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We received a fabulous product review from Rita at Goldivas.com and are thrilled to share it with you.
Goldivas.com is an internet magazine for women 50 +. This website posts articles every month that cater to the interests of women who are 50 and over. The topics covered include beauty, careers, creative living, fashion, fiction/poetry, fitness/health, money, technology and travel. During the month of September, Striking products are featured under the beauty topic.
Goldivas is offering a giveaway for 5 lucky winners in a drawing that will take place at the end of the month. You can enter by signing up for their newsletter here.
I’m reading “The Wisdom of Menopause” by Dr. Christiane Northrup, not because I’m going through menopause but because I need to learn more about what happens to our bodies (and more specifically, our skin) during that stage so I can write about it more accurately on the Striking blog and newsletter.
I was sharing with some of my friends that I was simultaneously reading books about raising teenagers and going through menopause. Then the questions came up:
“Why are you reading about menopause?”
“Are you perimenopausal?”
“Which book are you reading? Maybe I should get a copy too.”
Then the realization hit me: as a generation of women, we are unprepared for menopause. We get to see the movies about menstruation in grade school, but there’s no mandatory movie about menopause to watch in our late 30’s/early 40’s to prepare us for that next stage of life. Some of us may get some information from our mothers if we ask, but there’s no “birds and bees” type conversation like the ones we get when we’re learning about the facts of life, so it’s up to us figure out this next phase of womanhood.
We throw around words like “perimenopause” and “menopause” like we know what they mean, but really, most of us are grossly uneducated on the subject until the doctor tells us we’re right in the middle of it. Do we really know what happens? Do we care enough to research it before it happens to us or does all the book reading and information gathering start once the doctor has given us the official diagnosis?
I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. I’ve started to ask questions of my mother and my aunt. So far, I’m not following in my mother’s footsteps: she gave birth to me at 18 and started menopause at 40. I, on the other hand, gave birth for the first time at 29 and had my third (and I think, my last) child 18 months ago at age 42. I’ve started reading about menopause and asking other women who have been through “the change” what they would recommend to read, or if they read anything at all.
What will do you to prepare?
Posted by Brigette, contributor
I do not like cleansers. Don’t get me wrong, I love the feeling of a clean face. I have eczema, so trying a new cleanser makes me tremble with fear. Worse yet, is that I love foaming cleansers, which are the worst for my sensitive, eczema-prone skin.
When I was asked to try Striking Multi-Vitamin Cleanser, I was nervous. I had just solved a 2 year long eczema breakout on my face by using a foaming baby wash and I wasn’t ready to trigger another flare up. On top of that, it’s a creamy cleanser. Not exactly my favorite because I haven’t ever used a creamy cleanser that left my face feeling clean. So, with major reservations, I tried it and surprisingly enough, I liked it and (bonus!) it didn’t trigger my eczema.
Striking Multi-Vitamin Cleanser is a lightweight creamy cleanser that is really efficient at removing makeup (even eye makeup), dirt and environmental grime from your skin. I’ve had long standing issues with feeling like my face isn’t clean after using a creamy cleanser, but that’s not the case with this cleanser. I use my Clarisonic (more on my love for the Clarisonic later) when I wash my face so that’s probably part of the reason I’m getting over using a creamy cleanser in the first place, but I’ve also noticed that it rinses very thoroughly. I feel clean but not stripped of all moisture.
This cleanser is chock full of age-fighting vitamins A, C and E as well as plant extracts that are rich in vitamins as well. For instance, it contains evening primrose oil which is full of essential fatty acids (vitamin F). EFA’s are excellent for eczema-prone skin. It also contains avocado oil (rich in 20 different vitamins and minerals), carrot extract (vitamin A) and seabuckthorn extract (high in vitamin C which supports the activity of vitamin E). All of these skin-loving vitamins help to fight free-radicals which can attack your skin, mangle your DNA and accelerate skin aging.
My skin feels comfortable and moist after washing and I’m not scrambling to slather on the moisturizer to get rid of that claustrophobic skin-tightening feeling that happens after I insist on using a foaming cleanser. I’ve definitely become a fan.
What cleanser are you using?
Posted by Brigette, contributor
Product Review: Cool Jams – PJ’s that Keep you Cool
I have been trying out a pair of pajamas from Cool-jams for the last week or so. Cool-jams is based in San Diego, California and was founded by Anita Mahaffey. Her idea came to be when on a factory visit to Turkey, she discovered a new micro-fiber fabric that “wicked” moisture away from the body and dried quickly. Combine her experience as a manufacturer of apparel and sleepwear (she sold robes of her own design at Neiman Marcus and other retailers) with this soft, lightweight fabric and suddenly she had a winning idea.
Cool-jams targets women 40+ who suffer from night sweats, a common side effect of menopause. However menopausal women aren’t the only people who suffer from night sweats. This condition also occurs during pregnancy, use of certain medications, thyroid conditions, diabetes, obesity, chemotherapy or sleep apnea. Here’s how it works: Cool-jams uses a special wicking fabric that is similar to athletic clothing to help keep the sweat or moisture off the skin. The moisture is absorbed from the skin into the fabric and then evaporates out the other side, leaving the body comfortable and dry. A dry night’s sleep can also mean a good night’s sleep for someone suffering from night sweats.
When I received my package I was surprised to find a “bonus”: a drawstring bag was included for use when washing to prolong the life of the clothing.
While I typically don’t get night sweats, it has been very warm in the Seattle-area this month and like most Western Washingtonians, I don’t have air conditioning. I’m happy to report that I have been sleeping comfortably when I would normally wake up due to the heat and subsequent sweating. I have been wearing the Savannah night shirt in periwinkle blue (it also comes in peach) and I love it. It has lace edging to make it oh-so-feminine. The fabric is soft and silky so that when I sleep it doesn’t catch on my sheets but instead moves with me. The fabric is definitely keeping my skin dry and helping me rest without waking up due to discomfort. I was pleasantly surprised that the nightshirt came out of the dryer wrinkle-free and also that it didn’t shrink. I also read that it is snag free which is very nice so that it will look newer longer and not become snagged from my rings or from wear.
The website (Cool-jams) is very informative in discussing how the wicking fabric works and why it makes sense. There is a size information chart online to help pick the size that is right for you.
Win a pair of Cool-jams pajamas or night shirt here (http://www.cool-jams.com/cust-care.html). Under Contact click on “Do you want to enter one of our contests?” Fill out the form and in the drop down click on Cool-jams Contests. Post what your favorite pajama or nightshirt is there on the site and winner will be selected randomly.
http://www.cool-jams.com
Every Friday, we will post a question on women’s skin care, Striking products, events, product review or something related to our Striking Community. We will give readers the chance to post by the following Friday. Answer the question correctly (or close to) and you will be entered in a random drawing to win one free Striking product.
Post your answer with your email address or email your answer to us. All entries must be posted by the following Friday before 9am Pacific time to qualify for the giveaway. Once we select a random winner, we will contact you to retrieve your address and then mail the prize to you.
Good luck to all!
Sam Saboura from Extreme Makeover and stylist among celebrities posted a video just today on Style Secrets for Real Women. We stumbled upon it and wanted to share it with our friends in our Striking Community.
Posted by Striking Skin
Free Striking Friday- Question of the Day 9/18/09
Winner drawn 9/25 is Janet Faye. Congratulations Janet!
Answers accepted were: Menopause Awareness Month, Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and Gynecological Awareness Month.
_________________________________________________
Question of the Day:
What woman’s health related awareness month is September?
Prize:
1 free Striking Rejuvenating Eye Creme, 0.5oz ($35.00 value!)
Post your answers here or email us at strikingskin@gmail.com. All answers must be posted by 9am Pacific time on Friday, September 25, 2009 in order to qualify. Winners will be randomly selected and then emailed for contact information. Please do not post your address or other contact information to this blog other then your email address.
Check us out in the October 2009 issue of Ladies Home Journal with the women from The View on the cover.
Two of our products, Striking Multi-Peptide Serum and Striking Restorative Moisture Creme, are located on the Tips n Trends page as well as on their website. Click on the photo of the products to read more about them and see other products that were included on that page.
Here are some pearls of wisdom gathered from the wise women in my life who have hit menopause and emerged fabulous on the other side:
1. If you’re not a water-drinker, get into the habit now. Staying hydrated is one of the best things you can do for your body as well as your skin.
2. Stay out of the sun, but if you just can’t help yourself, wear sunscreen. Choose an SPF 30 with a combination of chemical and physical sunscreens (titanium dioxide or zinc oxide). Cover your entire body with at least an ounce and reapply every hour. If you start getting red, get out of the sun, pronto! Remember that overexposure to the sun is the skin’s enemy.
3. If you smoke, you may want to consider quitting. You already know what it can do your skin, so I won’t preach to you.
4. Don’t forget to use your anti-aging products past your chin. Pay attention to your neck, decollete and even your hands.
5. If you feel like you need a little “extra work”, go for it! But remember, you need to take care of your skin to maintain the results whether it’s Botox, fillers or surgery.
6. Since collagen starts to diminish by 1% every year once you hit 40, choose products with ingredients that are known to boost collagen production. Striking Skin Care with SmartPeptides is a good place to start.
All pretty common sense notions, but sometimes, it’s common sense that we lack!!
Posted by Brigette, contributor
