Beauty regimens have come a long way in the past 50 years. Just ask Annette Tucker of Los Angeles who is Aging Backwards at 75 years young! Tucker, a very successful songwriter with such hits as I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) made famous by the Electric Prunes in the 1960s, still keeps her glamorous, show-biz looks — but her routine is quite different than it was back then.

In a phone interview with Ms. Tucker, she talked about skin care in the old days. “We all used the same products. There wasn’t the variety of choices that you find now. For example, everyone simply used Pond’s Cold Cream to take off makeup,” she remembered. “We all used the same shampoo — Prell — and we used Henna in our hair to bring out the red highlights.

Grandmothers at that time were not into anti-aging at all. They left their hair gray and would grow it long and twist it into a bun.”

When it came to diet, there was no such thing. “We ate French Fries, onion rings and hamburgers and drank malts and milk shakes. We didn’t worry about our weight at all, but you’d walk everywhere back then. We didn’t consciously exercise, but we didn’t have to because of all the walking,” explained Tucker.

Let’s take a look at today’s beauty secrets compared with those of 50 years ago.

Beauty Secrets, Yesterday and Today:

1. Lips yesterday: “We didn’t even line our lips back then. If someone’s upper lip was too thin, they’d just use lipstick above the lip line,” explained Tucker.Lips today: Not only are there hundreds of lip liners and lipsticks in every shade imaginable, but there are lip plumpers, lip glosses, and even lip makeovers. If your lips are too thin, you can have fillers injected, such as Restylane. Doctors can even move fat from one part of your body (thighs or abdomen) and insert it into your lips for a longer-lasting effect.¹
2. Noses yesterday: Rhinoplasty, more commonly called a nose job, has actually been around for thousands of years. One of the first known uses of plastic surgery dates back 4,000 years for the treatment of facial injuries.² “Hardly anybody had any kind of plastic surgery when I was younger, although some people did have their noses made smaller,” said Tucker.Noses today: Now, it’s easier than ever to change the shape of one’s nose using a non-surgical procedure such as the “15-Minute Nose Job,” pioneered by New York cosmetic dermatologic surgeon Dr. Cameron Rokhsar.³ He injects Radiesse, a long-lasting dermal filler, into the nose with the patient wide-awake and sitting up, then shapes the filler to achieve the symmetrical look desired. In fact, he welcomes the patient’s input while he performs the procedure.
3. Teeth yesterday: According to Tucker, people wore braces and had their teeth cleaned every so often, but there were no tooth-whitening products available. “We used baking soda,” she recalls.Teeth today: You can choose from a myriad of ways to achieve a Hollywood smile these days and it’s faster and easier than ever. Tooth whitening products line the drugstore shelves. Your dentist has a bag of tricks to give you perfect pearly whites which includes in-office whitening for instant results or Lumineers, contact lens-thin, super translucent porcelain veneers that go right over your own teeth and last up to 20 years.⁴

It’s been said that 50 is the new 30. With these relatively easy makeovers, you just may find yourself Aging Backwards.

References

1. http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-definition/Fat_transfer/
2. http://www.plasticsurgery.org/about_asps/history/History.cfm
3. http://www.cosmeticlaserskinsurgery.com/
4. http://lumineers.com/

[Ed. note: Jackie Silver is aging backwards. She shares her secrets, tips, and shortcuts on her web site, in her new book Aging Backwards: Secrets to Staying Young, on the syndicated TV show, Daytime, on Clear Channel radio's Mix 100.7, and as a sought-after speaker. For more information, click here.]