The “M” Word

From time to time we’ll have guest bloggers posting. Our first guest blogger is Brigette, a 43-year old skin care professional, mother of 5 and part-time blogger.

Menopause. There, I said it.

Truth be known, I’m not there yet. I am actually an anomaly in my family: the women in my family for the last two generations started at 40, and here I am in my mid-40’s with an 18 month old. But still, I know what happens and I am not looking forward to it.

All that being said, the thing that I’m most concerned about is my skin. This might stem from the fact that I’ve been in the skin care industry for over 20 years, or maybe because I’m just plain vain (or a little of both). All I know is that what my aunt warned me about: “You’re going to dry up from the inside out and then your face is going to fall in your lap.” Nice.

During menopause, the lack of estrogen being produced in the body causes skin dryness and in some cases, acne, never mind the fact that once menopause starts, collagen production decreases dramatically (hence, the face falling in your lap comment). In fact, once you hit 40, your collagen diminishes by 1% per year. I was really starting to panic about the dryness (my skin already has the moisture content of the Sahara and I am prone to eczema in the winter) and the sagginess (I hate gravity) until I started working on the Striking Skin Care line.

I had been using another product with peptides that I was completely satisfied with when I came to work for Helix BioMedix (the manufacturers of Striking). Not one for change once I find a combination that works for my fussy skin, I switched over because we kept getting incredible feedback from customers about the quick and positive changes they had seen in their skin after using the product. They were right. I started by adding the Multi-Peptide Serum at first. This product contains Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-14 and Heptapeptide-7. These peptides encourage keratinocyte proliferation and migration as well as collagen production, which make the skin look and feel firmer while diminishing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. I literally saw a change within a week. My skin looked more hydrated, felt firmer and those pesky lines that keep cropping up around my eyes seemed softer. I added the Restorative Moisture Creme as soon as I ran out of my favorite peptide cream from another company and I’ll have to say, my skin has not looked this good in years.

About Brigette:
Brigette is a 43-year old veteran skin care industry professional who has worked with retail, direct sales, spa and medical skin care companies. In her 20+ years she has worked in all facets of the business from sales and marketing to training and product development. She’s also a part-time blogger and mother of 5 children. She loves leading women to the right products for their skin and readily admits her overwhelming addiction to lip gloss (for which, she notes, there is no 12-step program).