Mature, Wrinkle, Spots WTH?

TRIPPIN' THURSDAY

A few years back, we retired from the day jobs. You followed our farm experiment on Tortuga Thursdays for three years, but we sold the farm. We traded in the little RV for a bigger one, but we aren’t ready to hit the road fulltime. What comes next? We’re not sure. It's all about transition these days. These are...

The In-Between Years

There’s more to the In-Between Years than figuring out if we’re going to stay parked, get a land-locked base, or hit the road. I know that’s what I meant by the term when I geared the blog in that direction, but the term in-between years conjures other images for me. There comes a time in a woman’s life when she feels mature, but not yet old. Let’s go with that today.

Back when I probably didn’t need makeup, I wouldn’t leave the house without putting on my full face. Nowadays, I’m bare faced more often than not, not because these years look so good on me, but the process eats up precious time when I could be doing something else. Plus, the attitude—this is me so deal with it—kind of rules my days.

I’m not implying that I’m “letting myself go.” No way. I’ve tried some new techniques for mature upkeep, had some disasters, and learned a few things. I kind of feel like I’m talking to the ladies here, but my guess is guys think about these things too.

Take a walk

Walk every day. I normally get in 6,000 steps—short of the recommended 10,000. If you can reach that, go for it. I also do a squat routine when I remember. Squats will keep your butt from trying to migrate onto the backs of your thighs.

Thinning hair? Peppermint oil is supposed to stimulate hair growth. I read that somewhere, didn’t quite remember the formula, but hey, how hard is it to rub oil into your scalp? I now think the directions said a drop, maybe two. I put quite a bit in my palm and applied to my scalp. First my skin tingled, then my eyes burned, and the fumes were so strong I ran for the shower. I dove under the water which washed the oil out of my hair and down my face and neck. Face was on fire! It took a lot of soap and water to stop the burning. Maybe I’m not losing all that much hair.

Go easy on the makeup

Mature skin tends toward dry, lined, and what the hell are all these brown spots and red marks? If you can’t afford the high cost of laser or any number of other cosmetic treatments, retinol is a great fixer. You can find quite a few over the counter products that contain retinol, but to get it strong enough you’ll need a doctor’s prescription. Yep, $$$ again. Mexico was my answer. There is a woman here on the Ranch who makes frequent trips down there, and she brought me back a big tube of .05% retinol cream for under $20. Here’s the point…it works! My skin is more evenly colored. Not really sure if it helps wrinkles but it doesn’t hurt. So, if you don’t have a Mexico connection, you might want to spend the money for some. Just make sure it’s that percentage. And invest in a good moisturizer at the very least.

Eat right

If you are going to wear makeup, invest in hypoallergenic. Go easy on powders on the face. They only make wrinkles show worse. You aren’t covering anything. Liquid is best, and massage it in.

Last piece of advice—eat well. You are what you eat so skip the fast food, prepared foods, and go really light on sugar.