Day 129: Response to beauty..
Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder, for sure. The aging process after age 40 became a little harder for me. The small icon you see of me at the end of my stories was a selfie I did in the bathroom when I was 62, I think. This picture of me now I think I was 65, and I am 67 by two months. Youth can get away with a lot, and it is hard to give it up. The alternative, though, is to die young, and I am not wanting to do that, yet, God willing.
I am not a blond. My hair used to be a dark brown and it has always been thin and fine. I never had long eyelashes unless I glued some on. I typically don’t wear make-up with exceptions to some colored lip gloss in a photo, and maybe some eyebrow penciling because they are changing. I may get them tatooed. I am ok with tatoos because I have them on my back, but getting them done to my face will take a little self convincing. As you can see, I don’t do botox or fillers and probably never will. I don’t look a whole lot different but I can tell that I have changed. I’m more dehydrated because as I approach 70, my skin is simply drying out, and I am not huge on drinking water. It just runs through me, and I am still working (well, not so much during COVID, but my plans are to continue).
About 14 years ago, I started learning cosmetic acupuncture. In class, I realized that I could not do it to myself as it requires a fair amount of needling to the face and neck with tiny needles, superficially, and I could not make them stay in. I got a hand-held microcurrent and that can work quite well. I found a fellow peer who took the class with me, and he and I began swapping treatments, and I loved what it did for me. I didn’t tell anyone I was receiving the treatments, and I was regularly seeing a chiropractor because I have an old neck whiplash injury that creates on-going issues. One day he said to me, “Mary, are you getting younger?” Then I knew that this was good. I decided to implement it in my practice, but it was at a time when injectables were becoming quite popular, and people wanted fast results. Cosmetic acupuncture is a process that takes 5–6 weeks and requires you to show up bi-weekly for your appointments. Each session builds on the last one.
I decided fairly recently, actually, that I wanted to place my target market on professional women in the 40/43–65/70 range. I knew that most professional women would be situated in their jobs, and they would have the income to pay me my fees. It’s not horribly expensive to do, but it does take a few bucks.
I decided on this target market because I knew the deep breaths you take every morning when you looked in the mirror, and would say things like, “where did you come from?” meaning a new wrinkle, or sag. So, I got into firming creams, and moisturizers that had ingredients that could help keep skin nourished — Vitamin A (Retinol), E, C (which I can’t personally use due to sensitivity to ascorbic and citric acids), HLA — Hyaluronic Acid, a chief component in connective tissue. They did work, though, they needed to be coupled with good skin care. About six years ago I became an Esthetician. Between my acupuncture skills coupled with skin knowledge and technology, I had quite a bit to offer in my one person business.
Professional women in that age group are still working, many even past that. They have advanced skills in their field, expertise, certainty and confidence, poise, and know how to present themselves knowledgeably in a business meeting. They usually dress well, stay groomed with their nails, hair, and get regular facials and pedicures. But, as you stated, they are aging. I like to think of what I offer as pro-aging, gracefully, because it is going to happen. The term ‘pretty privilege’ does fit quite well to the younger women, and I do believe they have advantages, without having put any work into it because they were gifted with great genetics. I am always a tad jealous of thick voluptuous hair, and I will never have it. It just is.
I knew these younger women would be coming up behind they experienced women in the market place, and that is why I decided on that age group. I wanted to offer them a natural way to reduce or even eliminate the stress in their face from all the years of dedication to their job. I knew I could lift sagging muscles with microcurrent, and tighten skin with radio frequency, but the cosmetic acupuncture worked at a deeper level because it could rebuild collagen and elastin which reduces the fine lines and wrinkles, and lessens deeper lines. It brings a glow to the face that technology just can’t do. Those who opt for plastic surgery to tighten skin would eventually get an over stretched skin if they kept it up. Cosmetic acupuncture brings Qi into the face and head, which of course, has to pass through the neck area. It has a several years of lasting effect, and there is no down time.
This got me into creating some of my own products because the cosmetic industry uses chemicals in their products, and I don’t like that. I suppose it gives a longer shelf life if you are mass producing them.
“Pretty privilege” is real. Women who have gone through menopause have other issues, such as more belly fat, and add the stress of a high end job, or any job for that matter, and you produce more cortisol, which also produces more around the middle. (I have something for that, too…) Aging is not easy. The look of your hands change, some are prone to hyper-pigmentations on their face, hands, arms, etc. This is sun damage. As your skin breaks down, the damages in the dermal layer rises to the top. Then, as skin further breaks down, the spots start to connect forming patches. All of these reasons, and more, are why the cosmetic industry is a booming multi billion dollar business. We are trying to slow the process down, and we have been able to, at least for a while. It will catch up if you live longer, but it can be done, gracefully, and more naturally.
To me, there is nothing more beautiful than poise, confidence, well-groomed and well-kept up being. You can be gardening in your yard clothes and still see the confidence in a person. Men are getting more into it, these days, too. I regularly wax my 28 year old son’s eyebrows, and I am the only one he trusts to do them. I think that’s a high compliment.
Time to tighten myself up a bit, I think…
Gotta love life!
