Last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Lorrie King and Celeste Lee, co-founders of mature skin-care line, Caire Beauty, for an intimate discussion about destigmatizing perimenopause. Both Lee and King had so much valuable information to share from both their own experiences with perimenopause and the scientific research they’ve done in curating their own products that all contributed to forming a better understanding of this incredible life cycle.
Though destigmatizing such a long-silenced topic takes more than one conversation, one way to start unlearning these harmful stereotypes is to learn the truth behind some of the most common menopause misconceptions. Though there are many more than just these, here are three menopause myths that Lorrie and Celeste debunked during our chat.
It is impossible to achieve younger-looking skin post-menopause without surgical procedures.
Because of the often-defeatist attitude towards menopause, many people believe that youthful, radiant skin is impossible to achieve after going through menopause without committing to something like neurotoxins or filler, or even surgery. The truth of the matter, Lee explains, is that it is possible to keep your skin in tip-top shape during and after menopause, but most individuals and brands don’t focus enough on what is causing menopausal skin to lose its radiant look. “Estrogen is instrumental to producing collagen, making hyaluronic acid, keeping hair healthy and so much more,” Lee explains. “Hormone production in women begins to decrease by 2-2.5 percent every year starting at around age 30 while men only lose about 1 percent every year,” Lee says. “Imagine taking fluff out of a pillow a little bit at a time. At first, you wouldn’t really notice a difference, but, after a while, the pillow wouldn’t be able to be as fluffy or dense. Your skin is the same with hormone loss. At a certain point, your skin loses enough collagen and estrogen to bounce back after laughing or even blinking, which is when you start to see deep set wrinkles.”
Now for the good news: “Science has changed,” says Lee,” and now there are things you can use topically to help improve the health, structure, smoothness and all-around radiance of your skin.”
Topical products, like Caire’s Theorem Serum Boost ($56), can in fact be incredibly effective in rejuvenating skin to its younger, more radiant appearance. “Using a serum formulated for skin over 50 is helpful in providing increased hydration and firming effects while making your skin healthier in the long-run,” King adds. Essentially, using products that help to firm, smooth and hydrate your skin from a cellular level can result in younger, more radiant looking skin without surgical treatments.
Menopause affects everyone’s skin the same way.
Like most things in life, menopause affects everyone’s skin differently. For much of history, people have associated the effects of menopause on the skin with dryness and wrinkles, when in fact there are countless factors that affect not only how menopause affects each individual, but also when menopause begins and ends. “When you go through menopause and how it effects your body is largely genetic, but outside factors like having an IUD or using other forms of hormonal birth control can impact when you begin to go through menopause,” Lee says.
Though, as Lee mentioned earlier, the reduced hormone production does increase the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles as well as increased dryness due to lack of hydration. But, some women do in fact struggle with oily or even acne prone skin during and after menopause. Luckily, the ingredients in Caire products and other mature skin-care products contain ingredients like hyaluronic acid that are geared towards treating all of the issues that come along with menopausal skin, including acne.
Menopausal skin-care products are only useful for menopausal skin.
Skin-care products geared towards “mature” skin are often overlooked by younger individuals for obvious reasons, but both Lori and Celeste both agree that these products can in fact be beneficial for younger skin too. “When you start using a product like the Theorem Serum Boost, you’ll notice that the increased hydration and firmness allows for smoother application of makeup. The hyaluronic acid and other powerful peptides also contribute to purging of bacteria from the skin which can be really helpful for acne.”
Take it from me—I am freshly 21 years old and have been using Caire’s Theorem Serum Boost every day and can already see a difference. I’ve always been insecure about my under eyes and neck looking droopy and puffy, and using the serum under my eyes and on my neck has already started to help firm and brighten my skin in those areas.
The discourse around aging is one that is experiencing an overdue renaissance. As celebrities begin to get more honest about their experiences getting older and brands begin to cater to a more diverse range of skin needs, the stigma surrounding aging and menopause is slowly starting to deteriorate. We can all learn from Lorrie and Celeste when it comes to honoring all phases of our lives, ridding ourselves of the negative and defeatist attitude towards aging and focusing on healing ourselves and our skin from within.
