Can You Really Get Rid of Crepey Skin After 50? The Truth About Miracle Creams

Frannie B

Sep 17

9 min read

Updated: Oct 9

Recently, I came across an advert for a collagen body oil making some very impressive claims about ageing skin. It looked convincing. There was a beautiful woman, a dramatic before-and-after photograph and even a doctor attached to the article. And I found myself thinking: “Does this actually make sense?”

Let’s be honest. Most of us would rather buy an expensive bottle of collagen body oil that promises great results within a few days, with a couple of impressive ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs thrown in for good measure, than put in months of hard work exercising regularly, protecting our skin from the sun, eating well and being patient. And that, I think, is exactly why the beauty industry has such a powerful hold over us. We want to believe that somewhere out there is a little bottle that will do the hard work for us. Rub it onto your arms every night, wait a few weeks, and suddenly the skin that has gradually aged will look like it did 20 years ago. We all want to believe this is possible. But there is an old saying: if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

The goal is not perfect skin. It is feeling good in the skin we are in.

So, I decided to do a bit of research and look past the photographs and the promises and find out what dermatologists and research actually say. Because maybe the more interesting question is not simply, “Does this collagen oil work?” Perhaps it is: “What can we realistically do about ageing skin — and what are we simply being sold?”

Why Does Our Skin Change As We Get Older?

There is something rather strange about ageing. For years, you look at your body and barely give your skin a second thought. Then one day you catch sight of yourself in a mirror, or perhaps see a photograph taken from an unflattering angle, and suddenly you notice things you had never really thought about before. For me, it was when I was in my late forties. I caught a glimpse of my arms in the gym mirror while doing my thing on the StairMaster and was shocked. Where did these saggy-skinned arms come from?

The thing is, as we get older, our skin naturally changes. It can become thinner-looking, drier and less elastic, while wrinkles, loose skin and changes in texture become more noticeable. You may have heard this described as “crepey skin”, which is the term often used for skin that has become thin, loose and finely wrinkled. The beauty industry has become exceptionally good at taking perfectly normal changes that come with age and turning them into problems that need fixing. Suddenly, the perfectly ordinary process of ageing becomes “sagging”, “loose”, “damaged”, “crepey” or “tired-looking”. And once we have been made to feel that there is something wrong, along comes the solution. Usually in an expensive bottle.

And Then There Is the Sun...

There is another piece of this puzzle that I can't ignore, because I have to be honest about my own history. When I was in my late forties, I was a big fan of “tan cans” — those upright tanning booths where you stand inside a small cubicle while UV lamps give you an all-over tan. At the time, I didn't give nearly enough thought to what all that UV exposure might be doing to my skin. I was thinking about having a nice tan; I certainly wasn't thinking about what my skin might look like decades later.

Looking back now, I suspect that some of the changes I see in my skin, particularly on my face, may be partly related to those sessions of UV exposure. Of course, I can't know exactly how much of my skin ageing is down to the tanning sessions. Ageing is far more complicated than that, and genetics, hormones and simply getting older all play their part. But I wish I had understood back then that protecting my skin was an investment in my future self. If I could go back and give my forty-something self one piece of skincare advice, it would probably be this: protect your skin from the sun. I can't go back and undo those years, but I can protect the skin I have now.

Can Moisturiser Actually Make Loose Skin Look Better?

Now for some good news. A moisturiser isn't completely useless! Keeping your skin moisturised can make it feel softer and look smoother, and hydrated skin can temporarily appear a little plumper. I am actually quite low-maintenance when it comes to my body. I use an ordinary over-the-counter body lotion and that is about as complicated as my body skincare routine gets.

My face is a different story. For my face, I use Environ Ultra during the day and at night. It is certainly not cheap, but it is something I have chosen to invest in. More recently, I have added La Roche-Posay Hyalu B5 Serum and La Roche-Posay Hyalu B5 Eyes Gel Cream to the mix. And am I hoping for a miracle? Absolutely. 😂

That, I think, is the distinction I want to make throughout this blog. There is nothing wrong with enjoying skincare or hoping that a product will make our skin look and feel better. The problem comes when “makes your skin look more hydrated” somehow becomes “rebuilds your skin and gets rid of sagging.” Those are two very different claims.

What About Retinol?

Retinol is another ingredient that gets mentioned constantly when we talk about ageing skin. Unlike a simple moisturiser, retinoids can have biological effects on the skin and may help stimulate collagen and improve some signs of photo-ageing over time. But again, this is where expectations matter.

There is a huge difference between saying, “This ingredient may improve the appearance of ageing skin over time,” and saying, “This product will tighten your loose skin.” The first is a realistic skincare conversation. The second is where I start getting suspicious. I am not suggesting that every product containing retinol is pointless. Some skincare ingredients have genuine evidence behind them. But that doesn't mean we should take the biggest promise printed on the bottle as fact.

What About Collagen?

Collagen is the word that seems to appear on everything from face creams and body oils to powders, drinks and supplements. And this is where I think we need to be particularly careful, because collagen itself is certainly not nonsense. Our bodies contain collagen and it is an important structural protein. The problem is that the word “collagen” has become such a powerful marketing tool that it can make a product sound far more impressive than it actually is.

The fact that a product contains collagen does not automatically mean that rubbing it onto your upper arms will rebuild the collagen underneath your skin. Ordinary collagen molecules are large and have difficulty penetrating deeply into the skin, which makes some of the claims made about topical collagen products rather more complicated than the adverts would have us believe.

And then there are collagen supplements, which are a completely different question. There is research suggesting potential benefits from oral collagen supplementation, but the evidence is not nearly as straightforward as the marketing often makes it sound. So I don't think the conclusion is “collagen is a scam.” Nor do I think it is “collagen will transform your skin.” The evidence is more complicated than the advertising suggests.

Could Strength Training Actually Help Our Arms?

Now this is the bit that is particularly interesting to me. Because I have actually started doing something about my arms. I am currently only about three weeks into specifically focusing on strength training for my arms, so I am certainly not going to stand here and tell you that I have transformed them. I have not. I cannot see any real visible difference yet, and I think it would be completely unrealistic to expect a difference after only three weeks.

My trainer has told me that she can see more muscle definition when I exercise. Maybe she is simply trying to encourage me — and I am perfectly happy to accept the encouragement! — but I also know that building muscle takes time and consistency. What I can tell you is that I already feel stronger. I can do longer wall-sits, squats have become much easier, I am lifting heavier weights than I was before, and my balance has improved tremendously. Those are real changes, even though they are not necessarily the sort of changes you can see when you look in the mirror.

Sometimes the first signs that something is working are not visible. Sometimes you just realise that something which used to feel difficult has become easier. And I am positive about what strength training might eventually do for the appearance of my arms, but I am also realistic. I think it will take considerably longer and require consistent effort to actually build noticeable muscle.

That is one of the reasons I am doing my four-month Strappy Dress Challenge. I would love to see some improvement in the appearance of my arms by the time those four months are over, but I am not expecting a miracle. I am prepared to put in the work and see what happens. And perhaps that is a much healthier approach than staring at a bottle and expecting it to do all the work for me.

When Skincare Is Not Enough

There are things we can improve, and there are things we simply cannot turn back. If ageing or major weight loss has left someone with significant loose skin, no body oil is going to physically remove that excess skin. And perhaps we need to stop thinking that every change to our bodies as we age needs to be corrected.

We live in a world that constantly shows us younger faces, smoother bodies and carefully edited photographs, often while selling us something at the same time. But I think I am beginning to see ageing differently. I want to see what my body is still capable of.

And that is actually what excites me most about my strength training. I am not simply trying to get better-looking arms. I feel strong and energised. I feel capable. I love how strength training makes me feel. And I am excited about the future version of me and what I can still improve.

If You Want the Simplest Possible Approach...

I don't want to give you a seventeen-step anti-ageing routine. To be honest, I would not follow one myself. However, there are some sensible things we can do without turning our bathrooms into a beauty laboratory.

First, moisturise your skin. Hydrated skin generally looks and feels better. If you enjoy using body lotion, use it. There is nothing wrong with enjoying skincare.

Second, protect your skin from the sun. This is one of the most worthwhile things you can do for your skin over the long term. It may not feel particularly glamorous, but neither is trying to undo years of sun damage with an expensive product afterwards.

Third, keep your muscles. This is where strength training becomes particularly interesting. We are not promising that lifting weights will remove wrinkles. We are looking after the body that carries us through life, and there is emerging evidence that resistance training may have benefits for skin structure as well.

Fourth, eat properly. Your body needs adequate nutrition to maintain tissues. That does not mean eating a particular food because someone on Instagram claims it will magically “boost collagen”. It means giving your body the nutrients and protein it needs to do the enormous amount of work it is constantly doing.

Fifth, understand what your skincare can realistically do. Use retinol if you want to. Use moisturiser. Use a lovely body oil because you enjoy it. Just know what you are buying and what it can realistically achieve.

And finally, accept that some things cannot be fixed with a lotion, cream or oil. That might actually be the most important one of all.

Because once you accept that a bottle cannot fix everything, something wonderful happens: you stop looking at your reflection as a problem to be solved, and you start looking at your body as a wonder to be celebrated.

We can spend our fifties and sixties chasing the illusion of twenty-year-old skin, or we can spend them discovering just how strong, capable and vibrant we can actually be.

Let's leave the miracle lotions on the shelf, put in the work that actually makes us feel alive, and embrace the future version of ourselves with open arms — wrinkles, strength and all.