We all want wisdom with age, don’t we? It would be great to finally show these young whippersnappers that they don’t have the solution to every problem by being all gung-ho and daring, and that they will eventually turn to us for the real answers. However, we can all do without those pesky crow’s feet, wrinkles, and other additional facial features that scream “senior citizen!” Sigh. If we can only find an eraser to get rid of all these lines that weren’t there in our youth, we’d be devoting a sizable chunk of our daily routine trying to remove evidence of a life well-lived by using friction, I bet.
But there are do-it-yourself ways to avoid premature wrinkling, and they are things that don’t require a small fortune nor a routine that will take away quality time from our schedule. In fact, most of the stuff that give us wrinkles are so ingrained as habits, we are not aware even aware of doing them! Take squinting or scrunching your face, for instance. If you have a naturally expressive face, chances are, you have laugh lines making parentheses at the sides of your mouth, or a deep frown line between your eyebrows. While going the way of an expressionless face in manner of a mannequin is not exactly encouraged, it might do you good to check yourself for exaggerated facial expressions. Test yourself in front of the mirror as you are talking to someone on the phone, for example. Do you widen your eyes at the drop of a hat, pout or purse your lips as you are listening to the conversation, or furrow your brows as you are trying to make a point? I rest my case. The best way to train your face not to be a hotbed of wrinkled possibilities is to use a piece of cellophane tape on those parts that develop wrinkles easily. Use a strip of it between your eyebrows, and some on your forehead. These will crinkle every time you frown, and you will know that you do that particularly nasty habit too much if the tape suddenly falls off!
Diet also plays an important part of a wrinkle-free lifestyle. Yo-yo dieting in particular has been proven to wreak havoc on the skin’s elasticity. Sure, it would be good to lose weight in a short period of time, but take note of how your skin looks. It will lack the glow a healthy lifestyle naturally brings, and you’ll have wrinkles, to boot. Exercise and the right vitamins (make A, C, and D a part of your diet with fresh fruit and vegetables, plus supplements) are keys to a youthful glow.
While we’re at it, it would also be good to avoid certain things altogether or at least keep them to a minimum. Tanning booths, for one thing. Not only is the fake-and-bake route passé and unattractive, it also will make you a candidate for skin cancer. While you’re at it, don’t worship the sun too much. You’ll end up being a prune instead of the juicy plum you might think you are, especially now that the ozone layer’s state is worse than ever. Also, avoid too much alcohol because it makes your face all puffy the next morning, temporarily stretching the skin and then shrinking it back in the course of the day so it’s similar to a crash diet phenomenon. And while sleep is a great way to give your over-exercised face a rest for a good number of hours, make sure you don’t press your face into that downy pillow too much. These will cause sleep wrinkles or make the ones you already have deeper. You want Mr Sandman to give you a dream, not a reason to scream in the morning now, do you?