The Best Skincare Routine at 40 Years Old

If you are reading this, you might have just entered or are already in the beautiful decade of your 40s, and you can undoubtedly notice it every time you look at yourself in the mirror. Your skin is not the same as it was 15 years ago, so the time to stop taking care of it is probably long gone, and you have started to notice that it is time to pay a little more attention to it in order to enter this new stage with the best appearance and attitude.

At this point in your life, your appearance undergoes a long list of quite noticeable changes, the most obvious being the alteration of the general state of your skin. Over the previous years, you may have noticed the emergence of the first marks, expression lines, or even wrinkles, which were so unnoticeable that you simply accepted them as a part of you, without taking into account that in this new stage they would become much more noticeable within a few weeks.

This sudden change that arrives in the early years of your 40s is often the trigger that leads a large number of people to pay a little more attention to changes, making it necessary for them to add to their daily routine a special time to take care of their skin, prevent the worsening of existing marks, or even try to eliminate them and prevent the formation of new lines.

But, while for most the intentions are well-founded and quite clear, the reality is that many do not know which path to take to achieve it. There are those who, until this point, had never taken on the task of taking care of their face, but we also find people who even before this new stage had a daily skin care routine, but are not very clear whether it is necessary to alter it, so we have chosen to explain step by step what must be done, thus helping you to make all the necessary changes.

Are you about to turn 50? You will surely be interested in The best skin care routine at 50

Why it is important to alter your facial care routine in this new stage

Some people, as we mentioned above, arrive at the age of 40 with a fairly effective facial care routine that has yielded favorable results for years, so the mere idea of having to change any point of it seems somewhat unnecessary or even irrational to them. The reality is, to their surprise, that making some adjustments is more than justified in this new stage.

In your 40s, your skin requires a bit of extra help that was not at all necessary before. This is due to the fact that at this stage of life there are some quite relevant changes in the organism of everyone, but especially in women, which means that the skin has more needs than before and you require the use of more specific products to help cover each and every one of them.

Hormones at this new stage are greatly altered, menopause, although still a bit far off, is already beginning to make itself known in a very subtle way. In addition, the loss of collagen and elastin that had started very slightly in your 20s begins to accelerate, causing your levels of these substances to be reduced to almost half of what they were, and automatically becoming the main causes of the appearance of the first deep marks on your skin.

This process of loss of both collagen and elastin is the result of natural changes in your body, it happens in all people and is something that, although it may be unpleasant, is totally impossible to avoid, but it is possible to counteract its effects as much as possible. Everything is due to the gradual loss of the body to produce these substances, something that began very slightly at 25 and remains so until 40, when it becomes necessary to look for a solution.

The decrease in collagen in the body results in the most noticeable consequence that the skin becomes more fragile and prone to develop damage both superficially and internally. Elastin, on the other hand, has a much more specific importance, and as its name indicates, this substance is in charge of the entire process of elasticity in your skin, so its decrease causes this organ to become flaccid and brittle, encouraging even more the appearance of wrinkles.

On the other hand, the mentioned menopause, which many believe really arrives around the age of 50, actually starts much earlier than the appearance of visible symptoms, causing mild alterations in the levels of certain hormones such as estrogen. These alterations begin to affect the skin from the start, making it become dull and have a certain predisposition to pimples, something you probably haven’t seen since your adolescence and which poses new challenges that your skin must begin to face.

Having said all this, it is clearer than ever that upon reaching the beautiful age of 40, it is not enough to simply continue applying to the skin the various products that have proven efficient in previous times, nor will a simple daily cleansing with water and soap plus moisturizing cream suffice. These measures, at this point in your life, while they can be very useful, will not keep your skin in perfect condition nor manage to delay the arrival of the signs of aging.

You must be very aware that the years in which your skin could be exposed to external risks without suffering short-term consequences are over, now is the time to take things very seriously and take the step of beginning to dedicate a few minutes each day to gradually change both the routine you had been accustomed to as well as the bad habits you may have been managing for a long time.

Before continuing with the next point, we suggest you consult The best natural oils for wrinkles

How to effectively care for the face after 40 years

As we mentioned above, if you want to preserve your complexion as impeccable as possible during this stage that is the 40s it is absolutely essential that you follow daily a facial care routine designed and adapted to your current age, where you include from steps designed to prevent damage caused by external factors to others more focused on the new internal needs of your complexion.

It is increasingly important that this new routine be applied twice a day, as at this stage the new requirements of your face make the application of certain products only once not enough to cover all the needs of your skin, making the results obtained with the process not as favorable as expected. This you must always keep in mind, but mainly when determining which brands you are going to acquire and if you have the purchasing power to maintain the same treatment in a stable manner.

This last point can influence the result, but in general, the routine to be applied is totally independent of the brand or quality of facial treatments you have purchased, being normal that it always has the same steps. So, the best way to really know what you should do is following step by step the instructions we have prepared for you.

Cleanse your face thoroughly

The starting point of any facial care routine is undoubtedly the deep cleansing of the skin. Before turning 40, this step had already acquired a quite high level of importance, something that at this new point in your life does not diminish at all, but rather takes on a much higher level of importance than it had many years ago.

In your 20s, it was normal that very occasionally, either for lack of time or fatigue, you skipped facial cleansing from your daily care steps, regardless of whether you applied extra products on your face or even if you had a layer of makeup on your skin. Nowadays, this point has become so indispensable that the best advice we can give you is to completely forget the idea of avoiding it.

The cleansing of the face is so important because if not done, dirt gradually accumulates on the face, which obstructs the pores, preventing the skin from breathing normally, which causes dryness and increases the chances of developing acne or even of forming cracks and imperfections, which later on will turn into deep wrinkles.

In addition to this, its position as a starting point in a correct facial care routine has a more than important reason. When the pores of your skin are obstructed, not only can it not breathe naturally, but it is also prevented from any substance penetrating properly inside, this includes the products that will be used in the following steps of the facial care routine, which if not absorbed will not be able to provide the skin with the nutrients they contain.

Exfoliate your skin when necessary

After facial cleansing, you may consider that your face has eliminated all the accumulated dirt and is completely free of any contaminants. In reality, facial cleansing, despite being the infallible starting point, is not 100% effective, but always leaves just a little bit of residue that accumulates over the days.

To help you with this, and keep your face as clean as possible, exfoliation is a fundamental point, but one that should not be applied as frequently as the other steps. Exfoliation is the process of eliminating dead skin residue and other contaminants from the face, something that may seem somewhat aggressive to some people, so it will be more than enough if you do it 3 times a week, and you can reduce it to 2 if you consider that your face requires it.

Apply serum

After exfoliation or cleansing depending on the day, the next step will be to start caring for your skin with products specially designed for this purpose. Serum is a step that from now on you cannot skip as it is the fastest and most effective way to hydrate from the inside and help delay the arrival of the dreaded wrinkles. It is most advisable to opt for two different serums, one for the day and one for the night.

For the morning hours, it is preferable to focus on prevention, therefore a serum with vitamin C or E are the best option, as they speed up the natural production of collagen while helping to protect the skin from damage caused by prolonged exposure to sunlight.

At night, on the other hand, it will be time to focus on treatment as it is during these hours that the skin is most willing to regenerate. Before going to sleep, you can take advantage of the moment to apply an anti-aging serum, which has as its main target audience people who are at this stage of life, as its goal is to both prevent and treat mild to moderate marks.

Use facial cream

When you have finished applying a little serum on your face, you will notice how it is absorbed by the skin in about 5 minutes, which means it will be time for the next step, the moisturizing facial cream. This step has two reasons, the first one is to help create a protective layer that stimulates the serum to penetrate to the deepest area of your skin, which greatly improves its effectiveness.

In addition to this, the use of facial cream will further moisturize your face, serving as a boost to prevent the formation of wrinkles, spots, or the appearance of new expression lines, which during the 40s can begin to represent a real headache for more than one.

Use a cream for the eye contour

Whether day or night, the eyes need a very special treatment, as the area around them is where the thinnest and most delicate skin layer of the entire body is located and where some of the first signs associated with the premature arrival of old age, such as bags, dark circles, or drooping eyelids, commonly appear.

To help you with this, after 40 it becomes extremely necessary to start applying a good eye contour just once a day, depending on which product you decide to apply. If you are looking to treat any visible signs that may have formed early, it is best to use this product at night, but if your goal is more aimed at prevention, mornings will be a better alternative for you.

If you are interested in looking a few years younger, the following article is for you: How to look younger

Other steps to consider

To finish, we must mention that although everything we have indicated forms the step by step of an ideal routine, there are certain extra points that you should consider depending on the schedule you are following the instructions we have given you. This routine will always be in the order we have established, as the steps indicated in the previous point are the same whether it is during the day or night.

What you should consider apart, are certain extra factors. During the daytime, after having finished with the washing and before proceeding with the serum, we advise you to add the use of a good facial toner, which after 40 must have the ability to tone, moisturize, and rebalance the skin. Also, if you plan to apply makeup, this will be the final step of the process, always after the facial cream has been fully absorbed.

If we talk about the nighttime schedule, the toner is not applied, but the facial care routine has other variations. To begin with, the starting point will not simply be facial cleansing, but the use of a makeup remover product if necessary, this must be applied effectively to ensure that all traces of makeup are extracted from your face, especially if you have been using the so-called waterproof makeup.

To finish your nightly routine, you can optionally take advantage of performing a stimulating and relaxing facial massage, which will help you release tensions and stimulate the absorption of the various products you have applied and which aim to repair the possible damages present in your complexion.

If you are still interested in learning a little more about skin care, you may be interested in learning How to make a homemade anti-wrinkle cream

Making your facial care routine particularly aimed at your new stage of life is a decision that involves small but important changes designed for the new needs of the face. So if you haven’t done it yet, we encourage you to take the step, as you will notice better results in a very short time.