Our 60s and beyond are all about maintaining clarity, skin texture and radiance. It’s time to relish in a really good skincare routine and embrace more intensely targeted professional treatments.
Postmenopausal hormonal changes can impact the skin at this stage in life, so it’s important to choose well-formulated topical treatments targeted to your specific concern, whether that be sun spots and uneven tone, fine lines and wrinkles, skin elasticity, or dryness and dullness. Post menopause is also a time when our skin reaches the final point of producing collagen and elastin so adding hydration and nourishing the skin topically is essential to having good skin healthy throughout this decade and beyond. This decade is where we finally see the complexion balance itself post hormonal fluctuations and a really streamlined skincare routine abundant in moisture-enhancing ingredients unlocks radiant, luminous skin.
If you haven’t already embraced the ageing process, our 60s are definitely a time to do so! Being settled in our skin and embracing your own natural beauty is what ageing gracefully is all about. Fine lines and wrinkles are set in by now and our skin health objectives shouldn’t be focused on erasing them instead working on the skin’s overall appearance looking to add vibrancy whilst reducing any skin concerns like pigmentation, redness and dryness.
A basic skincare routine
In the morning
Step 1 Cleanse using a gentle hydrating cleanser
Step 2 Antioxidant serum
Step 3 Hydrating eye cream
Step 4 Moisturiser
Step 5 SPF50 sunscreen
In the evening
Step 1 Oil cleanser
Step 2 Gentle hydrating cleanser
Step 3 Hydrating or targeted serum
Step 4 Retinol serum
Step 5 Retinol eye cream
Step 6 Rich night cream
Step 7 Face oil
Cleanse
Hydration and nourishment should be considered with every product in our repertoire, look for a combination of oils and gentle hydrating formulations to thoroughly cleanse your skin without stripping it. I’m an avid believer in a double cleanse every evening, it’s a vital first step to any healthy skincare regime and this decade is no different.
Serums
Following decades of sun exposure and oxidative stress, it’s not uncommon for people in their 60s to want to address sun spots and pigmentation to even out tone. Skin dryness can also be a concern, as the skin’s hydration levels have significantly declined by this age. To treat these concerns topically we should be looking to a triple-pronged approach to our serums, incorporating vitamin C for the daytime will help to fight free radicals, brighten and even out skin tone. A hydrating serum of an evening to quench and plump the skin followed by the true ageing skin hero, retinol, to promote cell turnover and help to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Eye cream
Using an eye cream both morning and night is pivotal in maintaining hydration and keeping this delicate area plump. An eye cream can also be accompanied by eye masks or intensive treatments for even better results. Look for a formulation containing retinol for your evening routine.
Rich moisturiser
Choose a good quality lipid-rich cream, containing nourishing ingredients that support the skin’s natural barrier function and lock in your hydrating actives applied prior. As the skin in the 60s tends to be drier, it can tolerate denser, thicker formulations.
SPF
By now this should hopefully have been a non-negotiable final step to your daily morning routine for quite some time. However, if this isn’t the case, it’s never too late to start. Use a broad spectrum SPF50 as the final step of your morning skincare routine each and every day. Excessive sun exposure accelerates the skin’s natural decrease of collagen and elastin levels, so to prevent further loss layer on an SPF every day without fail.
Facial oil
Facial oils are the final step in the skincare evening routine, layered on top of serums and moisturisers. Oils provide an extra dose of antioxidants to the skin, helping to fight free radical damage and, while not hydrating within themselves, when layered over your actives it works to lock moisture into the skin.
