First of all thank you to Leven Rose for sponsoring this post!

I turn 43 this month and there are some natural practices I wish I would have started younger. We’re talking about things to prevent facial and chest wrinkles, crepey hands, jowels and cellulite — yes all kinds of fun things happen in your 40s! But fear not, my little duck, I’ve got you covered. I bet you’ve never thought of some of these before!

1.Be kind and gentle to your skin with natural products.

We’ve all tried the toxic cleansers and makeup that make big promises but only leave us with irritated skin that can become red and flaky. The best thing you can do in your skincare routine is use natural products. Be gentle on this delicate skin, especially around the eyes.

Leven Rose produces organic and 100% pure natural products made with environmentally sustainable practices. In my skincare routine, I am currently using these in this order.

• Jojoba oil ($11)
• Rose water ($14)
• Vitamin C serum ($20)

1. CLEANSER: JOJOBA OIL

Nutrient dense antioxidants heal blemishes, chapped dry skin, rashes, beard care, stretch marks, sun spot damage, plus is a makeup remover, acne infection treatment & more.

Here’s how I use it as a cleanser and makeup remover:

• Apply small amount to your face without water and rub all over — lips too.
• It also works as makeup remover, so gently massage into hardened mascara and eye makeup.
• Put a warm washcloth over your face and let it sit for a few moments.
• Gently wipe oil off with the washcloth. This also exfoliates the skin and lips.

I know some of you will be thinking, “Wait, won’t your face be too oily if you use oil as a cleanser?” The answer is no! If you just left it on your skin it would be too much, but since we’re wiping it off it just leaves skin soft and moisturized.

I don’t have great skin. It’s both oily and dry. I have large pores. Freckles. Crows feet are working their way in. But since I have started using natural means to wash my face and moisturize it, I don’t break out and dry spots are minimal. The main thing is how soft my skin is though!

I started with coconut oil back in 2019, but I wanted to give jojoba oil a try and I have to say right now I like it better. It doesn’t harden like coconut oil and is even more gentle on my sensitive eyes.

2. TONER: ROSE WATER

Perfect for toning face, neck, decolletage, eye area, dry skin, body and hair for balancing PH, acne prone skin, hand spots, dark marks, combination oily skin, and to overall balance skin as a botanical astringent and toner. A natural reducer of redness and a leader in liquid toners.

• To help close pores and balance your skin’s pH, spray the rose water on your face, neck and chest.

I’ve always loved roses. I’ve alway loved rose-scented everything. And this rose water did not disappoint. It truly smells like actual roses — because it’s made from real roses! This one is a definite winner and will stay on my counter. It’s not just me either — it has almost a 5-star rating on Amazon from over 8,000 reviewers.

3. SERUM: VITAMIN C

Builds natural collagen while lightening age spots & reversing sun damage. Deep hydration ingredients penetrate skin as a dark spot corrector for face, chest, and neck. Packed with vitamins C, E, B & A.

• Apply a small amount of serum to face, neck, chest and whatever is left on the backs of your hands.

This vitamin C is unlike any I have tried before and I’m impressed. Something about it glides on so silky smooth. It has made a big difference in the way my skin looks and feels. And I need all the help with age spots because my fair skin has spent way too much time in the sun! Speaking of sun, if you use this serum in the morning, definitely wear sunblock because it can intensify the sun on your skin.

With these three products combined, I don’t even need a moisturizer. You can go bare-faced from there or build on top with sunscreen and makeup.

I’m just pleased as punch to find an affordable, simple routine that is truly working for my skin! Leven Rose has a whole arsenal of products to check out, these are just a few.

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2. Use the same skincare routine on your neck, chest and hands as your face.

Here’s me sans makeup on the internet. I started to say something self-deprecating about my blonde translucent eyelashes, but I don’t need to. Let’s start to be more comfortable with our imperfect selves. The social media filters are messing with our minds.

Anyway, in the last few years I’ve started treating my neck, chest, and hands with the same care I do my face and I’ve noticed a big difference. For example, when I’m done applying the oil or serum to my face, I put whatever remains on my hands on my neck and chest. Maybe I’ll even do one more drop and put it on the backs of my hands.

I wish I knew this little tip earlier on. It’s not difficult and doesn’t use much product, but it would make quite an impact over the years.

Listen, I’ve had old-lady hands since I was 14. If only vitamin C was a thing back then. Seriously though, I have seen a lot of improvement on my hands from treating them better.

And two more things:

• Don’t pick at your face. You’ll probably irritate the zit and possibly create scaring.
• Don’t touch your face throughout the day. Your hands have oils and bacteria.

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3. Protect yourself from the sun.

My mind was deluded as a young person thinking that this fair-skinned, freckled body could tan like my best friend’s or other people around the pool. So after two skin-cancer scares and removals in my adult years, I do not hang out in the sun. I wish I had done more sooner. I could have saved myself so much sun damage. We don’t need to be tan. If you do want one, get a fake one like mine ;)

These days I seek shade instead of sun rays and wear sunblock almost every day. The die-hards say sunblock EVERY day. I need to give my skin a break sometimes and let it go naked and free on those inside work days! But at this stage in my life if I know I’ll be outside, I will use sunblock. There are lots of great tinted moisturizers with SPF nowadays.

Don’t stop at just your face, use it on your neck, chest and hands as well. This will be the absolute best preventative care you can do.

Oh, and hats! Get yourself a favorite hat. I got this one at Target several years ago and wear it all the time. I don’t know if it’s cool or not — and I don’t really care, which is another thing that happens in your 40s. BUT I like that it provides more protection than a baseball cap and covers my ears (one of which has a sizable scar from skin cancer removal).

And of course, put on your sunglasses. They protect your eyes, but also prevent crows feet from squinting.

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4. Sleep on your back to prevent wrinkles.

This one is huge. If you can teach yourself to sleep on your back you will not only prevent eye and chest wrinkles, it will help align your back.

In youth, skin has more collagen and bounces back to it’s original shape, but collagen production begins to decrease after 30 and in your 40s you start waking up with creases where their shouldn’t be creases ;)

I started noticing pillow lines around my eyes from sleeping on my side. Even lines on my chest that would go away after a couple hours, but will eventually remain. So I started training myself to sleep on my back — which I never did before. Right now I can sleep about four or five hours on my back and I can see in the mirror the next day I don’t haves as many pillow lines. My back feels great too!

I’m using a Cervical Memory Foam Pillow and that is what has made it possible. The sides of the pillow are for side sleeping — which actually have cut outs for your cheeks which helps somewhat with creasing. And the center is contoured for sleeping on your back. This is shown without a pillowcase so you can see its shape, but it takes a standard size.

A normal pillow was too high and hurting my neck. I have heard some people rolled up a towel and that worked for back sleeping, so you could try that. This pillow isn’t for everyone — you have to shift it when you change positions. My mother-in-law didn’t care for it, but it has been an absolute game-changer for me.

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5. Do facial exercises to prevent jowls and a sagging chin.

If you were expecting a picture for this one, you were mistaken. Haha! You’ll feel like a weird turtle, but facial exercises help build muscle tone and prevent sagging. I learned these from Medical News Today:

• Yawning and opening the mouth as far as possible, then closing it very slowly without letting the teeth touch.
• Chewing with the head tilted slightly up.
• Grinning as widely as comfortable then slowly tilting the head up and down.
• Putting the lower lip on the top lip and tilting the head up.
• Lying down flat, curling the neck in towards the chest with the tongue pressing on the roof of the mouth.
• Humming with the tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth.

Along these same lines, to prevent wrinkles, don’t raise your eyebrows and wrinkle your forehead unless someone really deserves the stink eye. It’s a bit odd, but your forehead will probably be the second place wrinkles start to show up, after eyes.

Don’t purse your lips if you can help it and avoid straws. It accentuates upper lip wrinkles.

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6. Try dry brushing to exfoliate and promote circulation.

• Get a nice soft exfoliation brush and before you get in the shower, go in long sweeping strokes toward your heart over your whole body. We do this toward the heart to work with the lymph-node system.

Some benefits of dry brushing are exfoliation, increased circulation, collagen stimulation and decreased cellulite.

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Those are my tips for today! I hope you got something out of it. If you’re past your 40s, I would love to hear from YOU. What did I leave off? What secrets do you have. Do tell!