<p>I honestly feel more at ease with myself and the world now at 53 then I did at 23 or 33. I feel more attractive than in past decades. I feel as if I have more to say and a perspective that is more developed. I feel as if I understand fashion much better and enjoy it. I like my face. It’s basically my mom’s face except that she was a chain smoker most of her life and has the associated skin damage. I never smoked and wasn’t that into tanning so my skin is reasonably good.</p>
<p>Am a little worried about estrogen, actually. Still menstruating at 53 and so my skin and body are sort of youthful, but I’m concerned this is putting me at risk for breast cancer with so many years of cycles. My grandmother had a baby at 48 and she lived to be 98 so maybe it will okay.</p>
<p>One other thing about aging – I do think dental care is essential, especially gums and cleanings. Nothing ages you so much as bad teeth and so many people neglect their teeth.</p>
<p>Want to feel good about yourself? Get out photos os your grandmother at the same age you are now. Mine had a gray bun, wore granny shoes, had false teeth and did not wear an uplift bra. She also did not exercise, go for mountain hikes or play tennis. Our generation of women are not grannies.</p>
<p>Sewhappy I hope for you what happened to me. I, too, still had periods regularly at 53…and through 54…and through most of 55 then they just stopped. My physician was even starting to get alittle concerned. But when the periods stopped I had no hot flashes, no sweats, no mood swings…they just stopped and I haven’t had a period in over a year. Within 3 weeks after my last period I noticed my skin was much dryer and I noticed fine wrinkles on my face and other noticeable signs of aging that i never had before but I was glad my body worked…</p>
<p>I don’t think anything makes you consider your age like menopause! I do think I’m “younger” than my mom was at 50. Once when I was in college, we went to visit relatives and my aunt took us to an ice rink. I’d never ice skated before and was thrilled to finally get a chance to do so. I tried and tried to get my mom, who used to love to ice skate, to get out there with me, but she’s like 'Oh, God, I’m 50 years old - I can’t do that!" Me, I’m still game for just about anything, although I may be a little bit more tired and achy afterward.</p>
<p>I’m trying not to be a “grannie.”. Haha T…G. No gray bun or false teeth. I dye my hair (so no gray), exercise daily and slather my face day and night with moisturizer/sunscreen/anti-wrinkle creams.</p>
<p>But actually my grannie was a stooped, gray-haired fire ball. She was, before her 50’s, a suffragette. I have a banner she carried in a parade in NYC. She loved opera and theater and use to take me to theater and movies in NYC when I was a kid. She was in her 70’s at that point. I would love to be like her.</p>
<p>Some great thoughts here! I try to keep fit. I was never beautiful but I think I look reasonably good now…as good as some people who were “beautiful” but gained weight, overdid the tanning, or otherwise lost their looks. </p>
<p>I never liked a bunch of things about my face but in my 30s (after several kids) I decided it was the only face I would ever have and I decided it was ok. 40s were ok too. </p>
<p>Then in my 50s gravity started winning, collagen went AWOL, and I really started missing my estrogen. Oh well. At least I’m in better health than some unlucky people my age. My DH truly doesn’t notice my wrinkles & gray hair, and his is the only opinion that matters. :)</p>
<p>I agree–good teeth & gums are important. And overall good health is the bottom line.</p>
<p>I heard an interview on the radio…can’t remember who now (my memory is going?) but she admitted to botox for the line between her brows that she said made her look angry all the time. I can see her point.</p>
<p>I win, I think. I was done with menopause at 42. It was horrible. My doctor wanted to put me on estrogen but it was right at the time that those bad study results came in and I refused. I was the poster child for menopausal symptoms. I don’t think it really affected my looks although it’s hard to be objective. </p>
<p>I agree that the wrinkles aren’t a big deal but the loss of collagen is. I have high cheekbones and I read once that those of us who are blessed with them are cursed later in life with a droopy look from the sides of the nose to the chin. Yuck.</p>
<p>I’ve had a prescription for Retin-a on the refridgerator door for 5 months and haven’t filled it because I feel guilty spending 150 dollars on my vanity. Does anyone use it and is it worth it? I have tiny milia on my face and it is supposed to clear those up.</p>
<p>I believe health is everything, so keeping fit and not fat is important; eating the right things will help with that and walking instead of driving should be a rule. Park far away from where you need to go or just never use a car in the first place. Lines at 50 become more numerous by 70. But it isn’t the lines that matter: it’s your heart etc. Change is never easy but in the end it can be an adventure if you allow it to be. My granny said that growing old isn’t for sissies. I am with her on that but I am just happy to be here, wrinkles or no wrinkles.</p>
<p>My 88-year-old mother dyes her hair the color it used to be, a soft brown, so I guess for some the answer is no. She’s the only one in her Assisted Living facility who does. </p>
<p>She recently saw a picture of her 90-year-old sister who doesn’t dye, and she exclaimed, “Look at that white hair!” I guess she thinks she’s fooling all of us. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I think doors closing and invisibility in the society is more frightening. I am almost happy I need to keep working (I’m 61) because at work I feel very connecting to the vital heart of life. I am on the same wavelength as my students (I’m an English prof) and get along with them better than with most of my friends.</p>
<p>No one guesses my age, or maybe everyone is just being nice.</p>
<p>However, I offer Kathy Bates as a case in point. She wasn’t especially attractive as a young woman, but now? Even though she’s overweight and not fit at all, I find her very, very beautiful, gray hair and all.</p>
<p>I’m not 50 yet, but close. I never spent much time or put value on looks or clothes, so that never changed. With highlights I don’t have any gray hairs, facials and lotions help with the wrinkles, but though it’s not hard to keep weight off, it’s hard to make it not convert to fat. What really helps me is that my vision is going downhill, so I really can’t see those wrinkles in the mirror anyways. I think bioidentical hormones have definitely helped me mentally, physically, slow down some of the miseries that come with aging. I feel better, really, as well as I did 10-15 years ago. Of course, working nights, I didn’t feel so great back then.</p>
<p>In the last 3 or 4 months, the skin at the back of my upper arms has started to hang down and wobble around. I am thin. It’s not fat - just 54 year old loose skin. I work with weights and the other parts of my arms look nice. It’s just the skin hanging in back. I try to work my triceps but I don’t think it’s possible to build them big enough to fill that skin.</p>
<p>I was never a beauty. My figure is still nice. (Being very small at the top gives gravity less to work on.) But saggy skin - eyes, neck, arms, thighs…I admit it’s depressing.</p>
<p>And yes, my grandmas were old ladies by 60 or before. One grandma’s “bust line” was down around her waist.</p>
<p>The females on my Mom’s side of the family aged attractively. On my Dad’s side, not so much. I just realized the other day that my Dad’s genes appear to be winning at this point. I can counteract this a bit by not dressing frumpy, keeping an eye on my weight and keep up the battle against my gray frizzy hair. But the realization was still a little depressing.</p>
<p>I’ve never been particularly pretty, but always slim and fit and attractive. In the last few years, as I move closer to 50, it’s been dawning on me gradually that I have to talk louder and try harder to keep somebody’s attention (mostly men, but sometimes women too). It’s something I never even realized was going on, that apparently some of the reason people listened to me or looked at me was because I was an attractive woman. </p>
<p>Men hardly glance my way when I walk by now, or quickly look up and then away, and that has been startling to me. At first, I was thinking “why are all the men so unfriendly all of a sudden?” But then I figured it out. I guess I’ve lost an advantage I didn’t really understand I had. Occasionally, I’ll talk to an older man who will do a little flirting and then it’s like “Oh yeah, this is how it used to be and this was kind of nice.”</p>
<p>But I’m trying to look on the bright side. The superficial stuff just isn’t as important anymore and now it really is about who I am as a person, what I know, my skills, my sense of humor, and my wisdom. And I’m never going to be younger than what I am today, so I might as well make the best of my good health and energy. Someday (if I’m lucky enough to live a long time), I’ll look bad at myself at this age and think I was still young.</p>