When your palagi friend pulls you to the side and whispers “have you heard about the latest anti-aging cream? It’s awesome!” O a ga mea o anti-aging? Well, we have much to learn about these things. Stopping the clock on our skin and on our faces is a trillion-dollar industry, look at the advertising on social media and the latest on television? Even Samoa is not that untouched?

Today, the teenagers on the billboards are caked with makeup and rightly so. It is a trend; it is selling and it is something that’s already here. I remember trying to find makeup artists here when I launched the Samoa Sinnet Fashion Show in 2016. It was a challenge as there were only a handful that wanted to put their hand up and be part of that platform.

Today, there is real competition here for makeup artists, hair stylists, photographers and the like. It is awesome to see young people getting paid for their hobbies. Hobbies that turn into good businesses. At the end of the day, if you are not getting paid for it, it remains a hobby regardless of how many people like your work.

We’d all like to look younger than our age now and Hollywood promotes expensive procedures, plastic surgery and other chemicals to do this. We have natural products sourced locally that can help with keeping skin moisture, some envied by the international markets as they are not so easily available. Take our coconut oil for example, Body Shop brand in the heart of London actually took a photo of me with the little Samoan flag and the coconut oil from Samoa! They have never met a Samoan from Samoa who knows how to make coconut oil and the original smell of a coconut oil. Imagine that!

I went to buy a gift basket for my apartment partner and instead I got interviewed about Samoa. What’s it like? Do people use coconut oil on their skin every day? People must have amazing hair and skin. I said “yes” to all those questions. Things we take for granted while living at home but much more appreciated when we leave.

Ageing is a simple and unavoidable fact of life. No matter how much we want to remain fresh faced like our eighteen-year-old or twenty-one-year-old selves, nope, not going to happen. Research shows that from the age of 25, the collagen that gives our skin its firmness begins to deplete. This leads to wrinkles, fine lines and loss of plumpness. With the multiple options, how can we help slow down this process?

The first step is to address the lifestyle factors that speed up the aging process : smoking, alcohol, sun damage, poor diet and stress! There are alternatives overseas that will cost you a pretty penny that I’ve never done, so I can’t really share about that. Skin tighteners, super hydrators, jowl melters fillers are all new to my vocab, ranging from $300-2000 per treatment. A strong pass.

However, we can watch our stress levels, alcohol intake, slap on some sunscreen, drink some water, eat wholesome food, exercise, get some great sleep and hang out with the people we love and love us in return. That is magic and so however many wrinkles we end up with on our faces, it will not matter. 

What matters more, is that we serve our purpose, help people that are placed in our lives, meet goals and happy within ourselves. Enjoy the rest of the week and don’t forget that sunscreen!