In many ways, getting older is great: you’re smarter (neuroscientists say
the brain doesn’t fully develop until as late as your thirties), wiser (having
learnt from all those mistakes you made earlier in life) and, unless you’re
doing it wrong, probably a lot richer too.
What’s not so great about ageing though is how everything, physiologically
speaking – from your brows to your balls – takes a violent nosedive.
Luckily, there are ways to take the edge off the ageing process. From what
to have for dinner to how to style your hair, here’s our guide to getting
better-looking as you age. Benjamin Button would be proud.
What To Do In Your Twenties
Develop Good Habits
No amount of exorbitantly priced anti-ageing ‘miracle’ moisturiser is going
to right years of grooming wrongs. So start, no later than your early twenties,
with a solid grooming regimen that helps lay the foundations for a lifetime of
good looks.
“Use a gentle exfoliating face wash to remove dead skin cells and reveal brighter
skin beneath, then follow up with a good anti-ageing moisturiser and eye
cream,” says Chris Beastall, grooming editor at the online title Ape to
Gentleman. “Also, if you spend a good deal of time outside – even on cloudy
days – it’s worth using an SPF moisturiser as exposure to the sun is one of the
major causes of premature ageing of the skin.”
Since you probably don’t want to spend most of what are supposedly the best
years of your life slapping an entire chemists’ worth of ointments onto your face
every morning, look for an all-rounder. Neutrogena’s Men Age Fighter, for
example, combines the skin-tightening, wrinkle-smoothing and
pigmentation-erasing benefits of retinol with SPF 15 for sun protection.
For your eyes – where the most noticeable signs of ageing appear – you’ll need to use something site-specific (fending off crow’s feet isn’t always a cakewalk, y’know?). Try Clinique For Men’s Anti-Age Eye Cream, a hydrating and brightening combination of lipids (to help reduce dark circles and puffiness) and antioxidants including vitamin C, E and green tea extract, which help form a barrier against everyday environmental damage.
…And Ditch Bad Ones
Key to holding onto your handsomeness is a holistic approach; while a
carefully considered grooming regimen will keep the surface of your skin in
good nick, what you put into your body is just as important as what you put on
it.
“Smoking and eating [large amounts of] burnt or barbequed food both create
free radicals which actively speed up the ageing process, so it’s best to kick
those habits,” says celebrity skin therapist Louise Thomas-Minns.
Feasting on greens is equally important. “Broccoli, rocket and spinach can
be really effective in boosting levels of collagen, which helps maintain skin
firmness and keep wrinkles at bay,” adds Thomas-Minns, who suggests aiming for
one to two servings daily.
Also, don’t forget to drink from the fountain of youth – keeping your water
intake up (around two litres per day) ensures skin stays hydrated, so you
appear fresher, healthier and younger.
What To Do Later In Life
Despite some marginal praise for the wibbling, wobbling ‘dad bod’ in recent
years, we still find ourselves entrenched in a culture that’s youth-obsessed.
Getting on? Then get a load of these face-saving tips.
Make Over Your Mop
Well, maybe not so much a mop as whatever you’ve got left. By the time they
hit 40, most men will have started to bald, grey or at the very least recede,
which means the days of lobbing some Brylcreem on top of your head and hoping
for the best are over.
If you’ve still got the bulk of your barnet, but you’ve receded quite a
bit, consider a Caesar cut, says Aveda’s master barber, Stelios Nicolaou. “A
short, horizontally layered cut, the Caesar is a great option for men in their
forties as it’s versatile, easy to maintain and particularly good at covering
up a receding hairline.”
Going grey? Choose from two options: own it; or, if you just don’t yet see
yourself as the silvery breed of fox, turn your salt into pepper with a subtle
dye job. Whatever you do, stop with the dye jobs once you’ve reached your
mid-to-late forties; by that stage, it can only look as fake as John Travolta’s
face.
If, however, your genetics have seen to it that you’ve got little to
nothing left, learn how to make the best of bald by keeping the skin in top
condition and ensuring the look fits in with the rest of your style.
KEY PRODUCTS
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