Elderly and beautiful

Why do Russian women age worse than European women

Nikita Podgornov, "Snob"

Our older women are constantly compared with European women. They say that those in the West grow old beautiful and fit, but ours are all horror and darkness. You walk through Paris or Milan, and there everyone is glowing with youth and well-groomed, and in Russia you have to look away from these downcast faces.

Even here on the Snob, it seems like an enlightened public and progressive authors, but they still poke our women, literally in the face, that everything is hanging off, everything is unkempt, everything is ugly.

And if our woman has decided on plastic surgery, then she is, of course, an idiot. Because you need to age naturally, as Europeans do. When there is a little makeup and no braces, but still the face is neat and attractive until very old age. And Russian women are all unkempt, unenlightened, ignorant, and that's why they can't grow old normally.

But the lack of enlightenment and ignorance here is exclusively with the critics themselves. The aging of Russian women is very different from the aging of European women and this is a fact. But not because our women are idiots who launch themselves and do not want to be beautiful. And because the type of aging in most of our women is very difficult for anti-aging correction and the most counter-healing from an aesthetic point of view.

And this is a scientific and medical fact. This is not astrology with their Blizzen and Aries. These are not color types with their winter, spring and autumn. These are not even character types, which still have very vague outlines. Aging factors are what a person inherits, what he is born with and what he lives with all his life. At the level of biology. That is, proven chemical and biological processes.

And this understanding is the most important starting point. Cosmetology and aesthetic medicine are areas of science and evidence–based medicine, not some kind of beauty industry. These are serious medical disciplines: dermatology, trichology, orthopedics, etiology and a dozen more sections of medicine as a science.

It is impossible to think about such things as the correction of age-related changes in the same way as about the choice of foundation, hair coloring color or lip gloss. And, unfortunately, this is about how it happens. When women come to a beauty salon, they ask stylists or each other for tips on skin care and the best procedures for correcting the effects of aging. And this is just as pointless as asking the seller in the supermarket for advice on the treatment of bronchial asthma.  

And the authors also write articles somewhere at the level of advertising campaigns of beauty salons, when it is necessary to promote some "miraculous" method or apparatus with an "instant effect". And most often they do not take into account purely biological factors in their conclusions at all, criticizing women for allegedly ugly and incorrect aging.

How a woman ages is determined by several factors. These are biological causes, environmental stress factors and mechanical changes. And all these are large groups that include a lot of individual factors, the combination of which is purely individual for each person.

Biological factors are primarily a genetic predisposition. Our body, the organ of which is the skin, one day begins to age, i.e. begins to lose the ability to function normally. The processes of cell renewal slow down, microcirculation is disrupted, and metabolism becomes difficult. And the hormonal background is also deteriorating.  And this process begins early, even before the age of thirty. It cannot be canceled or even postponed. You can only minimize the negative effect.

The second factor is ecology. The influence of the environment on our skin, which performs the function of direct interaction of our body with the external environment. And then there is the sun, and temperature changes, and gas pollution, and bad weather with different extreme levels of humidity or dryness.  None of us lives in an eco-chamber with perfect UV radiation, humidity levels and chemical composition of the air, so ecology affects everyone.

The third factor is mechanics. We all have facial expressions. We move the muscles on the face, they shift the skin and wrinkles and creases form.

These three groups of factors are equal for everyone. But the types of aging are different for everyone. Because each of us has our own skin type, which we inherit.

Those most beautiful European women are a fine–wrinkled type of aging. The skin they inherited is thin and dry. There is almost no subcutaneous fat. But there is hyperkinetic muscle activity, or simply put: excessive muscle contraction. Which affects the early formation of wrinkles that cover the entire face. But purely architecturally, everything is fine. That at the age of 18, sharp rough facial features, that at 81. There are almost no gravitational changes. Nothing floats anywhere and does not fall into folds.

And this is a kind of standard of aging, which is set as an example for everyone. Of the minuses, only photoaging and the formation of pigment spots from the influence of UV. But the aesthetic advantages, it seems, are all in favor of a fine-wrinkled type of aging. Everyone wants to be like the aging Italians, Frenchwomen who got this type of skin.

Exactly got it. There is no special merit here, except that their ancestors decided to live in places where it is warm, lots of light and excellent humidity. And a good diet. That is, their skin type and their type of aging is a biological adaptation of the body to their lifestyle, diet and habitat. And this is over a very long distance. Hundreds of generations. Moving to the Cote d'Azur at the age of 25 will not help, you will still grow old as it is in the genes.

And the last thing that is important with this type of aging: it is easiest for aesthetic medicine to work with it. He is the most responsive. Botulinum therapy, biorefitalization, bio-reinforcement - the effects of these procedures are close to ideal. If plastic, then fine contour. Easy pilling. And that's it: creamy care, several procedures and carefree old age! Lucky ones!

Well, what our women got is a deformational type of aging. It is also called edematous. The skin is oily or combined, porous. With increased sensitivity. Subcutaneous fat is vividly expressed. Soft fabrics are voluminous and easy to move. With age, there are "wings" and a double chin. Bags under the eyes. Cheeks hang over the nasolabial fold. The oval of the face falls off.

And it's all just heredity. No options. I was born in the cold and winter. The ancestors lived here for generations – get this type of aging. But in childhood and adolescence, we have all nyashki-plump, with a beautiful oval face. The most beautiful Russian women in the world, about whom we like to talk so much, is a potential deformational type. She was a beauty in her youth, but she wasn't very lucky with the age effect.

And it's really unlucky. There's no other way to say it. From 60% of Russian women age with signs of deformational type of aging. And they are not to blame for this and there is no need to poke them with this! Because the big trouble is that almost all modern methods of age correction do not work with a cosmetologist. The skin is not bad. There are not much wrinkles. But it is very difficult to correct gravitational changes. There is a small effect from phototherapy, laser resurfacing and thread lifting. But tangible contour correction is achieved only through plastic surgery. That's why our women have such a love for plastic surgery. This is often the only way out.

So, what to do? First: get used to it. We need to take this fact for granted. Russian women are special. Do not compare them with anyone.

Second: pay more attention to prevention. Aging is not just about the skin. Aging is about the whole body. So you need to keep track of everything at once. No excess weight, a normal diet, physical activity. This is first of all. Even if you smear yourself with the best creams from head to toe and do not get out of the best cosmetic procedures, if you smoke, drink, do not get enough sleep, eat harmful and lead a sedentary lifestyle – everything will be very bad. So much so that not every plastic correction will give a good result.

Another important preventive detail is adequate awareness. There are big problems with this. To listen to some women, this is how they choose creams and procedures for themselves, as if they do not live in the 21st century, but somewhere in the Middle Ages. They have their own feelings, their own vision of aging, their own understanding of "what is suitable, what is not". And also the advice of friends who helped and therefore I need it.  

It's all got to be forgotten. Only a doctor can prescribe adequate procedures and cream prevention. Only taking into account individual characteristics and taking into account the condition of the skin in a particular! the period needs to be selected preventive procedures. At the level of analyses and specific data.

Okay, the cream mass market can be used without doctors. But there is not much effect there, since the content of active substances is minimal. Just taking into account that everyone will use it indiscriminately, and the principle there is "do no harm", and not such that it helps in any particular way.

Care products that really help are a separate category of professional cosmetics. These are pharmacy drugs, these are drugs from clinics. Rather than spend money on a basket of a weak mass market, it is better to consult a doctor. The price is the same. 

With procedures – the same thing. What helped a friend is not the fact that it will help you. What is called a "miracle procedure" is not a fact that it will not harm you. All this is extremely individual and the main thing here is not efficiency, but safety. Therefore, it is better to see a doctor who selects procedures based on a specific patient and his specific problem.

And the third, perhaps the most important thing in this text: we need to start changing aesthetic stereotypes. The fact that our women are aging with puffiness and gravitational effect is not darkness and horror. It's not ugly!

We evaluate such age-related changes too harshly. We praise the preservation of facial contouring too much. For example, there is nothing aesthetically terrible in the second chin of a woman over 45-50 years old. This is its peculiarity, no more. We came up with the idea that this is bad. It is not necessary to strive to pull it down, cut it down, adjust it, just for the sake of being like small-wrinkled Europeans. Let them grow old in their own way, and we will be in our own way. We have our own type, they have their own. No better and no worse.

Let us be chubby-chubby in childhood, cute rosy-cheeked in youth and with a special contour as adults. Beauty is determined by our attitude, not by standards.   

Be healthy!

P.S. There are several other types of aging: tired, combined, muscular. They are not so representative for Russian women, so I omitted their description and did not take into account the comparison. But information about them can always be found on the Internet or clarified at a consultation with a cosmetologist.

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