By Natalie Serafini, Assistant Editor
âYouth is wasted on the young.â – George Bernard Shaw
As we age and the bloom inevitably wears off, we will all look down on fresh-faced youths and think, âYouth is wasted on the young.â
This pessimistic view of ageing encourages the frantic fostering of habits to help you age gracefullyâ without actually looking your age. Now, Iâm all for being healthy, but these tips and tricksâlike controlling your facial expressions so your face doesnât find itself stuck in a wrinkly rutâdonât focus on health. They focus more on adapting your life in minute ways to prevent wrinkles and, letâs be real, they wonât accomplish much: try to stave off ageing in any kind of significant way and you will eventually feel like Atlas trying to shoulder the earth. âControlling your facial expressionsâ (a genuine tip I found while researching this article) does little apart from nurturing another beauty obsession.
Granted, Iâll probably regret not clinging to my dermis 10-20 years from now, but thereâs a limit to how much upkeep I can keep up. Moisturize away, eat healthfully when you can, exercise, and avoid doing things that will seriously endanger your health (and consequently your appearance, if thatâs what will get you to pick up the sunscreen); when it comes to the nit-picky bits, though? I say set them to the side.
And on that note, letâs recount some of the tips I will likely never follow of my own volition!
The first tip comes from a company that says you should sleep on a silk pillowcase for supple, smooth skin. According to Sleep âN Beauty, of Sleep âN Beauty silk pillowcases, âVirtually everyone (99.9 per cent of the population) sleeps on pillowcases made from cotton. But, of course, the problem with cotton is that it does not slip, so the fabric continuously tugs at delicate parts of the face and neck.â Listen, kiddos: sleeping on a cotton pillowcase isnât exactly like facing a wind tunnel for 24 hours. It might tug at your face a bit, but youâre not going to wake up looking like a Shar Pei because you didnât buy into Sleep âN Beautyâs propagandaâor their pillowcases. Iâm not a dermatologist or a pillowcase professional, but your cushionâs cover wonât make that much of a difference in preventing a droopy face.
The next tip advises against sleeping with your face on your pillow, to avoid all of that abrasive tugging. I donât sleep well unless Iâm on either my side or my stomach, so while I might look like a darling bud of May come middle-age if I slept on my back, Iâd look like a zombie come the morningânot an appealing trade-off. No thanks, Iâll take wrinkles, a good nightâs sleep, and laying on my belly. If itâs an uncomfortable life change that likely wonât significantly affect my appearance, Iâm not super keen on it.
Webmd.com, that fountain of accurate and helpful medical information, says that you shouldnât over-wash your face. Apparently, âtap water strips skin of its natural barrier oils⌠Wash them off too often, and you wash away protection.â Okay, but how much is too much? Am I avoiding washing my face every day? Am I only washing my face with Evian, and not tap water? Do I only douse my face with the lightest mists of water? I say get in, wash off your make-up, and get out. Itâs not direct from a doctor of the web, but it gets the job done.
The way I see it, Iâm going to look my age when Iâm 50; hopefully I wonât look older, and it would be nice if I looked a little bit younger, but nobodyâs going to mistake me for a 20-year-old. There are things I will do to maintain a certain level of youthful glow, like applying sunscreen and staying hydrated, but fooling about with these useless suggestions is fruitless. I furrow my brow, I like to laugh, I sleep on my stomach with a cotton pillowcase, and I wash my face with a modicum of vigour. My hope is that living a relatively healthy life otherwise is enough to prevent me from looking grotesque in my old age. If it turns out Iâm wrong, Iâm sure Iâll be in good company with other people who didnât obsess over tiny tips and tricks.
