Dear Diary: End May
Oof.
That’s all I can say. This is taking such a long time, and I’m starting to see a slight difference in my skin, but … oh, man. It’s so slow. I started out, when? March? That’s certainly when the spring light started coming in through the window and made me realise what a mess I’d let my skin get into. I’ll put all about that in another post, together with pictures and a list of what I’ve been doing.
I thought to myself, skin turns round, bringing the lower level of the epidermis to the surface, ready to be exfoliated, in about a month, so I should be able see a real difference from the things I’m doing by the end of April.
Ha!
What I didn’t realise was that I was talking averages. And my skin isn’t average, any more than anyone’s is.
On average a skin cycle is 5-6 weeks. At the age of 19-21,the process can take 14-21 days compared to a middle-aged adult where it is estimated to be 28 days, which is what I expected.
But.
As we grow older, this skin cycle slows to about 45-60 days in our 40’s and 50’s. It can further slow to about 60-90 days in our 50’s and 60’s.
What? 90 days? Three months? And that is just one skin cycle, and it can take two or three skin cycles to see a real change when using active serums. So I shouldn’t be looking for a major, visible change at my age (and to remind you, I’m 67 and a half, as my toddler self says) until end June for a single skin turn over.
I’m so tempted to add in a retinol treatment, just to report back if nothing else, but until my skin stays stable for at least a fortnight, I don’t think I’ll add anything new for now. But then, it’s supposed to add so much collagen to skin, and that’s what will give it that bounce and help fill in the floppy skin under my eyes.