Aw, that reminds me of my mom. She always used Jergens on her body and Ponds cold cream on her face. She had the most gorgeous skin. There must be something to simple products that have been around forever.
Same with my mother. She used Noxema morning and night to wash her face. She was still using it well into her 90s. I used it, too, when I was growing up. That smell is something, lol, you could smell it throughout the house. Her skin was beautiful.
I do think genetics has a lot to do with it because she smoked for years yet she had very few wrinkles. She was not a sun person, either. My father had creamy, wrinkle free skin, too, so I lucked out in the wrinkle dept. I have very mild rosacea, though (pretty well controlled - I use a spray as needed), and I spent too much time in the sun without sunscreen, so that was dumb.
I believe that the secret is consistency. I started using face cream when I was in high school and have only missed a few nights because I was sick. Now, at age 78, I have very few wrinkles. I use Olay Regenerist now, but have used others. I also only wash my face in the evening; in the morning, I just wipe my face with a warm facecloth.
I took care of an elderly lady once who had the most amazing, glowing skin. They were from Syria, if I recall (her daughter was with her), and the only thing she used on her face was warm water on a facecloth, morning and night.
There are natural oils on the face that we shouldn’t necessarily wipe completely away all the time. They help keep the skin supple.
And personally I think the facecloth part is important, even one that’s a little rough, as it helps slough off older layers of skin. I use just Dove soap on a facecloth on my face every morning, or once in a while just plain warm water. If I’ll be outside I use Oil of Olay Complete that has sunscreen in it. (Trader Joe’s makes a similar product at a lower cost.)
Over the years I tried various products on my face for fun but they almost always caused me to break out.
