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?

@GrumpyHoonMain google vaginal atrophy and you'll find out

Yes also feel like this! I spend £1000 year on testosterone specifically formulated for women that has to be imported and consultations, in order to supplement HRT- makes a difference in various ways. Not available on the NHS at all , even for women with issues its recommended for clinically by NICE, despite men being able to get testosterone gel formulated for them,.
I forgo expensive things and going away to be able to afford it.
So I think its difficult not being able to afford things as you age that are cosmetic, but really annoyed that medically women can't access something that actually is pretty cheap to make even to at least try and see if it makes a difference to physical health.

I only get my hair cut 1 or 2 x a year as discovered hair pieces have a multitude of benefits- lots of people are surprised it's not my real hair (although one piece did fall of next to a lady who thought it was a rat!.)

For anyone with vaginal atrophy look on menopause matters website,lots of good information on there

If anyone is interested in what does work for me, here’s the list (if I’m going down I’m taking someone with me )
TO Argeriline serum. - this absolutely reduces my crows feet and 11 lines (I sometimes have to stop due to OOS and when I stop, the lines come back - it’s like topical Botox)
TO L ascorbic acid powder - firms my skin and makes it “bouncy” has retexturised acne onion peel skin and faded hyperpigmentation - I mix it in to my SPF
Volufiline oil - plumps up my eye hollows/tear troughs and NL folds
Prai neck and throat cream - decreases and smooths chest
Collagen powder (in bulletproof coffee) makes hair and nails thicker/stronger and most importantly takes my knee pain clean away.
Etude house Airy SPF 50 - zero shine or white cast
Magnesium citrate - helps me sleep and keep bowels open (TMI)
Ashwagandha. - calms any anxiety ( remarkable supplement / if I forget it in the morning, I can absolutely tell)
Panax Ginseng - can bounce around like Tigger on this!
DIM - has cured acne and hot flushes
Soolantra - has cured rosacea
Vagisil prohydrate - enables me to have pain free enjoyable sex
Smoky Mountain Progesterone cream - helping with libido

Those are the absolute game changers - not snake oil for me. I obviously use a lot more skincare products than this ( cleanser/acid/moisturiser) but I feel like these could be interchangeable, not gamechangers.

I have been following the thread and just wanted to say that I have been prescribed testosterone (testogel) by my GP on an NHS prescription and have been using it for a couple of years now. I also use oestrogel, a progesterone pill (proverà) and an oestrogen pessary that I use twice a week. I asked for the testosterone to help with libido and energy (it really does work) and my GP just went ahead and prescribed it with no apparent issues at all. I apply a small pump every other day.

Gosh I had no idea testosterone was that expensive - one of my friends sees Louise Newson and she does mention some shocking bills.

My hair is cheap really - I go for highlights and a cut 2-3 x year - the rest of the year I dye my own roots with Wella Koleston. I do curly girl so no shampoo and I use Garnier Aloe conditioner. My drying product is Trepadora Papaya slip which is expensive but gives me amazing curls so is worth it.

@GrumpyHoonMain

Spf 100 on the face and neck and hands everyday does help combat the signs of ageing. Drinking lots of water. Why do you need vaginal moisteriser?

Choose your SPF really carefully. The FDA recently updated their guidelines on some of the common ingredients found in sunscreens. There are a list of the ingredients they found to be unsafe and also some they are concerned about.

www.fda.gov/media/124654/download

I am early 50s and just brush my teeth, wash my hair, take a cheap multi vitamin, clean face cloth and water for face and I have a clarins moisturiser (Christmas present from my sister). I come from a family of women who don’t really bother with the beauty industry. My teenage daughter is going the same way. We die laughing at the perfume ads for men and women. Having said that I don’t think we look as well groomed/chic as my friends who put more effort in. There is probably a middle ground someone is nailing .

I save some money dyeing my own hair, eyebrows and eyelashes at home.
My clothes are bought on sale usually. Make up is usually something from Boots.
I use soap in the shower.

I spend money getting laser facial rejuvenation (takes down redness and pigmentation, which are ageing). I take Vitamin D, pine bark extract, Ashwagandha and magnesium spray.
I go to group personal training
I buy French pharmacy brands, like Avene, Uriage or Clarins (when on sale) as my skin is more sensitive now.
I plan on getting fillers at some point.
When I get to that point, I will 100% go on HRT.

It’s interesting so many people are taking Ashwagandha. I’d never heard of it before my HRT doc recommended it for sleep issues.

Yes I dye my eyebrows too.
I don’t go to get nails/ facials/ hair management stuff done - just do it myself at home. I used to get RF facials but I bought a DIY tool last year that does it just as well from home.

What tool did you get OP?

Dermawand - I use it for 2-3 minutes most mornings - really keeps jowls at bay.

I’m starting to notice my jowls now so I think that horse may have bolted but I’ll take a look at it 👌

I'm 54.
Any cleanser I like, sometimes it's Elemis, sometimes it's Superdrug. As Nadine Baggott says "why spend on something that sits on your face for 30 seconds then goes down the plughole"
Serum- this is probably where I spend a bit more as I hate every product ever made that I've tried by The Ordinary and like some skincare "gurus" am unconvinced that if I buy 6 long name serums at a fiver each but containing one ingredient I'm going to look better than if I use one £30 serum containing all of the ingredients. I use a Vit C (Vichy) and then a general anti ageing one. N7 take some beating.
Moisturise. Anything with emollients, peptides, glycerine etc. Love L'Occitane divine at £70 a pot. Does it make my skin any better than the Olay night cream at £24? You know the answer right?

Sunscreen- Frezyderm SPF 50 and primer in one.

I have always used Astral on my neck. Had a sample of Prai. Highly perfumed, made me itchy. But, whatever you want to spend on is fine. I don't buy shoes for example, so every do often I buy Divine.

Makeup
Dior mascara- needs one coat as opposed to everyone else's 4. Yes it costs, but it lasts almost a year.

Clinique Quickliner- often on BOGOF directly from Clinique.

Am a whore when it comes to foundation but current Holy Grail is N7 Hydraluminous.

Supplements. Only one every day is Vit C spray. Always in H&B penny sale.

Shampoo- Tigi ginormous bottles from Groupon. Or Macadamia litre bottles from Allbeauty.

I never had HRT. I do sometimes wonder, especially reading threads like this, if I should, but I sailed through menopause. I had periods, then I didn't.
My GP when I was about 45 said "shall we get you on HRT then?" And I was
I'd rather watch a box set than have sex tbh, but I do have a cream for when I do.
I might see what she says about HRT .

@justanotherneighinparadise
I had jowls too and they slide if I don't keep up with the Dermawand.
I also do a V shape face massage (google on Youtube - Olga, a clever Polish girl who is a whizz on K Beauty) every now and then whilst waiting for bath to fill etc.

@TheSeedsOfADream. sounds like a dream of a menopause.

I agree with you re moisturiser - any basic one is more than enkugh - it's the active serums that are important.

Some of the items in your OP, eg vaginal cream, are healthcare.

Apart from health related stuff, am of the Anita Roddick philosophy on beauty - only moisturiser makes much difference!

This thread is fascinating. I'm low maintenance, always have been. I'm 56 and all I use is moisturiser with SPF. I pretty much sailed through the menopause and haven't felt the need for HRT other than Vagifem, which is an oestrogen replacement pessary. I also take vitamin D and other vitamin supplements for menopausal women.

I'm 50 and I'm told I look a lot younger.

Once a month I have an eyebrow and upper lip wax

Get my hair dyed at a salon every 4 weeks and cut and dyed every 8 weeks

Use lots of Simple moisturiser and L'Oréal eye cream twice a day

Use a simple face mask every now and then

So I spend about no more than £100 on all of that a month

I very rarely buy new makeup except mascara and very rarely have my nails done.

I buy vitamins with iron from the supermarket or chemist

I’m 51, and use different products now I’m older, but not necessarily a greater number of items. I swear by Clarins Double Serum, and now use a bb cream/tinted moisturiser instead of foundation. I find that sleep, water and exercise are my best friends these days!

It’s not a level playing field at any age. There are women who spend twenty years dealing with acne whilst others have no idea. Others who feel self conscious about one thing or another, or lots of things. If you are a natural beauty, or have lovely toned skin, or perfect bone structure, or hair that goes a nice grey, or basically just good genes, you are going to come at this from a different perspective. I agree with the OP that if you know these things can really improve your health, appearance and well being (or just help you tread water) you will want to use them and it takes more and more to hold back time. There’s no way putting on SPF and drinking water will cut it for me, but it never did.

There’s a separate issue as to why women often feel better when they improve their appearance and why that is. It’s a lot to do with our sexist, youth obsessed society which puts so much emphasis on women as fertile beings and doesn’t entirely know what to do with them once that phase has passed. In an ideal world we wouldn’t be so interested in our appearances - we are clearly so much more than that - but it’s not easy. All we can do as women is try not to judge each other’s choices.

@JMAngel1

Dermawand - I use it for 2-3 minutes most mornings - really keeps jowls at bay.

In Korea jade rollers are used with exercises. You can get one for £10-15 and they are probably more effective as you combine with exercise