True Radical Honesty From Our Community

Good news: the most effective things you can do for your skin are also the simplest.

We know we don’t need to reiterate the importance of cleansing and moisturizing your skin every morning and night. Those kind of skincare practices are a given. However, there are plenty of other basic habits you should get into if you want to maintain the best skin of your life. Because taking care of your skin is way easier than you think – but there are still rules.

Read on for ten of our favorites.

1. Use Toner

Toner is often overlooked in the quest for fabulous skin. But here’s the thing. It might not be an absolute ‘essential’ like cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen, but similar to other skincare greats like serums, a good toner can provide a whole lot of love to your skin.

Typically water-based, think of your toner as like a primer for your skin, gently removing any last traces of grime from your pores, while balancing your pH and providing much-needed hydration. Depending on the ingredients used, certain toners may even help brighten, firm or clarify your skin.

Take Action: Introduce a toner to your morning and evening routine and you’ll notice the benefits almost straight away. Just make sure you choose well, steering clear of harsh alcohols and synthetic fragrances in favor of calming, soothing and balancing botanicals like rose water and aloe vera. Try Rose Water Refreshing Facial Toner.

2. Prioritize Sleep

Great skin isn’t just about great skincare. Your lifestyle is even more important than the products you put on your skin. Sleep, for example, is crucial. Deprive yourself of a good night’s sleep and your skin misses out on valuable regeneration time in which collagen production amps up, cell regeneration accelerates, blood flow increases and antioxidants kick in to neutralize environmental damage.

Take Action: You must have noticed how much better you look after a quality eight hours of sleep time, right? Then do your damnedest to make that a regular occurrence. Your skin will look and feel ten times better. Stat.

3. Avoid Harsh Skincare

If you have sensitive skin, you'll already err on the side of gentle when choosing your skincare products. But, in all honesty, the same rule should apply regardless of your skin type. We know it’s tempting to choose oil-stripping products if you have greasy or acne-prone skin, for example, but honestly, they won’t help. In fact, they’ll probably make matters worse, causing dehydration and irritation in both the short- and long-term.

Take Action: Don’t be too harsh on your skin. Sure, choose products that are tailored to help your individual skin type (dry, oily, normal or combination) but avoid anything that’s packed with strong alcohols and/or unnecessary chemicals. Kindness is next to godliness. Or something like that!

4. Embrace Eye Cream

For some people, eye cream falls into the same ‘do I really need it?’ category as toner. And sure, if you’re young enough to yet be dealing with dark circles, puffiness, dryness and wrinkling around your eyes then fair enough, eye cream won’t be your highest priority. For the rest of us, however, eye cream is vital.

Gentler than regular moisturizer, eye creams are specifically formulated to deal with the thinner, more delicate skin around your eyes. Unlike the rest of your face, this area contains fewer sebaceous glands to keep it moisturized as well as less muscle and fatty tissue for strength and volume. So it really does need looking after.

Take Action: We have three fantastic eye creams to choose from depending on your skin concerns. Depuffing Longevity Eye Cream is incredible for improving eye bags, while Hyaluronic Acid Eye Cream is a must for hydrating and firming the skin around your eyes. But don’t forget Peptide Eye Gel, our fabulously lightweight, cooling gel that works on all the visible signs of aging. Use just a tiny amount of your chosen formulation morning and night.

5. Find A Simple, Consistent Routine

Consistency is everything. It’s as simple as that. However, what might work for your BFF might not work for you, so find your own way in your skincare life. Then stand firm.

Take Action: Sticking to a daily routine that’s simple and effective will go a long way to helping you reach your skincare goals. This may be applying Retinol Facial Serum every night and exfoliating twice a week; or it could be alternating between Vitamin C Facial Serum and Niacinamide Facial Serum. If it works for you, roll with it.

Of course, you can switch the odd product up every now and again to work with the seasons and help target certain changes that may occur in your skin. But don’t mess around too much, and definitely don’t switch out your products every month. This won’t give them time to do what they set out to.

6. Quit Smoking

Cigarettes are packed with thousands of chemicals which are terrible for the skin. According to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology, the long-term effects of smoking include dryness, patchy skin, bags around the eyes, sagging and deeper-then-normal wrinkles.

“It is common for the skin of a 40-year old heavy smoker to resemble that of a 70-year-old non-smoker,”  experts claim. We’ll just leave you with that for a hot minute.

Take Action: If you don’t smoke, don’t start. And if you do, there are many ways to quit. It might not be easy, and it’ll take time, patience and a lot of willpower. But we believe in you. Head here for help.

7. Wear Sunscreen

We may have said this before (ha, like only a thousand times!) but sunscreen is the most important product you can have in your anti-aging skincare arsenal. In fact, UV radiation is responsible for somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of all visible skin aging, helping to ward off premature lines, discolorations and sagging.

And yes, you do need to protect your skin from UV radiation every day of the year. Because, not only does UVA penetrate right through clouds but it also goes through windows to hit your skin when you least expect it.

Take Action: Go for a broad-spectrum sunscreen that has an SPF of at least 30. This will ensure you’re giving your skin sufficient protection from both UVA and UVB radiation. Apply it generously to any exposed skin (your face, neck and back of the hands as an absolute minimum), and choose a formulation you actually enjoy applying to ensure it seamlessly becomes part of your routine, like cleaning your teeth and brushing your hair. Good news: SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C is so lightweight and easy to apply, you'll actually WANT to wear it.

8. Stop Touching Your Face

No matter how often your wash or sanitize your hands, they will always carry germs, allergens and bacteria that can transfer straight to the skin on your face. This can upset your skin’s delicate microbiome, potentially triggering breakouts or worsening existing conditions like eczema and psoriasis.

Take Action: We get it, touching your face is something you rarely realize you’re doing. But whenever you clock it, call yourself out. Hopefully over time you can stop, or at least reduce the amount of face touching you do on a daily basis.

9. Clean Up Your Diet

Whether it be chocolate, ice cream, Fritos or hot dogs, we all have our vices. And treats are fine in moderation, but too many can cause harmful compounds that attack your skin cells and really mess with the tone and texture of your poor complexion.

Take Action: The best diet for your skin is one that’s packed with antioxidant-rich fresh fruit and veggies, plus oily fish, seeds and nuts, all of which are high in omega-3 fatty acids. Don't starve yourself of the good stuff (that rarely works), but don't go overboard and make sure the healthy stuff always outweighs the unhealthy.

10. Exfoliate

As you get older, exfoliation becomes ever more important as your skin’s rate of turnover becomes sluggish and dead skin cells start to outstay their welcome. This can leave your skin looking drab, dreary and extremely dull. Worse yet, it can block up your pores and invite acne breakouts to the party. Prefer brighter, smoother, more wide-awake skin than any of the above? Then you gotta exfoliate.

Take Action: Give your face a gentle exfoliation as often as you think your skin needs it. This could be as frequent as every day, or as little as once a week. It may also take a few weeks to figure out your skin’s sweet spot, but when you get there, trust us, it’ll be worth it.

Also, think about whether you prefer the physical action of a scrub or the simplicity of a leave-on lotion. The good news is we cater for both with our awesome Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub and 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant.

Jetting off somewhere fun but don’t want to hit arrivals with dry, dehydrated, AC-screwed skin? Here’s what we know about looking after in-flight skin.

Sure, the summer vacation period is nearly over but we still have the holiday weekend coming up and heck, time off to decompress and explore new places is always a good idea, any time of the year.

Flying, however, can really take its toll on your skin. Just ask any cabin crew member and they will attest to frequently having to deal with excess oil, dehydration, dullness and pesky breakouts.

So what’s the deal and why does airplane air affect the skin so much?

Well, firstly, there’s a huge amount of intense UV radiation high up in those skies above the clouds, so if you’re a big fan of nabbing the window seat you could be subjecting your skin to a whole lotta sun damage.

Also, airplanes contain pressurized cabins to protect us from the low air pressure that’s a given at such high altitudes. This is vital because it maintains an adequate amount of oxygen so you can breathe properly and not get altitude sickness, fatigue or worse. It’s kind of a big deal and crucial for keeping you alive.

Pressurized air, however, contains very little humidity – around 10-20 percent. And your skin prefers the humidity levels to sit around the 50-60 percent mark in order for it to remain hydrated and supple. So, you can imagine how angry it gets when it doesn’t get this vital moisture. Your barrier function becomes compromised, swiftly causing your skin to become dry, flaky, red and dehydrated. It can also cause your sebaceous glands to get extremely trigger happy, leading to excess oiliness and breakouts at the drop of a hat.

But that’s not all. Low air pressure also slows down lymphatic drainage and reduces the levels of oxygen in your blood which starves your skin of the essential nutrients it needs to remain bright and healthy-looking.

Getting the drift yet? Ha, we still haven’t finished because flying for long hours and travelling through different time zones can also mess with your body’s natural circadian rhythm. This upsets your sleep like nobody’s business, encouraging dark circles around your eyes and accelerating dullness and sad-looking skin.

Now that you understand why airplane skin is such a big deal, let’s see what you can do about combating the effects of flying on your skin…

Action Point #1. Cleanse Well & Layer Up With Moisture

Maintaining clean, moisturized skin while you’re at altitude is crucial. So, whether you cleanse and moisturize at home, whilst in departures or just after take off, make sure you do it thoroughly, but gently. Skin that’s stuck for hours with sweat, sebum, dirt and pollution on its surface will feel horrible when you land... and it'll look even worse. You have been warned.

Our favorite pre-flight cleanser is our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser which helps to truly detox and purify your skin without drying it out completely. You could also try our fabulous Tea Tree Super Cleanser which is super refreshing and ideal if you’re worried about in-flight breakouts.

After cleansing with lukewarm, never hot, water, gently pat dry and then layer up with hydration. Layering serum under moisturizer will give your skin the best start on its travels, helping to reduce dehydration and therefore maintaining its soft, glowy edge.

Try our brand new Caffeine Facial Serum after cleansing to energize your skin and boost its moisture content, then apply your favorite moisturizer. Which one do we prefer for traveling? That depends. For long-haul flights, we love the richness and intensity of Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream but for shorter hops across the country, try Firming Collagen Day Lotion.

Either way, expect happy skin when you touch down.

Action Point #2. Don’t Apply Heavy Makeup

Don’t get us wrong, we love makeup and literally could not live without our mascara-lip-gloss combo on a daily basis. But caking your skin in makeup, for a long-haul flight in particular, could clog up your pores and encourage breakouts. You’re way better off sticking with clean, moisturized skin as above.

If you really can’t bear the thought of walking around the departures lounge foundation-free, carry your favorite cleanser and moisturizer in your hand luggage and make sure you remove your makeup properly, just after take-off.

Action Point #3. Smother Exposed Skin With SPF

Sunscreen might not be front of mind when you’re sitting on a plane for x number of hours, but it’s probably undoubtedly your most important in-flight skin-savior. As previously mentioned, UV radiation is way stronger when you’re up in the air and, while windows block most UVB rays (they're the ones that burn your skin) UVA rays pass right through them. Reminder: UVA rays are the ones that age you up lightning fast.

Always apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen before your flight to combat photo damage. Our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C shields your skin from both UVA and UVB harm, plus it contains vitamin C to help improve radiance and further protect you from sun damage.

That’s what’s called a beauty no-brainer, btw.

Action Point #4. Keep A Moisturizing Mist Handy

Does your skin often feel parched when you’re mid-air, yet you still have four hours to go? We hear you. This is why we love to keep a small bottle of Rose Water Refreshing Facial Toner in our hand luggage.

This gem is the absolute nuts for balancing, hydrating, calming and soothing the skin, and it never overloads it with unnecessary ingredients since its made only from pure Moroccan rose water. It also feels super refreshing and smells darn fine, too. It’s right up there with Colleen Hoover’s latest novel as a traveling must-have.

Action Point #5. Avoid Anything That’ll Further Dehydrate Your Skin

Staying hydrated on the inside is going to do your skin all kinds of favors. So, limit alcohol, caffeine and foods that are high in salt (bye-bye free packets of mini pretzels) because all of these are super dehydrating.

Instead, knock back plenty of water and load up on fresh fruit, veggies and healthy snacks like nuts, seeds and unsalted popcorn.

Now, fare thee well, flight face!

Because not even Jennifer Lopez was 'born' with her infamous JLo glow…

Summer might be almost over (gasp!) but we’re still in full-on vacation mode at TruSkin HQ. And, for us, vacations are all about glowing, radiant skin – as well as a few new fabulous sundresses, of course. Ooh, and those Chloe sunglasses we’ve been eyeing up since June…

But we digress. Back to glowing skin, which, frankly, is not something most of us wake up with. Truth is, radiant skin takes work. Sure, you can spend a few minutes slapping self-tanner on your face and body, and, absolutely, makeup is fabulous for bronzing up your cheeks and adding shimmer to your décolletage. But wouldn’t you rather do real, longer-lasting good for your skin in the quest for an illuminating complexion?

Us too. That’s why you’ll find us mostly doing the following for the next few months. Scratch that, we’ll actually be doing them forever more. Because glowing skin is not something we want to give up once summer is over.

Get Handsy

A fantastic way to boost your circulation and simultaneously get your skin glowing and ready for the day is to give yourself a facial massage each morning while cleansing. It’s also totally free. And easy. Nice.

Wash your hands first, then wet your skin with lukewarm (never hot) water and squeeze a dime-sized amount of cleanser (Vitamin C Brightening Cleanser is a joy!) into the palms of your hands. Apply this all over your face and neck and really work it into your skin using the flats of your hands and the pads of your fingers – just NOT your nails as these can scratch and damage the surface of your skin.

Start on your forehead, pressing your fingers along the brow area and up your forehead towards the headline. Repeat this a few times, then work from the center of your nose and out along your cheeks to your temple area. Use large circular motions for a gentle, but fairly firm massage, again, repeating a couple of times, then continue with the same motions over your chin, along your jawline, then finish with long, smooth strokes down your neck.

Spend just two or three minutes doing this in the shower each morning. You'll be amazed by how much healthier your skin will look (and feel!).

Tone Down Your Exfoliation

Don’t get us wrong, summer is a great time to exfoliate more often than normal – if nothing else but to keep your pores clean and clear of excess oils, sweat and sunscreen. However, when you’re in the sunshine all day, every day, for however many days you’re lucky enough to be on vacation, exfoliating too much can make your skin extremely vulnerable to UV damage.

Of course, you can still reap the benefits of certain exfoliants while you’re away, you just need to choose your formulation wisely. Our Ocean Minerals Super Toner, for example, contains a super low percentage of glycolic acid to help boost cellular turnover without overdoing it. It’s a great little product to take away with you as it also helps to refresh and hydrate your skin.

If you prefer more of a scrub and can’t bear to be without it when you’re on vacay, stick to just once a week and exfoliate it in the morning rather than in the evening when your skin might be feeling the heat of a long day in the sun. Choose a super (and we mean, REALLY super) mellow scrub like our Vitamin C Gentle Facial Scrub and use a very delicate touch to smooth it over your skin and neck using lukewarm water to rinse thoroughly.

Layer Sunscreen & Vitamin C Before Beach Days

Want to ensure your skin is shielded from UV radiation in the best way possible? Then you not only have to apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen every day (SPF 30 is the sweet spot), but you also need to layer up with a vitamin C serum. This powerful double act is pretty unbeatable when it comes to winning the battle and the war against sun damage. No exaggeration.

Vitamin C is one of the best topical antioxidants you can use on your skin as it counteracts damaging free radicals which, if left alone, can and will screw up your collagen and elastin, causing premature aging lightning fast. It basically supercharges your sunscreen while strengthening and fortifying your skin. Not to mention the fact that it also helps keep melanin under control to stop dark spots from ruining your mojo.

The issue, however, is that vitamin C can be pretty powerful if you don’t use it wisely. So we recommend choosing sodium ascorbyl phosphate (SAP) over pure vitamin C (l-ascorbic acid) as it’s way gentler. It also remains more stable when it hits light and oxygen as an added bonus.

The great thing is that our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen already comes packed with SAP, but for an extra morning boost, we always apply a few drops of Vitamin C Facial Serum underneath. Because it’s nice to be smug. And doubly protected from the wicked ways of the sun.

Try An Evening Double-Cleanse

Your skin gets subjected to a lot throughout the day: especially on vacation when you’re out in the sun, sweating more, producing more oil and layering on the SPF. 

This is why a thorough, pre-bedtime double cleanse is so crucial. As you sleep, your skin goes into full recharge mode, regenerating itself and repairing environmental damage, but it simply won’t be able to do this properly or efficiently if it’s clogged up with daily grime.

To nail an effective, but not-too-harsh double cleanse, start with a cream or oil-based cleanser to remove makeup, sebum, sunscreen and other oily surface debris. Then use a water-based formula like a gel or lotion to take care of sweat, pollutants and anything else that might still be hanging around on your skin.

As a rule, double cleansing can be too intense and, frankly, kind of unnecessary for most skin types on a daily basis, but for a thorough, summer vacay clean-up job we are all in.

Moisturize Like A Demon Before Bed

Heat from the sun can suck all the moisture and oils from your skin making dehydration and dryness a real issue. And get this: dry, dehydrated skin is never, we repeat never going to look radiant and healthy because it isn’t able to reflect light as well as soft, moisturized skin. 

So what must you do? Easy. You simply must replace lost hydration with Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum (it’s the bomb for drawing water to the surface of your skin). Then, moisturize thoroughly and effectively morning and night. We specifically like to amp it up before bed, slathering our face and neck with Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream to repair skin from everything a day on the beach throws at it (cocktails, chlorine, salt water, sunshine, need we go on?).

Waking up with great skin with very little effort? That is what we live for!

Sweat, sunscreen and excess oil can screw up your clear skin game. But so can stripping it of every last inch of moisture. It’s all about balance.

Summertime brings many fabulous things. Longer days, spritz o’clock and, this year, the Olympics which, we don’t know about you, but we love.

As far as your skin’s concerned, however, summer has its drawbacks. Sure, all that extra humidity is excellent for helping your skin to stay hydrated. And yes, sunshine instantly makes your skin take on a more healthy glow (as long as you’re wearing your SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C, of course).

But then there’s all the other stuff that can clog up your pores and make your face look shinier than a freshly awarded Olympic gold medal (obsessed, us?!). Sweat is more prevalent. Ditto, sebum. And all that sunscreen, no matter how lightweight, is an extra layer of product to wash away at the end of the day.

So, how do you ensure you effectively cleanse your skin each night and remove every last scrap of built-up summer grime, without sapping all the life from your skin, leaving it dry, dehydrated and potentially irritated as hell?

Here’s how.

Stay In The Shade

This may seem like a weird one but bear with us because how you spend your day is going to play a major part in how much sweat, oil and grime your face has to deal with at the end of it. What’s the phrase? Prevention is better than cure…

It’s simple, really. Direct sunlight equals more intense heat which makes you sweat more. Not only that, but higher temperatures accelerate your skin’s production of sebum, and when your skin feels sweaty and oily, you’re more likely to touch it more often, transferring dirt, grime and bacteria from your hands to your face.

Stay in the shade, however, and you will stay cooler so therefore sweat less, produce less sebum and hopefully keep your dirty hands away from your face. It’s a win win.

Freshen Up Throughout The Day

A great way to keep your cool throughout the day and help control sebum production so you don’t have so much to contend with later, is to keep a balancing facial spritz at hand.

Our Rose Water Refreshing Facial Toner, for example, is awesome for refreshing and balancing oily and combination skin while hydrating and calming irritation or redness. It also only contains one ingredient, Moroccan rose water, so you don’t have to worry about overloading your skin with unnecessary ingredients if you get over-excited with it! Think of it as a smart, ‘plan ahead’ kind of product to help keep harmony in your skin on particularly hot, sweaty days,

Cleanse Well… But Not Too Well

Cleansing is often brushed aside as something you do without much thought. And that’s a big mistake because cleansing is a crucial step in your routine. How on earth is your skin supposed to function properly if it’s constantly suffocated by layers of grime? Similarly, how’s it supposed to maintain its strength and softness if it’s stripped of essential moisture thanks to poor cleansing practices and harsh ingredients. What was that word again? Oh yeah, balance.

Summer cleansing is all about detoxifying your skin by removing sweat and sunscreen and cutting through excess oils. But it needs to do all of this without upsetting the equilibrium of your skin’s barrier function. Otherwise, your skin will end up feeling tight and dehydrated with the added pain of being oilier than ever thanks to your sebaceous glands going into overdrive to counteract all that dehydration. Eesh!

The good news is there are plenty of fabulous cleansing formulations that will thoroughly remove of all the bad stuff, without stripping it of all the good stuff. Search out ingredients like tea tree oil, which does all of that while purifying and nurturing your skin to simultaneously reduce inflammation and minimize pesky breakouts. Try our Tea Tree Super Cleanser+ if that sounds like something you can get on board with.

Activated coconut charcoal, which you’ll find in our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is also fantastic for mopping up summertime debris. And, more good news, none of our cleansers contain sulfates which are notorious for drying out your skin. Bonus.

When cleansing, use lukewarm water rather than water that’s too hold or too cold. Cold water won’t cleanse your skin thoroughly enough whereas scorching hot temperatures will strip away too many oils. Lukewarm is the sweet spot.

Pimp Up Your Cleansing Routine With Toner

Some people swear by toner. Others find it to be a step in their skincare routine they just don’t need. And, honestly, unlike cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen it’s not an absolute must for the health of your skin. However, choose the right toner and it can offer all manner of benefits to your complexion.

As we just mentioned, after a hot summer’s day you want to remove every bit of sunscreen and who-knows-what-else from the surface of your skin. But, and it’s a BIG but, you don’t want to go cleanser-mad for fear of stripping your skin dry.

A great way to truly freshen up while nurturing your skin is to follow cleanser with toner. Those squeaky-clean-skin-promising toners from the 1980s, however, can take a running jump because they’re just as bad at over-stimulating your sebaceous glands as pore-stripping cleansers. Instead, go gentle, with formulations that pump goodness into your skin as they revive the surface and prepare your skin for th next steps in your routine. Ocean Minerals Super Toner, btw, is a very fine specimen to crush all this – plus it contains awesome ingredients like protective vitamin C, strengthening peptides and energizing ginseng.

Exfoliate Once More Per Week

A little extra exfoliation in the summertime is a great trick for keeping your pores especially clean and clear. Added bonus: it’ll also balance excess sebum and help control summer breakouts.

It’s important to remember, however, that over-exfoliating is a massive no-no because it screws up your barrier function and can make your skin itchy, red and super dehydrated. So don’t do it every day.

To get the balance just right, adding in one extra exfoliation each week. This should be enough to improve cell turnover and keep your skin fresh and glowing, without over-stimulating sebum or irritating your skin.

Depending on your jam, we have two incredible exfoliators for you to try.

First up we have 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant, a leave-on lotion you apply before moisturizing that combines gentle exfoliating acids to work on your skin all day long. If you prefer to actually ‘feel’ your exfoliant do its thing, however, give our new Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub a go.

Whichever one you choose, your summer skin will be super thankful for it.
 
 

Menopausal skin can be anything from slightly tricky to downright terrible. But wayward hormones needn’t get the better off you. You just need to know what to expect and get ahead of the game.

How times have changed. Rewind ten, maybe just five years ago and the ‘m’ word was never spoken about. This important life-changing period of time that happens to every single woman alive, literally brushed under the carpet as if it were some dirty secret. Total madness.

Thankfully, we live in different times and the menopause (there, we said it!) is now a topic we can openly talk about without feeling ashamed or, heaven’s forbid, old. Because it’s an important time and can bring a lot of unsettling uncertainties to any woman going through this perfectly natural stage of life. Hot flashes, weight gain, mood swings, zero energy, they can all go hand in hand with the menopause.

And then there’s your skin which also has its own challenges to contend with.

How The Menopause Affects Your Skin

The menopause can be split into three stages. Perimenopause begins first, usually in a woman’s 40s (although it can start as early as your 30s and as late as your 50s). This period of your life refers to the time in which your body starts to transition out of your reproductive years and into the menopause. Your body’s production of hormones (mainly estrogen and progesterone, but also testosterone to a certain degree) starts to decline, your periods become irregular and a few of the classic side effects may come to fruition. Fun times!

Then you obviously get the menopause which is when your body’s hormones cause you to completely stop menstruating (which can take many years) and all those fabulous (said with a side of irony) side-effects get stronger and more frequent. More fun times. Once menopause is over and you’ve stopped ovulating for a year you’re then said to be in the postmenopause and will be forever more.

As you progress through these different stages, your hormones are all over the place which is never great news for the health of your skin. You see, hormone fluctuations can affect your levels of sebum (cue dryness). Not only that but they upset your collagen production which is already declining as part of the natural aging process (cue wrinkles and sagging skin). Estrogen is also important for helping your skin to retain water so when these levels decrease your skin can’t hydrate itself as efficiently (cue dehydration).

Of course, changes in your skin depend on your skin type but, no matter what, you can inevitably look forward to some kind of ‘unpredictability’ during the menopausal years of your life.

5 Ways To Care For Menopausal Skin

If you’ve started to notice that your skin is misbehaving a little more than it used to, chances are you’re in the stage of your life in which your hormones have become, shall we say, less reliable. Read on for a few effective ways to help keep your skin in check as your hormones are very much not!

1. Be Kind

The most important thing to remember? Don’t panic. Freaking out and overcompensating for dry skin, dehydration, breakouts or wrinkles that were never before is a sure-fire way to irritate your skin. Instead, be gentle with your skin, cleansing, toning and treating it with kindness and respect. Most importantly, avoid ingredients like synthetic fragrances and harsh alcohols that will strip your skin and generate further problems you didn’t sign up for.

A great way to do this? Switch out your regular cleanser for Soothing Cleansing Milk which is perfect for menopausal skin, nurturing and calming your barrier function while bringing vital hydration and even a little exfoliation to the table.

2. Moisturize To The Max

Research shows that the most common skin complaint during the menopause is dry, irritated, and often itchy skin. This is all thanks to lowering levels of estrogen (an important skin hydrator) as well as reduced sebum. Without both of these important moisturizing tools, water is able to escape more easily from the surface of your skin which leads to dryness, dehydration and everything that comes with it.

To help get ahead of this, you’re going to want to introduce a hydrating serum as well as a really good moisturizer into your daily regime. Try the kick-ass combo of our Multi-Vitamin Facial Serum and Renewing Longevity Moisturizing Cream every morning, and Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream before bed.

3. Use Smart Skincare Ingredients To Control Breakouts

Cell turnover becomes super sluggish during this time in your life which gives dead skin cells a free ticket to hang around at the surface of your skin and make your complexion look kind of dull. When it’s combined with wayward hormones it’s also asking for acne breakouts to do a real number on your skin. For most people these are mild and easily managed with healing, anti-inflammatory skincare ingredients like salicylic acid, niacinamide and tea tree oil – well, hello there Tea Tree Face Wash and Tea Tree Super Serum+.

If you feel like yours are more serious and out of control, however, seek help from a dermatologist.

4. Look After Your Collagen

It’s thought that skin loses a massive 30 percent of its natural collagen levels during the first five years of the menopause. Sound like a lot, right? Yeah, that’s because it is. And collagen is extremely important for the strength, firmness and elasticity of your skin so you’ve got to do everything you can to keep it healthy and plentiful.

How to do this? With a healthy diet, good sleep, marginal stress (preferably none at all, but it’s OK, we’re all human) and some smart skincare choices. Namely retinol at night (is there anything retinol isn’t good for?!), alongside our fabulous Collagen range which includes Smoothing Collagen Serum, Firming Collagen Day Lotion and our Collagen Boosting Skin Supplement which contains vegetarian collagen (none of that animal stuff for us, thanks) alongside skin-strengthening vitamins, biotin and acai.

5. Apply SPF Like Your Skin Depends On It

Because, heads up, it actually does. Dark spots are likely to get darker, bigger and more prevalent during your menopausal years as decades of sun exposure combine with wild hormones, causing your melanin to lose control of itself. Your fine lines and wrinkles are equally likely to suffer thanks to a lack of collagen helping to reinforce the strength and plumpness of your skin. Sigh.

Our advice? Don’t leave the house without applying SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C to your face and neck. It’s packed with sun-protective zinc oxide as well as aloe vera to hydrate and nourish your skin and a TruSkin favorite, brightening vitamin C. It’s basically a skincare must. Every. Day. Of. The Year.

Not a fan of those vertical lines that extend from your nose down to the sides of your mouth? Then read on for five ways to help minimize their appearance.

Smile lines might sound rather lovely and, in all honesty, most of us have some kind of fold – however tiny or etched in –  down the sides of our mouth. Do us a favor and dig out a picture of yourself smiling or laughing 20 or so years ago. Chances are, even then, they were apparent. But the thing is, smile lines, aka laughter lines, marionette lines or nasolabial folds come and go with your facial expression when you’re young and your skin is full of delicious collagen. Not so much as time ticks on. In fact, smile lines get progressively deeper as you age, often to the point where they’re always visible around the lips, even when you’re not smiling.

Many people can totally live with their smile lines. Some of you may even find that they’re an essential part of who you are. And we love that. However, that’s not the case for everyone. Smile lines, like crow’s feet and elevens (frown lines) can be a pesky annoyance for many of us. Sounds familiar? Then keep scrolling for some simple skincare tricks and lifestyle habits for helping to reduce the appearance of your smile lines. Just one thing, though. Don’t stop actually smiling in a bid to soften those lines. That’s just miserable.

Prioritize Regular Exfoliation

Exfoliation is one of the simplest ways to stimulate cellular turnover, remove dead skin cells and help improve the appearance of wrinkles by refining the tone and texture of your skin. Of course, in-office treatments like microdermabrasion offer the deepest type of exfoliation so they're always an option, but if you prefer to deal with your skin at home, our 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant is a fabulous choice.

A leave-on liquid that’s best applied to freshly cleansed skin (but before serum), this lightweight treatment contains a super smart blend of exfoliating ingredients to do all the hard work without any kind of scrubbing action. The main ingredients in question are glycolic acid, salicylic acid and gluconolactone which are different types of exfoliating acids. Together, they work like clockwork to encourage collagen production, hydrate the skin and say a big, fat ‘ciao’ to dead skin cells.

It’s gentle enough to use daily but we always recommend starting slowly, then building up to frequent use as your skin acclimates.

Build Collagen With Retinol Or Bakuchiol

Collagen is extremely important for the health of your skin, giving it structure, support, strength and volume. You’re born with tons of fabulous collagen in your skin which is why baby’s skin is so soft and plump. However, as you age, your production of collagen gets slower and thus your levels get lower, making your skin become drier, thinner and less elastic. This happens from around your mid-to-late 20s onwards. Yes, that early!

Sadly, you can’t stop this inevitable natural aging process, but there are many ways to help keep your collagen from disappearing quicker than nature intended.

Two of the most important topical ingredients for collagen are retinol, or nature’s gentler alternative to retinol, bakuchiol. Both of these work at a cellular level to kickstart collagen and encourage a more efficient barrier function to help keep your skin hydrated and healthy. Our Retinol Facial Serum is an incredible nightly treatment for improving smile (and indeed all!) lines, or try our fabulous Longevity Regimen Bundle if retinol’s not your thing.

Stimulate Blood Flow With A Facial Workout

Daily massage around your mouth can be a super effective way to work out the muscles and help improve the skin’s texture in this area. Of course, it won’t miraculously make your smile lines disappear but if you practice it regularly you should see an improvement over time.

Here are three great exercises to try:

1. Create a fist with both hands and place them at the corners of your mouth. Apply gentle pressure, then smooth your fists up the cheekbones to your temples. Repeat 10 times.

2. Part your lips slightly and use the pads of your fingers to pull the corners of your mouth back towards your face while keeping your lips parallel. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.

3. Hook the corners of your mouth with your index fingers and pull your fingers apart about a quarter of inch while tightening the corners of your mouth towards each other. Hold the resistance for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.

Shield Your Skin From Sun Damage

If want to choose just one wrinkle-reducing trick for preserving your collagen and therefore improving wrinkles, lines, folds and creases on your skin, sun protection is unquestionably it. Granted, it won’t get rid of anything that’s already formed, but it will prevent further issues from rearing their heads and will help stop your smile lines from getting any worse.

We understand that applying sunscreen every morning can be a real pain in the butt, which is why we formulated our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C to be a real joy to use. It’s non-sticky, totally lightweight, blends into your skin like a dream and doesn’t leave any annoying white marks. What’s more, it contains a cheeky boost of vitamin C to further protect your skin and add a little extra glow factor. Seems rude not to, right?

Practice Good Lifestyle Habits

Finally, the classic, skin-loving lifestyle habits must never be forgotten about if you want to hold on to young-looking skin for as long as possible. We’re talking, of course, about getting plenty of regular, quality sleep; staying hydrated with lots of sugar-free, caffeine-free drinks and water-rich foods (watermelon, anyone?); drinking booze in moderation; eating a fruit and veggie-forward diet; getting your fill of omega-3s and trying to keep your stress levels to a minimum.

Surely that’s not too much to ask, is it?