Face Cosmetics

[Poison Ivy]

Most ppl hate the aging process. I know I personally do. When I look in the mirror and see the gray hairs and wrinkles that are there now that were not present decades before, it makes me wish for my youth again, LOL! My question is about laugh lines. Some ppl call them smile lines and doctors call them nasolabial folds. My are more prominent in my face since I am thin. Is there anything that can help soften these naturally w/o going to a doctor and having some invasive procedure done? I thought I would ask the question. Maybe, someone here did something that was effective in softening these lines, IDK but I would like to hear if you did.


Thanks!

[americaninca46]

Hi Ivy, I sell cosmetics so I get this question a lot. I always tell the ladies that the best thing they can do for wrinkles is to smile. When your face has a glowing pleasant smile no one notices your wrinkles. I have noticed since loosing 60 lbs., I have more wrinkles showing. I know I am much healthier now, so I just keep smiling. Fat may be a wrinkle plumper, but it is also a heart killer.
All the best and welcome to my world. Rebia

[MINNIE]

Poison Ivy,

I'm also in the smile is the best beautifier camp. But if you want to try some topical cosmetics, there's a book that may be helpful.

It's by a makeup artist named Paula Begoun, and the title is Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me.

Some of it is like an infomercial for her own products, but it's good at explaining what cosmetics can and can't do. She gives a lot of information about the active and inactive in skin creams, and explains some of the risks/benefits.

You can see some of her other titles here: https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... 16&bih=688. Probably most of them are available form public libraries.

I don't use any skin products except occasional moisturizer in the winter, but I found her information helpful when choosing hair care products.

For more info about wrinkle treatment claims, what works and what's harmful or ineffective, this NIH site is a good resource:

https://vsearch.nlm.nih.gov/vivisimo/cg ... y=wrinkles

[Wildapple]

Paula Begoun the author of Don't Go To The Cosmetic Counter Without Me sells her own line of products, so beware of her "reviews" of other companies products.
The only true remedy for wrinkles is prescription retin-a.

[reaburnlow]

This is a bit of a weird suggestion, but do keep your lips and teeth closed and keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth when not eating or talking? Improper tongue posture, where the tongue is in a low position in the mouth, will cause the face to sag/lengthen and increase wrinkles. It also causes crooked teeth and jaw disorders.

Eating soft foods all the time is also bad for beauty and aging, and tough foods like raw vegetables will increase jaw strength and improve the overall look of your face.

You can look up orthotropics to read more about it.

[roundcoconut]

Just a weird, late comment on aging and beauty:

If you do a little research, you find several hypotheses on what factors and features are perceived as beautiful. There really are very, very many, and many of them can be fudged.

Spoiler alert, the laugh lines around the mouth CAN be stuffed full of chemicals, but more often than not, the victims of this process wind up looking creepy, bloated, puffy. So I personally would consider anything like this a total waste of time and a bad idea. “Fixing” laugh lines ruins beauty rather than amplifies it.

However:
Having “good” skin is a signifier of beauty. Skin should appear to be clear of blemishes, even in tone (not splotchy in any way) and there should appear to be good blood flow through the cheeks and some color in the lips.

Creating the illusion of beautiful skin tone is worth doing! There are a few really convincing tinted moisturizers on the market, that can make a woman look like she’s wearing nothing but her natural, beautiful skin. Many people (myself included) do not wake up having clear, glowing, beautiful, even-toned skin — but cosmetics have come a long way, and if you’re willing to experiment, you can probably nail this one.

Creating a light natural blush on your cheeks is very beautifying and is a very youthful look. I believe that women look 100% better when they help their cheeks to go from “cadaver” to “just took a walk around the block”. Give nature a little helping hand, if you don’t already have a natural blush to your cheeks, or natural color to your lips.

There should generally be definition to the face. The eye of the beholder should be drawn to the overall appealing appearance of eyes, eyebrows, nose, lips. If anyone’s eyes linger on the smile lines, you are doing it wrong! Go define your features a tiny bit more. The eyes should be nicely defined (via the appearance of pretty, thick, healthy eyelashes) and the eyebrows should appear youth, natural, full and shapely. (Rather than ragged, splotchy, overly big, or overly small).

Well, OK, there is some tremendously off-the-cuff advice, but I will say this for myself:

Me personally, I have nothing but above-average bone structure, proportional features and straight teeth. And it turns out that this is MORE than enough to stand out in the beauty department! (Translation, I have SCARED people by going out without makeup on or my hair done.). I kind of learned these things early on, because my mother was the same way — good bone structure but not much else. So, when I realized that MY face also benefitted from the same approaches she used, it was like, “Yep, welcome to the club.”

It turns out that being healthy and fit, is ALSO very beautifying and very youthful.

Joy and kindness ALSO make the face look prettier and more youthful.

So not just cosmetics!

Probably not useful to the original poster (Ha! No nastygrams please!) but worth pointing out! .

[AlwaysAgnes]

I'm 57 years old and very low maintenance. I'm not looking for a mate. If people don't like how I look, I guess that's their problem, not mine. They might be too shallow for me to waste energy thinking about. I don't do makeup anymore. I don't do hair styles that require a lot of upkeep. I use face moisturizer daily. I like Aveeno. http://www.aveeno.com/product/aveeno-+p ... ks&from=fn My hair is quite long. It has some gray, not tons. Typically I pull it back in a ponytail held with a soft scrunchie-style band. I wash it every other day and use Argan oil https://www.ogxbeauty.com/shop/argan-oi ... oil-3-3oz/ on the ends.

Think for a moment about the most prominent older women in the plant-based community: Mary McDougall, Pam Popper, Ann Esselstyn, Jane Esselstyn, etc. Do they have laugh lines? Now tell me about their makeup and beauty habits. I'll wait....

Meanwhile, here's a face yoga exercise for nasolabial folds. https://faceyogamethod.com/the-minimali ... king-face/ There are more face exercise links at the bottom. (I personally probably wouldn't do these.)

[Willijan]

As far as facial exercises, I read about them years ago and I was convinced they would work. But it takes a lot of time on a regular basis. So I just chose a few and did them semi-regularly for a few months. What happened is that nothing changed as far as I can tell, except. . . I got much stronger, and deeper, lines from the corners of my mouth down to my chin. . . NOT GOOD! And it was way too much trouble anyway!
Which is how I feel about most beautifiers--they are way too much trouble. I don't wear a speck of makeup, I have partially gray hair, my skin tone isn't clear, but I often feel great about my looks because my body is in shape, my hair looks nice in its ponytail or down, I look good, not scrawny, in my clothes, and I know people must wonder how I can look this good and be so old. Once in a while I get a chance to tell them about this diet, and that gives them a hint.