While skincare and skin health occupy a large part of my mind, life outside Skin Botanist is filled with plenty of other interests and passions. I’m often deep in research, trying to work out how on earth to raise my daughter in a world that can feel as though it’s falling apart on one hand, while offering extraordinary new possibilities on the other.
I love scrolling through healthy food content and putting new recipes to the test in my trusty Thermomix. I’m also an avid reader and enjoy attending author talks, going to the cinema and theatre, and revisiting old films. Having spent much of my teenage years studying the performing arts, that world has always held a special place in my heart.
A few weeks ago, I watched 84 Charing Cross Road on SBS. I’m sure many people would scroll straight past this classic while browsing the catalogue, but after a week of harrowing global news, a story centred on books, letter writing and a slowly unfolding friendship felt like just the ticket.
It is a beautiful film on so many levels, and I highly recommend it to my fellow bookworms. But the reason I’m mentioning it on the Skin Botanist blog isn’t the cinematography, the clever dialogue or even its heartbreaking moments of humanity. It was the sight of an “untouched” face that stayed with me.
What do I mean by an untouched face?
The film’s heroine, Helene Hanff, is played by the gorgeous Anne Bancroft, who was 55 at the time.
As the story unfolded, I became increasingly aware of how rarely we see faces like hers on screen anymore. A pronounced nose. Smile lines. Genuine smiles, for that matter, rather than the modern pout. Grey streaks in her hair. Understated makeup (or barely any at all). Teeth that hinted at a life spent enjoying coffee and red wine.
Most importantly, hers was a face with character. It reflected a life lived, with a vibrant personality shining through every expression.
How have we gotten to this place? Where a 55 year old woman is expected to look 25? Where invasive and expensive treatments and products are the norm? Where the lines on our face are to be hidden or smudged out with shame rather than being celebrated and proclaiming to the world “I am grateful to be alive and to be counting the years!”.
Much of what drives my passion for the work I do at Skin Botanist is the desire to help my customers nurture their skin back to health and feel comfortable with the journey it has taken so far.
I certainly didn’t do all the right things when I was younger. I would sit in the sun for hours without sunscreen or a hat. Heck, I even covered myself in coconut tanning oil in pursuit of that golden glow. I know better now, and I have the battle scars on my face to prove it.
I have sunspots. I developed pigmentation after having my daughter. I have worry lines and smile lines. My skin isn’t perfect. It shows 42 years of living, and I’m okay with that. My face tells my story. It hasn’t been Botoxed into stillness or lasered away.
I care for my skin properly now, but it took years of learning, trial and error to reach this point. Caring for our skin doesn’t have to mean erasing every sign that we have lived.
It saddens me that expressive, dynamic faces like Anne Bancroft’s are now so few and far between on social media and the big screen. So many faces are being altered to fit the same ideal, gradually erasing the individuality, cultural heritage and personal stories that make each of us unique.
I hope my daughter’s generation learns from mine. I hope they embrace and care for the skin and bodies they have been blessed with, without feeling the need to look like anyone other than themselves.
And, of course, I hope they remember to wear sunscreen and a hat.
