OLEDA TALKS….On AgeLess BEAUTY AND HEALTH I can hear you, “My neck looks older than my face, what can I do?”

By: Oleda Baker

Dear Friend,

Over the years, many women have said to me, “I hate having an older looking neck…is there anything I can do to make it younger looking?” And recently, a young woman asked, “I don’t want my neck to start looking old; what can I do to prevent it?”

Actually, there’s a lot you can do.

1. Treat your neck and your face as ONE. However and whenever you treat the skin on your face, do exactly the same thing on the skin of your neck. If you are moisturizing, using a night cream or having a facial treatment, include your neck…always. If you don’t, you will eventually have soft, youthful facial skin, but with a neck that feels like sandpaper and looks rough and coarse.

2. The skin of the neck is thin, so the sun will do its aging damage quickly. We all have seen people with wrinkled necks that look so much older than the rest of their body, especially their face. Those people may have protected their faces from the sun, but forgot about their necks, thinking perhaps that the sun couldn’t get to it. Remember, if you wear a short hairstyle, the back and sides of your neck will be exposed whenever you’re out in the sun. Make sure you spread a sun block all over your neck, as well as the other exposed areas of skin when you’re outdoors for any length of time. If you are wearing a hat for protection against the sun, be sure it hides the back and sides of your neck, too. Whenever I go riding or fly-fishing, I wear hats with wide enough brims so I’m completed protected. (My hair is long, but I tie it back when I do these sports.)

3. Added weight goes right to the jaw, chin and neck. If you have put on weight and your neck is getting a little “fleshy”, lose the weight and you’ll see a big difference. When you put on weight, it often concentrates under the chin, in the neck, and stomach first. The good news is that you’ll lose it there first when you decide to slim down.

4. It’s important to massage your neck lightly when you cleanse your face at night. Make a slow, upward, outward motion toward your chin. Use a moisturizer or cream while doing this so your fingers do not “pull or stretch” the skin too much. This also stimulates the small capillaries, bringing more oxygenizing blood to the surface.

5. Try to get accustomed to sleeping on a flatter pillow so that your neck is “stretched out” more, rather than curled down into your chest.

6. Good posture will do a great deal to promote a younger-looking neck. Keeping your back straight and chin up forces a more youthful look. Curved back, chin down will give almost anyone an older looking neck. This is almost the first thing a NY photographer’s model learns when in front of the camera. Have you seen pictures of yourself and thought, “I didn’t realize I have a double chin!” Well you may not. Were you sitting down with a curved back and your chin down when the picture was taken? No Model would ever do that, if she wanted a return booking. For fun, get someone to take a profile picture of you sitting both ways – I promise once you see the difference you will NEVER sit slouched again!

Until next time…..Love, Oleda

Biography

About Oleda Baker: Oleda, 75, began her career as a high fashion model with the prestigious Wilhelmina Model Agency, in New York City, doing print and TV assignments in New York and Europe. She is the author of ten books on beauty and health. She was beauty editor of Model’s Circle, a monthly beauty magazine, for which she was also responsible for two articles filling three pages a month. Oleda is founder and CEO of Oleda and Company, Inc her 37-year-old anti-aging products company. www.oleda.com Her latest book, “BREAKING THE AGE BARRIER Great Looks and Health at Any Age,” is due out in October 2010 Oleda is also a visionary artist. Her oil paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the country, the latest one happening last year at the Museum of Florida Art, DeLand.