Dont Stop Thinking About Tomorrow

I have never added up just how much money I spend every year on beauty products and treatments. Probably the sum would shame me. Still, I’m sure it is less than the $7398 that Charla Krupp , author of How Not to Look Old, admits to spending on her upkeep. Looking young requires a team of experts, from stylists to colorists, from manicurists to eyebrow sculptors. Although I am hardly immune to the siren song of forever young (after all, I bought the book!), I don’t have the inclination or the income to keep up with the beauty routines recommended here.

To be fair, this is not a book about plastic surgery; many of the interventions Krupp recommends are not expensive or terribly time consuming. Buy skin care products, get a better hair cut, hem your skirts. Nonetheless, the underlying message is dire: without taking steps to hold back Father Time, you can easily lose your self-respect, your significant other, and even your job. (She’s in television and so has a right to be worried.)

Krupp divides women over forty into two groups determined by style, not age. The Old Ladies (OL) consistently lose out to the Young and Hip (Y&H). OL style consists of red lipstick, elastic waist pants and sensible shoes. Elements of the Y&H aesthetic include pink lipstick, feathered bangs, and bare legs. All women can be Y&H if they will only abandon their OL ways.

But do we all want to be Y&H? I for one want many more alternatives to aging with style and grace that the one vision offered here. But then again, I have tenure and don’t have to worry about losing my job.