What I Told My 50 Year Old Friend When She Asked For Help With Her Skin
A friend of a friend is turning fifty this year. And we were chatting as she’s been noticing changes in her skin.
What she asked me first took me back….
What injectables should I be getting?
Shocked….. Here’s what I told her instead. Before you ask which injectable you need, ask what your skin actually needs first.
I then went through the real shift happening in her skin
Let’s talk about it further
In your forties and fifties, skin is doing a different job than it once was. A lot of this comes down to declining oestrogen levels, which play a direct role in maintaining collagen, skin thickness and moisture retention. As oestrogen drops through perimenopause and beyond, collagen production slows, cellular turnover becomes less efficient, and the communication between skin cells, the signals that drive repair, renewal and protection, starts to lose some of its clarity.
These changes are often what people notice first as fine lines, dullness, or a loss of bounce. The instinct is to treat what’s visible. But what’s visible is usually a symptom of what’s happening underneath.
This is where the right ingredients and treatments make a real difference, not by masking the change, but by directly supporting what oestrogen decline is taking away.
Here are just a few examples of what we’re putting into our clients plans…. Vitamin C this plays a role by supporting collagen synthesis, helping rebuild what’s being lost. Vitamin A, (assessed properly in clinic) supports healthy cellular turnover and communication.
Treatments like skin needling and LED light therapy work with the skin’s own repair response, encouraging it to rebuild collagen and calm inflammation from within, rather than sitting on top of the problem.
Used well, and matched properly to what your skin is actually doing, it gives your skin the support it needs to keep functioning the way it’s meant to.
Why injectables aren’t the starting point
Injectables have their place, and for some women, in time, they’re part of a considered plan. But they work on top of the skin’s structure. They don’t build it.
If the dermis (deeper layer of the skin ) has thinned, if there’s underlying inflammation, or if the skin’s own repair systems aren’t functioning well, an injectable is being layered onto a foundation that isn’t ready for it. Skin that’s genuinely healthy gets more from every treatment it receives, injectable or otherwise.
Skin health first means a different kind of plan
This is what I wanted her to know. You don’t need to walk in asking for an injectable to be taken seriously about your changing skin.
Most women navigating this stage don’t want to jump straight there. They want to understand what’s actually happening, and they want a plan that supports it properly, not just conceals it.
That plan usually includes:
Calming inflammation where it’s present in the skin, Supporting collagen synthesis to rebuild structural strength, Restoring the dermis (deeper layer of the skin) over time, rather than masking its thinning, improving cellular communication, so skin repairs and renews the way it’s designed to
Yes it can be a slower process and not an instant visual gratification like having injectables but it’s also the difference between skin that’s being propped up and skin that’s genuinely well.
Where to start
If you’ve been noticing changes in your skin and you’re not sure what they mean, that’s exactly what a skin consultation is for. A proper look at what’s going on, a conversation about it, and a plan personalised to your skin. Not a generic next step.
We won’t hand you a list of treatments before we’ve actually looked at your skin. A proper consultation starts with understanding what’s happening underneath, where inflammation might be sitting, how your collagen and cellular turnover are tracking, and what your skin needs to function well again, not just look different for a few weeks.
From there, we build a plan that’s personalised to you. For some women that’s a course of skin needling to support collagen rebuilding. For others it’s calming inflammation first with LED light therapy before anything else. For most, it’s a combination, sequenced properly, and adjusted as your skin responds.
This isn’t about getting you into a treatment plan for the sake of it. It’s about giving your skin what it actually needs, in the right order, so that whatever you choose to do next, injectable or otherwise, is built on skin that’s genuinely ready for it.
You don’t need to know the answer before you walk in. That’s what we’re here for.
See you in the clinic 🤍
With Love & Gratitude Linda & The Instincts Team xx
