Acne as a teenager was one of the most unpleasant memories I have of those years. Not only did I suffer from severe acne as early as the age of 12, but my dermatologist put me on a strict diet where I was not allowed to eat any chocolate, pop, chips and fried food. I still remember some of the topical treatments that seemed to increase the sebum production in my skin once I’d wash them off. My body gave me a decade of respite from acne in my twenties just to kick back into full swing in my early thirties. Acne as an adult is not much more pleasant than when I was a teenager, but now I have to deal with being concerned that aggressive treatments might leave permanent scars (because as I age, my skin repairs itself with a little less ease) and severe skin dehydration (increased propensity for premature wrinkles). Adult acne is the thorn in my side (don’t even get me started on the permanent scarring). If you also suffer from adult acne and if you’re looking to understand some basic facts, you might want to check out my compilation of acne terms: Anti-Aging and Skincare Glossary.

The 79th Academy Awards might have come and gone, but I could not start a journey about aging well without commanding Oscar winner Dame Helen Mirren who looked radiant at the Oscars last month. She’s showed us 30-something and most 20-something gals that being and feeling beautiful doesn’t stop at a certain age.

There not much more to add at this point about this British actress that has not already been said. In such, I will close with Jack Black’s quote during his comedic performance at the Academy Awards: “Helen Mirren, you’re hot!” Isn’t that the truth?

“Dame” Helen Mirren, born Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov in 1945 in England simply shined at the recent Golden Globe Awards. Could it be the thrill of being nominated in two distinct categories and actually winning Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Elizabeth I) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama (playing Elizabeth II in the Queen) in the same year? This half-Russian, half British thespian is not only a superb and talented actress she is also breaking new grounds when it come to turning 60 on the big screen. Personally, I thought Dame Helen looked radiant in her Donna Karan blue dress at the Golden Globe Awards. She looked flawless lounging in one of the post-award star-lounge rooms and looked regal by choosing to sport her stylish grey mane.

Dame Helen Mirren is my Celebrity Beauty Match Pick because during the 2007 Golden Globe Awards ceremony she gave a lot of those younger actresses a serious run for their money by looking so phenomenal. Dame Helen makes 62 sizzle!

There was a little too much information to cram in one post, so I thought I’d give you a chance to absorb in the information slowly before throwing more facts your way.

Here are some more power ingredients you might find in your wrinkle creams:

Soy Isoflavones

Yes, you are correct in assuming that we’re referring to soy in this next section (the same soy that is found in soy milk). Soy products derivatives have been clinically proven to copy the effects of estrogen in your body and this is why scientists refer to them as phytoestrogens. As far as anti aging goes, Soy Isoflavones have been shown effective in fighting wrinkles.

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Retinol, a.k.a. Vitamin A, Hydroxy Acids, Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA), Coenzyme Q-10, Growth factors, Soy isoflavones, Tea extracts, Vitamin C, Copper peptides, Vitamin E are some of the most effective active ingredients you want to look for in your anti-aging products. I don’t know about you, but I find it’s one thing knowing what I should be looking for and a whole other to really understand how these great active ingredients are supposed to help my anti-aging regime.

If you knew which were the things that could accelerate the rate at which you age, would you act upon that new found knowledge or would you brush it off and not care?

You don’t have to decide right this minute, but you might be interested in the four most significant aging culprits:

1) Facial Exercises: Facial exercises will actually do you more harm than good. In fact, facial exercises mean repetitive movements and repetitive facial movements actually lead to fine lines and wrinkles. If you’ve been sold in believing they’ll maintain your looks (like I was), you need to stop as soon as possible, because you’re actually getting the reverse effects. As our skin ages and loses its elasticity, the skin is incapable of bouncing back to its line-free state. Therefore, fine lines and wrinkles become permanently engraved on the face. Each time you use a facial muscle to make a facial expression, you create lines and wrinkles. Normal everyday expressions are a good thing, but deliberately forcing facial movements is just asking for trouble. I was guilty as charged when it came to nightly facial exercises, but quickly stopped when a dermatologist let out the ugly little secret on forced facial movement.

2) Smoking: Cigarette smoking is an enemy to anti-aging skin prevention. Smoking causes biochemical changes in your bodies that seriously accelerate aging. Smokers often wear the signs of these chemical changes on their face. Most long time smokers have an unhealthy yellowish coloring to their complexion and they develop deeply wrinkled, leathery skin. It has been reported that smokers as young as 20 battle with premature wrinkles. Smoking is a very complex subject because of nicotine addiction. If you are a smoker there are many anti-aging treatments that can control the rate at which you wear the signs of aging. I’ve located a number of experts who will help me bring this information to you with time. Truth be told, I did smoke in my late teens and early 20s, but I did stop when told of this fact.

3) Sleeping Positions: Resting your face on the pillow in the same way every night for years leads to wrinkles (I’m so guilty of sleeping on my side and waking up on my stomach with my head resting on the side). Sleep lines may start as fine lines, but after years of sleeping in the same position, they quickly become wrinkles and eventually become permanently engraved on the surface. If you’re a woman who sleeps on her side, you are more likely to see lines appear on your chin and cheeks. If you’re a man, you’ll notice these lines on your forehead since men often sleep with their face pressed face down on the pillow. If you sleep on your back, then you don’t have to worry as much about face-against-pillow wrinkles.

4) Gravity: Gravity is our biggest foe as we age. In your 50s, when your skin’s elasticity declines dramatically, the effects of gravity become evident. The unsettling fact is that gravity causes the tip of the nose to droop, the ears to elongate, the eyelids to fall, jowls to form, and the upper lip to disappear while the lower lip becomes more pronounced. Thank God for the Baby Boomers who have pushed the envelop and have created an entire industry that can help us work around the inevitable pull of gravity.

Skin cancer is a very serious matter. I had little knowledge of it until I bumped into a contact of mine who looked completely distraught.

When I asked Francesca* if she was okay because she looked very troubled she went on to describe how things were particularly difficult for her these days because a friend of the family (Rosamond*) got a final diagnostic from doctors.

Recent research shows there are two distinct types of aging. Aging caused by the genes we inherit is called intrinsic aging. While aging caused by extrinsic factors such as exposure to the sun is whole other ball game.

Intrinsic Aging a.k.a. Internal Aging

Internal aging, referred to by many wise souls as the natural aging process, is a continuous process that normally begins in our mid-20s. Even though our gene pool determines how quickly we’ll show the first signs of aging it’s safe to say that as early as our mid-20s the skin’s collagen production slows down and elastin (the substance that enables skin to snap back into place) has a bit less spring. Our mid- 20s reveal that dead skin cells don’t shed as quickly and turnover of new skin cells may decrease slightly. While these changes usually begin in our 20s, the signs of intrinsic aging are typically not visible for several decades (thank God for small miracles).

What are the many signs of internal aging on our skin?

It may be a pointless exercise to state the obvious, but I’ll enumerate them anyways:

• Fine wrinkles
• Thin and transparent skin
• Loss of underlying fat, leading to hollowed cheeks and eye sockets as well as noticeable loss of firmness on the hands and neck
• Bones shrink away from the skin due to bone loss, which causes sagging skin
• Dry skin that may itch
• Inability to sweat sufficiently to cool the skin

What are the many signs of external aging on our skin?

Most premature aging is caused by sun exposure. Repetitive facial expressions, gravity, sleeping positions and smoking are also factors that should not be ignored.

This might sound like a broken record but without protection from the sun’s rays, a few minutes of exposure each day over the years can cause noticeable changes to the skin. Freckles, age spots, spider veins on the face, rough and leathery skin, fine wrinkles that disappear when stretched, loose skin, a blotchy complexion, actinic keratoses (thick wart-like, rough, reddish patches of skin) can all be directly traced to sun exposure. Obviously, skin cancer is the most extreme (and most regrettable) form of sun exposure.

The new Millennium has brought about many changes in the way we define beauty past the age of 35. We often hear that “50” is the new “30”. A recent Toronto Star article (in November 2006) even went as far as declaring 60 as the new 30! Well, thanks to some promising anti-aging skincare treatments for aging skin, you can truly look 35 when your birth certificate says otherwise.

If you missed the original article, you might still want to read the highlights: Forever Young.

I’ve never really bought into the psychic-fortune-teller movement and most of my friends and contacts don’t really adhere to it either. I used to work with a woman who REALLY relied heavily on her psychic consultants. This was such a big departure for me that I became completely fascinated by her fascination and her belief in what these strangers would tell her about her future. She organized psychic parties and she would attend psychic fairs. I’ve attended her psychic parties, but refused to get my future read by a stranger who might or might not have real psychic abilities. I’ll admit to reading my horoscope once in a while published in freebie papers and magazines, but most of the time it’s to confirm how wrong they are.

Matt Dillon graced the screen as a young and eager boy in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Matt’s first film came out in 1979 which means that he is truly a veteran actor with almost three decades under his belt. He did a few forgetful roles in the early part of the new Millennium to emerge as an Academy Award-nominee for his role in the 78th Academy Award Oscar for Best Picture — Crash ( March 2005).

Today at 43, Matt Dillon (born in 1964) has certainly not allowed a few more candles on his birthday cake to change much in his toned physique. It’s also quite obvious from recent pictures that Matt takes great care of his skin and hair. Could it be Matt’s Irish lineage that allowed him to age so well or just the desire to look as good as he possibly can? Either case, he’s surely doing a good job at looking good in his 40s.

Matt is my Celebrity Beauty Match Pick because after almost 30 years on the silver screen, he’s definitely showed us how to age gracefully.

It’s surely not a major breakthrough that exposure to the sun and cigarettes are the two leading causes of wrinkles. Excessive sun exposure will produce unwanted changes in the skin with aging. How wrinkled your skin becomes depends largely on how much sun you have been exposed to in your lifetime. The more sun, the more wrinkles! Cigarette smoking will also seriously contribute to wrinkles, especially if you have a long history of chronic sun exposure.

Another factor to take into account in predicting your propensity for wrinkled skin is your gene pool. In most cases, wrinkles have a direct connection with the type of gene pool you’ve inherited. It’s a safe bet to say that if you’re parents had wrinkled skin at an early age; you might unfortunately be afflicted by the same condition.

It’s impossible not to be aware of the fact that as we grow older. With every passing year, our skin looks and feels differently.

From grey hair to wrinkles, Mother Nature can be tamed somewhat but she cannot be defeated. Here’s why: because skin is the body’s largest and most visible organ, the signs of aging and growing older can be very obvious. As we grow older, our skin changes a lot. It becomes drier, more wrinkled, spots appear and growths surface.

Anita Roddick (British founder of Body Shop) posted her picture a good fifteen to twenty years ago in all of her stores showing her face sans make-up and sans photo-retouching. I cannot remember how old I was, but I do know that wrinkles or aging (ageing as the Brits would say) was the last thing on my mind at the time. The image of Ms. Roddick with arrows pointing at her wrinkles with explanation of how she had acquired those particular wrinkles had fascinated me (it made such a strong impression on me that I still am talking about it today). There she was naked for all to see her life drawn on her face.

What a good headline, don’t you think? If anyone could bottle that statement in a liquid form…they would literally become rich overnight. The reality is that stopping the aging process is never (EVER) going to happen. I so would love to be a Dancing Queen, young and seventeen forever (thank you ABBA for that song), but it’s just not going to happen. I’ve always found that European women and especially French women (and men) have such a different approach to aging. It’s amazing how older French stars are still viewed as sexy even as they’ve aged.