Many women look to menopause as the long-awaited day they will no longer have their periods. After all, most women will have their periods for forty years of their lives; menopause definitely seems like the grand finale of what has probably felt like a D-list movie at best.
While menopause definitely means the end of having your monthly period, it has its own set of challenges and issues that result in changes in a woman’s body and even in her skin.
Don’t worry; your friends at Rael have everything you need to know about what menopause is, what to expect in terms of skin changes, and what you can do to help treat it holistically.
Menopause: More Than Just Not Having Your Period
We get it. Having a period is big, and even though you’ve got your monthly cycle streamlined by the time you’re 40, it can still be a little inconvenient and frustrating. Menopause can seem like the relief you’ve been longing for, but it comes with a catch.
Just like your body’s hormones have been fluctuating monthly while you’ve had your period, you’ll continue to experience changes in your hormone levels during menopause.
What Is Menopause?
Menopause itself refers to not having your period for twelve consecutive months.
Once you’ve skipped your period for an entire year, you’re considered post-menopausal. Most women will experience this period-style ceasefire in their forties or fifties, but some women can experience it sooner or later.
Researchers believe that genetics play a significant role in when you’ll reach menopause and how your body will change during perimenopause and post-menopause.
Perimenopause
Technically, every woman who hasn’t reached menopause is in perimenopause. Perimenopause refers to the period of time up until you reach menopause.
During the later stages of perimenopause, as you get closer to menopause, you’ll experience a decrease in hormone levels which can trigger the development of more acne and even make your periods irregular.
Post-Menopause
After you’ve had one full year without a period, you’ll be considered post-menopausal. This means you’ll no longer have your period, and your estrogen and progesterone levels will decline significantly.
During all three phases of the menopause process, you can experience changes like:
- Weight gain
- Bone density loss
- Hot flashes
- Oral health issues
- Increased risk of heart disease
- Skin changes
It’s important to take care of your body during this time to make sure you’re as healthy as possible. This can include taking a calcium supplement, changing your diet to reduce the risk of heart disease, and even improving your skincare to avoid common menopause skin issues like dryness, dullness, and acne.
Skin and Menopause
By the time you reach menopausal age, you’re no stranger to skin changes that are directly related to your hormones. Each month you can expect a few pimples before or during your period or around the time of ovulation.
Menopause changes your hormone levels permanently, but those changes can cause temporary skin issues that can be frustrating. Dealing with acne while simultaneously combating eye wrinkles isn’t anyone’s ideal skin situation.
Hormonal Acne
The acne you get before your period each month is referred to as hormonal acne. This is because acne is caused by increased sebum production directly triggered by changes in your hormones before your period.
If you’re used to getting a breakout before your period, a combination of changes in estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone are to blame.
- Estrogen. Estrogen is the female sex hormone that triggers puberty and helps you develop. Estrogen levels drop just before your period and gradually decline with age.
- Progesterone. Progesterone is the hormone that helps with childbirth. It spikes during pregnancy and ovulation, but its role in your skin health isn’t as important as estrogen.
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Testosterone. Testosterone is an androgen, and women don’t make much of this hormone. However, your testosterone levels affect your skin by making the natural oil your skin produces thicker and more adhesive than it normally is.
Testosterone levels remain constant from month to month but gradually decline with age.
Declining estrogen levels can cause your skin to become dry and dull. You may notice this each month just before you start your period. The week before your period, your estrogen and progesterone levels nose-dive, which can send your skin into the dry zone, but that can create the perfect storm for pimples.
How Acne Forms
Pimples happen when your skin’s natural oil, sebum, mixes with dead skin cells and dirt and clog your pores. There can be a million reasons why you develop acne (including genetics), but the overproduction of sebum is almost always at the root of what’s happening with your skin.
The changes in your hormones can affect the way sebum is produced. When estrogen and progesterone levels tank, your skin becomes drier. During menopause, estrogen and progesterone decline rapidly, which can leave your skin feeling drier than it has ever felt.
Dry skin sends a message to your sebaceous glands to go into overdrive, producing sebum to compensate for your skin’s lack of moisture, especially if you aren’t using products to help keep your skin hydrated as your hormones change.
Here’s the catch: when your estrogen and progesterone levels drop, your testosterone levels are more concentrated, which means the extra sebum your skin produces to compensate for your dry skin will be thicker and stickier than the sebum you usually produce. This can lead to more acne bumps.
The takeaway: When you enter menopause, estrogen and progesterone levels decline, which can cause your skin to produce more sebum. That sebum will be more likely to clog your pores and give you blemishes because your testosterone levels remain virtually the same.
Other Menopause-Related Skin Changes
Blemishes aren’t the only thing you’ll have to worry about as you approach menopause. If you’re not dealing with acne, you’ll probably be dealing with dryness and dullness. The decreasing hormones can make it feel like your skin is tight and dry no matter how much water your drink or the moisturizer you use.
Dull, lackluster skin can also be an issue as you reach menopause. Your skin naturally thins as you get older, leaving your skin looking less brilliant and highlighting wrinkles and fine lines. Don’t worry; changing up your skincare is easy and can cover many menopause-related skin issues.
Caring For Your Skin During Menopause
With a few changes to your skincare routine, you can ensure your skin stays hydrated, healthy, and radiant no matter what your hormones are up to. Here’s how to take care of your skin as you enter menopause.
Combat Dryness
The same moisturizer you’ve been using your whole life probably isn’t enough to keep your skin hydrated during menopause. Natural ingredients can help hydrate your skin gently and balance your moisture levels, so your sebaceous glands don’t have to produce as much sebum (and risk clogging your pores).
Products that contain hyaluronic acid are especially helpful for skin during menopause. Rael’s Moisture Melt Snowball contains freeze-dried hyaluronic acid with three different weights to deeply penetrate and moisturize your skin for up to 100 hours. Try diffusing it into our Glow Chemistry Advanced Antioxidant Serum, formulated with fullerene, an antioxidant 100 times more powerful than vitamin C.
Combat Dullness
Dull skin can make you look older than you are and even make you look sick. To brighten your skin and give it a healthy dose of vitality, try Rael’s Vitamin C Sheet Mask. Our mask brightens, restores, clarifies, and restores your skin in just fifteen minutes.
Packed with vitamin C, it also offers antioxidant protection to help shield your skin from free radical damage.
Deal With Wrinkles
Wrinkles and pimples are interesting, but you can handle both with the right products. Rael’s Collagen Sheet Masks help plump skin, keep it moisturized, and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It’s like a mini facelift without the scalpel (or the price tag).
Handle Acne on the Spot
Don’t let menopause acne put you in a mood. When it crops up, be ready with the right tools to help get rid of it fast. Rael has every solution you need to handle any pimple your hormones send your way.
Our products are natural, holistic, and proven to work effectively and quickly, so you can get on with your day without worrying about blemishes.
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For pimples and whiteheads. Tiny pimples and whiteheads can be a nuisance, and it can be hard to avoid picking and popping them. Protect and treat them simultaneously by using Rael’s Invisible Spot Cover.
Our spot cover uses hydrocolloid technology to gently pull out pus and oil while keeping your bumps protected and preventing dryness.
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For deep, under-the-skin bumps. Acne that forms under your skin creating large, cystic lumps can be painful and impossible to get rid of—Rael’s Microcrystal Spot Cover to the rescue.
Using a combination of hydrocolloid technology and tea tree oil, our microcrystal spot cover penetrates deeply into pores to break up pus and oil and eliminate blemishes in a matter of hours.
- For body acne and groups of blemishes. More often than not, you’ll get blemishes that form clusters on your face, back, or even your chest. Rael’s XL Spot Control Cover is the solution you need, providing a large surface area of hydrocolloid healing power for large areas of blemishes.
With Rael’s acne solutions, menopausal acne doesn’t stand a chance of ruining your day. Our pimple patches effectively let you hit the delete button on your blemishes so that you can focus on more important things.
Get Rael
You’ve trusted Rael for your period care for years; trusting us for your skincare just makes sense. Our products are always natural and gentle on your body, menopause acneskin, and the environment. That means you can have clear skin and a clear conscience.
Menopause can be a great experience that helps move you into the next chapter of your life (without a period), but the skin changes you experience can be hard to deal with if you don’t have the right products for the job. Rael has everything you need to keep your skin comfortable and clarified.
Sources:
Caring for your skin in menopause | AAD.org
Changes in Hormone Levels, Sexual Side Effects of Menopause | Menopause.org