Lifestyle Changes
Exercise. Exercise is important at all ages, but it can be especially helpful once you reach your 50s. Include both cardiovascular and strength exercises in your routine. Cardiovascular exercise gets your blood pumping and strength exercises can tone flabby skin associated with age. Improved circulation supplies more nutrients and oxygen to your skin. Exercise also increases your supply of collagen and fights against damaging free radicals in your body. Cardiovascular exercise can also lead to weight loss, and shedding a few extra pounds and some excess fat can drop your perceived age by several years.
Stress less and lighten up. Stress can create more wrinkles and general wear on your skin. Relaxing more often may not undo the damage already done, but it can prevent your skin from aging any faster than necessary from this point on. A simple trick to try is to laugh more throughout the day. Laugh decreases stress hormones in the body and forces the muscles in your face to relax. If you don't feel like you have anything to laugh about look up jokes on the internet, or watch a funny movie or a comedian. On a similar note, you should also get six to eight hours of sleep each night. Dark, puffy eyes can make you look older, but getting enough sleep can clear those bags away. Keep in mind severe allergies can also cause dark circles, so get your allergies under control by avoiding the things that cause them, or by taking allergy medication (doctor approved, of course). Moreover, sleep reduces the body's production of stress hormone, which is good, because stress hormone can make your skin appear less elastic and less healthy.
Fix your posture. It's a simple trick, but straightening your posture gives the appearance of confidence, and confidence is a trait commonly associated with youth. Walking around with your back straight and your head high can shave a few years off your age in a matter of minutes.
Exfoliate. Use a gentle exfoliating wash on your skin one to three times each week. The process of exfoliation strips away dead skin cells and stimulates the production of new skin cells. As a result, your skin looks clearer, more elastic, and more youthful.
Moisturize your skin and lips. Age causes skin to dry out, and dry, fine skin is more likely to develop wrinkles. Use a moisturizing cream on your face that is labeled as a face lotion, don't use hand lotion on your face. The reason for this is the hand lotions might be too strong and could cause you to break out. Yes, even we can break out at our age if we use the wrong products! Use hand lotion on your hands that has sunblock in it to help prevent age spots. One trick is to pat your face dry after a shower, and to put the lotion on your face immediately while your skin is still hydrated from the shower. The reason you pat your face is that the more rubbing and pulling you do to your face makes the wrinkles and bags under your eyes happen faster as your skin becomes more fragile and less elastic with age. Similarly, you should use a moisturizing lip balm to keep the skin on your lips healthy and plump, as well. They also sell lip plumping lipstick and lip gloss.
Protect your skin. UV rays from the sun can damage and age your skin even faster. Prevent this from happening by wearing sunscreen when you go outside. You should also consider wearing sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat to protect your skin even further. Sun damage can also cause freckles or skin cancer, so it's best to avoid the sun's rays anyway On a similar note, you should also avoid the use of tanning beds. The tanning process makes your skin look dry and wrinkled, which will make you look older.
Quit smoking. Smoking wrinkles the skin and turns both your nails and teeth yellow. Quitting the habit will not turn back the clock, but it can at least prevent the clock from speeding forward any faster than it naturally would.
Dietary Changes
Get more antioxidants. Your body builds up free radicals over time, and these free radicals can speed up the aging process. Antioxidants battle these free radicals, though, keeping them in check and even reversing some signs of aging in the process. Good sources of antioxidants include berries and other colorful fruit, nuts, dark chocolate, coffee, fruit juice, cooked vegetables, and beans.
Limit sugar. Excess sugar in the body can cause your body to undergo a process called glycation. This process can damage the collagen in your skin. When this happens, your skin becomes less elastic and wrinkles can form more easily.
Limit alcohol. A glass of wine every few days should not do too much damage, but consuming alcohol in excess can cause multiple health problems. Taking care of your health is a good way to retain your youth.
Stock up on other "youth inducing" foods. In addition to those foods already mentioned, stock up on foods that can provide you with vitamins and minerals your body needs to repair aged, damaged skin. Eat more zinc-rich oysters. Zinc repairs damaged skin. Olive oil and avocados contain good fats that can prevent further wrinkling. Water-based produce, like watermelon and cucumbers, keep the skin hydrated. Guava is packed with vitamin C and can help restore collagen levels. Sweet potatoes and carrots contain beta-carotene, which can fight against dry skin and improve your cell-turnover rate. Women should also eat more legumes, soy, red clover tea, and ground flaxseeds. All of these are good sources of phytoestrogens, which can fight against drooping skin. Eat less white rice and white bread, substitute brown rice and whole grain bread.
Beauty Tips for Women
Wear more scarves. For women, one of the more distressing signs of age is the "turkey neck"--saggy skin that hangs just below the face. Fashion scarves offer a quick, stylish way to cover up that patch of skin and shave off a few years from your face. Choose a lightweight scarf with a simple design and avoid scarves with unnecessary frills or embellishments. The idea is to cover your neck up without drawing attention to that area of your body. Avoid heavy scarves and turtlenecks since they often add too much unflattering bulk to the neck area.
Color your hair. Gray hair gives away your age. Consult a professional hair stylist and discuss color treatments that can make your hair look more youthful without causing any more damage to it. Avoid home treatments since many of the chemicals found in commercial hair dyes can dry out and damage hair further. Typically, your best bet is to choose a shade similar to your natural hair color before gray hair started to appear.
Get a new hair style. Talk to your hair stylist about options that may work for you. Keep in mind that as hair ages, it tends to weaken. As a result, longer hair often has less body and looks more unhealthy than shorter hair once you reach your 50s. If your hair is naturally curly, work with it rather than working against it. Curls can actually look fresher and younger at this age. Moreover, the treatments needed to straighten curly hair may only damage it further. Consider adding bangs. Bangs can mask skin imperfections that come with age. Choose long, wispy bangs or sideswept bangs over heavy, straight-cut styles. Try getting your hair blown out at a salon. This process can straighten wiry gray hairs while giving the rest of your hair more youthful body. Consider getting a softer hairstyle. Harsh hairstyles, such as ramrod straight hair, or an angular cut doesn't usually look good on older women, while a soft hairstyle, with gentle waves softens the face and is generally more attractive. Look at hair magazines for ideas. Can cut out the hairstyles you are interested in to bring into your stylist. Not all hairstyles will look good on you, so take the advice of a hairstylist you trust on what will and won't work.
Apply subtle cosmetics. You might feel tempted to mask signs of aging by wearing more make-up, but in actuality, wearing fewer cosmetics will actually do more for your appearance. Opt for sheer lip glosses, lip pencils, and lip stains. Avoid lipsticks with heavy pigmentation. If you have wrinkles on your lips and your lipstick doesn't stay put you might need to use a lip pencil to outline your lips. If you do use a lip pencil be careful it matches your lipstick as close as you can, you don't want the lip pencil to be noticeable. Choose a blush that blends into your skin color and apply it higher on the cheekbone, away from the nose, to counteract the natural sagging of skin that comes with age. Use a powder blush, liquid blush is more difficult to apply evenly and doesn't look as natural. Avoid products with a shimmer, pearl or sparkle finish. Line the eye with eye shadow instead of traditional liner. If your eyelids droop over your eyes then the shadow might transfer, and might not work for you. In that case you might want to try a gel eyeliner that comes with a little brush. You line your eyes as close to the eyelashes as possible and with a thin line, not thick. Try charcoal or brown-black, straight black is just too dark. Your eye make-up needs to look softer and less severe overall.
Pluck hairs on your chin yourself, or go to a professional and have your chin waxed. Older women usually have some hair that grows on your chin as you age. If it is too much trouble to do this on a regular basis you can get the chin hair professionally removed, but that costs more, and it doesn't always work and get all of it.
Wear false lashes. If your eyelashes have thinned out with age, apply false lashes or lash extensions to make your eyes look younger. Natural styles tend to work better since glamorous ones are more likely to look fake.
Darken your eyebrows a little. Younger people usually have darker eyebrows, and the color fades with age, so if your eyebrows disappear over time, or are faded then pencil them in with an eyebrow pencil with light feathery strokes following your natural eyebrows, you could also use shadow especially made for eyebrows that is sold in any grocery or other similar store, some eyebrow kits actually have eyebrow stencils, to help you with where the eyebrow shadow should go. Don't overdo it, practice, start light at first and darken up. It is much easier to darken your eyebrows than to overdo it and have to wash it off and start over again.
Trim your eyebrows. Pluck out or wax away eyebrow hairs that have grown too long. You can also pluck out gray eyebrow hair or dye it a shade or two darker than your hair color. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to pluck out all of your eyebrows and draw them in artificially with eyebrow pencil, or to get them tattooed on. This technique looks unnatural and will age you further, making you look older instead of younger.
Beauty Tips for Men
Skip the comb-over and the toupee. If you've begun balding, you might be tempted to hide your bald spot by combing your remaining hair over it or by wearing a toupee. Both options are not practical, however, since both are generally very noticeable. Moreover, in your desperation to hide your bald spot, you may actually make yourself look older to those looking at you. A better option is simply to get your hair cut short. Having short hair looks neater and may make your bald spot less noticeable. Moreover, since men of all ages can wear short buzz-cuts, the style itself does not reveal your age.
Go for the counterweight look. If your facial hair is still growing even after the hair on top of your head has fallen out, you could try maintaining a neatly groomed mustache, beard, or combination style. While a lack of facial hair may have given you a "baby face" when you were younger, maintaining it as you get older can draw the eye away from the top of your head. Additionally, facial hair has a certain ruggedness associated with it. Your body might be wearing down with age, but facial hair can give the opposite impression and make you look as sturdy and strong as ever. Sometimes the beard gets gray before your hair does, if it bothers you too much you can buy over the counter dye kits made specially to dye beards and mustaches where they sell women's hair dye in grocery stores so you can dye it yourself. Just be sure to follow the directions.
Try coloring your hair. If you still have plenty of hair but see it turning gray or white, talk to your barber about getting the hair dyed. Aim for a shade close to the natural color you sported in your youth. If your hair has already been gray or white for a long time, you might want to consider going for a salt-and-pepper look, instead, since that could look more natural. Talk to a haircare professional before changing your hair color. Boxed dyes can contain chemicals that may weaken or damage your hair further. If you dye your hair yourself, make sure you follow all of the directions for best results.
Trim your ear and nose hair. The hair in your ears and nose generally grows faster and longer once you reach your 40s and 50s, so untrimmed hair in these areas is both untidy and a clear sign of age. Trim the hair whenever you can see it sticking out. On a similar note, if you have unruly white hair sticking out from beneath your collar, you should trim that every few days, as well. You could also have the neck hair permanently removed to lessen the hassle of shaving it yourself all the time.
Professional Cosmetic Treatments
Use retinoid creams. Retinoid creams help the body produce more collagen, and collagen renews your skin, making it look younger and healthier while minimizing the appearance of wrinkles and age spots. You can get over-the-counter retinoid creams, but prescription versions are more potent and may have a more dramatic effect. Attend to your fingernails. By this I mean look at them, are they normal or have they become yellow and thick? If they have yellowed that might mean you have a fungus, it is easily taken care of and your nails can look youthful again. Check with your doctor, he/she can prescribe an antifungal liquid for it. They also sell antifungal liquid at most grocery stores in the medicine department.
You're never too old to get your teeth fixed, so if your teeth are crooked, or you are missing teeth consider getting them taken care of at your Dentist. They now have "invisible" braces to make it less noticeable that your teeth are getting aligned. Having beautiful teeth makes anyone more attractive, no matter your age.
Whiten your teeth. Yellowed teeth are another common sign of age. You can use a home whitening kit on your teeth for a quick fix, but for something that will last longer, see your dentist and ask to have a professional teeth whitening done. Keep in mind some foods discolor teeth, as does smoking. If you want your teeth to stay white avoid foods and drinks that are more likely to stain your teeth, such as coffee, for example.
Try cosmetic acupuncture. While acupuncture is technically a form of alternative medicine, you still need to go to a licensed professional to have the procedure done. It is a far more natural treatment than cosmetic injections, however, which reduces the risk of an adverse reaction. Acupuncture needles are inserted into the face, neck, and head. They stimulate skin cells and improve circulation, so your skin ends up producing more collagen and elastin. As a result, the skin in those areas becomes firmer and more youthful in appearance.
Ask about laser and radio-frequency treatments. Treatments that use laser waves and radio waves cause microscopic fissures to form in the skin, and these fissures stimulate collagen production. Radio wave treatments can be quite painful, but if you can endure them, you should notice considerably firmer, younger looking skin within six months.
Use an acid filler. Hyaluronic acid fillers are injected into the skin, where they spread out and fill wrinkles and similar age lines. As a result, even the smallest lines of your face can look smoother within a short period of time. There are different filler treatments available, so talk to your doctor about which one might be best for you. Surface fillers work great on small lines and cause very little bruising, but deeper fillers might be necessary for deeper wrinkles.
Check into sclerotherapy. This specialized procedure is used to lessen or eliminate spider veins. Since spider veins are associated with age, removing them can make you look younger. The procedure used to be very painful, but newer techniques have made the procedure quicker and less uncomfortable.
Look into photodynamic rejuvenation. During this procedure, pulsed light is combined with a specialized topical drug to destroy abnormally pigmented skin cells. Within two or three sessions, sun-aged skin can look closer to its natural age. Note that this treatment also has a practical purpose since it can be used to target precancerous cells, as well.
Try a chemical peel. During this procedure, acid is used to burn away the top layers of skin. This removes damaged skin and stimulates new skin growth, which can lead to a smoother, younger looking face. Trichloroacetic acid peels are among the most common chemical peels. Some treatments can cause scabbing and may take several weeks to heal, but there are a few newer treatments that can result in less immediate pain and discomfort.
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