A Wrinkle in Time
7 years ago by
Before it happened, people warned me, but I didn’t believe them. And then it happened. I turned 30 and things started to get weird. My hangovers entered a new phase of intolerable, my once super thick eyebrows thinned a bit, my skin lost some of its luster, my eyesight got worse and my period even changed a little. None of this was overnight, but there was a definite shift.
One of the other noticeable changes was I actually started seeing wrinkles. Nothing drastic, but lines on my face showing that I had in fact entered my fourth decade of life. You can see laugh lines around my mouth and around my eyes and that I probably sleep more on the right side of my face. And so far, I’m 100% ok with it, except for one area. My frown line in between my eyebrows. I’m a serial scowler – in the sun, when I’m mad, confused, focused and sometimes even when I sleep! I worry I’ll start to look perpetually angry, which is not a flattering look.
Recently someone recommended a bizarre trick and it weirdly makes a difference! Putting a piece of masking tape between my brows when I sleep. Not sure I’ll keep it up and it’s definitely not sexy, but it helps while I try to figure out how to mellow out more before bed so I don’t spend 6 hours a night frowning!
How do you guys feel about wrinkles and do you have non-invasive methods of keeping them at bay?!?
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I also recently turned 30 and I’ve started using a night cream to keep forehead lines that were starting to appear at bay. It’s by RoC and I really noticed a difference quickly, so I’m using it prevebtatively around my eyes and mouth now too
Oh Carie…run into my arms and let me hug you girl… I know exactly what you mean about all of it…especially the angry eyebrows. I try to warn all these twenty somethings and I just SMH when they act like youth is forever. Ahhhh…how do I feel about wrinkles….ahhhmmmm…prematurely or because of negligence I don’t like it but if it’s because of laugh lines and just evidence of wisdom peeking through then cool. Here’s what I’ve done to ‘do my part’:
1) Sleep on my back {I need pillows on each side of my face to keep my head propped up} but it reduces that crease around the left side of my mouth that I get if I sleep on my side}
2) Stop brow furrowing altogether and wear sunglasses + generally speaking just reduce the movement of the eyebrows period. It’ll reduce the angry eyebrows.
3) Watch Lisa Eldridge’s face massage video on Youtube and she shows you how to massage the brows (outward) and this helps move the lymphatic acids etc. etc.
4) A healthy dose of face masks particularly : honey, charcoal and that famous Indian clay mask.
5) Vitamin C cream + Hyaluronic Serum + Collagen one after the other day and night.
6) No pulling on the skin – Use a Beauty Blender to apply foundation and dab dab dab
7) Wash face with the coldest water you can find.
8) For the brows– Amen to Glossier’s boy brow.
9) Water. Drink boat loads of water. Ok ok, just a lot. And often.
10) Repeat every single day.
Hugs.
xx
D
Diarra! Thank you so much for all of your tips!! I actually do some of these things – facial massage twice a day, Boy Brow, masks and water, but am excited to explore your other suggestions. Thanks so much! xx Carie
I too have a very deep wrinkle between my brows and I HATE IT. No one else I know my age (40) has it. It’s been developing over many years (started in my 20’s) but it’s reached a crescendo. It’s pretty much all I can see when I look in the mirror. And now there’s a second one, a partner of sorts, that’s creeped in the last year. I’ve tried many things and I’ve spent a LOT of money on “miracle creams” trying to remedy the situation. Honestly, not much helps, but I’ve concluded that drugstore products are just as effective as the expensive stuff. Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Cream (for night) with retinol is the only thing that’s kind of worked to make it less visible. That and water and sleep, no stress. I have a friend who is 42 and I marveled how she had NO wrinkles on her forehead. She let me know that she has been getting Botox regularly since 40. Now I am pretty sure that every woman over 40 with no wrinkles is getting injections. I just don’t want to go that route because I feel it is a slippery slope.
Hello, after years fighting them (including Botox at 31) finally at age of 42 i accepted them.Thats just part of my expressive personality. I don’t need anymore to look perfect for others. I take good care of my skin – dermatologist, eat good ,sleep well, spend min. 1 h outside everyday.Most important I smile more :))
Find a haircut with BANGS that suits you….the French face lift!
Susan – Love it! x Carie
When I was pregnant and unable to sleep on my back, I learned to sleep on my left side (complicated–look it up). It stuck. A decade later, “marionette lines” ever more clearly show where my cheek smooshed up on the left. I try to sleep on my back, but I if I have any congestion at all, I snore.
Your tape solution for the forehead is brilliant. Since I work from home, I could probably do it during the day, too! And I bet it keeps stray hairs down. I don’t think it will work for my cheek…
Wear sunscreen, moisturise and don’t smoke – and then don’t give it another thought. And don’t warn those 20-somethings of what is to come. Let them have their day and enjoy it. I’m 42 and, although I sometimes have ‘Ugh, I’m not 21 any more’ moments, I remind myself that today I am as young as I will ever be again. I am fit and healthy and strong – enjoy that while it lasts. Last year a very dear friend died aged 47 – she didn’t get to grow old and grey. I am starting to think that being here, healthily alive, to age is a privilege. We are all more than young skin and glossy hair. Enjoy what you have. Those of us who are still happily enjoying our life’s passage are truly lucky.
Jenny – You make very good points that are worth remembering. Thank you! x Carie
Good suggestions – I have a couple of my own methods to help me in this area.
I have Cosmetic Acupuncture done – just a few, tiny needles in the deeper furrows encourage collagen production. I’m 49 and need to do this only once or twice a month to make a noticable difference. Also, cosmetic cupping with soft silicone cups helps to plump up the skin (you can do this once a day in place of massage). And lastly, I use eye cream in this area – it’s very rich and thick and helps to smoothe out the skin. Enjoy!
the all-white studio dore, flooded by natural daylight… it looks great but doesnt all that reflected light make (all of) you furrow and squint from the moment you come in and take off your sunglasses? maybe it’s not so bad in real life, but on pictures it seems too light to be comfortable on the eyes.
anyway: try and relax your facial muscles regularly, much in the same way you might practice sitting up straight at your desk etc., keep your face from getting dehydrated, sleep and eat well… relax. for the rest it’s up to genes. focus on the things you do like when you see yourself in the mirror. the absence of wrinkles is not what makes a face attractive.
Get more than six hours of sleep a night. That’s a good start. You’ll need less pricey products.
So creepy- benn thinking about this too recently, as I am also 30 and didn’t believe it like you but then the wrinkle between the eyes became much more visible! Will try neutrogena and tape as people suggest, but might be tempted to do Botox once I get over 40 as it makes me look so tired and worn out. Been trying to massage it too and sleep 9 hours every night but doesn’t seem to help,
Learn to sleep on your back – it will keep you from creating ‘night wrinkles’. I was a side sleeper too and had to learn to sleep on my back due to chronic pain developing in my shoulders and neck. It has made a huge difference in the quality of sleep and how I feel in the morning – and no more smushed morning face! FYI – it only took me a couple nights to get used to it. Trust me – you’ll start to love it very soon!
I’m a huge fan of the Alexandra Soveral range of organic skincare and if you can watch her facial massage technique it includes a ‘figure eight’ motion between the brows and it works! I’m 43 and get one pesky line that sometimes pops up there if I’m stressed/tired/dehydrated – a few nights of this technique massaging upwards and outwards across the forehead with any facial mosturizer or eye cream and its honestly gone!!
Samantha – I learned how to do my facial massage from the Alexandra Soveral videos! The best! x Carie
I already have an in between the eyebrows wrinkle…. and I am 23 :(((((((((( I feel pretty self-conscious about it, but it definitely has to do with my genetics so I know that no matter what I do it is pretty inevitable that this crease is here to stay. I could be doing more though! May try the masking tape/facial massage technique. Also I think meditating + more yoga may help..
By and large I accept the ravages of time. By and large. But some of us have the 11 lines between our eyes and they aren’t just aging – they make you (me) look so angry all the time! At best perplexed. Two years ago I got botox in that area, and it’s wonderful. I feel deeply relieved not to look murderous.
That’s my two cents! Modern wrinkle solitions don’t have to have to be superficial restraints on aging – they can actually bring welcome relief :)
I had a lot of this as well and have no qualms about getting botox. I get it done at Tribeca MedSpa in NY and they don’t use too much so it looks natural
Ugh I am 28 and I already have that wrinkle between my eyebrows as well as deep horizontal forehead lines! Even though I wear sunscreen everyday, I used to act and have really expressive eyebrows, so I have that to thank for my crease-filled forehead (look at Neil Patrick Harris, he also has really expressive eyebrows and thus, a deeply lined forehead!!) I freaked out about my forehead for a while, but what can I really do. Sure, I can Botox, and maybe someday I will, but I love having an animated, expressive face, and I can’t imagine not being able to move my eyebrows around like I do now (ha). So, I take good care of my skin, use retinol, and apply sunscreen everyday. Also, for a perspective shift, I consider people who were born with physical disabilities or “defects,” and I think that I should be grateful for who I am and how I look. Ya know? Like if some forehead lines are my biggest problem in life, I’m pretty damn lucky.
My yoga teachers look younger than their age.
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Do you know about Frownies? You can buy them on Amazon, and they are little patches you put on your face like your masking tape that prevent you from frowning in your sleep. I use the one for between the brows periodically and it makes such a difference!
It may sound obvious but I sleep exclusively on a silk pillowcase. I started this a few years ago when I was around 35 and now, even for a little nap, I always pull out my silk pillowcase and rest on it. The same when I travel. There is always one extra pillowcase in my carry-on. As oppoesd to cotton, it doesn’t absorb your moisturizer from your face and it doesn’t give you those strange lines when you wake up. Works for the hair too.
I started having all these signs as early as after 40. Well, being a rather pretty woman in my youth, I was a bit shocked. And I feel guilt – as if I could have drunk more water, gone in for yoga more often, made facial exercises but I didn’t and here I am. Very hard to confess that I am growing old natural way. Because everyone else miraculously doesn’t – instagram filters create immaculate young faces with no wrinkles. The true state of things is usually revealed only at reunion parties. I don’t know yet what am I gonna do about it (my age signs, I mean, not other peoples’s insta filters). Maybe – nothing. :)