Looking at the blurb for my new Lacura WrinkleStop from Aldi, I see that its active ingredient has been ‘proven to help
• Reduce forehead wrinkles by 52%
• Reduce crow’s feet by 24%
• Restrict 82% of wrinkle muscle activity’
That’s quite a claim, isn’t it? Frankly, after years when my face looked like a lunar landscape thanks to the joys of acne, these days I’m just grateful to see a fairly blemish-free skin. Part of me wants to believe that the wonder cream’s making everything looking a bit smoother and tidier, but, hey, there’s also a lot of ‘aqua’ and ‘glycerin’ in the stuff, too. Besides, I could tamper with my skin as much as I like (and I don’t), but I’ve only got to stand next to my beautiful daughters to see the difference. Ma has wonderful skin, so the chances are there are some helpful genes in the mix, but my dad died far too young of cancer, so it’s not all good news.
My dad was a carpenter. ‘You can’t get age from a tin, Miss Chris,’ he’d say when rubbing his hands over fresh timber. None of those ‘antique’ finishes was a substitute for a lifetime of ageing, the knocks, bumps, the patina of years. We should value our ageing faces in the same way, but we don’t. I’ll take happiness and health first every time, but if the Aldi wrinkle cream does what it says, I’m superficial enough not to complain.
Comments
But Maurice Chevalier said: "I prefer old age to the alternative." Me too.
I have laughter lines when I smile, around my mouth and eyes. My face is lived in, I have lived a life that has had traumas, lots of very low spots and lots of high spots, and it shows on my face. I am not ashamed of it, and anyone who finds it distasteful to look at a wrinkled face is not someone I would want to spend any time with. My dearest friend Grace had a real wrinkly face, until two days before she died of cancer, and the last time I saw her it was incredibly smooth, all the wrinkles had been ironed out. I never did understand why or how?
Who invented mirrors? I think we should destroy them all, and go around telling each other how wonderful we look. (Cameras? don't get me started on cameras - my photos are even worse than my reflection. Whoever said the camera never lies was wrong. I'm not that ugly.)
But I don't mind looking older. I am older. I feel I've earned my white hairs. Like it or not (and mostly I don't) this is me and I wouldn't want to change my appearance, any more than I'd want to iron out the cracks and nodules on a tree trunk. We should learn to value and embrace life, not try to perfect it. We won't win.
thank you for your comment regarding Jose x
I worried far more about what I looked like until losing a close friend a couple of years ago. She would have given anything to still be here, wrinkles too.
Mind you, that said, it doesn't stop me slopping the cream on my face morning and night. I can try, not sure it's working though!
Having professed my satisfaction with my skin I'll still say 'send me over a vat of the stuff if it works!'
PS my dentist does Botox. Just the thought.......
Pip, how about a hair cut that involves a very long fringe thus completely covering the wrinkles?
Milla, good point. And, yes, I'd be very interested to know how big the sample was.
Pfg, you sound lovely! Yes, my dad looked really young at the end too.
Leigh, welcome and congrats on your book. I'm sure the photo bit isn't true... c'mon, show us your author photo and let us reassure you.
Elizabethd - ! I bet they do, with claims like that.
Jude, so sorry about Jose. If the stuff really does rejuvenate you, I'll send you a tube - but don't hold your breath, I think it's got to go some to live up to its claims!
Debs, yes, you are quite right.
Pondside, yep, that's the dilemma, isn't it. Rise above it, but give me a tub of the stuff anyway!
CKx
I don't understand how skin regenerates but matches the age of the surrounding skin. Graze your knee and the repair looks like 60 year old skin, not 6 year old skin - how come?
Maybe we should rely more on the fairy godmother.
Have a great weekend.
Jeanne
Ps: the Lacuna mascara is rather good too. Nice smell!
Fennie, woah! I didn't know that, good tip. Also that is good point about the skin.. what does that say about skin peeling treatments then? (apart from ewwwww!)
Cottage Garden, it also shows that it's about attitude, you are obviously comfortable in your skin and that comes across. You too, honey.
Elizabethm, if yogo makes you 20 years younger and nice with it maybe I'd better give it a go!
Her-on-the-hill, does it stay put? If it smells nice and doesn't smudge I'll give it a go (but have spent years trying to find the right Panda-free formula so would otherwise stick with tried and true.
LBD, 'Oh, Sister' 'If not for you' I'd never have thought of that (hmm, racks brain for Bob inspiration and can only find titles that don't work). Yes, I was a bit worried about the wrinkle-inducing muscles,too!
I don't mind a few wrinkles as long as I have my health. Women are under too much pressure to look good.
Love the pics by the way.
I'm still going to get me some though:-)
I swear I'm going to age gracefully but I feel the powerful pull of the surgeon's knife. 'As long as you don't lose your chin' says my husband (presumably thinking of my 70 year old mother's double-chin-neck combo). How can one prevent that happening?
Age, so unkind. And not from a tin neither.
x
JJ, yes I kept telling my friend that it wasn't a good idea and you can see what happened to her.
Lane, true. Big sigh. And, yep, a week on... I'm sure I'm, oh, several minutes younger in a low light.
Kitty, but the good news is you don't have to worry about the kimono arm anymore... I've almost seen it off with the weight lifting!! (Will just have to stick a big hair grip round the back of my neck to hide the saggy throat - ewwww!).
FP, hmmm, I wonder in whose interest it is to say that the expensive creams work??
Her-on-the-hill, scurries off to have a look.. phew, thank goodness I don't have to answer questions from six year olds anymore. And than you so much for looking at Tom's website.
Expatmum, no, it doesn't sound great does it,( she says, trying to move her face a fraction). Oh no, it's all right I can still frown.