Growing old gracefully is not about ageing badly — nor is it about desperately resorting to facial surgeries to de-accelerate the aging process! At the first sign of a wrinkle, many 40 plus women turn to badly botched-up botox jobs, only to end up with frozen faces. But there is this small breed of Indian women who follow homegrown therapies despite their advancing years. We talk to a few of them, who have aged gracefully over the years, and find out their beauty mantras!
While actress Trisha may be the one making heads turn, would you believe that her gorgeous mom, Uma Krishnan, turns 60 in a month’s time? Uma spills her beauty secrets — “I believe in growing old gracefully, which means no botox or fillers for me. If you keep yourself active and fit, the rest will fall into place! I hit the gym everyday for an hour and if I don’t, I’ll go for a walk. I do yoga and meditation too.”
On advocating natural beauty, she says, “Why would I do anything, which goes against nature? I let myself be just the way I am.” The 59-year-old adds that stress is one factor, which will affect your looks though — “I destress through exercise. It can be any form — gymming, yoga or walk. Also, my doggies Zoya and Zorro keep me active. Of course, this is besides handling all of Trisha’s work-related stuff!” she laughs.
Miss Earth 2010 Nicole Faria’s mother Anita Faria always seems to get a bevy of admiring glances from people. We asked her about this new fad of unnatural beauty techniques and the beautiful mama says, “I have always maintained my skin from the time I was a little girl. I would always use moisturiser and lotions liberally on my face and body. My skin regimen consists of regular facials, eating nutritious foods and working on my facial muscles through various daily exercises. Genes have a lot to do with how you or your kids look — but maintenance of skin, body and mind go hand in hand and will give you the radiance you have always dreamed of. I work out, eat right and regularly pamper my skin.”
The Bengaluru-based woman, who strongly advocates natural beauty, adds, “People are doing surgeries because they are either unhappy with how they look or want to look younger. I’m sure sometime down the line when I’m old and wrinkled I may want to try it, but for now I am quite happy with the way I look!”
Keeping it simple by going back to the roots is Hyderabad’s Indira Subbarami Reddy. This entrepreneur, in her late 60s. is living proof that age is just a number.
“Since my childhood, I have applied fresh ground almond paste on my face for a minimum of 30 mins before taking a bath. I have never used soap on my face till date and make it a point to wash my face with moong dal powder and that’s it. I only go for a facial massage once in two months. Maybe I am blessed with good genes — plus I’ve always had a good complexion,” she quips.
Genes continue to be the overriding factor in these ladies’ lives — but sometimes even good genes don’t help if your lifestyle is all wrong! The gorgeous Mumbai based actress, Suhasini Mulay, endorses this belief. “I eat healthy — I have never been fond of eating oily food right since childhood. My diet consists of a lot of salads — I liberally include a lot of fruits and vegetables in every meal. I follow the Jane Fonda exercise, which is meant for seniors, and of course, yoga. I have been doing yogasana long before variants like power yoga became popular.
When I feel my skin’s looking tired, I take 12 neem leaves and have those with turmeric. Personally this has helped me a lot. Also, I stay away from moisturisers. I prefer keeping my skin supple by using a light oil. I don’t like botox or fillers, because I think it changes the shape of your face.”
Kerala’s Sreekumari Ramachandran is a woman who wears many caps. The writer, dancer , singer and orator is a perfect example of timeless beauty. When asked about what her beauty secrets are, she says, “I am someone who does not even visit the beauty parlour, except for trimming my hair! I don’t like the irritating pain that threading the eyebrow or waxing causes.” She adds, “ I follow a healthy diet and am particular about intake of ghee, curd or butter. Since I am a vegetarian, I also include fish oil capsules.”
On artificial beauty enhancement methods that many senior women resort to, she opines, “I do not support any kind of artificial methods of beauty enhancement such as botox or surgeries. It is always better to avoid such methods.”
(with inputs from Suruchi Kapur-Gomes, Deepthi Sreenivasan, Anupama Subramanian, and Julie Sam)
