Alright, lets hear it! I wanna know...
What's the deal with wrinkles? (a woman's 8 letter, "4 letter" word)
I am only 26 but I have to say, I've got a few starting to appear...
I am not freakin' out about it, not even concerned...really...
But it certainly has me thinking about whether or not I am going to be one of those women who consider wrinkles "life lines" or if I am going to be a plastic surgery junkie by the time I hit sixty.
Will I botox it?
Lift it?
Fill it?
Or slather cream on it?
Will I contribute to the billion dollar "anti aging" industry or not?
I really don't know. How can you predict how you will think or feel when one day you look in the mirror and discover that you've suddenly, inexplicably, undeniably become.... old!!! *gasp*
That day may come for me... or it may not. Either way, I am thinking that now might be a good time to start thinking about keeping the ol' "life lines" at bay.
So, what is your weapon of choice?
What's the deal with wrinkles? (a woman's 8 letter, "4 letter" word)
I am only 26 but I have to say, I've got a few starting to appear...
I am not freakin' out about it, not even concerned...really...
But it certainly has me thinking about whether or not I am going to be one of those women who consider wrinkles "life lines" or if I am going to be a plastic surgery junkie by the time I hit sixty.
Will I botox it?
Lift it?
Fill it?
Or slather cream on it?
Will I contribute to the billion dollar "anti aging" industry or not?
I really don't know. How can you predict how you will think or feel when one day you look in the mirror and discover that you've suddenly, inexplicably, undeniably become.... old!!! *gasp*
That day may come for me... or it may not. Either way, I am thinking that now might be a good time to start thinking about keeping the ol' "life lines" at bay.
So, what is your weapon of choice?
**********
(Chelsi's Ping.... a wonderfully wrinkled old lady. Please excuse the quality of this picture... I dont have the original so had to take a pic of the computer screen!)Since posting this I came to the conclusion that my question and statement wasnt coming across the way I had intended it. I actually LOVE wrinkles and life lines on the people around me...and in nature as well. I love the character they bestow and the depth they give to a persons expression.... Actually I like them so much so that I did three large drawings with the central theme being wrinkles. One is a piece of really old and weathered lady like the man featured above. My family named her Ping. Dont ask why, I actually havent a clue. The others are of an elephants, a water buffalo and a lion (all with wrinkly faces).
(my dawing of Robert Batemans painting of a Water Buffalo... did you follow that?)With that being said, I just don't know how I will feel about wrinkles when they become my own.... and want to avoid that quagmire for as long as possible.
Do they matter to you? If so, what do you do to avoid them?
What is your magic cream? Or is it staying well hydrated? Exfoliating? Sun screen? Botox? *grin*
(Elephants by Chelsi.... from National Geographic photo)Do you think that Hollywood today puts a unrealistic expectation on the average woman to look 40 at 60? or 20 at 30?
Or do you simply not care!
Could be worse, Chelsi. You could be taken for 19 when you're 30 and passed over for promotion for someone who is younger "because she's older and has more life experience". Happened to me.
ReplyDeleteI think wrinkles give people character. They can tell about your personality. We all know people we can look at and say "Oh, they're a sourpuss" or "he must be a nice, jolly person!".
Wrinkles are a road map. They tell your life story. My best friend began to get crows feet about your age. (She's just turned 31). Just from looking at her, you know she's enjoyed time outdoors and has had an active lifestyle. Is that bad? No, I don't think so. I think it's just part of what makes her who she is.
And, when you come right down to it, do you want to look plastic? Really Chelsi, I didn't think Barbie was your image type. ;P
LOL Goodness gracious, ORS! I am about as far as Barbie as they come! Wide, short, dark haired...But I get your point! It seems like women in Hollywood these days dont age and so I wonder if there will be even more presure to look young when I get to be a little older... if that is even possible! lol... I just wonder if I take care of things now, will I not be as tempted later in life to do things more... invasive!
ReplyDeleteAhhhhhh-don't go for the perma-young look. Have you ever noticed that most women who worry about aging and start doing procedures at a young age always end up looking older than they are?
ReplyDeleteAnd hard?
I am one of those people who does not mind aging. I think part of the reason is because I spent a lot of time around my grandparents when I was growing up. I loved their faces. They knew so much, told such great stories and were all, really wonderful people. I'm okay with growing older if I can become like them-wrinkles and all.
My boss loves to give life-lessons...she's around 55 I think. She got married when she was 17 and got pregnant not long after. She often speaks about what she's learnt in life, what she'd do differently etc. Anyway long story short, I think wrinkles are a sign of a life lived and of wisdom. And I'm not just saying that to make you feel better!! =) It's true!!!
ReplyDeleteOh and I forgot to say, I think the best cure, is prevention! I'm only young, and I wash (with special washy stuff) and moisturise every morning and night. None of my friends do, so it'll be interesting to see what happens in the future!!! =)
ReplyDeleteLast June I celebrated my 30th Birthday and was not bothered by it one bit!! Many friends and family have struggled with that age...I see it only as a number. I too think that lines and wrinkles are a part of your history... I'm not saying I will be excited about wrinkles but I guess it is just part of the life process on this earth :)
ReplyDeleteI got one word for you- MAryKay! I use all the products and love em! I'm 53 in people years and that is on the outside(inside I'm just a kid!) I wouldn't do botox if you gave me the stuff free! All you have to do is look at Cher, or Joan Rivers or any Hollywood starlet to see the kind of shallowness Hollywood has foisted upon us all!
ReplyDeleteLook at all the great horses around us- some are beauties, some were, but when you walk up to a horse you know what kind of horse it is by looking in its eye. Is it kind? Does it look frightened?Does it look hard and jaded? Thats how I look at people too. And that is how I want people to look at me. A kind eye and an honest heart!
I'll bet you have both!
PS AWEsome drawings!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I will be too concerned with wrinkles. If I get them, I get them. I don't really want them, but I have more important things to spend money on than looks really. I do sell/buy Mary Kay and I believe in it from seeing so many other consultants and directors who are aging extremely well. What do certain ages really look like anymore anyhow? I'm 30 and have gotten teased more often than not about looking way younger than I am, but acting way older. Hows that work? lol Mary Kay teaches the key to preventing/reversing/maintaining wrinkle status is moisture. Don't let your skin lose any (more) elasticity and the way to do that is moisturizer. Oil free moisturizer if you have oily skin, but do not skip that step!! lol So that's how I'm going and I've been going for about 8 years now I think. So far, so good. I'm also not one for sun, which may be helping. I'm pasty pale, even in the middle of summer, and have been told I have a nice complexion. So that might be part of it too. No skin cancer for me! Wear hats, use sunscreen and wear moisturizer!
ReplyDeleteTurning 55 this month. Was lucky to look younger than my age most of my life and even so now if you have preceptions of 55 looking 60 or well weathered. I am embracing my wrinkles, I want to be perceived by others as graceful in the aging process. Robust with humor and wisdom. Inner beauty trancending. Now I'm not saying Im beautiful. Truth is I'm over weight and carrying around my own well stuffed baggage. Yet I am happy with me and who I am and who I will become physically, mentally and Spiritually.
ReplyDeleteI use cold water to wash my face (no soap) (minimal facial products) (occasionally sun screen)(mostly hydrate and efoliate). I detox and keep my liver toned with lemon juice in my water, keeping toxins at bay and stay away form smoking. I do drink beer and that by itself can age you. Sleep is most important. Take naps,
You are a fabulous artist.
LOL!!! Well I for don't mind wrinkles on other people (it does add character!), but cannot STAND them on me!!!! The only place I am getting them is some fine lines underneath my eyes, and strangely enough, on my hands.
ReplyDeleteI use Clinique skincare products, but I do not use a moisturizer or wear much sunscreen...I know, I am bad...lol!!! I do use an "under-the-eye-fine-wrinkle-cream" though. I think it costs about
$18, but it lasts around 4-5 months.
While I do love the sun and bask out in all of my glory in the summertime (hence the wrinkly hands), I do not ever use tanning beds. You know what though??? Wrinkles are largely due to environmental (sun, smoke, toxins etc..) and genetic factors, so if you are gonna get them bad, you are gonna get them bad...lol!!!
I admire woman that grow old gracefully and I hope to be one of them. I'm not terribly picky or high maintenance. I've got some lines and some gray hairs but I'm going to be 40 this year so I figured I earned them. I'm told that I look younger than my age and I hope that continues.
ReplyDeleteDisappearing comment again...
ReplyDeleteMy point with the Barbie comment was obviously much better expressed by Vanquerogirl. There's this point when all the plastic surgery and injections leave a woman more resembling Skeletor than a human being. Women start to resemble the dolls most girls grow up playing with, Barbie. I think that with some people, all the nipping and the tucking can become an obsession or a mental condition not really that much different from anorexia or bulimia. The issue is now there are even more images sent to little girls about being young and beautiful forever, so perhaps we're creating an epidemic of Barbie-ism.
Look at Paula Abdul. For the last 3 weeks on American Idol, her upper lip has not moved when she's spoken. How creepy is that?
My grandmother had wrinkles and I loved each and every one of them. They're what made her who she is.
When I was in my early forties, I was laying on the couch with a couple of broken ribs and a friend and her 8 y.o. daughter came to check on me. I had my glasses off and Tracey put her little hands on my face, then traced along my cheek with her little fingers, her eyes got big and she said, "Gosh, Mom, she's all wrinkled..." and, oh, it hurt to laugh but it was so funny and her mom was going, "Trace!!!" and Tracey said, "But they are CUTE wrinkles!" Nice catch Tracey... I still laugh about that one.
ReplyDeleteI use bay oil on a warm, wet wash cloth now to clean my face now, but years of smoking, working outdoors and laughter have left me with crow's feet deep enough to feel, but I'm like most of your other commentors in that I feel that my face tells a lot of stories and most of them were full of laughter.
Great post.
Helen
That should say 'baby' oil... the proofreader is off on the weekends.
ReplyDeleteDuh.
Helen
Gosh Chelsi! I'm 43 this year...TWICE as old as you and I'm embarassed to admit that I rarely even look at myself in the mirror every day, so worrying about wrinkles is not on the top of my list. lol!
ReplyDeleteIf it weren't for seeing pictures of myself, I'd never be able to guage if my face was starting to resemble a Shar-Pei! :D
Really, though wrinkles don't bother me much, except for the 'H' between my eyes from giving my kids the 'mad mama face', and that one, only because it makes me look mean, which I'm really not (not very often anyway).
I love to sketch wrinkled faces, like you do. I am admiring your wrinkly art actually.
My favorite faces are of the old Navajo Women. They are covered in such rich character and tell stories of living in the windswept, dry desert, herding sheep, baking bread in a horno, drying chilies, and weaving blankets. I just love it.
All that being said, I do wish I didn't have a Lithuanian nose, which tend to be long and sort of bumpy (think old Russian women), because I get older that feature does seem to stand out.
So, no, I don't worry much about wrinkles and don't do much to curb them from happening. Just some daily Neutrogena SPF 15 lotion with Alpha-hydroxy and fish oil (good for the skin, keeps it moist and 'fluffy'). And I use goat's milk soap to wash it. That's it.
Interesting subject to post about, Chelsi!
~Lisa
Oh...and I don't rub fish oil on my face. That would be nasty. lol! It comes in gel tab form. I take two daily. I've been doing that for more than 16 years now. :)
ReplyDelete~Lisa
I just don't care. I love my gray hairs that are coming in quickly now, and I love that my face is getting a laugh lines. Mature women are more awesome than young women in my book.
ReplyDeleteIt's only natural for you to worry about your future wrinkles, Chelsi. We all come across that point when we get those unwanted lines on our face, even men like me. At least you already know your options, right? At least you know that cosmetic surgeons will be there to help you with your problem once you have fully decided to go with a procedure. That's not really surprise you know, especially here in San Francisco.
ReplyDelete