Today after I got out of the shower, I immediately put moisturizer on my face. This is not a new routine of mine - I’ve been using moisturizer since I was 14 years old. I’m actually pretty obsessive-compulsive about it, to be honest. But now I’m concerned I’m not doing enough.
It’s strange, how preventative I am about some things and how lazy I am about others. I rarely floss my teeth (it squicks me out) and I don’t really ever use lotion on my legs or elbows. I eat fairly healthy though at times I’ve been known to throw caution to the wind and eat 6 pieces of cheese pizza. I really don’t get enough exercise, especially not lately (and definitely not during my 5 days of vacation where I spent the majority of it laying around in bed watching Unsolved Mysteries and Iron Chef marathons). Sometimes when I leave my house in the mornings, my hair is unbrushed and wet. I haven’t plucked my eyebrows since… um… a long time.
When people find out about my skin care obsession, I always think to myself that they’re thinking, “Her? Really?” a la Michael Bluth versus Ann. It’s just a self-esteem thing, because really, I have awesome skin. I never wear makeup except on special occasions like meeting all 72 of Marques’s cousins (just kidding, he doesn’t really have 72 of them, but he does have a lot) because I don’t HAVE to wear makeup. Sure, I’ve got little freckles and my cheeks get pink when I get hot, but for the most part, my skin is rocking.
But now there’s this little nagging scratch in the back of my head every single time I see a commercial for Olay Regenerist or plumping eye gel roller wands. I have to wonder if I should start using that TODAY to prevent wrinkles when I’m 50. It’s not that I’m against wrinkles - if I get them, I get them, and I won’t be one of those women who Botox the shit out of my face. But I would actually prefer it if I could wait to get them until I’m like, 60, and have fully earned them.
My backup plan is just to stay fat. Fat people almost never have any wrinkles. But then I would probably die early of heart disease or have to get my feet amputated due to a rampant case of diabetes (let me just say here and now that if I ever do develop diabetes, I will probably die because I really just don’t think I can give up occasional chocolate and cupcakes) which would really defeat the whole purpose of getting old and getting wrinkles.
In the meantime, I’ve been checking out the area around my eyes, keeping tabs. I’ve thought about taking a picture of my eye area every day so a wrinkle can’t just sneak up on me out of nowhere, like “Hey, there’s a wrinkle, was it here yesterday? Hm, probably” because I am a really unobservant person. Good thing I chose to be a journalist.
But then I think that I am just crazy. Eye pictures? 20 dollar Regenerist creams? I’m turning 26. I have no kids, no husband, no real concerns. I don’t live a stressful life, I enjoy my job, I get lots of sleep. My biggest complaints are having to stick a pen in our gearshift to make it work and when Trader Joe’s runs out of salsa. I am probably doing better than 94% of the people out there. My eyes are fine.
For now.
(Sidenote: If there was a way I could file this under the category “I am ridiculous” a thousand times, I would. Sometimes I need to jam a pen in my eye to stop being so silly.)
From someone who (sniff sniff) is no longer 26:
1.) Yes, start with the eyecream NOW. And buy rubber gloves and sunscreen the crap out of your hands.
2.) The eye wrinkles aren’t the first ones to come-it’s that one line right around the center of your neck.
3.) Besides that, just enjoy being 26, as it goes by fast!
you are so funny, ashley!
Yup, the same thing started happening to me recently… I am just on 27.
My aunt says, “What are you worried about? Your skin is FINE!”
I say,”Yes, and I’ve suddenly decided I would like it to stay that way.”
Of course, being a tightwad, I’ve been buying the Walgreens generic regenerist stuff. LOL. It smells nice anyway.
i became obsessed with my eyes in my late 20s. i went and had a spa treatment done to them called an “eye countour” (which is basically a high priced mask but on your eyes by a pro) the results were bad to say the least, my eyes turned really puffy, almost like i had pink eye!!! i have not messed with my eyes since (at home or anywhere else!)