Four Decades of Beautiful Skin (Contd...)


Your No-Fail Plan: In Your 40s
Those great beach vacations you took in your teens are showing up on your face: You’re beginning to see cumulative sun damage in the form of blotchiness, red spots, and ruddiness. You’re also losing more collagen and elasticity, and your skin retains less moisture. Because it doesn’t reflect light evenly, your complexion is losing some of its glow.

Cleanser: Use a creamy (rather than gel) cleanser morning and night, unless you can tolerate one with a mild AHA or salicylic acid once a day, says Ava T. Shamban, MD, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at UCLA. (Try NIA 24 Gentle Cleansing Cream, $30, or Lumene Radiant Touch Moisturizing Cream Cleanser, $10; Bliss Steep Clean Cleansing Milk with salicylic acid, $32, is also a good one.)

Moisturizer: Supplement your broad-spectrum moisturizer, which should contain SPF 15 or 20, with a couple of creams, lotions, or serums containing at least two types of antioxidants, such as lycopene, green tea, or soy, alternating them every other day. (Try Skin Effects by Dr. Jeffrey Dover Wrinkle Effects Relaxing Cream with Lycopene, $30; Boscia Balancing Facial Tonic, $18; and Arcona Gentle Solution Repair PM, $48.) You’ll get a wider benefit from switching off, because different antioxidants address different problems, says Shamban. Or, if your skin is beginning to look crepey, try a formula with peptides, which have been shown to strengthen collagen. Treat dryness with a rich moisturizing cream that contains hyaluronic acid, petrolatum, shea butter, or oils. (We like CeraVe Moisturizing Cream, $15; L’Occitane Ultra Rich Face Cream, $36; and Shiseido Bio-Performance Advanced Super Revitalizer Cream, $70.)

Nighttime treatment: A prescription retinoid is the way to go. It reduces brown spots, increases exfoliation and collagen production, thickens the epidermis, and can reverse precancerous sun damage. If your skin can’t tolerate a retinoid every night, use it every other night.

Your No-Fail Plan: In Your 50s and Beyond
Don’t even think of retiring from the skincare game. It’s never too late to prevent sun damage and to stop the progression of damage you may already have. Cell turnover is slow; the most significant change you’ll notice in your complexion is dryness and loss of elasticity. Expression lines no longer disappear after you stop smiling or squinting; pores are more visible, especially on the nose and cheeks. You’re likely to have developed spider veins and hyperpigmentation (age spots), and precancerous spots from sun damage.

Once you hit your 60s and 70s, basically all the issues that arose in your 50s become more extreme. Aren’t you glad you’re flooded with postmenopausal zest?

Cleanser: Wash morning and night with a nonsoap cleanser (like Awake Deep Purity Gel Cream Wash, $30, or Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel, $29) or a creamy, foaming one (we like Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser, $6, and Estèe Lauder Soft Clean Moisture Rich Foaming Cleanser, $19).

Moisturizer: Apply a serum containing peptides or an antioxidant like vitamin C when your face is still damp (try SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic, $128, or Cellex-C High Potency Serum, $90). Serums, in general, are more easily absorbed than creams and lotions. Then apply a broad-spectrum moisturizer containing SPF 15 or 20, with UVA/UVB protection.

Nighttime treatment: Try Renova, a prescription retinoid, which is more moisturizing than others.