All my paternal aunts, I had three who never married and retained beautiful skin until death. My mother, who did smoke and drink but quit later in life, also retained near perfect skin through out. We were poor so it wasn't down to expensive lotions and potions.
If you look around at celebrities who have invested in the cosmetic bandwagon, it is clear to see who is addicted by the fact their faces have become frozen leaving behind an almost blank lack of expression where once was a natural wrinkle or two.
Our faces have 43 muscles and we use these to express our emotions, letting others see how we are feeling or reacting and often our facial expressions become a way of attracting the opposite sex, so freezing them out is not wise or worth it in the end. Neurotransmitters called endorphins are released when we smile, triggered by the movements of the muscles in our face, which are then interpreted by our brain, in turn releasing these "happy" chemicals. Endorphins are responsible for making us feel good and when we are happy our stress levels drop, so I have found the most effective way to look younger, fresher and attractive is to smile as much as we can. I can hear you all saying it is not that easy to smile when life is so hard, competitive and harsh for most and compound that with bad lifestyle choices i.e. smoking, drinking, eating meat and never drinking water, the instant botox fix seems like a much easier quick fix option.
Like everything else in life, without doing some hard work, nothing will ever give you the results you desire and desire is where every journey of self-discovery begins. Common sense, the little voice inside our heads that tells us what is right and what is wrong is what we need to be listening to not the media or advertising. You may desire to be forever young but the only truth we can be sure of in life is we will all get old and we will all die because part of life is death. Fact. So the key to staying young is not about freezing time but embracing the time we have by making the most of what we have be given.
We are what we eat so a healthy diet is key to how our skin retains that youthful glow regardless of our age, look at Christine Brinkley in her 60’s who lives a clean, healthy, happy, quiet life, she could pass for 40. If you smoke and indulge in heavy regular drinking binges plus eat red meat, too much salt and sugar, you are going to look and feel years older than your actual age and that is a fact, botox or not.
My advice is simple but not that easy to put into action until there is more desire to be young than to light up a cigarette. Instead of putting your heath at risk with surgery, poison and the complete unknown long term, work on some natural options like a dose of vitamin C daily, great for your skin but more vital for your immune system.
Walking every day is the first move towards change. Get outside and exercise your mind, body and soul putting you in the mood for some fresh, healthy, powerful foods that if consumed daily with patience will transform even the most unhealthy of us all. Drink 8 glasses of tap water with lemon or lime slices cleansing the body of all toxins and repairing the damage you do without even thinking, no more caffeine for a while. If you want to rebuild collagen in your face naturally the key is again to take high doses of vitamin C found in citrus fruits like oranges, which will also build up your natural defenses and ward off colds and flu. Avocado is the miracle food of the health Gods because they contain pretty much every vitamin we need to stay young and healthy with amazing skin. This is one fruit I could not live without and for those muttering but they are too fattening, this is a myth trust me.
Finally my top tip for getting yourself an effective, easy free facelift without having to spend time recovering from surgery or a single penny is as follows. For the next 6 months every morning without fail run an ice cube across your face, giving it a natural work out, lifting, working and toning those 43 muscles just like you do for your body in the gym. It works and it's free. Try eating fresh citrus fruits, all that vitamin C and a daily ice cube and within six months to a year you will not only look better but you will also feel amazing.
Photo by: Noah Buscher Unsplash