This is exactly how I look this good at 61 – and how you can too: TRINNY WOODALL reveals nine simple tweaks that got rid of her saggy neck and revived her hair and skin… and the diet trick that’s better than fat jabs

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One of the first things we notice about people is how well they look. Feeling fit and fabulous is what makes us feel ageless as women.

That’s why, in many ways, I feel better now at 61 than I did in my 20s.

I can finally say I really love myself, which I didn’t in my teens or the decade after.

It was at the beginning of my 50s that I started to take a proper look at my lifestyle and decide why I had to make changes, addressing how I wanted to feel both internally and externally. Feeling strong and full of energy was at the forefront of my mind, so I sought out research to discover what could make positive changes in my body.

The good news is that the ingredients used in skincare today are so advanced it is now possible to undo some of the damage from the past – whether that’s smoking, drinking or frying yourself under the sun’s rays. And it’s not just about skincare: there are advanced supplements with clever new delivery mechanisms, hair-thinning remedies and more clarity on what exercises we should be doing at the different stages of our lives. Here are my top tips and tricks to help YOU roll back the years, too…

FIRST STEPS TO BETTER SKIN

Really get to know the skin you have today. So many women still think their skin is a type diagnosed years before during a brief encounter at a department store.

It could be that you were told you had combination skin when you were 28 – but it’s very unlikely you’ll still have it at 60.

There’s no sense in buying a product that worked brilliantly for a friend or just slapping on a moisturiser and hoping for the best. For optimum skincare, you need to get your skin type correctly diagnosed. 

You might be one of those enviable people who didn’t need to think twice about their skin until they hit mid-life, such as my erstwhile partner Susannah Constantine who had amazing peaches and cream skin. We would work around the world, and she’d go to bed late after a few drinks and wake up the next morning after very little sleep with skin as smooth and fresh as a baby’s bottom. I never had that because I always had acne-prone skin, so I was very invested in skincare from a young age. 

When Susannah was about 55, she called me and shouted: ‘What the hell has happened to me?!’ She didn’t know what to do because she’d never had to worry. She is proof it’s never too late to invest in the right skincare routine.

You don’t have to start a regime with all guns blazing. It can be a gentle journey. If you feel overwhelmed, then begin by focusing on the thing that is worrying you the most.

For a lot of women that might be a sagging neck. So many have that overnight Nora Ephron moment (Ephron famously wrote a book called I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being A Woman).

If you start with a good neck cream – I use my own The Elevator Neck Concentrate (£68) – and see the difference, then you move on to addressing issues with the face such as pigmentation or redness.

Using your fingers to do lymphatic drainage massage is something that helps with the puffiness we get as we age, when our lymph becomes more sluggish and we have a bigger propensity towards inflammation.

Wrapping an ice cube in a cloth and gently massaging it round your face every morning will also really help to de-puff and it’s just about free (it’s every supermodel’s secret weapon).

BOTOX WON’T GIVE YOU BETTER SKIN

I started using Botox when I was 35 and still have it twice a year. Because I started early, I never developed deep expression lines. But it’s not a ‘fix all’ by any means.

If you are a Botox user, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you don’t need to bother with high-quality skin products because you don’t have many lines. Botox won’t improve the texture of your skin or give vibrancy to your complexion.

I have two friends who have Botox but have never invested in a good skincare routine. They’ve addressed their wrinkles, but they have redness and their skin is uneven.

Injections such as Botox have to go hand-in-hand with the right skincare routine.

FAKE YOUR WAY TO HEALTHY HAIR

I’m about 90 per cent grey but there’s no way in the world I would ever think about not colouring my hair. It’s a lot easier when you’re blonde, as opposed to brunettes like me, as the grey takes a long time to show up, but mine comes through in less than a month.

I use the likes of Colour Wow (£29.50) to cover the roots between salon visits.

As we get older, many of us feel paranoid about losing our hair at the front – or at least the appearance of it. Although I don’t suffer with thin hair today, I did lose a lot during Covid as a result of the virus itself, a high fever and stress. I really researched the market, spoke to many dermatologists and a trichologist, and took the hair-growth supplement Biotin. I also had microneedling with peptides on my scalp to stimulate growth. They all helped, but it was also patience. Our hair grows in 90-day cycles (so the state of your hair today will be in response to your lifestyle three months ago).

Sometimes I wear clip-in hair pieces (from a great brand called Sway, from £129), as it’s an effective way of making our hair look fuller or adding a different shade.

UNDOING DAMAGE

There are a lot of women in their 50s and 60s who learnt about skincare back when we didn’t have the ingredients and knowledge we have now, and who aren’t convinced that what you put on your face can make any real difference.

Times have changed and advancements in skincare mean we can use products that have an actual impact on our skin, reversing environmental and sun damage. I use my own serum, Naked Ambition (£69), which combines slow-release vitamin C with an azelaic acid exosome delivery system for gradual, effective results throughout the day.

If, like me, you slathered yourself in oil and cooked in the sun in your youth then you’ll have pigmentation damage – darker patches on your face and body. A daily Vitamin C serum is the most important thing you can apply to help reduce this and prevent further damage.

Laser treatments can remove hyperpigmentation by using targeted light energy to break down excess melanin, but they can be expensive and dark patches may return.

Whatever you decide to use, damage will return in the sun, so you need to apply a high SPF in all weathers.

As for other signs of damage, it’s not possible to reverse things such as deeply ingrained lip lines with skincare – that would need a CO2 laser, which uses targeted beams of light to remove the superficial layer of your skin to stimulate newer skin to grow in its place.

But you can definitely use skincare to improve your skin texture, which can be impacted by smoking, drinking and getting very little sleep in your 20s (which I was guilty of).

As we age, we get new skin every 56 days instead of every 30, but active ingredients (such as retinoids and peptides) will accelerate skin-cell turnover and give you fresher-looking skin.

Many women mistake their dead skin cells – which we have far more of as we grow older – for dry skin. I like to use the analogy that you would never polish a dusty table. Get the dust off first with an exfoliator and then polish which, in this case, is using your serum.

BUILD MUSCLE

I started a serious exercise regime with my PT, Nathalie Haywood, about seven years ago. Before that, I just did reformer Pilates, but it’s not enough for where my body is today.

Strength training is so important to me. My family are tall and I run around a lot, but my mum had osteoporosis so making sure my muscles are strong became key as I approached my mid-50s and beyond.

I wake up at 6am and do 22 minutes of morning meditation – it means I wake up earlier than I’d like to but it sets me up for the day. I have a very different day when I do it from when I don’t.

I then take my supplements, including creatine to help bring some water to my muscle, and I have a really good workout ten minutes later. If I jump out of bed and go straight to a workout, my body hasn’t had time to wake up and I won’t get the best out of it.

There are about 150 exercise videos I’ve done with Natalie on YouTube and I know loads of people follow them. Every week we go live with a few hundred women around the world, and this gives me the motivation to continue. Their feedback helps me stay disciplined – I feel like I’m letting them down if I don’t continue to exercise.

As for people who say they are ‘too busy’, maybe ask yourself what your priorities are in life. Should you put yourself slightly higher up that list? It will not only benefit you but your loved ones. I love that I can go on a plane and chuck my carry-on case into the overhead locker without having to ask anyone for help.

DIET OVERHAUL

Nathalie has helped me to up my protein intake massively. When you’re older you need to eat so much more protein, as it helps to slow down the loss of muscle mass and strength that comes with ageing, but it can be a real challenge. At my age, height and weight, I should be eating about 120g of protein a day – around three eggs, a piece of salmon, protein shake and a good dinner, and around a cup of Greek yogurt – but getting more than 100g is difficult.

I generally start the day with a three-egg omelette with added ricotta or cottage cheese. At lunch, I’ll drink a protein shake and then eat some type of meat with vegetables for my evening meal.

There are some days when I don’t eat well because I’m going from meeting to meeting, so I have a light lunch and then eat a late dinner but don’t feel great the next day because my brain isn’t working at its best.

My body is used to not having processed food and when I slip up, I really notice the negative impact it has on me, making me feel sluggish and unfocused.

SUPPLEMENTS

I will be on HRT for ever. My regime consists of oestrogen gel, progesterone and testosterone.

When it comes to other supplements, if possible it’s a really good idea to get yourself tested to see what you are deficient in (there are High Street clinics such as Randox), so you don’t end up popping pills you don’t need.

A lot of older women take magnesium but don’t realise there are different types. Magnesium Citrate is good for the likes of constipation, but it won’t help you relax or sleep. Magnesium L-threonate is the one you need for that.

I also take vitamin C and glutathione for inflammation as well as a probiotic.

For energy I take NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide). This feeds your body’s ability to make something called NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), which is vital for energy.

Finally, I take Lion’s Mane. I use one from a company called Ancient + Brave (£34). It’s a nootropic, a type of compound which can be taken in supplement form to enhance brain focus. With all of these things, I honestly feel better than ever – and you can, too.

MAKE-UP TRICKS

As we age, less is more – and going back to basics with your make-up routine is key.

I have a quick two-minute regime using hard-working, multi-tasking products, which saves time and money – and can be done on the Tube.

I start with a three-in-one tinted SPF which adds a bit of colour and glow, followed by a pop of blusher high on your cheekbones to wake up your eyes.

Then I use my finger to apply a neutral-shade eye cream to add some contouring and definition to my eye area before applying mascara and eyebrow gel.

After that, I finish with a pop of shimmer for my cheeks and lips using my Trinity multitasker (£36). I use a lip liner from my 21-year-old daughter Lyla’s make-up bag by Rare Beauty (£16).

I also add a spot of concealer to cover any dark circles. I had filler under my eyes for ten years and recently had it all removed.

The filler was getting puffy and I didn’t want it any more – but it does mean my dark circles have come back.

AND THE THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER DO… SUGAR (INCLUDING ALCOHOL!)

A lot of women say to me: ‘Oh, you’re so lucky to be slim and not have a menopausal tummy.’ I had to really understand the impact of sugar on an older gut to turn around this bloated tummy that I used to have.

Cutting down sugar can shift that feeling of bloatedness like nothing else.

I massively cut down on sugar about three years ago and it’s been very transformational. Once you are about five or ten years out of menopause when you have sugar in any from – whether it’s alcohol or – in my case – sweet food, it has a big effect on inflammation. If I ate sugary things I could feel my tummy bloating and my ankles swelling up.

After menopause, our ability to process food becomes so sluggish that you need to overhaul how you eat and feed your gut in the right way and give it a rest from all the harmful stuff – especially sugar. Look after your gut and you won’t have a bloated tummy. Cutting down on sugar is the best thing you can do for a quick health fix.

It’s made me change my perception of what a delicious treat is too. It’s no longer chocolate and biscuits, instead I love a green apple with peanut butter.

You don’t have to avoid lovely food – my favourite naughty weekend breakfast is a baguette with butter, lots of cheddar cheese and a dollop of Seville marmalade. Weird but I love it!

As told to Claudia Connell. 

Trinnylondon.com