Solitary chicken - need advice

[The Dogmother]

A friend just sent me a long rant about ageing and whether to do antyhign about it; I loved this bit:

 

Your age and experiences are starting to show in your face and neck. Those hard times that have put your mental capacities and emotions in a bind have begun to surface a sketch, a little map around your face. So? Isn’t it high time you stop feeling ashamed of that and admit to yourself that dammit, this is you, now, and haven’t you earned it?

 

What lengths do any of us go to to prevent the march of time appearing?

 

I was brought up to always use decent skincare, my Italian grandma had fabulous skin and always looked after it.

[Mrs Frugal]

I don't do anything at all, I'm afraid. I'm happy to grow old gracefully without any lotions or potions or hair dye. My hair is getting more and more scattered with little white wiry question marks popping up through my dark brown hair and I don't mind them at all anymore. I used to be horrified to find them but I don't want to end up tied to a routine of dyeing my hair to cover them up. I'm allergic to half the skin care products too so my wrinkles just multiply .

[MedusA]

This reminds me of when my daughter was very small. She sat on my Mum's lap, stared intently at her face, and said.....

 

"Grandma, you need Oil of Ulay" (as it was called back then)

 

Needless to say, there was a mixed reaction!

 

Fortunately, I have always looked young for my years, but at 53 the crows are starting to trample around my eyes a little and I have little red spiders trying to make an appearance on my cheeks too.

[The Dogmother]

I colour my hair - I started going grey in my 20s, and a ghastly divorce finished off what was left of the original colour. I don't feel grown up enough to be white haired, not just yet...

[Seagazer]

I'mthe same as you Claret. I remember taking the mickey out of my brother for having a few grey hairs at 20 and I got my first one at 17 .

 

I have it coloured and highlighted, I would dearly love not to. Its such a bore having to have it done. One day I will be brave and not bother. Just not sure when......

[Ziggy]

I never put anything at all on my face, (except water in the shower), no soap, no creams, nothing except a dab of moisturiser once in a blue moon, even make up gets washed up with just water... I use a fair amount of sun cream in summer though... My face can't look very old, as when I had DD3 5 years back, people kept asking if she was mine, and saying I didn't look old enough to have a baby... they nearly fainted when I said she was my 3rd... and DD1 was born when I was 25, so by the time DD3 came along I sure wasn't sooo young... I don't mind too much the thought of age showing on my face and body... but for some reason I have a fit if I find a white hair... I have very little grey hair, which at 35 is quite lucky, and I don't colour my hair at all, but from my horror-stricken reaction when I do find a grey, I guess I will colour it when I turn greyer...

OH has been very grey for quite a few years... it doesn't usually bother him...

[The Dogmother]

Your hair is beautiful Ziggy

[Cinnamon]

No grey on me yet (well,not that I have noticed anyhow), but I do have coloured streaks in my hair.

What colour they are depends on how I feel at the time - at the moment they are golden blonde.

 

I use a facial serum every day & think its fantastic, & I also moisturize well.

At the moment my serum has a hint of colour in it,so its given me a nice 'glow'

 

I ALWAYS use something with at least SPF15 in it on my face, & a dab of something stronger on the few pigmentation marks I have.

The only time I didn't use a face sun block was in Kos last year ,& I got so burnt by the wind & sun,& also got bitten on my face, that I completely swelled up from my hairline to my lips.My eyes closed shut & I had to spend a good 4 days behind closed doors

 

Learnt my lesson on that one (I was just too eager to get to the pool!)

[The Dogmother]

I'm always very careful to use sunblock too Sarah, not because I burn much - I;m dark skinned, but because of skin damage and the loads of freckles that I get.

[Aunty e]

I'm 29 and I started going grey at 20, so I dye dye dye my hair! But last month I got ID'd in a shop so I guess I still look under 21 now and then

 

I don't really do much to my skin because it's always taken care of itself, but the last couple of years I've really noticed that I have to moisturise and exfoliate more. The boobs went south years ago though

[chickencam]

Apart from eating a good diet *hides just finished Doritos packet*

 

I have done very little to look after my skin, my mum never has and didn't really start me on the right road. Because of my underactive thyroid my skin has aged a lot in the last few years. I can't help wondering what I would look like if I had used more sunblock and i try to make sure the kids use it, as I do now but a bit late I think.

 

Strangely enough I do moisturise my feet because I hate to see cracked dirty feet in the summer, my feet look half my age

[Tessa the Duchess]

Started going grey when I was 19, used henna for years, now use dye. I hate putting harsh chemicals on my hair, but I can't face being grey. I only wash my face in water, never soap. I do use industrial amounts of moisturiser but it is Johnson's baby moisturiser as I have very sensitive skin.

 

I don't enjoy the physical effects of aging at all. I have always been a very active person with loads of energy. Now I have rheumatoid arthritis it has slowed me right down and there are lots of things I just can't do anymore

 

However I find the mental changes that come with age very rewarding, I've

got to the 'I don't give a flying whatsits what anybody thinks of me' stage and that is such a free feeling:D

 

Tessa

[BarbaraJ]

lol Tessa isn't it a great feeling, i'm partly there but not all the way yet. I'm 44 and only have a couple of grey hairs but i don't care anyway. On my face just water and moisturiser, dermol at the moment. I have to put moisturiser on or i can feel my skin getting tighter and tighter. i dont think my skins too bad but boobs have gone south here too

[Tiggy]

I dye mine a shade or 2 lighter than my natural auburn now because my hair is white & I dont feel old enough at 47 to let it go completely yet, maybe when I start to approach 55+ my granny had beautiful soft white hair so i hope mine will be the same. I burn so easily in the sun I always wear SP15 & up to 50 on holiday, but an elderly lady told me years ago that "by the time you reach 40 you have the face you deserve" we must be sucha saintly lot

Edited May 20, 2008 by Guest

[Mrs Frugal]

However I find the mental changes that come with age very rewarding, I've

got to the 'I don't give a flying whatsits what anybody thinks of me' stage and that is such a free feeling:D

 

I reached that very satisfying stage at 40 and it's terrific .

[Egluntyne]

Me too. Very liberating.

[The Dogmother]

What you're 40 Egluntine? I never would have believed it!

[Egluntyne]

I'd pass for 40 on a dark night if you were riding a galloping horse.

[The Dogmother]

I like that one!

 

(me too )

[Karen & co.]

I colour my hair I'm afraid but tried the one Holland and Barratt do last week and really like it so may stick to that

 

Any moisturiser on my face I can get my hands on infact even hand cream in an emergency My face sometimes feels so tight Appart from that having children that tell you not to wear something because old people wear things like that

 

Karen x

[sootem]

I feel I've earned every line on my face - and there are quite a few of them

 

Susanx

[Helly Welly]

I actually really like grey hair I'd dye my hair grey if i could. My Nan's hair was a mixture of black and white, it looked fab

 

My hair is dyed red at the moment, but not to hide the grey. It's just that i'm growing it out from a grade one all over, so it's just a distraction form the general disaster that it my hair at the moment.

 

I moisturise parts of my face when they are dry as they can be a bit flaky.

 

I have no qualms about getting old at all. I think i got to the 'don't give a stuff' mentality last year as my mobility started to go downhill. There's not much point in worrying about looking old when i shuffle about like i'm 100

 

I'm happy with me so everyone else can like it or lump it.

[Lesley]

I reached that stage a couple of years ago as well - if people don't like what they see, they don't have to look!

 

I tan easily but stay out of the sun as much as possible - and I've always used just water and moisturiser on my face - a good plain moisturiser, nothing fancy. I'm never seen without my lipstick and always use a bit of concealer around my eyes because of hereditary dark circles.

[Valkyrie]

I only use Nivea when my face gets dry patches in winter or when it is windy - in summer on those rare occasions when the sun is hot, I use baby sun block factor 50! Me big Paleface, arms, legs etc! Never used soap just water on my face. I think that wrinkles are in the genes, so it will make no difference, I will end up with my mum's patchwork quilty cheeks (already just make out faint lines). It just makes her look cosy and a dear little old lady! I have my dad's hair (thank goodness - mum had the Mallen streak - or Dickie Davies, Munster special), and he is salt and peppery, lovely and soft and it looks sort of fair. I would like to be thinner though.