Dynamic wrinkles are made by repeated facial movements. These are often Botoxed, which works by paralysing the underlying muscles. But these kind of wrinkles are actually the least aging of the three kinds of wrinkles. You'll notice that the "sexy old ladies" in advertisements retain a lot of their dynamic wrinkles, it´s the static wrinkles and the wrinkle ridges that are Photoshopped away.

   Personally I'm not a fan of Botox, because the lack of facial mimicry due to paralysed muscles makes the face look sad, and often even weird. For the same reason I'll never try to stop laughing or smiling so as not to create wrinkles. Laughter is one of the sexiest things on this planet.


So, which wrinkles are you creating ?

  We're creating dynamic wrinkles with every facial movement and expression. Looking around me, I'm surprised how many people walk around with scowls on their faces, frowns or annoyed expressions. Some of us do have serious worries on our mind, but most are scowling at the weather, the public transport, noisy kids, the prices of vegetables at the supermarket, the hair their cat has shed. It´s worse in some cultures than others, and some of the most guilty people come from the wealthiest countries with the best living standards. Go figure.

    How many times a day do you frown ? Try this test: glue a piece of cloth tape between your eyebrows, keep it on for a day (or at least the times when you're alone). This will make frowning difficult, and you'll be aware of every time you frown. Try it also at night, some people sleep the night through with a scowl or grimace.


Frowning is just another habit

   How many times did you catch yourself frowning, scowling and grimacing ? Why ? Was the cause worth the annoyance ? Were you frowning at the weather or some other thing that was beyond your control anyway ? Are you a Virgo that frowns at every paper on the street ? Does the frowning help in any way ? Does stressing and worrying about that issue help ?
   Maybe you should take things lighter ? Like smiling at the rain ? Or smiling more often ?


  You can try this test for other face parts. I realised that I wrinkle my forehead by raising it all the time, it's an unnecessary reflex and looks weird. I could totally live without it.


Squinting

  How about the under-eye area ? Are you squinting because your contact lenses prescription should be changed ? (Mine changes every couple of months). Do you squint in the sun ? You might need sunglasses, especially when wearing contacts, since they make the eyes more sensitive to sunlight.

Smoking

If you smoke, just google "smoker´s wrinkles". That should cure you.


Face movement isn´t bad !

  Instead of trying to make your face immobile, try increasing it´s suppleness by exercising it.


    You'll have wrinkles at 80 anyway, better make sure they are laugh lines.

Dynamic Wrinkles

  These wrinkles are caused by repeated muscle contractions. The facial expressions that we repeat most commonly create these lines. The most common are frown lines, crow's feet, smokers lines, the horizontal lines on the forehead, and laughter lines. That's the kind of lines that get Botoxed.

Static Wrinkles

  These wrinkles are caused by the loss of skin elasticity (break up of skin collagen) due to age, sun damage, environment, nutritional problems, etc. These wrinkles look like cross-hatch or very fine lines in places like the cheeks or forehead. They are called 'static' because they are visible even on poker-faces. You can't Botox these lines, and their appearance make the face look tired (dynamic wrinkles without static wrinkles make you look freshly old

Wrinkle Folds

  These are more folds and grooves than wrinkles, and are caused by "sagging of the underlying facial structures", which in plain English means that your facial muscles are limp. A typical wrinkle fold is the groove between the nose and the mouth.

   For those of you fed up of intricate blow-drying for root volume: try this at home. After washing your hair, tie it on the top of the head, and air-dry. The bun will look as sexy as Little My's in the picture above, so feel free to wash your hair in the evening and sleep with the bun. It's guaranteed to give lift and volume when you open the bun !

   Oh, and use a soft scrunchie, not an elastic that will pull or break the hair.

And here's another tip: don't condition the roots, only the tips !

   I've made running my errands is now a little greener. Inspired by this, and deciding I Am Not A Paper Cup is cool, I picked myself a reusable tumbler. Looks way better than plastic cups, and holds the hot chocolate hot much longer. I choose minimalist white, but I can't decide whether I want to exchange it for a black one with flowers appearing on it when something hot is poured inside. I can't decide whether that's stupid or cool. I suppose I could customise the white cup by decorating it, but I'm too lazy.

  The bread bag was my own idea. I realised I'm throwing away hundreds of paper bags in which they give you bread from the bakeries. It seems really wasteful to use a new one each day, so I got a couple of cotton bags that fold up really small. I wonder what the ladies at the bakery will think of it.

Typical shampoos meant for oily hair work by cleaning aggressively, and don't solve the problem. In fact, they often make it worse.

First of all, hardly anyone has oily hair. What most have is an oily scalp, which may be combined with oily, normal or dry hair.

   So what does someone with an oily scalp want from a shampoo ?  You might answer: clean hair, so that I can show myself in public without looking like Severus Snape.
That's what most shampoos do: they clean the oil away, leaving your hair squeaky clean. But only till the next day. If you don't shampoo your hair every two days or every day, you'll look like Snape. that's because the detergent in the shampoo irritates the oil glads, making them produce even more oil.

  A good shampoo should cure the problem, not just clean up the symptoms. Ok, the shampoo is not omnipotent, since it's only topical. Drinking less coffee and more water and fixing your diet works wonders for the hair. But back to the shampoo: first of all, it should not contain harsh detergents, aka SLS. Shampoos meant for greasy hair are loaded with it. SLS is also used in degreasing engines, that should give you an idea how strong it is. Throw it into the trash, and find something gentler. The first few days or weeks you hair will be greasy, because it will take some time to notice the gentler shampoo and calm down.
   Note: when you are using a SLS-free shampoo, you should avoid those silicones that won't come off the hair without SLS. There is a list of the 'good' and 'bad' silicones here.

   I used to have a very greasy scalp, and I went from L'Oreal and Head&Shoulders something to a home-made shampoo* for oily hair (the ingredient that helps with the oiliness is tea-tree oil). It worked so well that after some months I realised that my scalp isn't oily anymore, and now I make shampoo for normal hair. Oh, and I shampoo twice a week.