As we get older our everything changes, it’s inevitable. But how we adapt to this change is in our control and it might mean rethinking how we look after our skin. The article will give you five tips on what you can do to improve how your skin feels — and looks.
How skin can change in your 60s and 70s.
Everyone ages differently, but during this time in your life, you may notice that your skin is:
- Drier
- Thinner and starting to look paper-like
- Itchy
- Developing more age spots, wrinkles, and creases
- Blotchier
- Irritated easily
- More susceptible to skin infections
- Bruising more easily
- Sweating less
- Healing more slowly
When it comes to skincare in our 60s and 70s, there are a few easy lifestyle changes you can make.. if you haven’t already done so.
Here’s what you can do:
- Bathe to relieve dry skin. Some simple changes to your bath time can reduce (or alleviate) dry, itchy skin and prevent dry, itchy from becoming a serious problem.
- Stop using bar soap. Replace it with a gentle, creamy, fragrance-free cleanser or emollient.
- Use warm (not hot) water. Hot water strips skin of its natural oils, which can increase skin dryness.
- Use a soft cloth to wash your skin. A buff puff or bath brush can irritate your skin.
- Keep your bath or shower short. You may find that you don’t need to bathe every day. When you bathe, keep it short. Take a 10-minute bath or shower.
- Pat water gently from your skin after bathing, but leave a bit of water on your skin. Having some water on your skin when you apply moisturizer (next step) helps hydrate your skin.
- Apply a creamy, fragrance-free moisturizer formulated for dry skin within 3 minutes of bathing and throughout the day. This helps ease the dryness and restore your skin’s protective barrier.
- Use a humidifier when the air feels dry. Heating and air conditioning can strip humidity from the air. Dry air can make your skin feel dry and itchy.
- Keeping indoor humidity between 45% and 60% can reduce dry, itchy skin. You can easily measure the humidity in the air with a hydrometer, which you can buy at Target, Big W, Kmart, Bunnings etc.
- Wear gloves while doing housework and gardening. Working around your house and in your garden can expose your skin to harsh chemicals, sunlight, and other things that can irritate and dry your skin.
- When you wear gloves, you also reduce your risk of injuring your skin.
- Protect your skin from the sun. (This applies to all ages) If you’re seeing more wrinkles, age spots, and blotches of discoloured skin, you may wonder if you still need to protect your skin from the sun…YOU DO! At this stage in your life, sun protection still offers many benefits. It helps to prevent new age spots and blotchy skin. It can reduce dry, thinning skin.
- To protect your skin from the sun’s harmful rays It’s recommended that you:
- Apply a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with SPF 50 or higher every day. (You want to apply this to all skin that clothing won’t cover while you’re outside.)
- Seek shade when outdoors. Sunscreen cannot block 100% of the sun’s harmful rays.
- Wear clothing that protects your skin from the sun. To find out if a garment offers sun protection, hold it up to bright light. If you don’t see light shining through, it can protect your skin from the sun.
- Go fragrance-free. Perfumes, colognes, and skincare products that contain fragrance can irritate your skin. When you stop using these, you can reduce your risk of developing dry, itchy skin.
- And.. see a dermatologist for skin cancer exams. Around 50 years of age, your risk of developing skin cancer and pre-cancerous growths increases. As the years pass, this risk rises.
- Examine your skin for signs of skin cancer.
- Skin cancer can develop quickly. Learning how to examine your skin for signs of it can help you to find skin cancer early. To learn how to examine your skin, watch How to perform a skin self-exam.
To read up some more you can visit:
The Conversation | Wrinkles, liver spots, crows’ feet: What happens to our skin as we age?
Better Health Channel | Healthy Ageing – The Skin
Cancer Council | Check for signs of skin cancer