Naturally beautiful

Growing old gracefully is not 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 botched-up Botox jobs, only to end up with frozen faces. At the same time, there is a small breed of 60-plus Indian women who follow homegrown therapies despite their advancing years. They don’t believe in messing with Mother Nature. And, they still look beautiful with minimal make up — the true hallmark of natural beauty Bengaluru-based Anita Faria, former Miss Earth Nicole Faria’s mother, always seems to get a bevvy of admiring glances from people. We asked her about this new fad of unnatural beauty techniques and the beautiful mama said, “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.” She does feel strongly about natural beauty and not really keeping up with the Kardashians, so to speak. She says, “People are doing surgeries, Botox and fillers because they are either unhappy with how they look or want to look younger or enhance their features. I personally have not done it. I’m sure somewhere down the line, when I’m old and wrinkly, I may want to try it but for now I am quite happy with how I look.”

Endorsing this principle and keeping it simple by going back to the roots is Hyderabad’s Indira Subbarami Reddy. She is an entrepreneur in her late 60s and is living proof that age is just a number. “Since my childhood, I have always applied fresh ground almond paste on my face for a minimum of 30 minutes before taking a bath. I have never used soap on my face till date. I 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’m blessed with good genes. I have always had a good complexion,” she shares.

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. 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 yoga 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. Personally, I don’t like Botox or fillers because I think it drastically changes the shape of your face.

In Chennai, while actress Trisha Krishnan may make heads turn, the year has been very special for her mother Uma Krishnan who turns 60 in a month’s time. Uma spills her beauty secrets and says, “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, then I go for a walk. I do yoga and meditation too.”On advocating natural beauty she says, “Why would I do anything that goes against nature I let myself be just the way I am.” The 59-year-old adds, though, that stress is one factor which will affect your looks “I de-stress through exercise. It can be any form, be it gymming or yoga or a walk. Apart from the glow you get, it’s a real stress buster. Also, my doggies Zoya and Zorro keep me active. Of course, this is besides handling all of Trisha’s work related stuff,” she laughs.

Kerala’s Sreekumari Ramachandran is a woman who wears many caps. She is a writer, dancer, singer and an orator along with being a perfect example of timeless beauty. When asked about her beauty secrets, she says, “I am someone who does not even visit the beauty parlour except for trimming my hair. I do not like the irritating pain that threading the eyebrows or waxing causes.” She adds “ I follow a healthy diet and am particular about my intake of ghee, curd and butter. Since I am a vegetarian I also include fish oil capsules in my diet.”

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, Julie Sam