When you catch an unexpected glimpse of yourself in a shop window and find yourself saying, ‘Hi, Mum,’ it may be time to begin shopping for some anti-ageing products. But where do you start? There are so many products available in today’s market that are aimed at restoring your skin to youth and beauty, that you might wonder where to begin. Do you need an eye cream? A general moisturiser? A serum? A toner? All of them? And with so many of each type of skincare product to choose from, how do we choose?

When it’s time to start choosing your anti-ageing products, first you should know which ones ageing skin needs and what essential ingredients to look for in these products.

What Products Should we be Using on Mature Skin? 

While some of us once rolled our eyes at the idea of having to use multiple products and an entire skincare regimen just to prevent signs of ageing, that was back when there were no laugh lines around the eyes we were rolling. Now, we understand why it’s well worth putting a little money and time aside to care for our skin when it’s clear that our skin is crying out for some TLC.

But what products should be included in a good skincare regimen for mature skin? According to skincare experts, our anti-ageing arsenal should include a non-foaming cleanser for mature skin, a non-astringent toner spray, a serum, a night moisturiser, and an eye cream. Adding to that evening regimen, you should have a good daily moisturiser with SPF protection for daytime.

But what properties and ingredients should we look for when choosing these products for our skin?

Cleanser

With mature skin, it’s better to stay away from soap and foaming facial cleansers completely. If it foams, it’s going to take some moisture out of your skin. Instead, choose cream cleansers that are non-foaming, and free of alcohol and sulfates. Look for cleansers with ingredients like glycolic acid. While anything including the word “acid” sounds harsh and intimidating, it’s important to know that in skincare there are several “acids” that are highly beneficial to skin. Glycolic acid is a type of alpha-hydroxy-acid in a very small molecular structure which makes it easily absorbed. In a cleanser, glycolic acid gently exfoliates by lifting away dulling dead skin cells, making your skin brighter, and more open to receiving the benefits of your other products.

Toner

If this word brings you back to preparing yourself for the sting as you dab a cotton ball soaked in Sea Breeze onto your bumpy teen-aged skin, don’t fret. Toners aren’t just for teens anymore, and toners for mature skin are non-astringent. They don’t strip oils from your skin. Instead, toners for ageing skin are formulated with beneficial ingredients such as antioxidants from natural ingredients like green tea and rose hips, and humectants to help bind moisture to the skin. Toners help to remove any residue that your cleanser may have left behind and readies your skin to accept the benefits of your moisturiser.

Serum 

Serums are concentrated liquids or gels that contain skin-nourishing benefits such as retinol, antioxidants, peptides, glycerin, and hyaluronic acid. Because of the liquid formula, a serum can penetrate deep below the skin’s surface to nourish and hydrate cells. Serums contain no heavy emollients or moisturisers, meaning they don’t spend any time sitting on the skin’s surface waiting to absorb. They are quickly and deeply absorbed to begin immediately to work their magic replenishing and repairing.

Because serums don’t contain moisturisers to promote a skin barrier, it’s important to follow up with a good face cream moisturiser.

Moisturiser

The multiple benefits of your cleanser, toner, and serum need to be quickly sealed into the skin to do their jobs nourishing, hydrating and repairing. A great moisturiser can do this. Look for moisturisers with key ingredients such as retinol, an anti-ageing ingredient that dermatologists tell us does what it promises. Retinol is a form of vitamin A. A good retinol cream will help to reverse the signs of ageing by promoting improved cell function. It will help to encourage skin cell turnover, sloughing off old, dead cells and revealing healthier cells beneath which are functioning more like those in younger skin. Retinol helps skin to better produce collagen which is essential for strong skin structure, less likely to wrinkle and crease.

Other key ingredients in a moisturiser for mature skin include antioxidants to fight the signs of ageing by combating damaging free radical cells incurred in our skin by UV ray exposure and other environmental factors.

Rich emollients in the form of natural oils like jojoba, coconut, and argan, or from scientifically formulated dimethicone are also crucial in a moisturiser to seal in hydration and the other benefits of your products and to prevent evaporation, as well as locking out impurities.

Eye Cream

Because the skin around the eyes is more fragile than that of the rest of the face and contains fewer oil glands, it’s especially important to protect, soothe, and replenish the eye area with something a little more intense than the rest of your face. A good under eye cream will have properties like hyaluronic acid to help the skin to retain hydration. Hyaluronic acid occurs naturally in younger skin but diminishes with age. Hyaluronic acid can draw moisture from the air and pull it deeply into skin cells. A molecule of hyaluronic acid can store up to 1000 times its own weight in water, making it ideal for the eye area.

Eye creams may also contain ingredients to diminish fine lines and brighten under-eye dark circles.

Daily Moisturiser with Sunscreen

While your nighttime skincare products help to nourish, restore, and replenish skin to diminish the signs of ageing, your daytime moisturiser should protect your skin from further damage by moisturising, and providing broad-spectrum SPF protection of at least 30. Daily moisturisers with SPF are formulated to work well under makeup.

Skincare experts tell us that using these products in our skincare arsenal, is our skin’s best defence against the signs of ageing, and while you can’t stop the clock, you certainly can dial it back a little.