In mid-October, I went on an all-girls trip to Dunton Hot Springs, in southwestern Colorado, to celebrate my girlfriend’s 60th birthday.
What better excuse than to get away with the girl tribe and spend time together to celebrate a friend’s birthday! Most of us had lived a quarantined life for the past six months and were craving IN PERSON time rather than another Zoom call. We vowed to be acutely aware of our travel arrangements and to be ultra-responsible for our collective health. So, we all scheduled multiple COVID tests in preparation for staying in a home on the property that would house only our group of six.
While we were at this incredible place, besides hiking, soaking, drinking our fair share of wine and spirits, and riding horses, well, for complete transparency, I didn’t ride a horse; we had downtime and needed our late-night gabfests.
I realized how much I missed being with my girlfriends on this trip. We’re social creatures! We’re wired to connect. We need each other to be sounding boards, our shoulders to “carry the load,” to show us where “center” is when we go through our storms. The saying, “It takes a village,” does not apply to just children. We ALL need a village or tribe to help us navigate our way through this crazy COVID world.
Life is more fun with friends, anyway. Right?
Our tribe varied between the ages of 50 to 63. We talked about everything and revealed our secrets, sorrows, fears, joys, and future dreams. The topics that came up most frequently were relationships, wellness, beauty tips, and what we’ve learned through each of our past experiences throughout 2020. And yes, we even talked about politics!
I will share some of those conversations because I learned a lot from these five incredible women, and I thought you’d like to read what we discussed because it might benefit you and YOUR girl tribe.
My first question was, “What are some beauty secrets that help you age gracefully”? Everyone gave a variety of unique answers. Here are just a few.
Teri said that she shaves her face with a disposable razor every few days to exfoliate her skin. And ladies, believe me, it works because she has gorgeous, healthy, glowing skin! She also curls her eyelashes differently, using her hot curling iron to heat her eyelash curler because it helps her lashes stick and curl better. She also recommends using sunscreen all over her face and body right after showering to protect her skin from sun damage.
Stephanie shared that she uses a battery-operated dermaplaning system that removes facial hair and exfoliates the skin. It instantly removes dead skin debris and peach fuzz. She added that her makeup goes on oh so smoothly. I found Sonicsmooth makes the most recommended one.
She also recommends using either a rose or jade quartz face roller. She puts it in the freezer and then takes it out both mornings and nights and rolls it over her face and neck to reduce inflammation and create better circulation. She said it’s great for alleviating headaches and sinus conditions. Face rollers also improve the lymphatic flow by applying pressure along the lymphatic circulation pathway on your face and neck. And it tightens skin and diminishes wrinkles! You can find a list of the best rollers on Health.com.
Beth swears by filling up balloons with water and freezing them for alleviating any facial swelling. Definitely, a creative and less expensive way to help with swollen eyes.
I also have some beauty tips of my own that I’d like to share.
I use charcoal masks on my face, neck, and décolletage area once a week. When used in a face mask, activated charcoal binds to dirt and helps pull it out of your pores, making them less visible (it’s the oil and dirt that makes them appear more prominent). It leaves your face feeling fresh. I use it with an exfoliating scrub to get the dead skin off and experience an even deeper clean. After cleansing, I apply a rich moisturizing cream for mature skin. I’m mature at 63 years old, and I finally embraced that fact! Haha!
I also add a cream that contains Retinol called Revision Skincare DEJ Night Cream. A less expensive version is RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Night Cream. A specific night cream isn’t always necessary because I’ve met women who only use Aquaphor all over their faces and bodies, and they look fantastic.
I’ve also had laser treatments on my face and chest areas. I developed melanoma seven years ago because I used tanning beds for years! Hint: Don’t do that! I like to use the Halo laser, which treats both superficial and deep layers of the skin. It removed all my dark sunspots, cleared my uneven skin tone, and helped create more collagen. Suffice to say, I love the results, and it doesn’t require much downtime.
I also use Botox on my forehead and around my eyes. Yes, I know I earned those laugh lines, but I’d still like to soften them. It just makes me feel better! And lastly, on the floor next to my bed is a humidifier. It helps with hydrating my skin. I also drink tons of water and exfoliate every day.
OK, now for the discussion of helping women who are dealing with menopause and vaginal dryness. Approximately half of post-menopausal women experience vaginal dryness. Here are some very creative ways my girl tribe deals with this issue.
One recommendation is to buy some small ice cube freezer trays, fill them up with coconut oil, and freeze. Before sex, take one out and insert it into your vagina and use it as a lubricant. Or you can buy Flexi ice sheets and fill them up with CBD oil and or coconut oil as lubricating suppositories. Foria Wellness has a great selection of oils, and you can buy the ice cube trays and sheets on Amazon.
Another way to increase lubrication is to naturally raise your estrogen and progesterone levels by eating certain foods with high phytoestrogen levels such as soybeans, flax seeds, or sesame seeds. They mimic estrogen in the body by binding estrogen receptors. Some supplements can help ease menopause symptoms like Vitamin B-complex, Vitamin D, DHEA, Boron, Black Cohosh and Red Clover (which help with hot flashes), Chasteberry and Evening Primrose Oil (which help with PMS), and Dong Quai. If you do not see natural supplements results, please check with your doctor to find a hormone replacement therapy that works for you.
That was our discussion about Outer Beauty! In Part 2 of this article, we’ll cover Inner Beauty.
I hope you learned a few tricks of the beauty trade from my girl tribe. Let’s be real; we’re all vain here. We ALL want to look beautiful, but with such a limited definition of beauty, we leave out a lot of the real kind. Beauty isn’t a constant–it’s always changing. That’s kind of the, well, the beauty of it, right?
Peace to you,
Pirie Grossman