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I was really excited to chat with Alice Hart-Davis. She is a journalist and for the past 20 years. She has been writing about skincare and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures such as laser, toxins, fillers, energy devices and so much more.

Alice has an incredible amount of knowledge about skincare and has tried and tested non-operative treatments.  She set up a website called The Tweakments Guide.

It’s a place to go for women and men who want to understand more about their skin. Alice provides you with vetted and specifically chosen practitioners who you can trust, if you do decide to take the cosmetic route. Or as Alice calls them, ‘tweakments’.

 

Lets’ talk about skin.

Our skin is beautiful and not only is it our bodies largest organ and has a huge job of regulating our body temperature. It protects our body and acts as a barrier for unwanted germs. Our skin also provides us with that feeling of sensation, absorption, excretion, movement and protection.

Naturally, as we age, so does our skin and once bouncy, hydrated and firm completion can soon show signs of wrinkling, sagging and needing more love than once before – and that’s okay!

We as women go through a lot! So, when it comes to our skin, we want to keep that youthful, glowing skin we are so used to. When menopause hits, our skin can suffer more than we expect and for a lot of us, the symptoms of menopause can hit us all at once.

 

Menopause and our skin

Every single woman will enter menopause. Many of us feel unprepared for what it will entail and it can seem a minefield.

Our skin can be substantially affected by menopause which can be frustrating and affect how we feel about ourselves. As our periods stop there is a rapid decline in oestrogen.

Symptoms such as swelling, acne, dark spots, dryness and loss of elasticity are just a small part of how menopause can affect our skin.

As you may know, our good friend oestrogen is a female sex hormone that plays many important roles in our body. Such as supporting bone strength, regulating our menstrual cycle and so much more.

Oestrogen also plays a big part in preventing our skin from ageing such as maintaining the skin’s moisture, thickness, elasticity and helps with healing.

Studies show that women’s skin loses about 30% of its collagen during the first five years of menopause. After that, the decline is more gradual.

Women lose about 2% of their collagen every year for the next 20 years. As collagen diminishes, our skin loses its firmness and begins to sag.

 

How do we help our skin perform at its best?

Firstly, if we’re looking at our overall skin and bone health, we need to begin with not only what we put in our bodies but with exercise. Yes that’s right, exercise is super important.

Strength training, in particular, using our own body weight, weights and bands and impact workouts will inevitably help balance our hormones, increase muscle mass and keep us fit and healthy.

Regular exercise has been proved to help with conditions such as osteoporosis (which affects 1 in 2 women!).

Impact exercise (such as long runs) can be seen to damage your face’s collagen. However, keeping impact short and sweet is great for bone health and your face!

There are many non-surgical creams and devices that can help with ageing skin. Just because you have begun menopause doesn’t mean it’s too late for you.

What you do need is the correct advice and treatments to suit your skin. Alice says ‘to treat your skin, it’s like medication, read the instructions and stick to it and even though you may not see any immediate effects, you eventually will’.

Diet is of course also important for keeping looking fresh and healthy.  Increasing green leafy vegetables and limiting sugar and caffeine, which reduces & slows down collagen production, can have a positive effect on our skin.

Drinking plenty of water is also important with water being about 60 per cent of collagen’s total weight! Being dehydrated therefore wants to be avoided, more water will keep your collagen hydrated, and wrinkles at bay.

 

HRT can help.

It can be difficult to determine what treatment is best for you just by looking at products online.

HRT can play a fundamental role in determining what treatment you need. If you have more oestrogen in your system, then any treatment designed to boost collagen in your skin like micro-needling and ultrasound skin tightening, will be more effective.

Although HRT may not be for everyone, it has been proven to increase skin hydration, thickness and elasticity. So for some, it can be not only great for our body & brain but also our skin.

No matter how we look, it’s important we feel good in our skin. I believe you should do what makes you happy. Whether that’s trying some treatments or whether you choose to embrace the natural wrinkles that we all inevitably have. I for one will be looking to The Tweakments Guide if I decide to go down the treatment route…..

Head to our TALK on IGTV to hear more of Alice’s journey and recommendations

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