My husband tells me that my wrinkles are beautiful.  I love him for it, but do I really believe him?  The first two little wrinkles that appeared under each one of my eyes I reluctantly accepted as an inevitable progression into my thirties and motherhood.  However, when I spotted the vertical forehead wrinkles popping up, I was not quite so accepting.  Suddenly the desire to feel young overwhelmed me with an unexpected ferocity.  I threw my heart and soul into finding the “right” wrinkle cream that would magically transport my face to pre-baby status.

Flush with hope and naivety, I began enthusiastically slathering lavish amounts of various wrinkle creams around my eyes and forehead.  When that didn’t seem to work, I spread on even more cream until every night my eyes became greasy pools of desperation.  Needless to say that after a year of trying countless wrinkle creams on the market with little results, I moved on.  I am sure there are some wrinkle creams out there that do what they claim; I just never stumbled upon them. At that point, my naivety was shot and buried and cynicism had burrowed successfully into its place.

Since then, I have discovered on my own that there are some simple ways to prevent and minimize wrinkles.  Of course, this information would have been even more helpful ten years ago, but, live and learn…

Avoid the sun.  This is quite simple, avoid the sun and slather on sunscreen so that you won’t be slathering on wrinkle cream later in life

Sleep well.  Sleep is like its own secret pill in so many ways.  It keeps your body and mind healthy.  Without a good night’s sleep, your body becomes stressed and stress can pre-age your skin.

Exercise.  Exercise keeps the mind and body healthy which, in turn, will help keep your skin healthy and glowing.

Drink water.  Drink lots and lots of water!  Hydration is excellent for skin.  Water can actually help restore elasticity to your skin, which results in healthier looking skin with fewer wrinkles.

Eat healthy.  Yes, we all knew this one was coming.  Anything that will keep your body healthy will help keep your skin healthy, so eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and try to minimize starches and fats.

Take grape seed extract.  Grape seed extract is a proven anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory, both great for the skin.  Grape seed extract can also help maintain beautiful skin because of its anti-elastase activity.  This makes skin look more supple and pliant.

I do all of these things and they help my skin enormously, but will that stop my quest for the perfect wrinkle cream?  Well, I can’t promise that.  After all, there are so many carrots being dangled out there in commercials promising me younger looking skin.  Who am I to say they might not catch me in a weak moment while I am staring wistfully at the television, feeling depressed and shoveling large quantities of cookies down my throat?

I will try to resist though. I will try to avoid Botox and plastic surgery and all the new wrinkle creams that pop up on the market.  I will resist these until I can resist no longer.  I will always make sure to watch my diet, exercise, drink water, avoid the sun, sleep well and take my grape seed extract.  But, as far as wrinkle creams go, maybe I should just give up the fight and accept myself and all the wrinkles that now accompany me.

Perhaps my husband is right and there is such a thing as beautiful wrinkles after all…

RESOURCES
http://www.supplementfacts.com/BioflavonoidBookS4.htm
http://www.essortment.com/lifestyle/waysslowdownw_smmy.htm