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Saturday, April 9, 2011

Gettin Old is Not Fun or How to Save Face


I have decided that I truly do not like getting old. Now I have to admit that Maurice Chevalier had it right when he said that “Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative.” That I would definitely like less. It is not the fact that I am in my 60’s because in my head I am still in my 30’s. It is the rest of me that is in my 60’s like my joints, my back and all the creaks and groans and misery that comes from the osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia and the just plain deterioration that comes from over 60 years of living.


My husband and I were talking the other day about my grandmother and how much energy and vitality that she had even into her 80’s. Every day she would be up at dawn and working. She had a huge garden of about ½ an acre, a grape arbor, peach and apple trees and a huge yard that she took care of without fail. She was also incredibly wise which is the reason that I am writing this.

At the age of 84 she had the most beautiful complexion of anyone I have ever known. I can remember only 2 things that she did to maintain her beautiful skin. When I would visit her and she would shame me into going out and helping her in the garden she would always wear a large straw hat and I was also expected to wear one that she reserved for those of us who were not smart enough to bring our own. Beside the door was a wooden hat rack that my grandfather had made for her many years ago. If she was going out in the yard or garden in the sun she would always wear her straw hat. I am relatively sure it was her Southern roots that made her believe that sun was bad for the skin. One reason I believe this is that the hat she kept for those of us who were not smart enough to bring our own had belonged to her mother. One of the very few memories that I have of “Grandma Jack” was that she never went out the door without a hat.

The other thing that I know that she did for her skin was her nightly application of Pond’s Cold Cream. The 2 commercially made products she used without fail were the nightly applications of Pond’s Cold Cream and the Jergen’s Hand Lotion she used every time she washed dishes. Whenever I smell Cherry Almond fragrance I am transported back to that kitchen filled with love.

I have to admit that throughout most of my life the only problem I had to worry about my complexion was it was too oily, until the last couple of years. Whether it is because I am getting older or perhaps it is due to the Type 2 diabetes my skin sometimes is so dry I have alligator skin if I do not use a lotion or cream. The discussion with my husband brought back the memory of my grandmother and her Pond’s Cold Cream so I decided that perhaps I should work on making some cold cream and try using it to see if it would help my dry facial skin.

Once again the wisdom of my grandmother is proven to me.

I worked on a formula of cold cream that that is infused with skin loving herbs and a few other additions that benefit the skin and have been using it for almost 3 weeks. My skin is feeling like it did many years ago. I am so pleased with this that it will soon be in production and listed on Artfire and I truly expect it to be one of my best sellers in my new line of natural skin care products. I won’t tell you everything that is in it yet until it is ready but think-CUCUMBER. Cucumber is super for the skin! It will reduce the dark and puffy areas under the eye, lighten the freckles on our face, hydrate and moisturize and best of all it is loaded with silica. A deficiency of silica and hyaluronic acid accelerates skin aging because connective tissues cannot hold water efficiently. It promotes the production of collagen and inhibits skin aging. Now I don’t know about you but as for me anything that slows down the effects of getting older is great.