Once again, I find it difficult to come up with ten things in this category, mainly because I don't use beauty products -- no makeup unless it is a very special occasion, no facial skin care products, no special shampoos or conditioners. Huh. Lazy.
My Ten Favorite Health and Beauty Products.
- Vitamin C. Good for the skin and seemingly good for my own personal immune system. While I know there is absolutely no widely validated scientific evidence for this, if I take at least 100 mg of vitamin C every hour at the absolute first sign of a cold, the dread illness is averted. This has worked for me for over ten years and I do not plan to mess with success.
- Daily multivitamin, calcium supplement, and fish oil supplement; all on the advice of my physician.
- Ibuprofen. Actually, this one should be #1. I take 800 mg twice a day, and it keeps life pleasant. Without it, my joints scream in pain every time I move. Several years ago I was supposed to stop taking it for a week but had to resume after three days because the aches and pains were bad enough to keep me from sleeping. It is just joint inflammation, not rheumatoid arthritis, thank goodness; I had myself tested for the latter because I feared I had inherited it from my grandmother.
- Antidepressant. Actually, this is the one that should be #1. I'm a lifer on it, having started during severe post-partum depression after the birth of #2 son in 1989. Life since then has been sooo much better than the forty years before.
- Eucerin lotion. I may not do much of anything to my face, but the rest of my skin needs constant attention, especially in winter when the indoor relative humidity drops to 5-10% -- desert levels. This lotion was recommended in a study by a Minneapolis TV station which found it was the only one that actually moisturized one's skin rather than just plastering down the skin cells with mineral oil.
- Other prescription meds: cholesterol, high blood pressure, GERD, and eczema all require their own daily treatments.
Okay, that's it. We use whatever soap, shampoo, and conditioners that are on sale. I pretty much bombed out on the beauty stuff and came in heavy on the health. Such is life after 60.
