46 dried out old bat skincare help please!

[Thehop]

I'm losing weight and sagging. I know a cream won't help that but a side effect is also dehydration so I figure I need to up my game:

can anyone tell me what I should be looking for please? I've read about Korean skincare being great. Have used small doses of testimonies for a while in a skin and me doser:

guess I need at least a wash/cleanser, moisturiser and do I need serums?

sorry to sound daft, just very overwhelmed!

Skin products with fragrance can irritate and dry skin especially during peri (speaks from experience!). Brands like Cerave are fragrance free and not high end so they could be a safe start. Vitamin c and retinol are scientifically proven to improve skin condition, but they can also irritate so I would advise starting light and building up.

Drinking plenty of water and using spf every day are easy ish ways of looking after yourself and your skin long term.

I do all these things and still look my age though, genetics plays a good part in how we look as we age!

I really love skincare, and I've recently discovered Up Circle. The products are really lovely, not expensive, and you can basically order a full routine!

Their serum is brilliant, I use it in the morning and then my tret in the evenings.

I remember a dermatologist telling me to always use a separate SPF over my moisturiser, not one combined with the moisturiser. Not sure why though!

I absolutely love Skin Food. The night cream is brilliant as well.

It's because there isn't enough SPF in a "moisturiser with SPF" to give you any real benefit. It is too diluted down so to get the protection you'd need to slather half of the jar on your face.

I use L'Oréal Revitalift Anti UV SPF fluid in the morning over a Vitamin C serum and find that moisturising enough that I don't need a separate day cream, but it also doesn't make my skin greasy either.

OP if you are dry, skip the salicylic acid cleansers and soap and look for a cream or a balm cleanser. If you are using tretinoin/retinol like a PP said you MUST then use a proper SPF on your face and neck in the morning.

I’m 48 and I find using too much water in my skincare routine dries my skin out. My current routine is:
AM:

• cleanse: Lush 9-5 cream cleanser on cotton wool pad
• A facial spritz by Mario Badescu
• The Ordinary (has everything in it) serum (used to be called The Buffet)
• Simple SPF 30 glow moisturiser (I got this as a budget option but was previously using Cerave AM SPF moisturiser which IMO is better & more hydrating)

PM

• cleanse: The Ordinary Glycolipid cleanser and flannel
• every other night Kate Somerville Retinol
• moisturise: The Ordinary HA Moisturising Factors (on 2nd tube of this - perfect moisturiser I think!)

Most skincare sites do a find your routine quiz to match products to your skin. I’m into skincare & have tried many different brands / products. IMO a sound starting point is science backed or derma recommended brands like The Ordinary, Cerave, LRP etc.

I've lost 7 stone in the last year (Hallelujah for Mounjaro)

Start taking Collagen. It will help.
I'm allergic to Fatty Alcohols (Cetearyl/Stearyl/Cetostearyl alcohol) so need to be careful what products I use.
I use The Inkey list - my skin looks better. You can sometimes get it in TK Maxx.

Ex- dried up middle aged bat here (late 40s). I discovered skincare in November and have honestly never looked back. Here's what I use but I really would focus more on what you like and can afford than on collecting a range:

AM:

Cleanse (sometimes micellar water, sometimes a glycolic acid exfoliator, I like Elemis and Pixi Glow, sometimes I do one in the morning and the other in the evening - I always use micellar on my eyelids though). I am trying to use up a Nivea cleanser/toner combo but wouldn't buy that again as I find it quite greasy.

Tone: I use the Pixi Glo glycolic acid toner.

Serum: I apply a vitamin C serum (so far have most liked the No 7 one which is a bit sticky, but am currently getting through a less good one that I got from TK Maxx; a friend swears by capsules which keep better but are expensive) and then a vitamin C eye cream (L'Oréal). I let that soak in and then apply a hyuralonic acid serum and HA eye cream (currently using up an Absolute Collagen serum but going to give Trinny London a go next).

Then I moisturise (Nivea water-based, which I am using up, then I'll use the Trinny London am moisturiser which is very light) and apply a separate SPF. (I never neglect the SPF because I use retinal in the evenings.)

In the evenings it's the same except that instead of the vitamin C serum I use Trinny retinal and Beauty of Joseon retinal eye cream. I also use a heavier night cream (currently Nivea HA water based cream but I also liked the L'Oréal night cream).

I do also apply lip salve morning and evening on the basis that if it has skin it should be moisturised!

I fully accept that this looks insane but it takes about 5 mins morning and evening and I have genuinely had constant unsolicited compliments about my skin from about four days in!

oh oh. Am 48 and about to go on HRT. What your skin been doing? I have folds on my skin and look absolutely awful. I cant believe what live has done to me

I do also have a sachet of marine collagen every morning but I accept there's not much evidence for that yet. I take sequential HRT (patches).

I second La Roche Posay, the consultations are great, the products are relatively inexpensive and really great. I'm in my 70's and have been using them for some years, I update products from time to time and wouldn't change now.

I don't have desperately sensitive skin but find that L'Oreal products don't suit me. Also many of them have a weird pearly finish to them which I really don't like.

I’m a bit older than you. In the morning, cleanse (currently using a Micellar water), then The Ordinary Matrixyl, and Biossance vitamin C, then a moisturiser (currently liking the Elizabeth Arden eight hour cream intensive daily moisturiser). At night I am currently liking Numbuzin bio 9 moisturiser, and eye cream. Regularly use tretinoin (from Dermatica) too. I have dry skin so need to be careful with the tret. The Numbuzin products are surprisingly good for the price I think. Oh, and agree, don’t forget SPF!

I'm joining mainly for Op's typos (clarinet face washes and small doses of testimonies!) but aside from applying liberal quantities of musical instruments and gospels to my face, I also really recommend Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair, Glow recipe toner and a really gentle cleanser (from the same place that makes that face wash you mentioned).

There are lots of eye creams out there, I like all of them, would recommend again Estee Lauder, also Emma Hardie, Medik8 retinal eye cream, clinique, gosh there's all sorts. Perhaps look on vinted for some sets - you can get travel sized ones to try before committing.

No more woodwind instruments though!

I'm very happy with my skincare routine.

I use a cleansing oil by Pai

A ceramide moisturiser by Dr Jart

A Korean SPF by Beauty of Joseon

Occasionally a salicylic face wash or glycolic acid (every 2-3 days)

I use some very budget options and I have for years! My skin looks good!

Use Tesco or Garnier micellar water on cotton pads to cleanse at night

Then splash face or shower

then Nivea blue cream

in the morning, splash face or shower, use Nivea dry skin SPF 15 cream, and W7 glow primer with matching setting spray.

i also drink lots of water, take vitamins, stay out of the sun, exercise, don’t drink much alcohol and sleep fairly well. I wish I could reduce my sugar intake!

I’ve tried a whole array of other things at different price points but always come back to this.

Have a look at some of Dr Natalia Spiering's posts on Instagram. She's a consultant dermatologist specialising in aesthetic skincare and is very straightforward about what works and what doesn't. Basically tretinoin works and most expensive skincare is overpriced snake oil. SPF is extremely important and should be applied as a separate product not built into a moisturiser to make sure you get sufficient coverage https://www.instagram.com/drnataliaspierings?igsh=bmV0cXppOXU4dDcy

Personally I use tretinoin plus hyaluronic acid from Beauty of Joseon and Ceramide moisturiser from the Inkey List. I use SPF from Haru Haru or Hada Labo or Beauty of Joseon. None of these products are particularly expensive.

I also agree that the dried up old bat comment wasn't nice or helpful. As a society we need to change the way aging women are thought about and treated and using phrases like that doesn't aid perceptions either in our own minds or those of others.

I use any old cheap micellar water then in the morning, a vitamin c serum and then this moisturiser (I had thought the perfect moisturiser was like the golden fleece, was prepared to spend ££££s but I bloody love it). Evening - micellar, this serum which I'm new to but is working nicely so far, then more of the cetaphil. My skin used to feel papery almost, especially my forehead but I swear it doesn't now.

I often use the Grum facial sunscreen which is lovely and hydrating, no moisturiser needed.
Also a salicylic acid serum - very plumping and dewy.

If you have money, not much is better than Medik8 and Zo.
I'm a strident feminist but even I love the term old bat! I'm definitely in the old bat camp.
Also loving the typos 🤣

Mine has gone from normalish - so mainly fine, but T-zone sometimes a bit dry OR a bit oily. To dinosaur scaly skin, oily forehead and all the skin in between doesn't know WHAT it is doing! To be fair, I think it would be worse without HRT and for the mental fog relief alone it's worth taking, but I had to up my dose and the trade off for better mental wellbeing has been my skin crawling off my face! I am exaggerating I know, but it's been feeling like a mask for a while and it's been beyond my control, so I think I need to invest now in some proper stuff to get it back to where it used to be.