A literary mansion has been built upon the crumbly rock of having shtupped J.D Salinger back in the 70's, J.D. Salinger's fame itself arising mostly from the use of initials, the "neg," and the deployment of the word "fuck."? #joycemaynard
I went to boarding school with this girl and a friend of mine called me when the Modern Love came out to tell me it was about her. She was a very mellow, chill girl and I think it's evident from her response that she is used to dealing with this from her mother and doesn't really let her mother faze her too much. Good for her, I would completely freak out if this was my mother. #joycemaynard
Double digit spf is crucial not because ladymags tell you it is, but because it will help you not get cancer.
We can't avoid the sun and the sun does have health benefits, it just also, um, burns your skin and does some other stuff that high spf lotion will help combat/stave off. Apply liberally, ladies! #motherdaughteraging
Skincare shouldn't be mysterious or expensive. If you have skin without major issues (e.g. rosacea, acne), use a gentle, basic cleanser, some form of retinoid (the only proven anti-ager), broad spectrum sunscreen (it should say so on the label), and a basic moisturizer. You can get all of that at the drugstore. Everything else is just bells and whistles.
Just make sure you read the labels for the ingredients and don't fall for marketing hype about exotic ingredients. A handy rule of thumb is that if the touted ingredient isn't among the first five listed, then there's not enough to make much of a difference. You'll also find that when you do this, you'll notice that many expensive products use the same or similar ingredients as cheaper ones. And reading and comparing labels will help you narrow down particular ingredients that may be problematic for you. #motherdaughteraging
@shefightsback: I've tried Tazorac, Proactiv, Murad, and any other acne medicine you can think of; I started getting acne in my early 30's, I'm now 38. Yeah, that really sucked. The only product I didn't try was Accutane, because the side effects were just too scary, especially without a guarantee that it would work for me. I've been using the SkinID line from Neutrogena for about 6 months, and I have to say that I really like it. It cleared up my skin in about 3 weeks, and even the scars left behind from previous acne breakouts are gone. You can only get it from their website, and the products last about 2.5 to 3 months. My skin is finally looking like it used to and I love it; I don't even have to wear foundation anymore to cover my pimples and scars. It is very freeing.
I met a 40-year-old woman in my teens who had used Retin A for twenty years for her acne and I swear she didn't have any the tiniest line on her face. She had the skin of a ten year old.
I filed that info away and started using retinoids when I was 25 or so.
People think my BF is my dad and he's only a year older. HA! #motherdaughteraging
@squeakel: Yeah gotta say, over the counter RetinA cream and 45sunscreen are your very good freinds. I've been using them for 8 years and I look a LOT younger than my friends. Yoga helps too - in being tranquil, calm, and circulating the blood and energy ( dude). #motherdaughteraging
@squeakel: I always assumed those products were extra moisturizing! Yes, I also have oily skin....I use a light SP15/moisturizer in the morning and that's it. #motherdaughteraging
@jrhys: @canthelpmyself: I've heard you shouldn't use Retin A for a long period of time, although I didn't even know it's available OTC! I used it as a teenage and in college, was on a variety of other meds over the years too. I was one of those lucky teenagers (pizza face) with acne.
But now, I fall in the strange window between acne and occasional pimples- not bad enough to need prescription strength medication and not clear enough to rely on spot treatment. I use light SP15 moisturizer in the morning, wash twice a day with Bijore cleanser (gentle), powder foundation and call it a day.
@shefightsback: You go to their website (skinid.com) and answer a questionnaire. It will then recommend a cleanser, an acne medicine, and a moisturizer that will work with your skin to clear up acne. #motherdaughteraging
Am I mistaken in thinking that BREAKING INTO someone's e-mail account is fucking unforgivable and possibly criminal?
Also, this: "When I was very young, my mother read my diary. And though I loved my mother, I don’t think I ever forgave her." So, the exact thing happened to her, she felt violated and then she did it to her own daughter?
Wow. Just, wow. That is a level of emotional retardation that is really hard to beat. #joycemaynard
@GirlCat: I agree. I hate when people like this use their "art/craft" to justify things which are really unjustifiable. And what about the boyfriend? Did she ask his permission to tell some intensely private things? Fuck this woman. Her talent does not make her any better than Octomom or the people from Rock of Love.
God I can't wait for these overharers to go away. #joycemaynard
I have no wrinkles that I've noticed, couldn't possibly find a gray hair in my thick, brambly mane, and am routinely mistaken for being several years younger than I am.
But the chin hairs, God. I go into the bathroom and just glare at them. I wax and they're back in two days. #motherdaughteraging
i'm adopted and have no idea what my biological mother looks like. and i've used skincare products since i hit my mid20s.
why leave anything to chance? to me, skincare was just taking care of part of the entire package... my body, my brain, my health. and some people (and ethnicities), yes, their skin just seems resilient against insults that would demo another person's skin (smoking and heavy tanning come to mind). so it's not fair to compare everybody equally. some skin needs more protection than others.
to me, not caring about wrinkles now is like telling somebody in their teens to not care about pimples.
@msAnthrope: I can definitely relate to the idea of skincare as part of general whole-body maintenance. For me, part of it is vanity- I like how I look and I'd like to look this way as long as my body will allow it.
My mother is a pale, freckled redhead with white eyelashes and blue eyes, and we couldn't look less alike. She's had a few scary skin growths, all of which have fortunately been benign. While I take after my dad's side, who tan like crazy, don't seem to wrinkle and have no history of skin cancer, I didn't want to leave it to chance either. Avoiding skin cancer and maintaining my appearance seems like a win-win to me. #motherdaughteraging
see that's what i don't get about this study is that it totally discounts the father's genes. we're not 100percent our mom's genes, even if we are female.
i'm with you. for me, skincare is like eating right, exercise, everything. it is vanity but it's a grateful vanity, if you can understand that! #motherdaughteraging
I wish my mom realized how stunningly beautiful she is. I love her fine lines -- evidence of a long and full life (with lots to come). This post just reminded me that I should tell her that soon. I hope against hope I am lucky enough to look like her one day, after a few more full years of my own. #motherdaughteraging
My mother has had a chin implant and I'm not even sure how many facelifts. I was shocked recently when I saw a picture of her in college. Yeah, so the mother as a model thing is kind of tough when I have no idea what she would really look like. #motherdaughteraging
OK. I'm just gonna say it... I love skin care. Everything about it. The smells, the textures, the way some work but others don't.
It connects me to all the other women through the ages that have ever slapped on moisturizer. And for me, that's all good.
If we're not supposed to feel hung-up about getting older, then why shouldn't we allow ourselves to have fun with it? Why is skincare just one other thing that you have to feel inadequate about?
You go gentle into that night lady but stop beating yourself up about it. #motherdaughteraging
I'm turning 30 soon, and have been struggling with the ridiculous fear that somehow it magically means that I am no longer eligible to be seen as attractive. It is usually at that point that I snap back to reality and remember three things. One- that I am more than just how I look on the outside. Two- that there are scores of immensely beautiful women of all ages. Most of whom are sexy or beautiful because they embrace life. Three- if I ever do start to look like Herman Munster, I can always visit a plastic surgeon. #motherdaughteraging
@keyamarie: You raise great points. Part of our fear of aging as women is not wanton vanity. It's the knowledge that we're slowing, with our advancing age, becoming invisible in a culture that values us most for our looks and praises youth. That's a fear that men are free from; they have no "expiration date."
But I love your first point. We all could stand to remember that one. PS. Welcome!! #motherdaughteraging
@keyamarie: Is 30 still seen this way? Even with all the gorgeous actresses 30+ like Angelina Jolie, Glenn Close, Mary McDonnell, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Milla Jovovich... I could go on and on. I thought 30 was the exciting age to turn because we're finally seen as adults, but if we retain the impishness of our 20s we're seen as charming. I also thought sexy finally starts at 30, to be honest. The sophisticated, complicated kind of sexy. People in their 20s are just hot. People in their 30s are sexy... #motherdaughteraging
@CognitiveSystems: Agreed. Ideally there is a bit of sophistication and experience that comes along by the time you reach your 30s, which makes for a different kind of sexiness than when you were in your 20s or even your teens.
Or maybe I am just saying that to make myself feel better about just having turned 30... #motherdaughteraging
@CognitiveSystems: I think part of the problem is that the circle of people who find you attractive starts to shrink – even if squeezes out people you wouldn't date anyway it can feel like a loss. We all know men and women who will not date a woman outside of her 20s no matter how she looks. I turned 30 a couple months ago and thought for a brief second about the smattering of men in their 30s (and 40s) who I've dated who had yet to date a woman over the age of 29 and probably would not date me now.
Then I remembered that I wouldn't want a motherfucker like that anyway, rolled over and gave my (younger) BF a big grateful kiss. #motherdaughteraging
Disclaimer: this is really long, but only because this is something I feel especially conflicted about. I am probably going to be in the minority on this, but I actually take issue with this statement: "Vanity is very unattractive." But why is vanity unattractive? I know the dictionary definition means empty, and to have an inflated sense of self-pride, but this article seems to be equating the act of taking care of oneself with vanity (which = ugliness)? I am 28 years old now, and I take better care of myself now than I did at 18 because I feel as though I operated under this assumption (that taking care of myself = vain = ugly on the inside). My mom reinforced that concept to me as well, and I actually don't think it was fair. As a teenager and young adult, I thought I was ugly and had severe self-esteem issues about my appearance. But I started wearing make-up right before I got married because I needed to learn how to apply make-up before the wedding, and it turned out that for the first time in my life I finally liked the way I looked.
So, after the wedding, I continued to wear make-up. I was shocked that I had spent so many years depressed about my appearance. And for a couple of years after I first started wearing make-up and using a facial moisturizer, I had a weird inward dilemma about wearing cosmetics at all because I had always prided myself on my personality, my intelligence and creativity, not my appearance, and I felt like a hypocrite or something. But I finally made peace with myself that vanity is not necessarily the "unattractive" trait that I had been led to believe it was--although, even today, I still wrestle with this because I am a Ph.D. candidate and most female professors and grad students I have met *don't* wear make-up, and I dress a little differently than most people already (which means I dress really differently in academia) and these women are always telling me that I look "nice," which is great, but I don't think they always mean it, ya know? It is probably me reading too much into a simple compliment, but in my line of work, I feel like I am supposed to be a floating head of knowledge, and any emphasis I put on the physical suggests that I am not a serious writer or scholar. (Again, the vanity = ugliness equation rears its ugly head.)
It might sound weird, but the only thing that helped me reconcile this inner struggle was the original season of Project Runway back in 2004/2005. If there was no vanity in the world, wouldn't the world look kinda boring? I mean, doesn't Fashion (capital F because I'm evoking the Tyra-fied concept of High Fashion here, heh) exist because people want to outwardly express their personalities through their appearance (which includes clothes and cosmetics)?
I think the formula that vanity = unattractive is problematic because for every person, different issues are going to affect us in different ways. For me, I had to admit to myself that my appearance was actually important to me--but I never really felt as though I had the freedom to admit that because I was so caught up in that Dollhouse-ian notion: "I just want to be my best."
For me, I *want* to say: if there ever comes a time when I feel as though I *need* to look younger or really different, then I will relinquish these products and reexamine what's going on to make me feel that way. But it's easy to say, it's harder to do. Because in a sense, I already need my foundation, my lip gloss, my salicylic acid face wash and moisturizer, for a higher sense of self-worth don't I? Sure, my self-esteem isn't based solely dependent on my appearance, but how far is too far? Perhaps there is an extreme where vanity does become ugly or monstrous, but I think we all have to find that line in ourselves and it's not a line that we can mark down for other people. #motherdaughteraging
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/27/09
We can't avoid the sun and the sun does have health benefits, it just also, um, burns your skin and does some other stuff that high spf lotion will help combat/stave off. Apply liberally, ladies! #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
10/27/09
Just make sure you read the labels for the ingredients and don't fall for marketing hype about exotic ingredients. A handy rule of thumb is that if the touted ingredient isn't among the first five listed, then there's not enough to make much of a difference. You'll also find that when you do this, you'll notice that many expensive products use the same or similar ingredients as cheaper ones. And reading and comparing labels will help you narrow down particular ingredients that may be problematic for you. #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
10/27/09
The same things that work for wrinkles also work for acne, so you're in luck. #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
10/27/09
This ends my infomercial....good luck! #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
Yep! The amzing retinoids!
I met a 40-year-old woman in my teens who had used Retin A for twenty years for her acne and I swear she didn't have any the tiniest line on her face. She had the skin of a ten year old.
I filed that info away and started using retinoids when I was 25 or so.
People think my BF is my dad and he's only a year older. HA! #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
But now, I fall in the strange window between acne and occasional pimples- not bad enough to need prescription strength medication and not clear enough to rely on spot treatment. I use light SP15 moisturizer in the morning, wash twice a day with Bijore cleanser (gentle), powder foundation and call it a day.
What is the SkinID line like? #motherdaughteraging
10/28/09
10/29/09
10/27/09
Also, this: "When I was very young, my mother read my diary. And though I loved my mother, I don’t think I ever forgave her." So, the exact thing happened to her, she felt violated and then she did it to her own daughter?
Wow. Just, wow. That is a level of emotional retardation that is really hard to beat. #joycemaynard
10/28/09
God I can't wait for these overharers to go away. #joycemaynard
10/27/09
10/27/09
But the chin hairs, God. I go into the bathroom and just glare at them. I wax and they're back in two days. #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
I know that there are prescription creams which are supposed to eradicate them but I fear for some other side effect.
chin hairs. oh damn you chin hairs! #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
10/27/09
why leave anything to chance? to me, skincare was just taking care of part of the entire package... my body, my brain, my health. and some people (and ethnicities), yes, their skin just seems resilient against insults that would demo another person's skin (smoking and heavy tanning come to mind). so it's not fair to compare everybody equally. some skin needs more protection than others.
to me, not caring about wrinkles now is like telling somebody in their teens to not care about pimples.
10/27/09
My mother is a pale, freckled redhead with white eyelashes and blue eyes, and we couldn't look less alike. She's had a few scary skin growths, all of which have fortunately been benign. While I take after my dad's side, who tan like crazy, don't seem to wrinkle and have no history of skin cancer, I didn't want to leave it to chance either. Avoiding skin cancer and maintaining my appearance seems like a win-win to me. #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
see that's what i don't get about this study is that it totally discounts the father's genes. we're not 100percent our mom's genes, even if we are female.
i'm with you. for me, skincare is like eating right, exercise, everything. it is vanity but it's a grateful vanity, if you can understand that! #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
It connects me to all the other women through the ages that have ever slapped on moisturizer. And for me, that's all good.
If we're not supposed to feel hung-up about getting older, then why shouldn't we allow ourselves to have fun with it? Why is skincare just one other thing that you have to feel inadequate about?
You go gentle into that night lady but stop beating yourself up about it. #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
10/27/09
But I love your first point. We all could stand to remember that one. PS. Welcome!! #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
10/27/09
Or maybe I am just saying that to make myself feel better about just having turned 30... #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
Then I remembered that I wouldn't want a motherfucker like that anyway, rolled over and gave my (younger) BF a big grateful kiss. #motherdaughteraging
10/27/09
10/27/09
So, after the wedding, I continued to wear make-up. I was shocked that I had spent so many years depressed about my appearance. And for a couple of years after I first started wearing make-up and using a facial moisturizer, I had a weird inward dilemma about wearing cosmetics at all because I had always prided myself on my personality, my intelligence and creativity, not my appearance, and I felt like a hypocrite or something. But I finally made peace with myself that vanity is not necessarily the "unattractive" trait that I had been led to believe it was--although, even today, I still wrestle with this because I am a Ph.D. candidate and most female professors and grad students I have met *don't* wear make-up, and I dress a little differently than most people already (which means I dress really differently in academia) and these women are always telling me that I look "nice," which is great, but I don't think they always mean it, ya know? It is probably me reading too much into a simple compliment, but in my line of work, I feel like I am supposed to be a floating head of knowledge, and any emphasis I put on the physical suggests that I am not a serious writer or scholar. (Again, the vanity = ugliness equation rears its ugly head.)
It might sound weird, but the only thing that helped me reconcile this inner struggle was the original season of Project Runway back in 2004/2005. If there was no vanity in the world, wouldn't the world look kinda boring? I mean, doesn't Fashion (capital F because I'm evoking the Tyra-fied concept of High Fashion here, heh) exist because people want to outwardly express their personalities through their appearance (which includes clothes and cosmetics)?
I think the formula that vanity = unattractive is problematic because for every person, different issues are going to affect us in different ways. For me, I had to admit to myself that my appearance was actually important to me--but I never really felt as though I had the freedom to admit that because I was so caught up in that Dollhouse-ian notion: "I just want to be my best."
For me, I *want* to say: if there ever comes a time when I feel as though I *need* to look younger or really different, then I will relinquish these products and reexamine what's going on to make me feel that way. But it's easy to say, it's harder to do. Because in a sense, I already need my foundation, my lip gloss, my salicylic acid face wash and moisturizer, for a higher sense of self-worth don't I? Sure, my self-esteem isn't based solely dependent on my appearance, but how far is too far? Perhaps there is an extreme where vanity does become ugly or monstrous, but I think we all have to find that line in ourselves and it's not a line that we can mark down for other people. #motherdaughteraging