LOVE IT AND LEAVE IT ALONE

The Dove Pro-Age campaign, with its midlife bare beauties, might be called Real Age.
These true life models are how women of a certain age really look. Not air-brushed or digitalized. Not lifted, stapled or remodeled. Just real women. Lovely in their own ways, wearing nothing but their years. Individual and imperfect.

What a relief, to see such women in fashion magazines and up on billboards. Imagine, if we saw faces and bodies like this all the time it wouldn’t be such a shock when our own faces grew lined and our bodies acquired dimples where we never had them before.

As I wrote in my newspaper column (Santa Rosa Press Democrat, March 25, 2007) the very idea that a beauty product line could call itself pro-age is as rare a marketing ploy as showing mature women out of their sweatpants.

What a boost for those in the “I’ve earned my wrinkles camp,” who are constantly bombarded by cultural messages that image is everything and the younger the better and we better hurry on out and buy all the anti-aging, wrinkle-ridding potions we can.

Suddenly even that face in the mirror looks pretty darned good.

No More Wallflowers

At a flamenco class I met a 55-year-old woman whose earlier teacher corrected her posture by saying, “Your breasts must be like horns of bull.” The attitude adjustment sounded great, but what, I asked, had it done for her body. She said it's helped her drop one dress size and put her in better shape than she’s been in her life.

At the same dance class I watched a woman dip and swish in a red and gold skirt and then rush out of class early...to plan her 70th birthday party. The teacher that night was a high-boned, straight-backed, elegant 60-year-old with a hibiscus in her hair.

I pass this on to any woman of a certain age who thinks that the only way to get moving is with a spinning bike or Pilates class, both of which do great things but aren't as much fun as getting out on the floor and maybe even getting to wear cool shoes.

All kinds of dancing - flamenco, clogging, salsa - work on the heart, lungs and bones. Plus, researchers say, dancing is is one of the best ways to keep your brain limber. Dancing forces the brain to rewire itself to learn new footwork and challenges it to stay alert to sudden changes when the music, or your partner, or your teacher calls for a tricky move.

Judith Hanna, University of Maryland anthropologist and dance expert, says “Dance is the body sounding off.” It’s also a great stress-reducer and cure for depression, claims Hanna, who at age 70 does Afro-Cuban dance, salsa and flamenco, only recently giving up hip hop because she had to get up and down on the floor too fast.