It is a part of life that most women will go through the menopause process. This change is not as simple as it sounds! At this time, women will go through a wide range of changes in their body, from hormones to health. This includes the skin area too! Well, that’s why generally women who have experienced menopause will need a special skincare routine. Let’s learn more about the changes in our body and the exact skincare steps!
What is Menopause?
Before we begin, it’s important to remember that not all women will go through menopause. It could be due to illness, medical conditions, or other factors. But most will go through it. Menopause itself is a natural phase in a woman’s life when menstruation stops and hormone levels in the body change significantly.
What are the changes? Psychosocial changes such as sensitivity, mood swings, sleep disturbances, and decreased libido. Health-wise, it will also be affected! A person will be more susceptible to diabetes, joint pain, cardiovascular disease, and many more. Symptoms can also appear physically such as skin problems.
Sounds scary, right? Stay calm, Sereni-Trees! This is why we have to adapt new habits, routines and treatments to deal with this menopausal process.
Impact of Menopause on Skin
As we have already discussed, the symptoms of menopausal changes will also appear on the skin. This is because during menopause, our body experiences a decrease in estrogen production. This hormone is responsible for maintaining skin moisture, thickness and elasticity. So when estrogen levels decrease, the skin starts to show more obvious signs of aging.
The changes that we can feel and see are as follows:
- Appearance of aging signs
When we are exposed to UV rays unprotected in our youth, the effects are likely to appear after menopause. Symptoms may include age spots and darker areas of skin on the face, hands, neck, arms or chest. In addition, the risk of suffering from skin cancer will also be higher!
- Skin bruises easily
This can happen because with the decline of estrogen, the skin becomes thinner. So of course it will be more vulnerable and easy to experience bruising.
- Dry skin
During menopause, the skin may lose some of its ability to retain water. As a result, the skin can feel very dry especially if we are in hot areas and the air is dry.
- Skin sagging and wrinkles
Not only estrogen, menopause also causes collagen loss in our skin. Studies show that women’s skin loses about 30% of collagen in the first five years of menopause. After that, the decline is slower, about 2% every year for the next 20 years.
What happens when collagen decreases? The skin loses its firmness and starts to sag. Cheeks will start to sag as well as permanent lines forming from the tip of the nose to the corners of the mouth. Wrinkles that previously only appeared when smiling or frowning may now appear all the time! Large pores will also appear due to lack of skin firmness.
- Acne appears
Not only during puberty or growing up, menopause is also a time when acne can appear. This is because of the decrease in estrogen levels. Still, it all comes down to your skin type!
- Easier irritation & increased skin sensitivity
As we get older, the pH level of our skin changes. This change often causes our skin to become more sensitive. For example, it is easy to develop rashes and get irritated. Especially if we previously had certain medical conditions such as eczema and rosacea, it can usually worsen.
- Slow wound healing
Hormones play an important role in the healing of our skin. Therefore, when there is a decrease in hormones, the ability of wounds to heal will be slowed down.
These are just some of the effects that will be seen and felt on our skin during menopause, Sereni-Trees! Beyond that, there’s the risk of hair loss or hair growing where we don’t want it (above the lip or under the chin).
All these changes do sound scary! However, they are perfectly normal. Not just women, everyone will experience changes in their body and skin over time. All we can do is prepare ourselves, change our routine, and use specialized skincare!
5 Tips to Maintain Healthy Skin During Menopause
Just because our bodies and skin are changing, we don’t have to be afraid! We should still be diligent in doing activities that can keep our skin healthy. For example, start by eating nutritious and antioxidant-packed foods (nuts, strawberries, spinach, goji berries, etc.). Accompany a balanced diet with plenty of hydration. Remember, our skin needs hydration from both inside and out!
In addition, we should also exercise regularly to improve blood circulation and get enough sleep. Psst, when we sleep, our body will more effectively repair and regenerate skin cells! How cool is that?
Last but not least, learn how to manage stress. Stressful conditions can sometimes be inevitable. However, we must learn how to manage our stress so that it doesn’t affect our mental and physical condition! This is very important because menopause will also have an impact on our mental health. Therefore, as a solution, we can learn new hobbies, do meditation, yoga, consult a psychologist, and many more!
Those are 5 tips to maintain overall body and skin health! It’s not enough to just use skincare, it must be supported by your lifestyle too.
Skincare Solutions During Menopause
We’ve seen what effects menopause has on our skin! Now it’s time to take these steps to be better prepared for it:
- Do regular skin check ups. There are usually certain problems that require medical treatment such as laser or microdermabrasion.
- Use sunscreen every day before going out. Choose a sunscreen of at least SPF 30 or higher.
- Switch to a gentle cleanser made from natural ingredients such as Serenitree body wash (contains vegetable glycerin which can accelerate wound healing)
- Apply moisturizer after showering and throughout the day when skin feels dry (recommended ingredient: hyaluronic acid. Natural alternative: shea butter, available in Serentree calming body lotion)
- To boost collagen, choose skincare that contains retinol or a natural alternative peptide: tocopherol.
- Switch to skincare options without artificial fragrances to reduce irritation
- If needed, to control acne, you can consult a professional for hormonal treatment.
Sereni-Trees should do a consultation first so that it’s clearer what skincare or treatment is best during menopause! Our skin conditions are different, so what works for someone else may not necessarily work for you. For those of you who want to switch to natural skincare, you can check out Serenitree. This skincare is suitable for everyone and all skin types, even children and pregnant/breastfeeding moms. Be sure to check them out!