Guide to Menopause Skincare

Sep 22, 2021 by Better Not Younger

When you start witnessing skin changes like wrinkles and sagging skin, you can point the finger at menopause and rapidly decreasing estrogen levels. Estrogen helps you retain water and skin plumpness. When levels drop, you lose molecules that help you retain moisture.

Our bodies also produce less collagen causing our skin to lose elasticity. It all begins in our fourth decade when we reach perimenopause and then continues through menopause. In this guide to menopause skincare, Better Not Younger discusses what's happening to your skin and scalp and provides ways of solving those challenges.

Skin Changes During Perimenopause and Menopause

Perimenopause, which is quite different than menopause, typically begins in your mid-40s and lasts about three or four years. You may experience symptoms including:

Your periods become inconsistent; however, you are still producing estrogen.
You may get hot flashes and night sweats.
Your skin may turn blotchy and red, and some women develop rosacea.
Your once pH-balanced skin may develop oily patches or dry out, leading to acne breakouts.

As you enter menopause, which starts 12 months after your last period, your body changes again. You may encounter the following:

Thinner skin due to less collagen and lack of estrogen
Increased dryness as your body's natural slowdown of cell turnover occurs, and you experience a decrease in the production of sebum oil which naturally moisturizes your skin
Enlarged pores because of weaker elastic tissue and collagen
Dehydration because of lower levels of hyaluronic acid levels which keep skin hydrated

How Can I Counter Skin Changes During Menopause?

When you reach menopause, it’s more important than ever to eat a diet full of colorful, nourishing food and drink plenty of water. It’s also helpful to reduce your sugar intake and consumption of processed foods.

Additionally, when managing menopause skincare, you should boost your supplementation of:

Vitamin A

Be sure you're getting enough skin-friendly vitamins and minerals, including, folic acid, biotin and vitamin A. Significant Other Hair, Skin & Nails Supplement + Retinol Boost contains extra vitamin A to bolster your body’s production of retinol.

When vitamin A enters your skin, it interacts with an enzyme and is converted into retinoic acid. Retinoic acid binds to receptors in your skin and impacts biological reactions, including the normalization of skin cell renewal, skin gland activity and collagen stimulation.

It’s also anti-inflammatory and reduces uneven pigmentation. Significant Other’s heart-shaped gummies contain ingredients that give you smoother-looking skin by reducing the appearance of fine lines.

Collagen

Collagen supplements containing marine collagen provide your body with essential building blocks for stimulating collagen production. BNY’s Power Within Collagen Gummies provide easily digested types I and III collagen to improve skin health, elasticity and thickness.

Nearly 90% of the collagen found in our bodies is type I. This type helps build and support blood vessels and skin structures. Type III collagen fortifies blood vessel walls and enables increased nutrient delivery to your skin’s dermal cells.

Take two gummies a day, or as directed by your healthcare professional, for 96 milligrams of marine collagen to counter menopausal effects on your skin.

What Happens to My Scalp During Menopause?

Because our scalp is covered in hair, it can be easy to forget that it’s skin, too. Scalp skin loses elasticity and thickness the same as other skin on our bodies due to less collagen.

Estrogen is behind our hair’s growth, fullness and density. During menopause, you may notice your hair is less voluminous and thinning, and you may shed more. Additionally, oxygen- and nutrient-carrying blood doesn’t flow as well to your follicles.

Our sebaceous glands, located at the base of each of our follicles, produce less sebum. Sebum is an oil that coats and nourishes our strands as they grow, providing moisture and strength which minimizes breakage. These changes contribute to the dryness, itchiness and inflammation we encounter as we age.

Perimenopause is also the time when our estrogen levels drop, and our androgen levels remain the same. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is a testosterone derivative that attaches to our follicle receptors and chokes out our follicles, slowing them down or killing them altogether.

Menopause Scalp Care

Our approximately 100,000 head hair follicles live and grow in our scalp skin. It's crucial to take care of them because we don't develop new ones during our lives. Steps you can take to care for your scalp include:

Deep Clean Your Scalp

Product buildup, dead skin cells and dirt can build up on our scalps and clog our pores. This affects our follicles’ ability to produce hair; therefore, it's crucial to keep your pores open and your skin exfoliated.

New Dawn Activated Charcoal Scalp Cleanser exfoliates your scalp skin physically and chemically to deep clean and renew your skin.

Physical exfoliation: A built-in silicone bristle brush gently scrubs away dirt and buildup.

Chemical exfoliation: Lactic acid and BNY’s proprietary activated charcoal chemical reacts with your skin, pulling up excess oil and layers of dead cells that lead to inflammation.

Stimulate and Nourish Your Scalp and Follicles

To counter the effects of menopause and stimulate your scalp and follicles, use Superpower Fortifying Hair & Scalp Serum. Clinically proven to strengthen your tresses, reduce thinning, as well as restore damaged hair, this award-winning serum was designed with a two-pronged approach to scalp and hair care:

Supplies crucial vitamins to your scalp to bolster its natural functions.
Reverses follicle fatigue to strengthen and promote healthier hair.

Use it nightly before going to bed, and over time you will experience a noticeable improvement in tensile strength and texture within about eight weeks.

Use a Deep Conditioning Mask on Your Scalp

When menopause gives us an itchy, dry scalp, we can benefit from a weekly, or every other week, deep conditioning. Hair Redemption Restorative Butter Masque combines the butters of five plants, including:

Macadamia
Murumuru
Cupuaçu
Avocado
Mango

This mask relieves dryness and inflammation without blocking pores. It can be used with a heat steaming hair turban to allow for even deeper ingredient penetration.

Better Not Younger Is the Secret to Healthy Skin During Menopause

None of us like what menopause does to our skin and scalp, but we can curb its effects. Eat a healthy diet, exercise, drink plenty of water and use the products mentioned above. Plus, you can safeguard your skin by wearing sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher every day, even in winter.

To look and feel your best at any age, use Better Not Younger’s holistically designed aging hair-care products including volumizing shampoo, hair thickener, and other hair repair products. You can find them all at our online Shop.