Reader letters: 40+ skincare concerns

Dear Mrs. Badger,

As a teenager and young woman in her twenties I kept up with all the beauty products on the market. I tried one. I tried them all. I would not be caught dead outside of my house without my make-up on.

As the years passed and I had children, things got bogged down. I was tired. I often was running late. My morning routine slipped and somehow I became a woman who did not wear make-up all the time. Eventually it slipped to did not wear make-up except on special occasions. I am pretty much no make-up now except when we go out. I am a SAHM and putting on make-up every morning is just not part of the routine.

For skin care I stick to the basics of Dove soap and Oil of Olay. Beyond that I am out of the loop.

My skin varies across my face. Forehead, nose and chin tend to be a little oily by the end of the day. Across my cheeks is rather dry and will break out if given a chance. While my forehead is oily it is also flaky in this damn cold weather we have up here in Virginia. Keeping well hydrated helps, moisturizer helps, but it doesn't solve the problem.

Point me in the direction I should go for skin care.

As far as cosmetics I have everything from Loreal to Avon in my bag.

I think I am turning into a 40 year old mess.

Help me.

Signed,
Can You Help A Girl Out?

Dear CYHAGO,

What you are describing is classic combination skin -- oily in some parts, dry in others. Fortunately there are a lot of products available right in your local drug or grocery store for this type of skin.

The first thing you might want to consider is switching to a liquid cleanser rather than a bar. Bar soaps often contain some form of tallow (in the Dove beauty bar the ingredient is sodium tallowate), which can cause breakouts. Right now my favorite liquid cleansers are from the Juice Organics line at CVS, but there are a lot of great liquid cleansers on the market right now. If you're not wearing makeup and thus have no need to cut through that sort of product on your face, look for a gentle cleanser made for combination or sensitive skin.

Another thing you might want to consider is adding some exfoliation to your skincare routine. There are several ways to accomplish this, depending on the type of exfoliation you need. If you have visible flakes on your skin, you might want to consider a manual exfoliant -- a product containing some sort of scrubbing beads or grains. If you have dull, ashy skin you will want a product containing an AHA such as glycolic or lactic acid. These products help break up the dead skin cells that accumulate on the surface of the skin. If an accumulation of dead skin mixed with oil is causing clogged pores and breakouts, look for a product with a BHA like salicylic acid as one of the ingredients. These products actually exfoliate within the pore, breaking up the oil, dirt and dead skin to clear the pore.

If you're like most women, though, you will probably want a product that combines two or more of these ingredients. One of my favorite products combining manual exfoliation with salicylic acid is Olay's Age Defying Daily Renewal Cleanser. It's a cream cleanser with tiny microbeads and it's very gentle. You can use it in place of your usual facial cleanser a couple of times a week or even every day, depending on how your skin reacts to it. Another great product from Olay that combines AHAs with manual exfoliation is their Regenerist Microdermabrasion & Peel System. This product has two steps -- a paste containing microbead "crystals" and a serum containing lactic acid which is applied on top and then GENTLY massaged and rinsed away.

The important thing to remember with exfoliation is to go easy, especially at first. Don't scrub with an manual exfoliant; just GENTLY massage it onto your skin with very little pressure. And with AHAs in particular, you will want to start out using them only once or twice a week to see how your skin handles it. If anything burns or feels uncomfortable, rinse it off right away and bathe your face in cool water.

Now let's talk about moisturizer. There is a veritable glut of moisturizers on the market right now and it can be very difficult to figure out which one is right for you. The good news is that the formulas these days are so elegant, even in the lower-end drugstore products, that unless you're sensitive to a particular ingredient you can't really go too wrong in just picking one at random.

One thing you'll want to make VERY sure of is that your daytime moisturizer contains a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher. The active ingredients to look for are zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, avobenzone, Mexoryl SX or Tinosorb (or some combination of those). This is something everyone should be doing just for cancer prevention alone, but if you're exfoliating as part of your skincare routine, it's especially important. When you exfoliate you are essentially removing dead skin from the surface of your face, revealing new skin below that needs protection. If you're 40 and over and have never worn sunscreen, start today! Just like it's never too late to stop smoking, it's never too late to start wearing sunscreen. Your skin will thank you! (Oh, and incidentally my favorite daytime moisturizer is another Olay product, Complete Defense Daily UV Moisturizer SPF 30 for sensitive skin.)

As far as nighttime moisturizers go, the choices are endless. If you've been using the original Oil of Olay product, you might want to move up to one of their slightly more oomphed-up products, like something from the Regenerist or Total Effects line. In addition to top-notch hydrators, these products contain lots of other good-for-your-skin ingredients like antioxidants and amino acids. Neutrogena also has some nice nighttime moisturizers with retinol, an anti-wrinkle ingredient.

Those basic products -- a liquid cleanser, exfoliant, daytime moisturizer with sunscreen and nighttime moisturizer should get you back in the saddle, skincare-wise!