Anti-aging Products and Anti-aging Attitudes
Aging > Anti-aging
It is usually understood that we are eligible for anti-aging products by the mid-years. That is, we are usually coming of age by the time we hit fifty. I mean really coming of age: we care less about what others have to say about how we should live our lives and how we should be. We care less about material gain or other external, superficial forms of nurturing and are just beginning to invest in our holistic health. We are coming into understanding peace, prayer, serenity, solitude. And we know which anti-aging products work and which do not.
First, we embrace the fact that anti-aging products do not stave off the onslaught of mortality's end. We are not that foolish. But the use of fine skin toners, vitamins that specifically target accelerated deterioration, and other smoothing and softening ointments help us to ease into maturing processes with a quiet and grace, with a calm of gratitude.
Second, we learn about this thing called the aging process, and come to find out, for example, that as we age, so does our skin. It dries and cracks and mars in a process that results in what is called �free radical damage.� This is because the skin exfoliates less often; sebum production slows, so less oil flushes the skin and it dries out; a flattening of skin layers occurs, causing thinner skin; collagen stabilizing enzymes decrease; and blood vessels thin out, preventing the usual blood flow. So third, we call up the wisdom we have earned to find anti-aging products that will at least slow this process down. We cannot prevent the aging process completely, but we can ease into old age with reasonably smooth and healthy skin.
Maya Angelou, the brilliant poetess, is quoted in Oprah saying, �The fifties are everything we were meaning to be.� If we are lucky enough to absorb and adopt lessons like this, the lessons of such greats as Oprah and Maya, and if we are studied enough to absorb the lessons of a life half-lived, and if we are sharp enough to benefit from the gifts that true anti-aging products bring us, we might just slow down the deterioration of the physical while not slowing down the mental�not one wit