks, forehead, neck and so on and that this often means applying different products to different areas of the face so one product might be used around the eye area and mouth, another is then used only on the nose, one on the eye lashes, then something else will be used all over the face and then another localised treatment will be applied and she always wears a very high ultra spf which she reapplies during the day often repeatedly.

She doesn't have a routine as such but looks at her face each time she does her skincare and "assesses" what she needs and there are also massages, facial exercises, led masks, double cleansing at night.

It obviously all pays off because as I say her skin is amazing but it just all seems like an incredible faff to me. I think I am doing well if I stick to a cleanse and moisturise routine and I am often just wash my face in the shower which is a big no no to her as she says the water you shower with is usually to hope for your facial skin. I'd like the results she gets but I just cannot imagine committing to 30+ minutes to do my skincare twice a day!

I would say the majority of women are like me take their make up off, cleanse, slap a moisturiser with SPF on and done, maybe try the odd serum or mask but that is it. Am I write in thinking that?

It's a great product and it's only £5 for a tin that lasts forever! Cold creams are why our nans all had soft lovely skin so I'll continue to use it, because it works. I'm not one for influencers though, shiny packaging doesn't work on me like it does them.

@JusWunderin What do you use for exfoliation? SIL uses an expensive glycolic acid toner and an elemis mask but I don't want to spend that much just to try it out but I do need to use something and old school scrubs are out apparently.

I have a fairly decent skincare routine but I don't know if I have seen any improvement in my skin. I think it's largely down to genetics and sun exposure.

If I could do anything different I would have been using SPF 50 from my twenties.

@vincettenoir I think that high spf is probably the number one thing and some women in their 40's and 50's were doing just that but I don't feel like it was common knowledge how important that was 20 years ago. I think I used to use a Lancôme cream with an SPF of 6 back in the day! No sure how much good that was doing me.

No. Wash with warm water in the morning. Lush Coalface and flannel in the evening.
Moisturise with either lush Shangri-la, blue pot Nivea or eight hour cream.
Sunblock in high summer.

Yes @giniaone I wasn't really aware of the importance of sun protection when I was younger. It sounds like the younger generation are, which I guess is a good thing.

glycolic acid is a pretty cheap ingredient and most skincare ranges include it these days. Superdrug have gycolic acids in their Naturally Radiant range.

https://www.superdrug.com/skin/face-skin-care/cleansers/face-toner/superdrug-naturally-radiant-glycolic-tonic-5-300ml/p/779938

I’m 43 and not sure what age I look, but people do comment positively on my skin. I have never had a skin care routine. I wash with water in the shower. I don’t wear foundation every day, but I never wash my face at night 😱.

Life is too short. I’ll be dead soon enough and don’t think I’ll wish I’d spent more time on moisturiser on my death bed.

@ScubaDivingSpiderMonkey Thanks that looks like a good option to try it out!

I've had a skincare routine since I was 14, it's varied in complexity and price range over the years but at almost 55 I have no lines or wrinkles on my face. For the last couple of years I've suffered from horrendous menopausal acne and really pared down my routine, I'm using Boots Ingredients range Retinol products and my skin is lovely and clear atm.
I don't see skincare as a faff, I do it as part of my bedtime routine and it's no more faffy than brushing my teeth.

I think good skin is down to two factors - genes and sun exposure.
I will be 70 this summer and I have virtually no lines or crow's feet. People are always asking me about my skin care regime and my answer is that I have used a cheap moisturiser every day since I was 18 and that I use sun cream on my face in the summer. I take after my maternal grandmother and my mother's sister both of whom were virtually unlined when they died (aged 90 in my aunt's case). So I think my unlined skin is largely genetic.
My 95 year old mother on the other hand has always had very different skin from her sister and mother - different texture. She is heavily lined (although still beautiful) and has been since her early 40s. I think this is partly her skin type and partly that she has always lived a very outdoor lifestyle with lots of sport and gardening.
So by all means spend time and money on skincare if you enjoy doing so, but I don't think it makes a lot of difference myself
Oh and don't smoke. Neither I nor my female relatives ever have but friends my own age who are smokers or ex smokers are definitely more lined than those who have never smoked.

I’m lucky with my skin, it runs in the family (coming from Scotland also reduces sun damage).

But I really can’t be bothered with skincare that takes more than a few minutes or costs a fortune. There just aren’t enough hours in the day or pounds in my pocket.

My younger friends are all over the latest brands, I’d rather spend my cash on my hobbies!

One other thing - a GP friend told me she is seeing a lot of middle aged and older women suddenly developing rosacea after a lifetime of clear skin. She puts this down to the use of skincare products containing acids and other ingredients that can be irritants if used over several years. She only uses a simple cheap moisturiser herself as a result.

I agree that most women don't want to/have time to do 30+ mins of skincare a day. I would say I have a faffy skincare routine compared to many and I just shove it all on my face as fast as possible 😂. It sounds like it's definitely working for her though, although I can't imagine how much she must spend if she uses expensive products!
I feel like maybe the next few generations will have amazing skin because they have access to way more information than previous generations because of the internet. E.g. as a teenager I had no idea what to put on acne and thought SPF was just for holidays abroad. Whereas now you can get loads of info through Google, buy good products for cheap from brands like The Inkey List and get them asap through Amazon

I have a skincare routine and have always looked after my skin

But does sound like a faff

I am 49 and spend a lot of my time, money and energy on my skincare routine. I use Korean skincare which involves layering serums, toners, essences and creams onto skin and really does make it glow. I use tretinoin at night and just apply a thick moisturiser after this and use all my moisturising products in the morning. I love it and see it as a bit of me time.

The thing is ageing will inevitably catch up with her eventually and she'll probably take it harder than most because of how invested she is.

I look after my health, cleanse, tone and moisture and do a weekly face mask. I'm
Not prepared to care much more beyond that! Would rather save my money.

Same- nivea cream and soap and water. So many products available, even if I had the inclination to do it I don't have the budget.

Happy to look my age- not worried about looking young. Nothing wrong with getting old- it's a privilege denied to many.

I don't have a skincare routine. I just wash my face and slap on a bit of E45 if it feels a bit dry! I think my skin looks ok for 53 🤷‍♀️ my mum never did anything to hers either except a bit of astral/nivea cream after washing and she still has lovely skin at 82! I think it's just a matter of luck and genetics to be honest!

@bakewellbride Perhaps but she may well look amazing at 60 and 70 and far younger than her years still, I don't know. I think probably HRT makes a difference at that point and that is something I am intending to do. Also something like 70% + of facial aging is down to UV exposure so if you have been using a high factor spf all your life then you are going to potentially be in 70% better shape than people who never bothered. I have been using SPF in my daily moisturiser for a few years now and while it helps I have now learnt that what is in moisturiser and make up isn't nearly enough to protect your skin from ageing and that potentially even applying different kinds of sunscreen say the one in your moisturiser and the one in your foundation can actually lessen the amount of sun protection you get. Previously I'd always thought well there is 20 in my face cream and 15 in my foundation so I have spf 35, but it doesn't work like that.

I couldn't be faffed with a detailed skin care routine, there are many other ways I prefer to spend my time. That means I am wrinkly, but I really don't care . At least, I don't care enough to do much about it, apart from try and remember sun block.

The thing is, neither you nor her know how much difference ALL the faffy things have made long term. If she has good genes, eats reasonably, doesn’t smoke and long term has used SPF that may well be doing pretty much all the heavy lifting with the rest marginal short term gains.

I will be a similar age to your SIL and the real divergence I see in skin tone in women I’ve known long term is between those who smoked long term and spent a lot of time in the sun versus those did neither.

I've always looked older for my age and now I'm 41 - and only just got my rosacea under control - I do have a routine but I'm not deluded enough to think it's anything other than maintenance.

I use a fair few products - two different face washes (am and pm); toner, moisturiser, retinol, sunscreen, scrub occasionally. But my skin is sensitive and so when I find a combo, I stick to it else my skin will let me know it's not happy.

These types of threads always bring out the "I just use water and I'm fine" which is not to disparage those people - I'm genuinely glad for you that your skin doesn't require babying. But those of us with adult acne or rosacea or any other skin issue might need more than that.

Remember that most men have a minimal skin care regime and their skin does not usually look bad.

My skin care regime is all about counteracting dry skin so a simple cleaner, often with just water, hyaluronic acid serum and moisturiser plus sunscreen if I'm going outdoors. Nights are the same but I use tretinoin most nights.