Help! My face is collapsing…

[DollyPinkDaydream]

…what should I do?

lighthearted, but whilst have always taken a keen interest in my appearance I’ve been lucky enough to never really need make up (not a stunner by any means, but have reasonably good genes meaning a bit of vaseline for lip gloss and eyeliner rendered me passable). However, recent photos of me at parties have been horrifying!

i’m late forties, combination skin (but now leaning towards dry) and a runner (which I have read is terrible for making you jowl-y). Also still love a good dance and drink into the wee small hours, which doesn’t help either my skin, or my paranoia that I am starting to stand out as an old hag! Have watched a load of tik toks and you tube vids on contouring for the more mature woman and have had a bash with some sticks and powders, but it seems to makes all my lines worse.

Final point I suppose is that I am pretty time poor so don’t have hours every morning to put on a full face of slap…I really need a slick 10-15 minutes routine tops if possible!

Not averse to a spot of chemical enhancement, but would prefer not to if possibly. What can I do to help my look as young as I still feel? All advice and product recommendations welcomed please 🙏

Yes! This!! I have a elderly relative who says this all the time followed by 'there are no wrinkles in a balloon' 😆

Retinol really doesn't help with sagging, unfortunately. I use tret religiously. I have great skin and hardly any lines/wrinkles but the jowls are horrific. I'm early 50s and fully intend to have a facelift in the future as I believe this is the only thing that will fix it and I'd prefer that over fillers/botox.

Cyber security and everyone keeps doing stupid things no matter how many and different ways you tell them not to!

My make up routine is only 15 mins. I do moisturiser and spf, then loreal true match foundation, under eye concealer, loreal eyebrow pen, milk bronzer stick, revolution blush stick, a little powder to set and mascara. Then lip balm or gloss. I also use retinol at night and vitamin c moisturiser in the morning

Ha ha, no wrinkles in a balloon. Brilliant, and so bloody true when it comes to faces!

I agree with keep running and add in some strength. It's just generally good for everything and I don't think running causes jowls unless you are doing it to the extent you're getting gaunt.

Professional treatments like microneedling, profhilo and some light botox will probably give you the most bang for you time and money, but tret and good moisturiser help - it might be that the moisturiser you've been using isn't quite enough now. I assume if you're a runner you're diligent about SPF?

Also, make sure there's enough fat in your diet! That makes a huge difference.

@pumpkinscake , my posts were lighthearted.
@Mercurial123 , you're thinking of ozempic face. Running doesn't make you lose weight.

Thanks again for all these tips - am loving them and intend to trial almost all of them. Lots of them have made me chuckle and it is nice to have a bit of solidarity. I’m not a superficial person at all, but this has been getting me down a bit and seems to be part of a more significant mid life crisis I am having!

Anyway, I have just come off a call for a tea (not rooiboos as I don’t like it sadly!) and realised a huge part of the problem is Teams! I spend a lot of my day on it and it is horribly distracting to be working and looking at yourself 😖

Also thanks to the PP who queried the ‘angry job’ I too was super curious but didn’t want to ask 😆

I definitely lose weight when running. I'm not thinking of Ozempic.

@Mercurial123 , CBA to argue. It's probably not the running itself that causes the weight loss.

What I've found is that if I'm doing casual running, i.e. 5-7k four times a week I do tend to lose weight. If I'm training for something longer and fuelling, I don't.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38233990/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34831820/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34543566/
Here are a few studies showing that taking up running or increasing your aerobic activity results in weight loss. There are thousands more should you wish to look. HTH

Same - I have very few wrinkles/lines but getting saggy jowls which I hate but don’t think there is any quick fixes for.

realistically I wouldn’t be able to afford a facelift ever so have to learn to live with them but sometimes wish I just had wrinkles instead as botox is much more accessible.

@TheBoots , no help at all.

Hide the picture of you! I always do it, it still shoes for the other people. It is so much better not looking at yourself.

If running has no effect on the face and does not lead to saggy jowls etc, why do people bother wearing sports bras, often double sports bras, when they run?

Am slightly regretting mentioning running lol! I will not be giving that up, even if there were 100 cast iron academic studies stating clearly it contributed to skin sag as it is one of the only things that is helping cope with my mini mid life crisis and all the associated schizzle life has thrown me…Plus if I did, I know from bitter experience that I would balloon and not in the face unfortunately!

@bluevalley , because your face has muscles but breasts don't. If you went running without a bra, it would hurt or you'd get sore nipples.
I've seen women out running without a suitable sports bra and it's not a good look - it looks painful.

I would think because breasts are composed of skin and tissue only appended to a supportive structure. The face has its own supportive structure of bone and muscle. And also because it's more comfortable.

But when someone has a facelift, they pull the muscles tighter beneath the skin to lift the face - I just figured that running would cause all unrestrained flesh to bob up and down harshly... and lead to flopping of flesh and muscle alike in the face.

This

Runners do tend to look more weathered though, don’t they? Is it taboo to mention this?

I can't help your face, but I can recommend Teams filters. Log in early one day and have a play with the beautifying ones. If I have to use another platform grim reality always gives me a shock!

@bluevalley , maybe it would.
I put down the rugged appearance of runner's faces down to being exposed to the elements, and often low body fat.

My sibling is plump and sedentary, but despite being older, she looks much younger. I've no idea if she's had botox.

Tell me you’re not a runner without telling me you’re not a runner!