Not ready for a tweak? You are not the only one.

Everyone has an opinion on Botox and fillers.  Miracle? Cure? Curse?  These are so popular that there is even a word for this form of non-surgical treatments: “tweakments”.  Although these tweakments sound inoffensive on paper because they do not involve the use of scalpel, many still involve needles and injectables and other fillers.  While many women (and men!)  advocate their benefits, not everyone is convinced that all this tweaking is worth it… for now.

So, what are the options for a more gentle beauty regimen?

Do nothing

Well, that’s the obvious one.  Although it is admirable to accept that your face will change, I am not sure this is what you are truly after otherwise you wouldn’t read this…

Keep to the bare minimum

If you are happy to age gracefully, it is important to stick to a few basic principles:

Clean your face, clean your face, clean your face.

And to that end, it is so important to find the right products.  In the morning, I use a gentle cleansing gel and I rinse with water or a cotton soaked with micellar water – my favourite is Bioderma Crealine (bien sûr!).

In the evening, I am a huge fan of a three-step cleansing process to remove any traces of makeup:

• Step 1: use an oil-based cream/gel to remove the bulk the makeup with a water soaked cotton or flannel.
• Step 2: wash your face with a gentle cleansing gel and rinse with water.
• Step 3: remove the last traces with a cotton soaked with miscellar water.

Don’t forget your daily SPF50

This should part of your daily routine, not just when you are on holiday.  And don’t use your leftover holiday suncream.  This type of creams is not formulated for long term daily use and has a tendency to clog pores. The easiest is to choose a day cream or a foundation specially formulated with SPF in it (choose one with at least SPF30).

Use a simple beauty regimen (eye cream, serum, day/night cream) everyday

Sooner rather than later, it is advisable to adopt a good basic beauty regimen comprising an eye cream, a serum and a day/night cream.

Change gear and invest into a proper skin care regimen full of active ingredients

If you are not keen on needles, there are other non-invasive treatments that you can try.  I suffered from pigmentation after my third and fourth pregnancies so I went to see a specialised clinic where I was prescribed a skin treatment by Obagi.  The treatment was a bit frightening at first because it involved a lot of peeling off but the results were quickly visible.  Cherry on the cake – not only my pigmentation faded but the fine lines did too.  It is not a miracle treatment though as you need to carry on using it if you want the results to last.  The good news is that after a while, you can use less products to maintain the glow.