I was born in the Seventies, so I consider myself to be young. (Hush.) Still, I have been preparing myself for the slow creep of middle age.
Because I had kids so young (statistically-young, not country-song-young), most of my mom-friends are ten years older than me.
For twenty years I’ve been able to see my own future previewed on the faces of my friends. It’s not bad and it seemed to happen so slowly. I expected it to be a stately evolution for me, too.
I’m shocked to report that middle age is less of a slow decline and more of a midnight ninja attack.
I used to wake up cute. I’d roll out of bed, slap my dark and shiny hair in a high ponytail, wash my face with whatever and be adorably ready to face the day.
Now those pillow creases take all morning to go away, if ever.There’s this one on my chin that makes me look like Gordon Ramsey. Now I know why he’s grumpy.
The high ponytail is no longer cute on me. Now it’s the Ponytail of Despair, the last resort of hair styles. It’s used to hide terminal bed head, the need for a color touch-up, or the third day after a shampoo.
My previous beauty products of hotel soap and a ChapStick have been replaced by the contents of a small Sephora. I’m pretty sure one of the treatments I use is literally snake oil. It stings a little, but it works.
The unkindest cut of all is having to borrow acre treatment from my son and wrinkle cream from my mother. That just makes all of us uncomfortable.
So, I salute you, women who have gone through this before me. I’d stand up to salute, but I blew out my knee during water aerobics.
If only I could find my reading glasses,
My friend recommended Retin A as the Perfect Acne/Wrinkle Cream. Do you have a favorite beauty product to recommend?
My issue is age spots. I'm white haired like my mother, and spotted like my mother. I am my mother. It's a nightmare. I use spot cream (favorite is clinique somethingorother cha ching cha ching spot cream). Works wonders as long as I don't look too close in the mirror.
I'm with you on the midnight ninja attack. It seems like overnight I needed glasses and began to lose words from my vocabulary. And I could use a perfect beauty product.
Yah… Only instead of being the young mom with older kids, I'm the mom who was prego at 40. I think I aged about five years the day I gave birth. I now swear by Arbonne. It's a car payment, but maybe spending that much money makes me look younger on the inside. I dunno.
I just, at age 40, reached the point of not needing acne cream anymore. It is definitely annoying to need to both, but at least you can brag to your friends that you still need acne cream. If your skin is that oily, it's still fighting wrinkles. Once you don't need it anymore…well, let's just say, it's not pretty.
Oh yeah, if you enjoy being a young mom, don't ruin it like I did and have "just one more" right before your 40th birthday. 🙂
@Margaret, aren't we all our mother? I look exactly like mine. Yay.
@Andrea, I am in like with the Olay face brush thingie. I have longed for the Clarisonic face brush, but it was $200. The Olay is only $30.
@everydayMOM, my neighbor uses Arbonne and I did notice a positive change in her skin. It's just so expensive! Still, it's cheaper than department stores.
@Maureen, I tell myself oily is good, but still. Pimples!
I'd like more kids, but can't have more. I'm trying to focus on the positive.
I found a 10% Glycolic Acid facial cream behind the counter at Costco. It's not prescription, but it's not on their regular shelves, either. I like it a lot, and it only cost $17.50, which is a fraction of the cost of most other 10% glycolic acid creams. It's called Aqua Glycolic, and I know you can get it on line if you can't find it at your Costco, but, it's worth a call to their pharmacy, because if they don't have it, they WILL order it for you.
This sounds good, BoonieSooze. And cheap! Does it burn?
Oh! You are hysterical and so very real. I, too, have a plethora of Sephora products wedged in everywhere next to all the free samples they send! I decided I'm starting a collection of perfume samples… for stuffing Easter eggs of the little girls in my life who are now teens.
Product: Murad. Purifying Skin Supplements. AMAZING. Middle-aged, Are You Kidding Me? Acne. Gone.
I'm staying tuned for the wrinkle cream. No convincing samples yet.
I like Clinique and Origins products. I'm not at the wrinkle cream stage yet but I'm still battling the acne. I thought acne was supposed to go away after age 18 but not for me.
@Shirin, Murad, check.
@Jessica, Clinique and Origins, check.
Off to check out Sephora.com.
Nota! I was just poking around on the Sephora website and lookie what I found:
http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P260911&categoryId=B70
I wash my face with oil. I know, I know it sounds crazy and pore clogging. But even acne.org says "oil cleans oil" I only use that, don't need any moisterizers and i get compliments on my skin all the time. Cheap, Natural, and effective, Its worth a shot!
http://www.imperfectpeople.net/post/2010/08/26/Oil-Cleansing-Method.aspx
Re: oil cleansing. Where do you get castor oil?
I have used an oil cleanser before from dhccare.com and liked it.
I'm right there with you. The ninja attack is exactly right. One day I looked in the mirror and thought, "Where in the halibut did those wrinkles come from???" I never used to need makeup. I have been trying to be good and use cleanser and moisturizer, but Olay makes me break out. Bleh.
Rachel, my husband was using my Olay and it made him break out too. (Don't tell him I said he was using my product.)
I've been actively shopping, but nervous on pulling the trigger on anything more expensive than what I can buy at the drug store.