How to Accept Getting Older Without Resorting to Botox and Fillers......

[ZaraW]

How do you accept getting older without resorting to botox and fillers? I posted a couple of months ago as I was thinking about fillers but decided against it as the cost would be too much in the long term and I think I would be too nervous to go ahead. Also as someone said wrinkles aren't the worst thing wait until the sagging kicks in..........

I've had a rough few years being diagnosed with cancer and during chemo lost a lot of weight which didn't help my face as I was already slim I ended up gaunt for 6 months and then ended an 11 year EA abusive relationship I was more concerned with surviving I had bigger problems than aging.

However, things are pretty good now I will hopefully be in remission early next year and I want to start feeling better about the ageing process. I am 43 and reasonably attractive it's just my nasolabial folds seem to be the first thing I see. I use sunblock every day, stay out of the sun, drink the occasional glass of wine. Thinking of facial exercises has anyone tried them and do they work?

Sorry, I'm rambling but would love to know how others accept it or maybe I'm just being vain?!

you're not being vain OP, its natural to feel wistful when losing our youthful looks and vitality. You've been through a lot so do be kind to yourself.

the only way I deal with it is try not to think about it too much and make the most of what I've got. I remind myself that every decade I wish I looked how I did in the previous one so there may come a time when I am desperate to look the way I do now

a good friend in her fifties has had botox, I truly didn't think she needed it and its DEF not for me, but its what she wanted so fair enough.

Facercise is the dogs bollocks.
Way better than Eva Fraser.
If you put the time in to learn the exercises properly at the start, you can then do them in front of the telly.

Madmomma- please could you link to a video/ book for the Facercise that you recommend?

Also looking older is nature's way of kicking you up the arse. Looking in the mirror reminds me that I'm not going to live forever and need to get a move on.

You've been through so much, be good to yourself.

If you are using sun block and staying out of the sun then you are probably deficient in Vit D3 which won't help your skin or your mood. Get a supplement which is dissolved in oil rather than dry tablet form, capsules are good. I urge you to take this seriously Vit d deficiency is a huge problem for people who never expose their skin to the sun, your body needs it! My dermatologist told me that even her skin cancer patients test low on Vit D, which she was rather surprised with.

Good luck with the recovery.

I am over 60 and did facercise exercises for quite a while plus used a flexaway (each morning in the shower) and am pretty sure it helped but recently the sagging jaw and neck was getting worse. So tried Eva Fraser's exercises instead which has def improved the saggy jawline and neck. Perhaps it is more suited to an older face. She makes you, for example, put your index finger (gloved) in to hold your lower lip and you pull against that to pull the lip in which obviously builds that muscle round your chin.
So would recommend her dvd.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement, help and tips. I guess it's a journey and I need to take it slowly and learn to love my face. I beat cancer surely every day is a blessing but I seem to have lost that thought along the way. I have ordered the Eva Fraser dvd and will see how I get on with that. Will look at changing my lipstick maybe something more neutral will help?

I gave up reading fashion magazines a couple of years ago because of their unrealistic images and obsession with youth.

Finally don't get me started on celebrities that deny having any work done and put it down to yoga and a good diet nobody believes them! Nicole Kidman was so beautiful before she overdid the botox.

There are some great attitudes regarding ageing!

AncientBallerina, that's a good point you make that it's NOT just about the face. Good posture can really transform anyone. I saw two very young women, walking ahead of me, shopping, yeast serdar. They were slender & youthful but both were slouching, shoulders drooped and shuffling along like a sack of spuds. I wanted to say "heads up, shoulders back, stomachs in girls!" When I was attending Yoga regularly, it really seemed to elongate & and tone me, all over. I haven't been able to go now for some time and I really miss it.

Ballet for the ancient? Sounds marvellous!

greengrass I'm really sorry but I've never been able to master doing links

But it's the book that I used rather than the dvd. It's just called 'facercise' by Carole Maggio

I agree with Cates and ancientballerina - what is ageing is a loss of posture and grace and the light and sparkle in your face and eyes.

I can look in the mirror and make myself look like my mother by rounding and dropping my shoulders pushing out my stomach and letting my face (eyes, cheeks, jowls) go slack, and sad (a similar thing happens to my face when I am ill/in pain and after drinking alcohol so I go easy on the latter!).

The difference being alert, smiley and extending/opening up the chest and 'floating' around make are remarkable plus a bra that fits and clothes that make you feel fab.

Nobody believes how old I am - I watch them trying to mentally calculate how old I must have been when I had the first of my now-adult children - and I have had no cosmetic surgery or 'out-of-wedlock' births!

most people can get plenty of vitamin D in the UK April to October. 10 minutes without sunscreen is plenty. It is peak UV at the moment so no more than that.

ageing is a lot better than the alternative. Ignore the trash mags, forget the photoshop and realise how bad the over-botoxed slebs look!

Have you had your colours done? It make a real difference to how you look if you wear 'your' colours against your face even if its just a scarf.

OK so I shall add pilates to my list I used to do it but have been more focused with the gym and running recently. I am not the most graceful person but I can try to be better.

I have a pretty good idea of what colours suit me already I have red hair so it is pretty obvious when a colour does not work.