Approaching 40, what should I be using and taking?

[ILoveCatsAndKittens]

Hello!
I need some health and beauty advice please?
I will be 40 next year, dont really wear much make up, cleanse and moisturise morning and evening, dont take any vitamins or supplements, do a hair mask once a month.
What do I need to be doing and taking?

Ive tried googling but got so overwhelmed with so many different and conflicting info!

What do you wise mumsnetters all do? What facial, beauty products do you use? What vitamins and supplements do you take and recommend?

Thanks!

I’ve started taking the well woman general multivitamin and it’s great for me - I really know when I miss taking it for a few days. Not sure I could comment on anything else as apart from the multi vitamins I’m a bit of a slob! 🤣

Oh, and drink allll the water!

I take good multivitamin, extra calcium in tablet form and collagen powder.

I take a multivitamin and an iron supplement daily with breakfast. Not sure if they do much but I’ve been taking them for years.

I also use sunscreen everyday and a retinol product on my skin regularly.

Also I would say find some form of regular exercise that you enjoy and will do consistently. Not strictly style and beauty but it will make you feel better.

I take Lumity vitamins. It’s early days and they’re expensive but I like that it’s just one thing to take.

For skincare, retinol at night and vitamin c during the day, with sunscreen. I’d recommend Medik8. They have very easy to follow guidance and routines and the products work.

I also started taking collagen, Ancient & Brave Marine Collagen, which is easy to take and I’ve heard good things about but I’ve been very inconsistent with it!

You don't need to use and take anything. The best advice is very boring: move more, sleep more and eat more plants. Don't smoke, don't drink. Anything you put on your skin is doing something between nothing to very little. Vitamin and supplements give you expensive pee. Surgery or 'tweakments' are bad for your bank balance and ultimately make you look weird.

Make sure your vitamin D is sufficient
Eat well
Exercise, walking will do but try to add in some weight bearing exercise to guard against osteoporosis
Have your 40+ health screening
Wear an SPF and be mindful of the sun

I think aging is largely genetic but it makes me feel better to use a good day, night and eye cream (Estee Lauder), Clinique take off the day, good make up, and to colour my hair to cover the grays. But that's all personal preference.

Finally, look after your feet and for most of the time have arch support in good shoes.

I wish I'd taken better care of my hands.

I started in the year I turned 40 (I’m now a month away from turning 42) and after a few trial and errors, I now do the following (which has massively helped):

• NMN supplement (by VivaNMN) every morning on empty stomach.
• WellWoman Max vitamins
• Glucosamine and Chrondroitin
• Magnesium (by Nutrition Geeks) every night before bed.
• Elavate collagen every day (chocolate flavour is nice!)

I also started a new skincare regime with Medik8 - it is expensive but it has definitely been worth it and I’ll never move to another skincare brand. From Medik8 I use:

• Gentle Cleanse (am and pm)
• Press and Clear toner (am and pm)
• Liquid Peptides (am)
• Daily Radiance vitamin C cream which also contains SPF (am)
• Hyaluronic acid serum (pm)
• Crystal Retinal serum (pm)
• Advanced Night restore cream (pm)

I also joined the gym and exercise 4/5 times a week (30 mins at a time) - a new gym opened down the road where I live so it is very accessible for me to walk to. I appreciate this will not be the case for everyone.

I drink minimum 2 litres of water every day. Eat 1 to 2 treats per week. Rest of time I eat really well.
I drink alcohol probs once a month (3,4 or 5 drinks) - never drink excessively.
Regular hair cut every 8 weeks.
Use a fantastic handcream to keep hands looking soft (Nursem hand cream as well as Nursem Skincare Fix every night, alongside cuticle oil)

This all sounds like ALOT but I’m now used to doing this all as part of a morning and/or evening routine.

Good luck - I hope you find some routines and/or products that work for you.

Can anyone recommend a flavourless collagen powder? I bought some recently that was basically bovril 😭

@Dashling I can’t taste Ancient & Brave Marine Collagen in coffee but I haven’t tried it in anything else.

@Dashling I’ve real sensory taste issues and can tolerate Willpowders either in tea or mixed into yogurt. If adding to tea, add once hot water in mug. I take 10g over the course of the day but be warned of you have a sensitive tummy - work up 1g at a time. Good luck, I certainly feel better on it.

Hi. Your cleanse and moisturise routine is already a solid foundation! I'd point you toward the right ingredients for your concerns rather than specific products so you have more flexibility in finding what actually works for you.

Approaching 40 your skin starts losing collagen and cell turnover slows down, so the two ingredients that make the biggest real difference are a retinoid at night (start low and build up gradually) and a stable vitamin C in the morning for collagen support and brightening. Pair it with SPF everyday because sun damage is responsible for the majority of visible aging (SPF is genuinely the most evidence-backed anti-aging step there is).

Hope this helps!

I'm now early 50s and I agree with the wish about taking better care of hands.

Can I also include the neck in this. I took great care of my face but neck and chest just got either ignored or I used simple body lotion, thinking a neck cream was pointless. I have recently used Clinique neck cream which has non irritating retinol. Good but possibly an earlier start would have been better.

Thank you all so much for your help and advice!

My moisturiser does already have an spf in, good to know im doing something right already!
I know i dont drink enough water, I never have, this is will try to work on.

Exercise wise I recently completed c25k and am back in the habit of running 3 times per week, at least 5k. Yesterday I did an 8k. I stopped running years ago after a knee injury and got myself into a rut.

@1emma19 thank you for the explanation! I always wonder if half these things are actually needed but what you have said makes sense!

I want simple and easy, I get so overwhelmed looking at the Internet and choices and info!

So going through replies I would be best with collagen, retinol, hyaluronic acid and a multivitamin or womens supplement?

Don't smoke
Don't drink to excess
Keep your teeth!
Eat well
Take exercise
Maintain your social networks
Moisturise
Moisturise
Moisturise

I dont smoke, dont really drink, teeth are good, exercising more lately, socially im ok (I am neurodiverse so do prwfer my own space), moisturise twice daily. I am partial to a sweet treat though, I have such a sweet tooth! I really am trying to cut down.

What is better, bovine or mineral collagen? I am reading mixed things on both.

@Dashling I tried Nutrition Geeks Collagen and agree it was like Bovril. Switched to Willpowders and I can't smell or taste it at all.

@ILoveCatsAndKittens lots of good advice on here. I would add annual blood tests with your GP to check thyroid, iron, B12 and Vit D, along with maybe FSH levels (they're really unreliable for diagnosing perimenopause but it might be good to at least track them) and HbA1c levels (checking for T2 diabetes). I get these as have been Vit D and B12 deficient in the past, and tipped over into pre-diabetic last year (stopped drinking alcohol but then sugar intake increased. Back under normal now). Always check the reference ranges and don't take "normal range" for granted with iron levels. My ferritin had to drop to under 17 before they said I could do with supplementation...! I'm now up to 70 and feeling much better.

So I take strong B12 drops under my tongue every morning, along with Vit D + K2 supplement. Have strong iron + vit C with my dinner, alongside omega-3 (I'm almost 45). Also take magnesium glycinate before bed to help me sleep/stop restless legs.

Lastly, yes yes yes to social connection - it does wonders for our sense of wellbeing and happiness, which will definitely show on your face!

Personally I don’t bother with collagen supplements - the results have been overhyped and don’t doesn’t justify the cost.

Fine if you want to improve your joints/hair/nails, but there’s no good evidence that it targets skin elasticity or wrinkles. For that you are better off with topical retinol.

Also, some people find hyaluronic acid quite drying, it may depend on your skin type. It’ll probably be a bit of trial and error to see what works for you.

Generally very true. Start with diet, exercise and sleep hygiene. I train 6 days a week so do take specific additional supplements to meet my needs:
Nitrates from beetroot juice
Creatine
Magnesium
Iron
Vitamin D with K2
Electrolytes as needed

I read somewhere that you have to take a huge amount of collagen for it to make any difference at all and most supplements aren't strong enough. I have started taking twice the specified amount of my collagen supplements but obviously feel a bit guilty that I am breaking the rules and possibly also doing myself a mischief.

I agree with all of this. Maybe Vitamin d in the winter though, some evidence that can be good. That's about it though. Exercise,sleep, good food. That's all you need.

This is what I do:

Supplements: biotin, collagen, vitamin D, omega 3. I do have a bunch of others (including magnesium) but my tummy was misbehaving so I have stripped down for now.

Skincare:

Morning: cleanse (basic cera ve), vitamin C, niamicide, hyaluronic acid, moisturise, SPF.

Evening: cleanse (Liz Earle cleanse and polish), red light therapy, tret, moisturise.

Treatments: Botox 2-3 a year, microneedling 3-4 times a year. I did polynucleotides but didn’t feel they were worth the money.

Exercise: play a sport a couple of times a week which results in interval cardio type work, Pilates 4 times a week, strengthening exercises 2 times a week. Plus a daily walk.

Diet: 2L water a day (plus other tea etc), I try to eat whole foods as much as feasible. Focus on protein and fibre.

Sleep: solid 8 hours (at least) a night. In bed by 10.30. Read before bed. Helps I had my kids young on this one!

I’m not in peri yet, I’m terrified of it, I’m really hoping I am taking care of myself enough to help me ride the storm (and will get HRT as soon as required!) At the moment, I feel great. Skin is the best it’s been in years (struggled with acne for a long time).

I feel to balance that I need to admit that my vices are alcohol and chocolate 😬

My skincare routine was heavily influenced by Hannah Fry who frankly I trust my life with 🤣🤣