The 2 Beauty Tips That Could Change Your Life

They are definitely game-changers for Gen-X women.

Published March 20, 2026

AARP

All I did was click on a few Instagram reels about jowls and wigs, and now my feed is 90 percent Facetune-level deep plane facelifts and impossibly realistic-looking hair toppers. And let me tell you, these images are compelling. (Bonus: Daydreaming about looking like your younger self is a soothing escape.) So I dove in, asking the experts about potential options for Gen-X women like me who find their face slowly melting and hair vanishing with each passing year.

If the jowls are jowling

As Medical Director of The Fitz Aesthetic Club in Chicago and Kenilworth, IL, board-certified physician Tatiana Batista meets with patients every day who tell her, “I feel like my lower face is falling down.” The usual culprit: jowls, which are essentially fat pads that migrate below the jawline.

“In our 20s and 30s, those pads are a few millimeters higher, they’re smaller, and the skin is tighter, so it looks like they’re not there,” Dr. Batista says. With gravity and age, the skin and soft tissue underneath start to sag, replacing the snatched jawline and youthful-looking triangular face shape of young adulthood with a heavier, square-shaped jaw that reads older and, like it or not, makes people “feel like they look sad.”

Fluctuating hormones during perimenopause are also to blame. Estrogen receptors are all over our bodies, including in our skin, so it’s common to see more sagging and wrinkling when estrogen levels start to fall in midlife.

Unless you have $150,000+ for one of those turn-back-the-clock facelifts, Dr. Batista says some of your best jowl-fighting options include:

Non-surgical skin tightening procedures Treatments like the Morpheus8 and Sofwave deliver heat deep into the skin to stimulate collagen production, encourage tissue remodeling and promote tightening. The heat can also help shrink the fallen fat pad behind the jowling.
Anti-wrinkle injections Dr. Batista strategically uses anti-wrinkle injections like Botox, Daxxify or Xeomin in the platysmal bands (the ropey vertical bands connecting the neck and jaw) to ease any pulling down on the lower face. “If we stop the pulling down,” she explains, “the muscles in the face that lift can work better.”
Biostimulators Injectable treatments like Radiesse, Sculptra,and PRP (platelet-rich plasma) all prompt the body to ramp up collagen production and restore volume loss.

Prefer a DIY approach? Susie Felber, 54, a marketing agency chief creative officer, artfully ties scarves around her neck to camouflage any “budding sag.”

Entrepreneur Susye Weng-Reeder credits facial yoga, gentle neck and under-chin massage, neck- and chest-opening exercises, and general stress reduction with keeping her lower face looking younger than its 55 years.

Or be inspired by tech company founder Ruth Jennifer Cruz, who couldn’t care less about jowls “because I view aging as a natural system update, not a bug requiring a patch.”

A new way to wig out

Growing up in the 80s, the word “wig” conjured images of Raquel Welch in a feathered helmet. It was the hair equivalent of shoulder pads — obvious and in your face.

Fast forward to today and, thanks to countless Bachelor contestants, hair loss influencers and the one-and-only Moira Rose, women are talking more about thinning hair while proudly rocking incredibly natural-looking hairpieces.

“Alternative hair used to have such a stigma, and for good reason,” says Clementine Bastos, founder and CEO of Goldylost. “The pieces were bulky, shiny, and nothing like real hair. But now, with high-quality human hair, natural colors and new ultra-thin cap materials, the hair genuinely looks like it's growing from your head — even up close.” Bastos calls wigs, along with their smaller-sized counterparts, toppers, “quiet confidence tools for women of all ages.”

Hair toppers, clip-on hairpieces that provide coverage for thinning areas at the crown, are best-suited for “people in that sweet spot” between being able to use subtler options like clip-in extensions or scalp fill-ins and needing a full-on wig, says Haven Whiteman, resident stylist and hair extensions expert at Luxy Hair. Because they cover about 25 percent of the scalp, you’ll still need a decent amount of bio hair (meaning your own hair) to blend in with your topper.

That said, if the hormonal changes of perimenopause (or stress, COVID or GLP-1 use) have thinned your hair so much that your bio hair would look obviously different from the healthy, silky strands of a topper, you may want to experiment with wigs, Bastos says.

A few of her tips:

Understand your options. Look for a company that offers consultations (in person or video) and ask about cap constructions and hair densities, both of which “can dramatically change how natural a piece looks and feels.”
Start small. Start small (maybe you do try clip-ins or a topper first) and wear it around the house before venturing out.
Remember you’re not alone ... although that fear is very normal, Bastos says. “Most of our clients tell us they were terrified to try [wigs]. But when they finally do, they say, ‘Why didn’t I do this sooner?’” Join and follow a few wig-wearing Facebook groups and Instagram accounts for pointers and a sense of community.

“When I lost my hair,” Bastos says, “I stopped enjoying so many things I used to love — dressing up, doing my makeup. I’d spend hours trying to do something with my own hair, and felt awful when I looked in the mirror. Wearing a wig changed everything. It gave me back the freedom to enjoy getting ready, to feel beautiful again, and to show up to things without all the anxiety. It’s not just about looking good — it gave me back a piece of myself.”

Leslie Goldman is a Chicago-based writer who covers all things health, wellness, women and parenting. She is a regular contributor to AARP's TheGirlfriend.com, as well as O: The Oprah Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Parents and more. Her grandfather invented jogging, and Beyonce once touched her elbow. Read more of her work at lesliegoldmanwrites.com.