“Who we become is much more than how we look. But how we look is highly influenced by who we have become. Our habits shape us-in every way.”
My thoughts on Beauty, Injectables, and Aging Well
Hello Beautiful,
What is beauty and how, exactly, do we age well?
As we live longer and have more options to alter our faces and bodies with surgeries and injections, many women feel a mix of excitement and apprehension about the menu of procedures available to help them look their best.
But, how we look and how we feel can be quite disparate. If we are injecting and implanting things into our bodies to look “better” but it’s actually increasing our toxic load and aging us biologically, what have we really gained?
Let’s unpack this together.
As a former model for Elite Models in NYC I’ve learned that beauty is both subjective (cultural preferences and personal opinion) and objective (facial symmetry and visual indications of health seen in the hair, skin, and body’s proportion are held in high esteem throughout history). With a bevy of modern procedures, an artificial type of beauty is fast becoming an impossible goal.
Choices we make to improve our health will be seen in improved hair, skin, and body proportion. These changes can be seen in a matter of days and they build momentum over time. Our bodies are constantly building new cells so we can literally re-create ourselves day by day with our upgraded habits. The longer we have good habits, the deeper our results go. In this way, time is your friend as it relates to good habits and aging!
Cultural and personal preferences are what they are. I think they are better observed with neutrality and replaced with celebrating the markers of health that aren’t just for the viewers delight but for the well-being of the person being observed.
Sadly, women are under pressure to look “perfect” and are injecting things into their faces that were used intermittently in warfare as nerve agents since World War II. Small doses of poison/toxins (repeatedly injected into our heads) aren’t our brightest idea as a species.
Many women are competitive. They have created a social hierarchy around beauty for millennia. But now, the competition has new options…with enough money and access to providers, women can make massive changes to their appearances….or they can “slow the hands of time” with little injections here and there.
This is not a moral question. The results can look nice and natural or “overdone”. It’s all subjective. We get to choose how to care for our own bodies. But informed choice is key.
The problem is that the manufactures and providers of these injections/implants/surgeries aren’t providing adequate information for women to make informed decisions. And women are all too eager to fall for a quick fix to make them feel better about their appearance. This is especially true when the majority of the women in their circles see these procedures as “maintenance” for aging.
I prefer working with improving the root issues to optimize beauty and accepting the natural aging process will have some change to my appearance. I also see that as I work on my Spiritual growth, new levels of sparkle and radiance and a release of emotional patterns that never served me, will continue to alter my appearance…for the better! After 6 healthy pregnancies I understand the work needed for beautiful form and function. I have a flat tummy with definition not because of vanity but because of strength, vitality, and the function I want in my life.
There are many little known but highly effective ancient practices to smooth and tone the face, to firm and lift the breast, to improve the body’s skin tone, and sculpt the physique. With daily habits you can not only improve your appearance in these ways, but actually improve your well-being (by improving blood flow, lymphatic drainage, and reducing inflammation) at the same time.
Examples of DIY ways of taking years off your appearance abound:
- Posture that is more open and relaxed can be developed in tandem with creating a more nurturing balance in your schedule. The weight of the world isn’t attractive on anyone’s shoulders! Responsibility balanced with enjoyment is an *attractive* look on us all.
- Excess weight is shed as we let go of eating to avoid uncomfortable emotions. Developing new tools for communication, time management, and living with purpose have physical manifestations of beauty and balance.
- A smoother forehead results from forgiving grievances. According to Chinese Medicine, forgiveness balances the colon helping us assimilate what was beneficial and releasing what isn’t of use to us. If you examine a Chinese medicine facial map, you will see that the area of the forehead and the colon are related. Forgiving and releasing looks good on us all!
- Releasing anger and worry and gaining greater body awareness helps you release your “11’s’ lines between the brows (corresponding with Liver function in Traditional Chinese Medicine) without injections. A daily Gua Sha massage here helps smooth out the lines as well.
I celebrate the lifestyle that optimizes your God given beauty. We all have aspects of our appearance that we like and things we are less fond of. Learning to expand our ideas around beauty is much healthier for us in the long run than having our faces and bodies altered in ways that aren’t good for our health. You cannot underestimate the beauty of a woman who is taking care of her issues body, soul, and spirit. It’s an endless upgrade if you commit to a growth mindset!
The beauty upgrades available with lifestyle changes are gradual -not instant. They require consistency and discipline. Using a Gua Sha to massage your face daily will increase collagen production, reduce the signs of aging by smoothing lines and reducing puffiness. But it might be done for weeks before you see a difference and has to be maintained as a habit over time to retain the improvements.
Doing face yoga can remove the “11’s” between the brows but it’s the habit of furrowing the brow (and an unconscious default state of worry or anger) that has to be retrained for the muscles not to mirror the mind’s state. Isn’t it just easier to go in every 6 months and get a little injectable?
It’s easier but it has a cost. A financial one and possibly one to your long term well being. In 2009 the FDA told providers that the body diffuses the injectables past the site of injection. How might a neurotoxin, in repeated and ever increasing amounts needed to retain the look, effect the brain and body? There is reason for caution here.
In addition to unknown chemical effects of repeated injections, there are physical consequences that have been identified. The immobilization of these muscles for long stretches of time, causes the muscle to atrophy/shrink. When you decide to stop your visits, there will be a time period needed to re-activate the blood flow and re-build the volume in the area. This can be done with facial yoga and massage. It will be a gradual rehabilitation. It’s worth the transition and the effort.
I suggest that beauty is a state of harmony we live in and we earn moment by moment, year by year. Our emotional, dietary, lifestyle, and spiritual habits all contribute to how we age. Who we become is much more than how we look. But how we look is highly influenced by who we have become. Our habits shape us. In every way.
I am passionate about helping women age well from the inside out. We are multi level beings. Our beauty is more than skin deep. Our wisdom, wit, capabilities, style, and health are ageless aspects of our vivacious beauty and they are accessible to us all. They are investments that keep growing over time, if we keep making deposits.
You are beautiful by nature. You can become more and more beautiful as you age if you invest in this inner wealth. Create beautiful habits and you will grow in beauty.
Cheering you on,
Rachel