In the past few years, lifestyle, hormonal and other changes have meant that I’ve seen changes in my skin’s needs.

I’ve spent probably too long parsing through skincare advice from doctors and dermatologists, podcasts, books and Reddit forums, to understand what works, and what doesn’t.

Here’s what I’ve learned from all that, summarised here so you don’t have to.

Principles

In coming up with a skincare routine, I had a couple of key rules:

• Clear goals – I want to maintain skin hydration and even skin tone, so focussing on proven methods and products for those.
• Simple – I don’t have the time, money for a 20 step process every morning and evening. 
• Gentle products – generally my skin doesn’t need much (for years I’ve just used moisturiser/SPF and makeup remover when needed). I’m convinced a lot of products create ‘needs’ and dependencies that weren’t there before by messing up your existing skin balance.
• Realistic – I’m not trying to look like a 20 year-old, because I’m not one. I just want to take care of my skin and age gracefully. 

Key takeaways

Hydration and SPF are crucial

Probably the two most effective things you can do to protect your delicate skin is drink another glass of water and put a facial SPF on every day. I’ve started carrying a mini suncream tube for my face in my handbag.

It’s not just your face

Your skincare routine should extend to other delicate, exposed areas of skin – namely your neck and chest, the back of your neck and ears, and the backs of your hands.

Cleansing at night is pretty important 

As well as any suncream and makeup you put on that day, your face has been exposed to sweat, pollution, food, dirt etc. I don’t clean as thoroughly in the morning as I don’t want to dry my skin out.

Damp skin is a good canvas to work off

There’s no need to dry your skin after cleansing, as you want some moisture to seal in.

There’s a lot of BS claims out there 

Lots of products claim to have a magic ingredient that will ‘reverse’ ageing’. Most have little or no scientific basis and just can’t do what they claim to. Collagen for example – slapping it on the top surface of your skin does nothing to replenish the collagen stored in the deep levels of your skin.

Meanwhile taking collagen supplements is pointless because your body will just use it as a generic protein wherever it’s needed, e.g. your joints, and its unlikely to make it to your skin. You may as well just up your protein intake in your diet and it’ll do the same job.

Ingredients that are actually effective

The handful of products that do seem to be proven effective include:

• Hyaluronic acid – for locking moisture into dry skin
• Actives like AHA, BHA, retinoids – for removing dead skin, although they can be harsh so I don’t regularly use them
• Antioxidants like Vitamin C or niacinimide – can help with pigmentation, inflammation etc

My basic routine

Here’s what I’m doing at the moment, with my preferred products linked in brackets.

Useful resources

📕 Skincare: The New Edit, by Carolie Hirons

An excellent, plain English demystification of skincare. As someone who has become more interested in taking care of my skin in recent years, this book is a breath of fresh air – with a pinch of humour too. Buy the book online.

📱 Reddit

There are a couple of sub-Reddits that have been very helpful. Obviously take online forums with a pinch of salt, because some brands pose as ‘regular people’ to promote themselves, but there are some great tips on r/SkincareAddictionUK and r/30PlusSkincare.