The miracle cream that will erase your wrinkles. Or Better than Botox. The secret to beautiful skin after 50. Nobel Prize Winner Technology in skin care. You, like me, probably have read them all and more, much more.
There are so many creams, potions, procedures and supplements promising us youth in a bottle, an injection, procedure or a pill. If they would work, we will not have wrinkles anymore. So is there a secret to beautiful, healthy skin at 50, during menopause and perimenopause? The pill is the closest from all those promises, the reason is that the secret is our hormones.
The supple, radiant skin that we had in our younger years depends greatly on our hormones.
The cream can put moisture, the procedure can force the skin to generate collagen and a more radical procedure can lift and iron out wrinkles, but the overall effect won’t give you beautiful skin. And, beautiful skin can make you look younger and prettier even with wrinkles and flaccidity. Beautiful skin has a characteristic called radiance. Radiance can go away during perimenopause and menopause. In Ayurveda, radiance is part of something called ojas and it means live, healthy tissues.
Skin radiance comes from our hormones and health. It is affected by emotions.
Have you seen the face of a bride? Happiness is visible. Audrey Hepburn was right:
Happy girls are the prettiest
If your estrogen is out of balance in earlier years then the skin maybe oily. Hormones out of balance in midlife in perimenopause or menopause can cause skin dryness, lack of luster, loss of volume and in some people, very reactive skin (that’s me). If the person has estrogen dominance, the skin is going to be oily. If your hormones, especially estrogen and T3, are not balanced your creams and treatments are not going to be as effective.
If your liver is not working properly you may develop allergies, redness, discolored patches, etc. A lower thyroid functions will bring dryness, hair loss and eye brow hair loss.
How do you get radiance?
Well, this is part of what a healthy lifestyle with low stress, good nutrients and happiness brings to your life. There are a few things you can do.
The main thing is to try to balance your hormones. This is a big topic and one of the main topics of this blog. In short, in order to balance our hormones we need to:
- Eat enough good fat
- Eat a diet rich in nutrients
- Lower stress
- Consume a low glycemic diet (low sugar)
- Sleep
- Eat a natural diet
- Make sure you are having all the minerals your body needs
- Be happy. Make yourself happy. Happiness is an attitude; it comes from within us, not from the exterior.
If you would like to know more about how to balance your hormones with lifestyle changes read here about my program BLISS in menopause
Help your organs
We also need to help our liver and adrenals. The liver and adrenals are going to help the thyroid and are going to help us have more available estrogen, our own estrogen.
The type of nutrition above will help you liver and adrenals. In some cases, we need to take supplements after a period of neglect. That is what I did and worked out very well for me. I will include a link to the products I took. If the imbalance is deeper, you need to go to a practitioner. I recommend an Ayurveda or functional medicine practitioner. The solutions for hormonal balance don’t give immediate results, you may need months before you see results, but the results are great if you keep trying.
Other tips for healthy skin
Follow a simple skin care routine. It should include cleansing, moisturizing and exfoliation once or twice a week.
Use a star ingredient or a few of them. You don’t have to become an expert or a junkie. Certainly you don’t need to use expensive products. I will be publishing a series of articles on this topic. Star ingredients are retinol, alpha and beta hydroxy acids and many more.
Don’t overexpose to the sun
I am not saying always use sunblock. Use a safe sunscreen when you are going to expose yourself for longer periods of time. But mostly use common sense, wear hats, stay indoors at the time the sun is stronger, don’t tan, etc.
Take more precautions when you abruptly change to a different weather. For example, if you live in a cold place and take a winter vacation in the Caribbean. These changes are more damaging to the skin.
If you eat healthy your skin is more resilient and the sun causes less damage.
These are the products I used. These are affiliate links:
Adrenal Health – To support the adrenal glands
Liver support
This is just what I needed. I am 62 and my skin is forever changing. Thanks so much for sharing your tips and ideas.
I am glad you found this article helpful.
This is such good information, thank you! I know my skin goes through periods of being dry and is sagging more as I get closer to 60. Like you mentioned, exercise and eating well is key.
Have a wonderful summer and happy to post out on my Ethereal Beautiful You board for you and our readers,
Hugs,
Barb 🙂
Hi Barbara. Thanks for visiting. I love your blog, your decor is amazing.
Great tips. I try to be as happy as possible while also being happy and that seems to work for me. In general, a good lifestyle is so important.
Being happy is great. Thanks for visiting.
Thanks for sharing! I am definitely finding that my liver needs more support these days… I got horrible rosacea, and less than a month of focused and mindful supplementation and REAL food helped so much…
I am glad your Rosacea has improved. A bad liver causes allergies and inflammation and rosacea has both characteristics.
Such a great article! I’m intrigued by the product for liver health you have linked. I have a problem with dark circles so I will definitely give it a try!
Hi Marta. That product helped my digestion, my allergies and I think energy level. It is market for under eye circles. but honestly I haven’t use it for that, however the liver can cause dark spots on the skin.
Very informative and I love this topic as it is something I work with, haha
I agree with all your points. Healthy hormones are so important! No magic cream, supplement or treatment will help if you are not setting the environment right for it.
Also, one thing to remember is that our body starts diminishing its production of collagen after the age of 25. Collagen is found throughout the body, in our skin, soft tissues, joints,… everywhere.
Wrinkles are the most visible sign of collagen diminution, but it is the exact same thing inside our body. This is why we might find our joints not working so well anymore for example. We can’t see it, yet it is the same. In my work as a remedial massage therapist, I have seen this so many times.
On the top of healthy and happy hormones, I would still consider collagen supplementation, not just for wrinkles but also for general wellbeing, even digestion.
Great article with wise recommendations, thank you for sharing
Very true Natasha. Collagen is also a reflection of our lifestyle and super important for the skin. I feel that the articles and cosmetic companies talk a lot about collagen and elastin and never mention hormones. Thanks for the tips.
Wow, you touched on some very important areas. I sometimes lack in the sleep area so I need to do better. I appreciate how you broken down each portion of your article. Great topic and information.
Hi Latisha. I know, it is so easy not to sleep but the next morning we don’t feel good.