Getting older is getting very expensive!

[JMAngel1]

Anyone else feel like this?
I’ve always been high maintenance since my teens but in the last year or so, the list of what I need to keep me looking well presented and feeling “normal” seems to be getting longer.

This morning I’ve just placed orders for what I now consider essentials - plumping serum, vaginal moisturiser, hair dye, neck and chest cream, hair styling cream, 4 different supplements and progesterone cream. I’m 48 and my budget seems to be going more and more on these types of products and there is less and less for clothes and pretty things like make up.

At this age I thought I would be shopping at Jaegar and John Lewis and buying Bobbi Brown or Charlotte Tilbury. Instead I have to buy from eBay and Primark and most of my makeup is MUA or NYX.
Anyone else feel like this?

PS. It also helps with vaginal dryness, so you could bin that cost too.

I've always been fairly high maintenance in terms of makeup and clothes and I don't think that's changed.

I use Garnier Lazer Renew on my face. My neck looks much older so I use it there now as well. I think it works (no bullshit). .

I don't get the love of Praia - it flakes off on me. Otherwise it's business as usual - full slap apart from nail varnish, which I used to do everyday.

I'm post menopausal now so embracing the joys of thinning hair for which I take bio-something vits.

Keeping slim (ish) and active (ish) is the hardest part for me.

laser

Misses point but vaginal moisturiser - is it to keep it looking young?

@wizzbangfizz I have some and it's for atrophy.

I am in my 50s and I’m really not convinced any of it works. I have had periods where I take lots of vitamins or I have tried expensive beauty products and I can’t say anything makes a difference, nothing I can see or feel anyway.

you don't need any of that stuff though.

I buy:

shampoo and conditioner
toothpaste and mouthwash
soap
deodorant
and some perfume

job done. Anything else is luxuries which are unnecessary.

wizzbangfizz vaginal dryness is one of the joys of menopause. (Oestrogen gel sorts it out though).

I'm in my 50s and don't think there are any products that can stop the aging process.

My beauty routine is simple; drink plenty of water, moisturise your skin and always remove your makeup before you go to bed. I have a facial about twice a year.

Nothing I use is expensive. I swap around and use whatever is on offer in Boots. Most of the creams I use are the ones you get free when there's a make-up offer on. I don't look my age and am often complimented on my skin.

I'm sure you could swap out the products you use for cheaper ones which work just as well. You sound like you've been sucked into thinking you need all these lotions and potions - you really don't, especially if you can't really afford it.

Drop the big routine, use cheaper products for a simpler routine and spend your money on the clothes you want to wear.

I'm 50. I don't use any of that stuff.

My essentials are currently:
Day - a serum from Revolution
Night - squalane oil from The Ordinary
Clarins hand cream
Frizz Ease shampoo and conditioner and Secret Agent

@Maireas

I'm 60 and use baby wash in the shower, Aussie miracle shampoo, and E45 as moisturiser. That's it. Oh spf cream in the summer. I am far lower maintenance than I was at 30, and believed snake oil claims. Try to eat well, exercise, relax, read a good book, have a laugh, embrace your age. I love being older, less pressure.

I'm 65 and agree with this. A varied diet, quality sleep and lots of relaxation works wonders!

I love the freedom from expectations of others now!

I spend loads more on underwear though

Dental floss is probably more important than any of the other stuff.

I agree.

My essentials are:

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer
Bobbi Brown Beauty Collagen Powder
Botox
Olaplex Shampoo and Condtioner
Magnesium supplements
Vitamin D
CBD oil
Trinny London BFF Cream
Protect and Perfect Eye Serum
Beauty Pie Retinol
Eyelash dye
Eve Lom/Cetaphil cleanser (depending on where I am in my cycle)
Frizz Ease serum

The above list takes me from Scarecrow Troll to Human, before I even start on the niceties.

Oh, I forgot Crest Whitening Strips.

@JMAngel1 I know this totally wasn't what you asked but I see you have written you want to stave off going on to HRT. I see HRT as a beauty treatment in itself 😂 I started getting peri menopausal symptoms at 43 and was most worried about my skin and wrinkles. We have oestrogen receptors on our skin and once our body's production of oestrogen drops our skin laxity falls off a cliff! I went on HRT as fast as I could to keep my facial skin plump and fresh and I would say it works (not very scientific I know).
If we had a deficiency in insulin production or thyroid hormone we would take medicines to replace this, so why not oestrogen hormone?
At the very least you could get oestrogen vaginal gel on prescription from your GP which would be cheaper than buying synthetic marginal lubricants. This works locally with no systemic side effects at all.
Ok I'll leave now 😂

Bit more low maintenance here TBH! Use Body Shop moisturiser ,some hair colour and perfumed bath gel as well . Some oil free powder and blusher and my fave perfume!

Lunanorth Do you take the magnesium and CBD oil for helping with sleep? Can I ask if it helps and which brand do you use?

@JMAngel1 Can’t you just go on HRT?.

I’m going on it as soon as I need to.

Can I ask about HRT?

Isnt the point that the ageing process means oestrogen reduces forever? Why are we taking a fake version of it if it's meant to taper off? And what happens when you come off it?

It seems low maintenance people tend to fall into 3 buckets

• young
• older and on hrt
• older and were fortunate enough to escape the worst of the menopause (& think those suffering are because they don't eat well enough or aren't active enough, or don't get enough sleep - which is bloody hard when you have to take the duvet on and off 8 times a night).

I was going to say your GP will prescribe oestrogen cream. I'm going on HRT as soon as I need it.

My main thing is Tretinoin. It's a game changer.

I have been looking at Prai throat and neck cream and think I will get it.

I have always used spf and use Korean beauty brands which are vegan and purse friendly so don't consider myself high maintenance. It's important to exercise and I follow a vegan diet but that's about more than appearance for me.

@superstar63

Lunanorth Do you take the magnesium and CBD oil for helping with sleep? Can I ask if it helps and which brand do you use?

I take them for restless legs.

The magnesium is any old brand, and the CBD oil is 1000mg from Healthspan.

Along with giving up alcohol completely, these have helped enormously.

@something2say for centuries women's life expectancy was only around 45-50 so our bodies were never designed to last for so long after the menopause. It's only now with advances in healthcare women are living to their eighties. So we live longer now after the menopause than we do before.
HRT isn't really 'fake' in that sense. Modern HRT is made from yams so about as natural as it can be produced outside our bodies.
And I don't intend to stop HRT so I can't tell you what happens when we stop. I'll keep taking it until I die unless I develop a serious contra-indication to it. The advice to stop after ten years say is now not recommended by forward thinking doctors.
The old scientific studies into HRT were majorly flawed and based on the old style HRT which was produced from horses urine.
If you want to inform yourself I'd really recommend podcasts by Dr Louise Newson, a GP and menopause specialist. She's the Menopause Doctor. And Liz Earle's HRT podcasts too are great and informative. They work so hard to change the narrative on HRT that have denied millions of women life saving (I'm not exaggerating here) HRT

Really?? Thank you for that. I will do some reading yes. I tend to think nature is best, for example I came off the pill at 26 after reading Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, and really enjoyed the rise and fall of my hormones, being fertile etc. I thought menopause was just the next step and best to roll with it. I guess my main resistance to the idea is that I am denying what is normal for the sake of a patriarchal idea that I must remain young to be of value.