Undoing the Lines of Old Age

As we advance in years certain lines appear on theextending downward with a slight inward curve.
face and neck, which we associate with age. ButWrinkles on the forehead with a slight downward bend
these marks of physical deterioration are more oftenat the ends which parallel the line of the eyebrows,
due to neglect than to years. Some women, forappear. These are generally from three to five in
instance who are twenty-five, may appear ten yearsnumber, according to one's age. The wrinkles
older.commonly called "crow's feet" spread, fanwise, from
The preservation of the celebrated beauty of thethe outer corners, of the eyes over the temples, and
sixteenth century, Ninon de L'Enclos, is a well-knownare also usually from three to five in number.
instance of this theory. This woman was remarkableThe skin below the eyes becomes loose and creased.
for her wonderful physical preservations. At the age ofThese creased lines start from the corners of the
eighty, creditable authorities state she retained theeyes, slightly curving and overlapping each other. By
great beauty of her girlhood. Her face having thethis time one or two lines usually appear at the sides
freshness of youth, and being as free from the lines ofof the neck, commencing at a point back of the ears,
age as it had been at twenty and her white-powderedextending below the jaw, and slanting downward to
hair, then fashionable, added to her youthfulthe throat. Immediately behind the ears, too, the skin
appearance.becomes slightly loose; two short wrinkles form, and a
From the data the writer has been able to gather, herline appears extending down to, and under, the neck.
smoothness of skin and freedom from wrinkles wasAt the next stage a great number of very short, tiny
due solely to persistent daily friction of the skin of herlines begin to appear all over the face and neck -
face, combined with an exercise for the muscles ofsome parallel, others intersecting. These lines give the
the neck and throat. Little was known of the laws ofskin a withered appearance. The freshness of youth
scientific physical culture at that time, but as Madam dehas departed. Now, the skin under the chin becomes
L'Enclos retained her elasticity of body and gracefulloose, too. All of the long lines meet and overlay and
figure to the last, it is evident that some system ofinterweave, and combine with the short ones, just
exercises was systematically and persistentlyappearing to form a tangled web of crisscrossing that
practiced. In that way alone could her youthful conditiondeepen as the years advance. This is the skein of life.
have been preserved.This is the spinning of time. And the pattern is never
Usually the first marks left by time on the humanbeautiful!
features - and they are common to us all - are theThe only sure method of erasing these lines is by
wrinkles extending from the nostrils to the corners offriction. And this is best accomplished with the palms of
the mouth and beyond. As the years advance thesethe hands. This treatment, if began when the disfiguring
are joined by parallel wrinkles, somewhat shorter,lines first appear, and if methodically and daily practiced
about half an inch distant on the cheek. Still later,along with the exercises for the muscles of the face
another, and even shorter, wrinkle appears at a furtherand neck, will surely result in a very marked and
distance of less than half an inch. Others are alsosatisfactory improvement in the personal appearance.
formed, beginning at the corners of the mouth, and