Tuesday 13 April 2010

Looking for the Fountain of Youth

I am now of the age where I look in the mirror and find myself pulling the skin back from my face to see what I would look like with a face lift.

I also find myself muttering and whinging about the ravages of time, more and more, even though intellectually I accept its a fact of life.

This whole aging process is hard in many ways, particularly for females. And I've never met a woman who likes the idea.

However, while I lament that my body parts are heading south, it's not an issue I spend a lot of time focusing on. Maybe I avoid mirrors more than I once did so I don't get a constant reminder. Except that is, when I run into someone I haven't seen for a while who is around my age and I just cannot get over the fact they have aged so much. And if they have, it can only mean one thing...

However, it also seems there are a hell of a lot of people out there now trying to turn back the clock with surgery and enhancements. Their body parts get chopped, nipped, tucked and pulled in all directions. To prolong careers, keep up with younger partners, to regain self esteem?

I entertain the possibility of surgery down the track from time to time but I have to say the 'work' I have seen to date, looks so obvious and contrived. Even on my dentist who has had loads done and she is only 31. She has gone from cute to odd and there is no going back I suspect. I never feel any pain when I'm sitting in her chair because my eyes are glued to her face and I swear it does not move at all.

Then today, I saw this picture of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. I couldn't take my eyes off Kenny. He must be hovering around the 70 mark. What has happened to him? Doesn't he see it? All that money and success yet .....he looks like a different person.

What kind of pressure must these people be under to want to do that to themselves?

It seems that after extensive surgery people seem to end up looking like someone who has just had loads of plastic surgery. They don't look younger, just 'pulled tighter'.

Helen Mirren is my kind of role model (plastic surgery or not). I will have what she's had, thank you very much. She has aged well. That's what I am aiming for - to ease into aging. As gracefully as I can, with whatever assistance I can that doesn't take away my identity or require stitches. I am not very good with pain and I would hate to do something that there was no coming back from. I am a little too risk adverse. What about you?


23 comments:

  1. I agree with you completely. Actually, Dolly turned 64 in January. I thought that she looked much better in her "before surgery" photos. I guess you never really know what you're going to get until you've got it (like some other areas of life).

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  2. Lilly,

    Sometimes you turn on the fountain and get nothing but a hiss of warm air, particularly in these global warming days.....

    Mangoes are in season here, and the sweetest mango isnt the one with a smooth exterior. One with an earthy yellow orange tinge, with skin a bit wrinkled somewhere, is always sweeter than those cosmetically perfect mangoes.

    One needs to decide if the mango is to be enjoyed for it's taste or looks ...

    ( A la botox, some folks were found using calcium carbide powder to hasten the ripening of mangoes to make them look attractive. The government recently arrested and banned their stuff. )

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  3. Lilly, I too have entertained the thought of plastic surgery over the years but something always stopped me from going down that path.

    Now I have just grateful to have a healthy body...wrinkles, sags and cellulite come along for the ride.

    :)
    Peg xxxx

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  4. In some cases, particularly people in the public eye must feel pressure as you say although I'm not sure I see what you see either.

    Let's face it, we all see everything with our own eyes and cannot (currently) literaly see anything through the eyes of another. In fact, although you and I would see for instance something we both identify as coloured "red", we have no idea if what we see in our mind is actually the same thing - if you see what I mean.

    Although I'm pretty healthy, I'd have a "whole body" transplant tomorrow, if I could - not because I want to look younger - I want to BE younger - maybe I could see if I could get a few things right next time around whilst I'm at it... lol

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  5. I don't Helen Mirren has had surgery.. she's just aged with grace and beauty. Hope to do the same!

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  6. Great post Lilly! I agree completely. It´s one thing to age gracefully and another to age "force"fully.
    Let´s be mature and accept our bodies, whichever way they are headed.... :)

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  7. No way, no how, for all of the reasons you cite. Helen Mirren rocks as does Meryl Streep and others who appear to remain untouched by a scalpel (that I can tell, anyway).

    My grandmothers were just beautiful in their later years. Some of my mom's generation--the first to go after the surgeries---oh, they haven't fared nearly as well, especially as they continue to age. Kind of like how tatoos look on saggy, old flesh rather than supple young skin. Not so pretty.

    Mary
    Flat Rock Creek Notebook

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  8. Great post, Lilly, and I'm with you, forget the plastic surgery! Considering how old I am, it would be rather ridiculous to begin with and I'm not that unhappy with the way I look anyway. My main concern health and looks wise was not to gain a lot of weight and I've succeeded there and the rest of me I can live with -- don't know how anyone else would feel about that, but I don't plan on living with anyone again anyway, been there, done that! Have a great week!

    Sylvia

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  9. You are right about the picture of Kenny Rogers. I just found this on a news site:
    Country singer Kenny Rogers, 70, has often said he regrets his decision to have plastic surgery after he married a much younger woman in 1997.

    But now, a decade later, he thinks the skin around his eyes is slowly loosening, so the surgeon’s work looks less extreme.
    ---
    what a waste
    Do you think women (some men) get brainwashed on this by the fashion beauty industry marketing?

    Some of medical technology is better to be left unused.

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  10. I'm glad you said it, because I've been thinking that Kenny looked a little scary for the last 3 years. Eeek.

    I think you're gorgeous in all the pics I've seen of you.

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  11. I recenly saw Jane Fonda on Larry King Live. She admits she 'caved in', I preferred her with her 'character' lines.

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  12. I'd like to elongate my nose and my whole body, if I could afford it. But then it won't be right. I'll stick with what I have. At least I know it's all me. Au Naturale me.

    Yeah, Kenny Rogers doesn't look like the Kenny Rogers we all knew.

    Tasha

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  13. You know how Barbie and Ken dolls have that plastic look? That's what they look like in the picture. My Mom's cousin has had loads and loads of plastic surgery done. It cheapens the beauty of nature. My Mom hasn't had any plastic surgery and I think she's beautiful!

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  14. I used to have long hair - now I long for hair...

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  15. Don't we all wish to be forever young? However, I like to be natural too and aging is a natural process I shall adhere to.

    This made me think of a post I did recently:

    Forever Young

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  16. Well, to me...Dolly Parton looks more frightening than Kenny Rogers. I mean, she looks like someone who has been in a very bad auto accident and has had lots of surgery to make her look less scary or something---Butm to me, she looks like has been embalmed and should by lying in a coffin...
    I cannot believe she looks in the mirror and likes what she sees...!

    Elizabeth Taylor is looking pretty scary these days, too, with all she has done.

    No. This is not for me. None of it. I don't want surgery or botox or collagen or whatever else they come up with. People no longer look like themselves, at all, but more than that, they don't look Human anymore, either. They look like corpses. Joan Rivers? Truly scary beyond belief.

    I earned every line and pouch in my face...And I don't want all the character taken out of it. No, I'm not thrilled with the aging process, but....I do not want to look in the mirror and say..."Who The F**K Is That???"

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  17. I HATE getting old, but I hate looking old even worse! I am all about the botox a couple times a year. It makes me happy. Not sure that it helps much, but it makes me feel better.

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  18. Kenny Rogers face is downright frightening now. There was an even more recent picture of him in a magazine the other day that made me cringe.

    If you find the fountain of youth, please send it my way. My face has fallen further than Obama in the polls.

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  19. I am totally risk-adverse and not ashamed to admit it. I am also totally pain-adverse! It's bad enough I've had skin grafts on both sides of my nose to treat skin cancer AND now I have two additional areas that have to be treated. That's enough cutting and stitching to last me forever!

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  20. All too real... it starts with the dye and Clinique, then on to Estee Lauder's promised rejuvenation, when that doesn't work, a bit of botox.

    It's hard, you either have to be an arrogant b*stard like me who doesn't give a **** what others think or start start the rendering :(

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  21. Lilly,
    I am all for a "natural corduroy "
    finish than the "artificial - give away -velvety" one .
    I pledge to age gracefully!
    and , thanx thanx thanx for visiting my blog. I am a great fan of your style of writing and humour and it means alot that you read my posts.

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  22. Helen Mirren, Dame Judith Dench (did I spell her name right?). I even saw Raquel Welch recently on one of the morning shows and she looked great. Go to AdvancedStyle.com and see photos of fabulous women who are incredibly stylish and not given to plastic surgery. It'll lift your spirits. My thing is - forget looking younger so much. I want to be younger with the knowledge I've gained...since that can't happen, even if I could afford to have some work done (the old breasts could use a lift) I would still know that I'm 55. On a recent BlogHer.com post, I wrote about a book, Younger Next Year for Women. The two authors, one an MD, advocate 6 days of strenuous exercise and 2 days of weight lifting. They say very plainly, you will look older but you'll be able to live our the final 3rd of life with vigor and able to do what you need to do.
    I highly recommend - it's pragmatic and the only dieting advice is to "stop eating crap."
    Having said all this, I am going to a colorist next week. I stopped coloring my hair about a year or so ago and let the white grow out. I think I want to go back to black or maybe I'll be a reddish brown.

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  23. I have found the fountain of youth. Its called a smile. It is the best face lift ever. I walk around looking very happy.

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Thanks for your comments.