Skincare in Your 40s, 50s & 60s: The Best Products & Ingredients for Every Decade
Sadaf Razi is Adore Beauty's Senior Beauty Editor.
She's a former fashion editor (who worked at various glossy mags) and stylist-turned digital beauty and lifestyle writer. She has been in the lifestyle/media industry for over 10 years and her work has also been featured on international covers like Elle France and Vanity Fair Mexico.
Some of her fave Adore Beauty products include Cicaplast B5, CeraVe Cleansing Oil and Lancôme Renergie Triple Serum.
Our skin goes through many eras throughout our lifetime and, while everyone's skin is different, there are a few common changes that may require us to adjust our skincare regimen accordingly.
On a recent episode of the Beauty IQ Expert podcast, skin expert Tegan Mac broke down the skincare basics for mature skin, covering the key considerations for your 40s, 50s and 60s.
Below, we give you the main takeaways so you can screenshot, send this article to a friend or listen to the full episode below on your way to work.
What Changes to Skin Are Age Related?
What normal changes should we expect as we age? According to Tegan, "Our collagen production slows down. We lose elasticity, our cell turnover slows down and we start to lose hydration.”
Ok, while that might sound a little grim, there’s no need to panic. The good news is that knowing what’s happening beneath the surface means we can be better equipped to support our skin as it changes. There are plenty of things you can do to help mitigate these changes, and the earlier you start, the better.
As Tegan reminds us, it’s never too late to start looking after your skin!
When it comes to skin health and longevity, making a few simple adjustments and introducing customised products into your routine can make a world of difference.
Below, her skincare tips for mature skin in every decade.
Best Skincare Tips for 40s
What should your skincare routine be at 40?
Tegan explains that as we get older, and as we move into our forties, our sebum production (the oil that our skin produces and often keeps us looking more youthful) slows down. This is when you might notice your skin feeling drier than it did when you were in your 20s - very normal!
When it comes to the best skin care routine for 40s, one of the first things she suggests is adjusting your routine to include more hydrating products such as a hyaluronic acid serum.
Try:
Budget: The Ordinary Supersize Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5, $28
Investment: SkinCeuticals Hyaluronic Acid Serum HA Intensifier Multi-Glycan, $175
She also suggests starting a more rich moisturiser at night time as part of your PM routine for mature skins.
Try:
Budget: La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5+ Repairing Balm Cream, $42.96
Investment: Aspect Super Moisturising Complex, $95
Tegan also recommends steering away from foaming cleansers that can further strip skin if you're on the drier side.
Still in your ‘prevention’ era, you want to make sure that this is also where you start using high-potency serums. Is 40 too late to start retinol?
Says Tegan, “This is definitely when you want to be looking at introducing products like retinol. Retinol is going to help our skin to continue to produce collagen and elastin, which we are beginning to lose more and more of in our 40s.
Retinols to try:
Budget: CeraVe Skin Renewing Retinol Serum, $44.99
Investment: Medik8 Crystal Retinal 3, $99
If your skin can tolerate it, Tegan also recommends adding a vitamin C, “It’s great for strengthening the capillary walls. If you’re starting to notice a bit more redness, it can help with brightening and it helps with stimulating collagen.”
Vitamin C’s to try:
Budget: BOOST LAB Vitamin C Brightening Serum, $29.95
Investment: SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic Vitamin C Serum, $258
Skin treatments in your 40s:
“Treatment-wise you might want look at things like skin needling to help continue to stimulate that collagen elastic production as well as treatments like LED therapy which is also great for reducing inflammation and energising the skin.”says Tegan.
Best Skincare Tips For 50s
This is when many people start to experience symptoms of menopause, and as a result, the changes they may notice most, according to Tegan, are “your skin getting a bit thinner, an increase in sensitivity, more dryness, age spots and even some more pigmentation.”
So when it comes to the best anti ageing regimen for 50s, says Tegan, “You definitely want to be in a richer, more hydrating routine by now, so like creamy cleansers and thick night creams. You might start to introduce products like oils and hydrating SPFs."
Try:
Budget: Esmi Skin Minerals Probiotic Skin Mylck Cleanser, $49
Investment: Beauté Pacifique Créme Mètamorphique Night Cream, $103
If your skin tends to be a bit more dry or sensitive and your skin just can’t tolerate a retinol but you’re still very mindful about ageing, Tegan recommends a ‘backuchiol’ which is a plant-based retinol alternative that you can wear day and night “because it doesn’t have that photo sensitivity that regular retinol has and it can often be in more oil-based formulas so it is that nice kind of rich and more emollient product.”
Try: Medik8 Bakuchiol Peptides, $110
“You also want to avoid using granular exfoliators as the skin starts to thin.”
Tegan warns that physical exfoliants may be a little too rough for that thinner skin at this age so opting for an enzyme exfoliator or an AHA chemical exfoliant is more suitable.
Tegan suggests this is the age you also might want to start using a dedicated neck and eye cream as both are thin delicate areas that show age a bit quicker than the rest of the face.
“We don’t really have the same oil production on our neck as we do our face so we can tolerate thicker, richer products and they’ll often have a lot of peptides in there focused on tightening and thickening.”
Best skin treatments for the 50s.
So, what in-clinic treatments work best for this age?
“You might look at things like a fraxel laser or even clear and brilliant or Laser Genesis," says Tegan.
“These types of lasers are just a bit more advanced than a regular facial that really work on thickening that deeper layer of the skin.”
She shares there are also other lasers that help target and manage redness and pigment that you might want to look into if you’re noticing a bit more discolouration (something you can always go in and have a consult about).
Best Skincare Tips for the 60s
Now, shifting from prevention to restoration.
Your sixties are where you’ll notice more prominent signs of ageing, loss of elasticity, and more creasing in the skin, as well as more loss of collagen around the eye and the lip area.
“That dryness is continuing and possibly that sensitivity as well, so building on what we spoke about in the 50s, you definitely want to be looking at hydrating, cream or oil-based cleansers.”
Try:
Investment: Medik8 Lipid-Balance Cleansing Oil, $65
Tegan also recommends including a peptide serum in your mature skincare routine as well as a vitamin C and hyaluronic acid (hear her explain why in the episode below).
“You also really want to be on top of your SPF because your skin will be more sensitive and that pigment will appear a lot quicker.”
Try: Medik8 Liquid Peptides Advanced MP, $160
At night time, Tegan suggests adding an overnight mask and richer creams into your PM skincare routine to lock all that skincare in.
Both Tegan and I are big fans of the Aspect Probiotic Mask 118ml, but if you're after something more affordable, the Medicube Collagen Night Wrapping Mask - Adore Beauty is also a popular one.
She also recommends barrier repair creams, more nourishing retinols, gentle exfoliants like enzymes and lip masks for hydration because “the lips will definitely deflate as you get older so the more hydration you can put in those lips the more you’re going to maintain a nice lip border and a nice fullness in the lip area.”
Try:
Barrier cream - Avene Cicalfate+ Cream - Adore Beauty
Gentle exfoliant - The Ordinary Mandelic Acid 10% + HA, $13
Skin treatments in your 60s:
“Treatments you might want to look into are radio frequencies, a popular one for trying to firm the skin, and more hydrating facials if you are feeling like the skin is a bit more delicate and a bit more dry”
Tegan also tells us that any of the other treatments mentioned in your 40s or 50s can also be beneficial.
We’re all about keeping the skin strong and resilient and preventing further damage for your best chance at skin longevity.
For the best makeup tips for mature skin, you’ll have to listen til the end of the episode below:
Catch up on more of our recent Beauty IQ articles below:
