Lazy Germophobe

Today I was rummaging around in my basket of hair products and found my anti-aging serum . Ha! I haven’t used it for months. It’s not going to keep me young at the bottom of a basket. Speaking of aging, Paulina Porizkova was trending recently for posting a makeup-free selfie and an honest rant about getting older and the pressure to delay looking old for as long as possible. She’s 54. Like so many women our age, she struggles with saggy skin and the decision of when/whether to go gray. I love what she has to say ("I’ve changed my vision to gray hair being sexy and confident”), but her post still focuses on looks—how to embrace the appearance of our older faces and bodies—instead of how we think, act, and feel. I guess that’s a job hazard for a supermodel. Although, model or not, it truly is that glimpse in the mirror more than anything else that reminds us we are eternal beings housed in aging vessels. From the book Hardwired: Finding the God You Already Kno...

I always internally scoffed at skin “serums” and the suckers who paid a premium for them. You can buy a face cream for $8, but call it a serum and it goes for $24—for a fraction of the amount. (And that’s the cheap drug store serum.) What a racket! Who would fall for this scam? Haha! Then I read about hyaluronic acid. Google it if you’re unfamiliar—there are too many articles to link. This sounded quite legitimate to me. This substance naturally found in the skin attracts and retains water, making it an excellent moisturizer. Like everything else in the body, we lose it as we age. But it’s OK, because you can buy a serum with hyaluronic acid in it! The reviews are amazing! So I did it. I bought Neutrogena Hydro Boost because it was only $20, I could get it at Rite Aid, and it’s “#1 dermatologist recommended.” It smells and feels wonderful. It’s lovely to use. The thing is, I still look 49. See, I made a strategic error: As previously noted, I do not possess ...