"EL ENVEJECIMIENTO ES ATRACTIVO: "JOAN COLLINS SE PREGUNTA PORQUÉ LA GENTE SE SORPRENDE CUANDO LAS MUJERES DE MÁS DE 50 AÑOS SIGUEN SIENDO ATRACTIVAS"
"JOAN COLLINS: How to
look sexy whatever your age".
"Ageing sexily: Joan Collins asks why people are so surprised when women over 50 can look great".
"22.02.2010."Every time an article is written about me or any of my contemporaries who’s had the fortune and discipline to look good at a certain age, I am struck by the tone of astonishment, and the certainty that something is being done secretively to beat the devil. Why should people be so surprised that women in their 50s, 60s and 70s look sexy and absolutely wonderful?".
"Unfortunately today, with the media’s excessive emphasis on youth, youth, youth, some women over 40 are beginning to feel unsexy and with that often comes a tremendous feeling of insecurity".
"The fact that there are scores of women looking stunning and far younger than their biological age seems to be overlooked, or, if recognised, then met with wonderment. Certainly there are dozens of over-50 actresses who look great: Sophia Loren, Susan Sarandon, Ursula Andress, Stefanie Powers, Raquel Welch, Barbara Eden, Joanna Lumley, Linda Gray - the list is endless and these are just the actresses!".
"I have many in their 60s, 70s and 80s, not in the limelight, but who all look absolutely stuning. In Frence, they revere and respect older women, as they do in most Latin countries, where they consider them to be delightful and to possess true sexual allure".
"It is a fact that many of the most famous women in history were sexually active well into middle age and beyond. Catherine the Great, in her 60s, was reputed to take young lovers some 40 years her junior to bed".
"Mae West, who lived to 90, had a lover 45 years younger than her, and she coined the classic phrase: ‘It’s not the men in my life, but the life in my men".
"Sarah Bernhardt, the great French actress and the legendary Coco Chanel both had lovers in their twilight years. A lot of young people think that sex is the prerogative of the young. Many are appalled by the idea of the over-40s or even their parents being or looking sexy or even, God forbid, having sex".
"This is almost a throwback to days of puritanical religious intemperance, when sex was meant only for reproduction. I believe we’ve come far beyond those beliefs in our new secular world, and even in some parts of the religious one as well".
"Still got it: Susan Sarandon, left, and Sophia Loren have aged very well".
"Now that sex is used to sell everything from vacuum cleaners to plane tickets, it should be accepted that it’s everyone’s prerogative to enjoy it and have it, regardless of age. It makes me happy when I read about a couple marrying in their 80s, or rediscovering their lost love from 50 years ago".
"Today, 60 is the new 45 and 50 is more like 35. As for ‘old’ age, I’m with that great philosopher Bernard Baruch, who said: ‘Old age is always 15 years older than I am.’ How true! Or Groucho Marx: ‘Growing old is something you do if you’re lucky".
"SLAP HAPPY".
93 per cent of UK women use cosmetics, making us some of the most enthusiastic beauty product fans in Europe".
"The Queen Mother was a fabulous example of living life to the fullest extent until well over 100 and having plenty of admirers. It’s called use it or lose it; whether it’s working your brain or your butt, you’ve gotta work at it. The number of people over the age of 60 is approaching 1 billion - that’s one in seven of the world’s total population, and by 2050 it will be many more".
"Getting older should be just that: getting older, but not becoming old and losing one's sex appeal. I believe that one is as young as one looks, so it’s absolutely crucial to keep your skin and figure in the best shape you can - advice which young girls today should heed".
"Time and time again I see women over 50 who have taken care of themselves looking glamorous, and girls in their 20s and 30s looking well, rather rough. Maintenance needn’t be as time consuming as so many seem to think. Protecting one’s skin with sunscreen and foundation takes as long as cleaning your teeth thoroughly".
"Doing 20 minutes of stretching, light weights and floor exercises three times a week takes the same amount of time as a long coffee break = and eating a tuna fish salad, sardines on toast or scrambled eggs is surely preferable to a Big Mac or KFC".
"It’s not a question of being obsessive about what one does to look and feel young - I’m not. It’s about doing it so that it becomes almost second nature. I won’t deprive myself of what I feel like having - I eat chocolates, cookies and nuts; I drink wine and the occasional vodka martini".
"British beauties: Joanna Lumley, left, and Joan Collins".
"But I have treated my body as I would a car, only the best in petrol, care and maintenance, and I’m happy to say it seems to have worked for me. I’ve always been sceptical about the so-called miracle creams that proliferate the glittering cosmetic counters of major department stores worldwide".
"I raise an even more cynical eyebrow when I see glossy magazine advertisements of gorgeous 20-something models recommending and extolling the virtues of anti-ageing creams. Who do they think they’re kidding? Are the big cosmetic companies convinced that the average woman is deluded enough to believe the preposterous claims in their advertising?".
"Or is it just that youth sells everything today, so let's show pure youthful beauty ad let the poor fool who buys th e product think that she, too, could look like the model if she used the product?".
"And to add insult to injury, the photos are retouched until the models’ faces and skin have perfection possible only in a two-year-old. What sane woman is going to believe that a lotion can refine, renew and transform skin in ten minutes?".
"FADED GENES".
"About 30 per cent of facial ageing is genetic; the rest is due to lifestyle factors such as sunlight and smoking".
"The advertising agencies must be laughing their heads off at the thought of their target customers buying their ‘ miracle’ products. It’s really quite sad to see a lady earnestly discussing with a make-up expert at the beauty counter how a particular cream is going to erase the 40 years of hard living etched in her face".
"The ageing process of the skin is attributable to so many factors the pollutants skin has to cope with, air conditioning, heating, general exposure to the sun, wind and the elements, not to mention the various toxins we put into our body through what we eat and drink. Take anti-cellulite creams. These are one of the great mythical jokes perpetrated on modern woman".
"The only way to reduce cellulite is to radically banish junk and fatty food from your diet, take copious amounts of fish oil and other supplements and, yes, dear reader, exercise, exercise, exercise until your derriere and everything on it falls off".
"We all know what a drag that is, but there’s no way around the drudgery of reality. We live in a quick-fix society where we need instant gratification for everything. Too fat? Get lipo-sucked. Stringy hair? Glue on extensions. Wrinkles and lines? Head to the beauty shop for a pot of the latest miracle skin stuff. It’s all a beautiful £1 billion con foisted upon insecure women by canny cosmetic conglomerates".
"Through the decades: Joan, pictured in 1967, left, 1975 and in 1982, right, takes care of her looks but doesn't deprive herself. The Advertising Standards Agency, the watchdog that protects the public against false claims ruled against one of these companies recently".
"The firm claimed its anti-cellulite serum could actually melt away the fatty look of cellulite. The ASA concluded the ads were misleading, making medical claims they could not stand up and ordered a recall of all the products".
"Now, please don’t get the impression that I’m against any skinprotecting beauty product ever produced".
"Au contraire, since my early teens my mother, aunts and even my grandmother encouraged me to take care of my skin by proper cleansing, moisturising and protecting. This was long before the sophisticated products available today that boast they can do everything except whistle Dixie".
"I used the simplest products cold cream, baby oil, Vaseline, rose water, all the generic skin products available at the local chemist and then a low-priced foundation base usually from Woolworth’s".
"Mummy also didn’t let me have too many sweets or chocolates and made me eat all my greens and insisted on a teaspoon of cod liver oil each day - ugh! But it worked for Granny, Mummy and my aunts, and it worked for me".
"Inspiration: The Queen Mother was fabulous example of living life to the fullest and having plenty of admirers".
"Although I was making a life-long commitment to skincare, I still baked my face and my body in the sun at every possible opportunity, until one day, recently arrived in Hollywood, my glamorous friend Cappy, whose skin was like porcelain though she was almost 30, berated me for my sunbathing habits.
"Do you want to look like them when you’re 40, she asked, indicating a posse of darkly tanned lizard-like women lapping in the sun by the Beverly Hills Hotel pool?".
"God, no, that couldn’t happen to me, I laughed, with all the cockiness of a 21-year-old. It certainly will if you don’t quit putting your face in the sun,’ said Cappy sternly. ‘Once you get sun damage, there’s absolutely nothing you can do to get rid of it, so stop now or you’ll regret it for ever".
"So I took the advice of one of the most youthful women I ever met and since then have been fanatical about protecting my face, if not my body, against the sun’s rays in summer and winter. After moisturising, I slap on foundation, which protects skin far more efficiently than any of the socalled miracle creams and I always wear a hat or a cap because even on the darkest of days the sun’s rays can penetrate through the clouds and cause damage".
"That’s my miracle cream, and many of my girlfriends who have followed the same advice still look amazingly good. I strongly believe in protecting first rather than shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted. With harmful UVA and UVB radiation in the environment, it is essential to start your regime as soon as possible if you want to stave off the ageing process and look glamorous well into later life".
"Some media witches have mocked me for always wearing make-up. But they should take note, for I can assure them that if you take two women over 50, one of whom has always protected her face and one of whom has never done anything other than wash with soap and water, guess which one will have the best skin?. And not just slightly less lined, but skin that looks 20 years younger".
"But it is essential to always put something moisturising on your face and then, with foundation on top, you will avoid much of the wear and tear of ageing. I’m often amazed when some lined, red-faced, blotchy skinned woman proudly announces that she’s never allowed an ounce of make-up touch her face".
"Well, bully for you, ma’am, if you want to go to the grave looking like Dracula’s grandma, but if you want to look young, then start applying make-up. I know it’s not possible to retain the dewy skin of a two-year-old, but it is possible to look good after une age certain, as the French say".
"But the most costly miracle creams used remedially are not going to erase a lifetime of living in your face if you didn’t start caring yourself in your teens. So teach your children well: it’s never too early to start, as the amount of creams and lotions aimed at babies’ delicate skin can attest to, so start now!".
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