Diary of a Wrinkle

What? He’s how old? I think that was my initial reaction when first reading the article about Cliff Richard and viewing a current photo of him where he looks absolutely wonderful. It’s true, I could not believe my eyes when I looked at the photo and saw a healthy looking body, one that also looked natural as far as I could tell, and one that would cause all of those who have attempted to gain a similar look through plastic surgeries, to breath in deeply and take a seat as they sigh in despair. Cliff’s face has also defied the usual aging process because although there are lines here and there, those look appropriate, albeit they are definitely not age appropriate in this unique case. To further upset those who stare at him with envy, he is as healthy as an ox, and enjoys playing tennis on a daily basis. Did I mention that he will be seventy-years-old this coming October?

After my last defeated effort at responding to women who have expressed their despair over their wrinkles—where I was heavily criticized for my positive point of view of all things—I decided to do a little bit more reading on a handful of online magazines to get a sense of what else women have been discussing, and what kind of advice they have been receiving from fellow readers. I didn’t expect anything different than before, but my curiosity for the “herd mentality” that I have viewed so many times before, prodded me to look again.

I have been spending the week in Cancun at the Me Hotel of all places, unbeknownst to me a paradise for the young and beautiful who like to party all day and all night long. Also in the mix are some of us older folks, some of which I am sure have come here to rub elbows with the party crowd, and others such as myself who are here just because it looked like a nice hotel from the photos Online.

Today Maxim hosted a party at the beach and later on tonight the party will continue indoors at the Rose Bar. As I sat on my beach-chair this morning there was an interesting dynamic going on, I could see the flow of young people slowly trickling into the roped area designated for the Maxim party and then there was that woman

“Oh my goodness,” those were the exact words which I happened to utter when reading a few captions about Pamela Anderson’s “unattractive-natural-look.” Once I spotted photos of Pamela, barefaced and natural, I obviously gravitated towards the article, after all, things of this nature are such a rarity as we have established many times before. When gazing at her photo I found myself looking at a portrait of a beautiful-natural-looking-woman (using the term natural from the neck up)—that’s right, I instantly turned into a Pamela supporter!

I’m almost certain that ten years ago articles on beauty and aging would never capture my attention. The subject matter was of no interest to me whatsoever because aging had not become one of my concerns yet. This immediately confirms the fact that my readers could never be in their twenties or thirties for that matter—I can’t even remember the things that would peak my interest at that age.

Lately, a newspaper article that caught my attention was one which I came across while reading the Times Online. The title of the article was: Diary of a beauty addict: Blow-dries 7, Botox 2, facials 4. It was an article written by beauty editor Alice Hart-Davis on how she got hooked on Botox, fillers and lash extensions—didn’t even know that those existed.

A few weeks ago I had the unpleasant experience of becoming the target of an angry team of women, all of whom felt terribly upset because of what I had written about wrinkles. Their anger specifically stemmed from a few comments which I had written in response to comments which they posted on a skin care blog. From time to time I have been known to skim through the different categories on this blog, and respond to the plethora of issues which they write about—those issues range anywhere from opinions about skin care products to treatments and anti-aging formulas. However, this time I came across a disturbing comment written by a woman who loathed the way she looked. She wrote that she was only thirty nine years old but had developed wrinkles pretty much everywhere.  She moaned about not having enough money for a face-lift so in the meantime she chose to hide from the public—she would go off to work in the mornings and upon returning home she would remain there most of the time. She was saving for her surgery but until then this was her life.

I have spent the past week racing around the clock and trying to abide by a specific time-frame forwhich to complete my next book. Nevertheless, I have peeked here and there at the different newspapers, always on the lookout for news that might interest my readers, and once again the Mail Online has come through for me with another article revolving around beauty or shall I dare say: one teenager’s perception of beauty. This time I want to post the article in its entirety and just let you ponder over it yourselves. It is well worth the read!

There are plenty of self revealing books out there written by celebrities who know it all; they know what to eat, what to drink, how to exercise, which products to use, all in the name of staying healthy and young. Some have boasted about the numerous plastic surgeries that they have undergone in order to look as good as they do, while others have refused to admit that the secret to their continuous youthful looks has involved a little bit of help from the surgeon.

In my blog I try to expose the many facets of aging in today’s society with emphasis on the idea that some of us would like to age with grace and be considered attractive at any age. I feel that I am a tiny voice in a society that is preoccupied with plastic surgery in order to achieve their goal of forever looking young. I do not believe in judging or preaching to anyone, saying that people should or should not do whatever they wish, I am a true believer in the saying that, “people should live and let live!” This is exactly what Lulu has expressed in an article published on February 22^nd 2010 in the Mail Online.  Writer Jane Gordon had the pleasure of interviewing this bubbly 61 year old when she was promoting her new book entitled: Lulu’s Secrets to Looking Young.  I have not read the book yet, but what I have learned from the article sounds pretty inspiring.

It’s no surprise that when I come across any bit of news regarding someone, anyone, who accepts their wrinkles, I am intrigued. I admit that I need to hear it from others in order to help me accept my own sagging self. Such was the case when I read yet another article in the Mail Online, this time about sixty year old Sigourney Weaver.  The photo in the paper revealed a very beautiful woman, yes, there were lines but I still found her to be exquisitely good looking. More encouraging was her quote about how she feels about Botox and plastic surgery: