Are you wearing well?

[ShouldHaveListenedInBiology]

As in, ageing. I am 39, I’m lucky enough to have decent skin and as long as I moisturise well I feel like, facially, I’m doing ok. I use an Alpha H SPF 50 and that does wonders for me. But I took a selfie with a friend a few weeks back and my god - my neck looked like it belonged to a 90 year old woman. So I dug out some Dr Ceuticals neck and chest stuff and have been applying that religiously and I think I have seen some improvement. Tonight I was applying it and happened to glance in the mirror at my upper arm/armpit area and the crepiness has spread to there! Is this the beginning of the end? Am I destined to chase sagging wrinkly bits around my body with expensive unguents forever more? I lashed some Palmers Firming Cream on there. What next? Saggy earlobes? Elbows? And suddenly my toes have become wrinkled and sad looking 😭

Any other surprising age related disintegration I should be on the lookout for? And what do I DO about it?

First thing, don't look for it. No-one else will notice. Exercise will help, body brushing and use body oil rather than moisturiser. Apparently the biggest hit is in your 50's, and 60's. Hopefully by then I will no longer care. This is the first summer I have actually noticed anything on me, and I am mid-40s. My knees look slightly wrinkled, but no-one has said anything
tomyface

I would star using retinol from the ordinary, an antioxidant & use spf on your body.

An led face mask with a red light setting will stimulate collagen. The beauty star one is good but you can get them with a neck attachment now.

I’ve put sunblock on religiously since I was 22, face and neck, and I haven’t got any lines, wrinkly skin, discolouration or sagging.

Apparently the biggest hit is in your 50's, and 60's. Hopefully by then I will no longer care.

I'm 50 in a few years. I'm sure I'll still care. Plus my Mum is in her 70s and looks great so I don't think that is universal.

Collagen production is linked to oestrogen, so the decline starts as soon as oestrogen drops. We lose 30% of our collagen

30 years of sun, alcohol, smoking for some and sugar consumption catch up with you rapidly after that.

So ageist. I’m in my 50s and am lucky enough not to have any of those things, but it would bother me as much as it does you if I did.

The menopause had caused me to age. 44 but look much older.

I always looked young for my age so im really struggling with this rapid ageing.
I've resorted to botox.

I'm 54 and still look like I'm in my 40s. Both my grans looked way younger than their years until they hit their late 80s hopefully I'll follow suit. Unfortunately mum died in her early 40s so I'll never know how she would have aged. A lot of how you age is genetic

So ageist. I’m in my 50s and am lucky enough not to have any of those things, but it would bother me as much as it does you if I did.

Do you mean me/this thread?

Thanks for the tips, I am not really up on this stuff so they are very useful. Didn’t mean to offend anyone!

My mum has always looked young for her age but then again she has lived a lot cleaner than I have. However she is of an era when the dangers of sun damage weren’t so well known so she has always been very tanned/freckly. I try to cover up and use high SPF as much as I can but still get lots of freckles.

I have always put my face cream down my neck and onto my declotage , I'm 43 but both are fairly smooth apart from the usual age lines acrossways .

I'm 58 and look about ten years younger. I avoid sun and have never smoked. Not genetic...my mum looked old at 40.
So my face looks youthful but my legs and arms don't.....I just keep them covered.

I don't think asking a question is ageist. All things considered, yes I think I'm wearing reasonably well. I have days when I look in the mirror and think 'What the fuck?' but I was doing that at 18 too.

It was fairly minor stuff until I hit the menopause but it's been accelerating ever since. I am at the idea that you stop caring. I didn't suddenly turn all zen at 60. I'm still vain.

Just look after yourself is my main advice. Standard boring stuff: don't smoke, don't sunbathe, use a sunscreen, cut down on the booze, exercise, eat well. I think anything more drastic is a complete waste of time because you're not just talking about one or two symptoms, it's a tsunami.

But other stuff happens that gives you some perspective. You start going to funerals of people who were your age and you realise that, while everyone is sad, no-one is shocked. Now that really is a fucker. Maybe I am getting zen after all.

When I said stop caring, what I really think I meant was to stop caring so much about the little things. I'm pretty sure I'll still care about how I look overall as in my general appearance, can't see that ever changing. But we can't stop the inevitable aging process, and keeping ourselves healthy is the best we can do for our outward appearance, whatever decade we're in. I weight train, do yoga and run, eat clean, and treat myself kindly. One of the best things I did was leave my ex-h and his toxic comments and behaviour. I think I have very high self value now.

Yes I guess that's what my last paragraph's about really. One thing I do value about looking older is that it reminds me that time is beginning to run out (and that I really ought to stop hanging around on here so much )

I have to say, I feel pretty good about how I look, probably better than I ever did in my teens/20s/early 30s. I definitely feel more confident and self assured and Floisme puts it well, these little signs do act as a reminder and I guess also a sign of having lived. I don’t care about laughter lines because I laugh a lot.

I’ve always been sceptical of beauty products really but I definitely can see the improvement in my neck and décolletage so I will look into some of the other things mentioned here.

I actually thing the biggest hit is mid
40s. 39, fine, 40, fine. 41 started going downhill and noticing more age-related stuff.
Retinol, high SPF helps but damage may already be done.

A year again I said I'd never have Botox.... At 42 just had a bit between the brows and on crows feet and it looks great. Very natural. Also had laser facials to stimulate collagen and help with sun damage. Good skincare (vitamin c, acids etc) will also help.

Basically you need to keep upping your game and even then just to look your age!! Sigh.

A year ago not again

Basically you need to keep upping your game and even then just to look your age!! Sigh

I know. It’s BULLSHIT, isn’t it. In the words of Caitlin Moran ‘are the men worrying about this?’ NO. I have recently got very cross about how we are told from teens and onwards that we just don’t look good enough, and are obliged to spend our (smaller) wages on products to make us look acceptable. I wear hardly any make up now at all, have cut my hair very short and feel good despite or perhaps because of this. But it’s so entrenched in us that I can’t quite shake off the feeling that I should be doing something about how I’m ageing. But i suspect that is a different thread altogether...

I think the most beautiful older people I know, look like they embrace or don't care about it.
My anti aging routine consists of colouring my hair every few weeks. Moisturizing and wearing makeup.

Until I was 35 I looked 20 or less and I was asked for ID everywhere I went. Then pregnancy, childbirth and 11 years of being a parent happened. Now I'm 46 and I think I look 40. Some people guess my age at 30 to 35, but I think they're being kind.

Everyone says don't drink, don't smoke, eat healthily. But I think the things that age you most are stress, work and children.

Men don’t have a significant drop in testosterone though so they don’t age literally overnight & they have lovely thick skins as opposed to our thinner, softer skins.

Everyone says don't drink, don't smoke, eat healthily. But I think the things that age you most are stress, work and children.

That's a good point - and I would add that poverty is probably the most ageing thing of all. But I think drinking, smoking etc are the things that you have a degree of control over.

I’m coming up 55, and yes it’s true there’s a big hit to your looks in your 50s. I care a lot about it, much more than I thought I would and I’m ashamed of myself for being so vain.

I’m 54 and feel ok about my looks
Told I look younger
I don’t wear make up and keep my face out of the sun or use face protector
My extra weight means I’ve not got much in the way of wrinkles
Bits I am struggling with are awful bingo wings - not helped by having lost 4.5 stone
I also despair of my hair - it’s wavy rather than curly - I do my own version of curly girl which always worked but with age my hair is so dry and prone to frizz - also not grey enough to embrace it but too much grey and in patches not to colour it
I have cut n root touch up every 6 weeks - don’t like it much for first 2 then it softens into my usual style then last 2 weeks the roots start to show