For what it’s worth;
Oil of Olay total effects
Lighter colored lipgloss
Self tanner
Working out (if I could just remember to do it!)
Clinique antigravity eye cream
I’m sure drinking a lot of water would help too! Just one more damn thing I Can’t remember!:smack:
STAY OUT OF THE SUN, sure a tan looks nice but you’ll pay for it in years to come
Also, stay out of tanning beds, they only cook you from the inside out…like a giant microwave oven.
Lots of lotion and creams, name brands don’t matter they are all basically the same.
Pretty good tips—especially staying out of the sun and/or using strong sunscreen (7 days a week, 12 months a year).
The tip about lighter-colored lipstick is on-target, too. I wore fire-engine red lipstick till I saw a photo of myself in my early 30s and realized it was putting ten years on me. Generally speaking, “less makeup” and “more subtle, lighter make-up” is good advice for ladies entering middle age. Joan Crawford (whom I idolize, as you know), once said, “every five or seven years, have a friend follow you around and take candid photos of you.” It’s true—you don’t realize till you see it in a photo what you’re doing that no longer works on you (hair, makeup, clothes).
Well, I’m not really trying to look younger but I’ve very dry skin. I’m prone to bouts of eczema on my face. To ward that off, I use Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser every morning and follow up with Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream on my face and neck. It’s not glamorous, but it works. The cleanser’s about six dollars for eight ounces and the cream’s twelve dollars or so for a sixteen-ounce jar.
I have pictures of my face from seven months ago or so and there’s a noticeable difference.
Smoking and drinking will age you.
The sun will age you.
Retin-A products really do help.
A good haircut always makes my skin look brighter. Go figure.
I look younger when I don’t wear any makeup. I’m 34 and when buying beer recently the clerk (about my age) nearly fell over when he saw my ID. He said, “Whoah, I figured you were about 22!”
OK, now that I got to share that…
I have combination skin (mostly normal with an oily T zone), prone to redness and prone to breakouts. This is my routine, morning and night:
I use either Cetaphil gentle cleanser or Neutrogena foaming face wash. I use an AHA exfoliant from Clarins (Peau Neuve), then go over my face with a cotton ball dipped in 3% hydrogen peroxide (the stuff you get in the brown bottle for 50 cents.) Twice a week (Sunday and Wednesday) I scrub my face with baking soda mixed with water to form a loose paste.
I wear sunscreen every day, don’t smoke, and drink lots of water.
Morganelf, I like Paula Begoun’s skincare philosophy as well. My tip is a bit unorthodox. It’s cheap and the results are dramatic. I use Miracle Whip as a facial mask about 3 times a week. I clip my hair back, apply about a tablespoon of Miracle Whip to my face and neck and let dry. In about 20-30 minutes, I gently rub my face and neck and alot of old, dead skin cells come off. I’ve been doing this since January, 2002 and the results are incredible. I’ve shared this tip with women at work and their results are just as good. Go to www.icompact.com and do a search on “Miracle Whip” in the Skincare II forum and you’ll get lots of comments.
Oh and load on that sunscreen, as well.
Keep your face and neck out of the sun. Always. No exceptions. Wear a hat AND sunscreen.
Don’t smoke.
Start moisturizing when you are REALLY young and you don’t think you need it.
Choose your parents carefully…I think genes have lot to do with it.
Drink a LOT of water.
FEEL young!
I am generally thought to look 10 to 15 years younger than I am. No, REALLY! I don’t care much, actually, but it is a nice bonus. My first tip was inadvertant… I am a redhead and was just trying to avoid pain. I never started smoking and don’t/didn’t ever do #2 except occasionally…got lucky with #4, #5 I did because I just happen to love water and #6 is just me.
I really do wish I had done #3 much earlier in my life, though. Mom TOLD me, but …well, you know how THAT goes. 
As the song goes **Always wear sunscreen **.
Sunscreen your face, neck, chest area, arms and hands. Your hands take a beating with exposure in when driving a car.
I am outside all summer long and have had this Quest for sunscreen that doesn’t make me shreik in sheer pain from it sweating into my eyes. I have finally found a virtually sweat proof sunscreen: Neutrogena 45 SPF. Won’t clog pores, has Parsol 1789, fights free radicals and scrubs your toilets. All for $7.95 Your mileage may vary. No salesman will call.
My daily face stuff from October - March is: Lubriderm Skin Renewal. which has PHA, poly hydroxy acid (helps slough the dead skin off), SPF 15, non comedogenic and gives you 24% return on your IRA. Cost: $7.00 thereabouts.
I’ve always been a firm believer of a well manicured eye brow. Not necessarily over plucked, but well maintained. Unibrow looks went out with Cromagna Woman. A well done eye brow adds polish to the face.
Not related to the skin but it needs to be said: **
After you have kids, or put on bucket loads of weight, your tits will drop. Sorry, was that too blunt? ** Invest in a decent bra to support your girls properly. When you find the magic * tittenholder,* buy them all** because when the perfect one finally dies from such a laborous job of slingy your yabo’s hither and yon seven days a week and you hie your butt back to the bra store for the same style it will no longer be available. This is a fact of life. * You will be forced to endure the shame * of trying on 900 bra’s (six bra try on’s per visit to the fitting room) to discover that there must be something seriously wrong with you because your nipple’s do not fill out any of the 900 bra’s properly. There is nothing wrong with your nipples, btw, it’s the morons who design the titslingers in the first place. They want us all to have that Jane Russell Cleavage. Bastards.
Also, there is the reality check slapped in the face of life with a dead wet three day old herring of seeing your body in hideous lighting with a full length mirror. A bottle of wine will help stave the tears and blur the reflection of your mother’s body superimposed on your boy in the mirror.
So, girlies, lessons learned here: Sunscreen and get drunk before beginning a Bra Quest.
Total Value: Zero.
Don’t forget your neck!! Put both sunscreen and moisturizers on your neck as well as your face. Women on my family always end up with “chicken necks” and I’m trying desperately to avoid it.
As far as makeup goes, I love Revlon Skinlights. It really does make my skin more luminous and covers up minor blemishes without extra concealer. I love this stuff and at 10-11 dollars per bottle it’s really affordable.
Potions, lotions, creams; drinking water; sunscreen!; extra rest if at all possible.
My entire family can pass for ten to fifteen years younger than we are, including my 77 year old mother. Yeah, the genes help, but I have to chalk of some of it to the fact that none of us, even in our teenage years, wear much make-up. No make-up means no no heavy duty make-up removers, no rubbing around the eyes to get that last bit of mascara, no stripping the skin of naturals oils, no sloshing on oodles of lotions to make up for the stripping of the natural oils. We didn’t have acne problems either. I wash my face with a plain washcloth and as hot of water as I can stand every morning and evening, and use a mild cleansing soap (like Oil of Olay) once or twice a week–a bit more often in the summer, heat brings out the oil in my skin. Really, save the make-up for special occasions, and, for pete’s sake, unless you have a definate complexion problem, skip the foundation altogether, always.
Wear sunscreen religiously. SPF 15 doesn’t cut it. Try SPF 50…and use ones formulated for babies or sensitive skin.
I used to use some spectacularly expensive Estee Lauder face cream (it was $155 for 2 ounces) but having fairly dry skin, I’ve always been a cream junkie who likes to experiment. I was just about to spring for Creme de la Mer when I tried the new Neutrogena Active Copper stuff. $18 in the local Walgreen’s and I noticed an improvement in a week and was getting compliments from friends in two weeks. It’s labeled as “night cream” but I use it all the time. In the morning I like to mix it with a bit of nightingale’s Skinlights for an added brightener.
I use Decleor facial cleanser at night and wash with whatever oatmeal (glycerin or olive oil) bar soap I can find in the mornings.
I get a facial once a month.
Oh, and I just got Botox (in the forehead) a few weeks ago, just for kicks. Like I said, I’m an experimenter. It’s pretty impressive stuff. If enough people are interested, I could probably start an, “Ask the…” thread about it.
In more experimentation, I had stuff (not “collagen”, but I can’t remember the name) injected into my upper lip last July to see how I would like it. I don’t think I’ll do that again, it hurt like hell and took the term “duck lips” to a whole new level (at least until the swelling went down).
I am not gonna grow old gracefully, I am going to fight it every damn step of the way.
Sue.
PS. I got carded to buy smokes today…at 31. Woo!
I love the Revlon Skinlights to! When I make my own lipgloss I mmelted liptick with Vaseline and two or three squirts of the Candlelight liquid or peachlight into the mixture! Gorgeous!!
I use the Miracle Whip mask too!
Botox at 31?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Sorry, I’m not trying to pick a fight. It just seems that 31 is so young!
medstar, what type of skin do you have? I worry that Miracle Whip will make my skin too oily. I commend you however for finding a use for Miracle Whip. No one in their right mind would actually EAT the stuff!
I bought Paula Begoun’s book about 2 months ago. I switched from using Clarins cleanser, toner, and moisturizer to my current routine and my skin has never looked better. (Well, not for the past 20 years or so, anyway.)
Here is a link to one of my posts from about 3 months ago with my old routine. It was very time consuming and very expensive, and didn’t provide the results I was looking for. My skin was always red and sensitive. I don’t even have to use foundation anymore.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1945006&highlight=skin#post1945006
Creme La Mer:cool:
Alpha Hydrox Skin Cream with 10% Alpha Hydroxy Acid. If I stop using it, I can tell the difference in my skin within a week.
I don’t EVER use soap on my face.
I cleanse with cleansing creme followed by a hot washcloth (but no rubbing). Follow that with a cotton pad soaked in toner. And then moisturize. (That’s the nighttime regimen.)
Mornings include alphy hydrox cream right out of the shower and a light moisturizer with SPF after that.
If your face skin ever starts feeling tight and itchy, you need to moisturize more.
I used to get facials every five weeks, but don’t any more.
Stay out of the sun.
Eat well; drink lots of water.
And get a lot of sleep.
Morgainelf, I’m 43 years old and I have oily skin starting to dry out. That means that I have rough, thick skin with large pores that get clogged. About a year ago, exfoliation wasn’t doing the job for me. I used the baking soda scrub but I still felt that the dead skin cells weren’t all coming off. I came across the icompact site and read this message about using a commercial food product to exfoliate your skin. This woman, Janni, was 55 years old and had bad skin her whole life. She explained that the apple cider vinegar, sugar, and eggs had different alpha hydroxy acids that dissolved the dead skin cells. Surprisingly, the soybean oil didn’t turn my face into an oil slick. I started in January 2002 and I now use the Miracle Whip three times a week on my face, neck and chest area. The dead skin cells dissolve very quickly and now the baking soda scrub removes the whole mess down the shower drain. It’s so effective other women in my office are using the mask and are reporting dramatic results. It seems to work best for women over the age of forty who aren’t breaking out as much. Every time I do the mask, my face feels so smooth and even. I don’t have any more crow’s feet, no more forehead lines, and no more nose to mouth lines. In addition, I had an embedded zit next to my nose that had been clogged for a few years(no kidding) that didn’t respond to anything. After a week of the Miracle Whip, the pore emptied out with gentle pressure. I was skeptical myself until I bought the small squeeze bottle and resolved to give it two weeks. Just do a little research and I think you’ll be impressed. You’re right about the taste however, I find it unpalatable.