Beauty in our 20’s may differ from beauty in our 60’s, but we don’t need to show our age like the growth rings in a tree trunk. In other words, age doesn’t have to be etched in, but rather filtered with the blur tool from photoshop.

The mistake many women make on the road from twenty to sixty is accepting their “fate.” How many times have you thought to yourself, or heard another woman say, “well, I’m 40 years old, it’s harder to lose the weight,” or “I don’t have time to be bothered with my hair, I just cut it all off.” These are self defeating statements that take you down one fork in the road that will have you feeling older than your age in no time.

The Forks In The Road

Somewhere around our thirties, the first fork in your beauty road presents itself. What we took for granted in our twenties, is now a little harder to maintain. We may be full into our careers, working long hours, or maybe we’re starting a family and raising little ones, or we might be juggling it all, career, relationship, and family. That can leave little time for ourselves.

In our twenties, we had the time to spend in the mirror perfecting our makeup routine, blow drying and curling our hair, and picking out our outfit for the day. Jump ahead to our thirties, and our make up routine may consist of some mascara and lip gloss, applied with a baby on our hip, and a toddler tossing our makeup brush into the toilet, before we rush around the house looking for our missing shoe, trying to get to work on time. As we kiss our husband goodbye, we toss our hair into a low ponytail, and out the door we go.

By the time we hit our 40’s we find ourselves sitting in a chair at the hair salon, heading down another fork in the road. This time, with the harsh lights of the salon showing every little wrinkle on our skin, we ask for more blond highlights to hide the 50 shades of gray sprinkled throughout our newly angled bob haircut. Standing up in our mom jeans and flip flops, we just tipped our stylist for completing our transition into ho-hum.

Rewind

What if we chose the other fork? What is down that road? Let’s go back to the first fork, the one in our thirties. While we still pursued careers, or got married and had kids, or did all of it, we didn’t take our beauty for granted, instead we kept it on our priority list.

What if, blended our beauty routine with all the other craziness in our lives?

Tips For Squeezing In Beauty Time

• Brushing Your Teeth

You fall asleep on the couch, waking up exhausted and stumble toward your bedroom. The last thing you want to do is brush your teeth, but most of us take one last pee before hitting the hay. As you sit down, grab your toothbrush, load it up, and brush while you pee. Boom, you just multi-tasked.

• Moisturizing

So you forgot to wash off your make up and moisturize before bed. Find a jar that is roughly the same diameter as those round cotton make up pads. Push a stack inside the jar and then fill with coconut oil. Cover and keep on your nightstand. As you hop into bed, open the jar, grab a pre-soaked pad, run over your eyes, lips, and face, and voila, your make up is removed and your face is moisturized. Good  night!

• Nutrition For The Skin

Add flax seeds and berries to kefir and blend, cover and take on the road. Flax is packed with Omega 3 fatty acids for healthy skin.

Make a homemade bone broth on Sunday, and take it to work with you with veggies in it for lunch. Or buy bone broth from your health food store. The collagen in the broth will plump up your skin, keeping it more youthful.

Freeze some tuna or salmon steaks, individually seasoned in tin foil. Pop a couple int he oven when you get home, and let it cook while you undress, deal with your kids, and pay attention to your husband.

Add some supplements to your morning routine, like Salmon oil and biotin, and            don’t forget to take your vitamins.

• Working Out

Don’t have time to work out? Take a workout outfit and a pair of sneakers to work           and go for a walk or run for lunch. Squeeze in a 10 minute HIIT workout by getting up 15 minutes earlier in the morning, or as your dinner cooks. Take baby for a walk or run in their stroller. Do yoga with the kids.

• Your Hair

Wash your hair at night and instead of drying it make head band curls by placing a headband over your head, from the mid-top of your head to the nape of your neck. Starting on one side, flip the hair through the head band, wrapping it  around and around, picking up new pieces of hair as you get to the back. Do the other side, until all hair is wrapped around the headband. Sleep on it, and awaken to full, shiny curls.

Let your hair go three days without washing by using a dry shampoo, and putting           your hair in a high bun for workouts and sleep, to keep it from getting greasy.

The Biggest Agers

• Going Blonde

This doesn’t go for natural blonds, but if you’re a brunette or red head, stay a       brunette or red head. Yes, it’s harder to conceal grays, but shiny brown or red hair is more youthful than over processed and over bleached blonde hair.  Instead, add a few face framing highlights that are no more than 2 shades lighter   than your natural color. Add some to your part as well. This is enough to     camouflage the gray while keeping it youthful looking.

Or you can go completely in the other direction, and play around with the new gray colors that are so hot right now. Go all gray, or white, add a lilac bayalage, and you’ll be one hot mama.

• Cutting Off Your Hair

If you love a certain short cut, then by all means cut your hair. If your hair is thin and has split ends, cut your hair, but don’t do it just because you reach a certain  age, or it’s easier. Keeping your hair just below your shoulders is sexy and keeps  you looking youthful. If you have long, lustrous hair, keep it long. There is no rule that says that you have to cut your hair short after the age of 40.

Hell, you can go all gray or white, and rock bra length hair, with lilac or blue         highlights or a bayalage. How gorgeous does that sound?

• Over Tanning

Forget the tanning beds. It’s a sure fire way to make your skin age faster, and being overly tanned brings out all your flaws. Go easy on self tanners, too. They are drying to the skin and settle in any, and all wrinkles, you may have. A little glow is all you need.

• Too Much Filler

That overfilled look is one way to tell the world that you are older and not liking it.           Instead, strategically place the filler so a little goes a long way. Subtle apple  cheeks is all you may need.

 Too Much Botox

Forget botoxing your entire forehead. Instead, do the elevens, and the one big  line across your forehead. You want to make sure you can still move your eyebrows. Hit up those crows feet, too.

• Trout Pout Lips

 Ugg, this is the worst. Those big trouty lips may look good on Kylie Jenner, and that’s questionable but on anyone over 40, it’s a telltale sign of your age. Instead,   go subtle. If you have a thinning top lip, add a little to the cupids bow and ridge.

Summary:

Life can take us by surprise and before we know it, we’ve fallen into a rut. There’s always time for you and your beauty routine if you get creative. Remember that less is more and there are no rules anymore. Be unique. Be creative. And, be YOU