Elizabeth, 89, is the teacher of Sheila, her hairstylist, Shelia's mother, and Shelia's daughter. Three generations of women. She is the sweetest southern woman I ever did meet...soft spoken and wise. She has been working with Sheila for 40 years.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Elizabeth, Brantley, AL
Elizabeth, 89, is the teacher of Sheila, her hairstylist, Shelia's mother, and Shelia's daughter. Three generations of women. She is the sweetest southern woman I ever did meet...soft spoken and wise. She has been working with Sheila for 40 years.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Pauline, Conroe, TX
Look at that smile and that pure white snowy hair! Pauline recently had a new pacemaker replaced and was in pain, but you would never know it. It was like she was visiting a family member as she told Kathie, her hairstylist, all about the procedure and you could see her pain falling away as she and Kathie engaged in conversation. Pauline and I chatted a bit while she was waiting to get her hair done...and she leaned over to me and in her sweet southern accent asked, "so what do you think about your First Lady gardening in high heels?" I love southern women!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Timeless Beauty-Guest Post by Rebecca Elia
I am so happy to have found Rebecca Elia on Twitter and so excited to post her words and thoughts on Timeless Beauty on my blog. Please visit her website and the links she has generously provided.
Timeless Beauty
Once again, I am thankful to Twitter for connecting me with like-minded people. More and more women are exploring our society’s refusal to accept death and aging, and, lately, they’ve been tweeting about it. Elissa Stein, author of FLOW is working on her next book project, Wrinkle and her recent Huffington Post piece, The Age of Invisibility, was about our mistreatment of the elderly. Through twitter, I also learned of Robbie Kaye’s work.
It’s time to address this peculiar societal dysfunction.
In the not so distant past, the anorexic teenager was our society’s single representation of beauty. The Twiggy template lived on, decades beyond her actual owner. Dove’s relatively recent campaign was one of the first to use normal-looking normal-sized women models. Their famous Evolution video revealed the false representation of the final icon of a female model that appeared on a billboard. By the time the initial picture was adjusted, it was so far removed from the original that it was difficult to connect the two. Our sense of beauty, both outer and inner, has become unbelievably warped.
It took my traveling to Greece to become aware of just how culture-specific beauty is. I was relieved when I discovered that the Greeks were blind to the dark hair on my body that was deemed socially-unacceptable in the U.S. I was thrilled that women who we would consider overweight showed no hesitation in wearing tight clothes in public or bikinis on the beach.
But there was another difference, and this one had more to do with inner beauty. In Greece, the elderly were cared for, honored, and respected by their families. Often, these elderly women provided the structure and foundation for the family. Many of my Greek friends were raised by their yiayias (grandmothers). Because the Greeks are a very social people, I had more conversations with elderly women there than I did with one of my own grandmothers. I could not return to my apartment without talking with a yiayia who lived in my neighborhood. She would pull out a seat cushion and rush to make Greek coffee when she saw me approaching her marble steps. In fact, I had to add an extra thirty to sixty minutes to my trip home if I didn’t return during her afternoon nap.
These grandmothers not only shared their life wisdom with me but provided me with such a strong sense of family and stability that it eased the 6,000+ mile distance from my real family. Looking at the world through their eyes provided me with an immediate sense of what is truly important. Linear time disappeared. Relationships and relating became crucial. It was clear that what we do is not as essential as how we do it, and that those we love are more important than anything else in this world. The emphasis on artificial physical beauty disappeared in a land where nothing could be more gorgeous than the dramatic scenery, weathered by the same natural elements that wrinkled the lovely faces of the elderly.
I became aware of another striking difference. These Greek women lived each day in the present moment, just as children do. In fact, they lived their entire lives in this way. This was a country in which the natural cycles of life were recognized and death was accepted along with life. The Greeks understood that in order for anything new to be created, the old must dissolve. They remembered what we have forgotten, that unrestricted growth is unsustainable and undesirable.
Both of my biological grandmothers died long ago. Now, more than ever, I absorb my mother’s memories of her mother and her mother’s generation. Not wanting to miss any of their wisdom, I grab hold before it disappears forever. By forgetting her, I lose. By forgetting them, we all lose.
Ours is a young nation. How can we expect to mature without the wisdom of our elders? We are quickly destroying our earth and ourselves. The longer we hold onto this notion of unrestricted growth, the more we destroy. When will we, as a nation, begin to face our fears about aging and death and, instead, honor the hard-earned wisdom of our elders? When will we see their true beauty? Until we do, we will remain blind to our own.
Bio:
Rebecca Elia is a Holistic Gynecologist who is more interested in creating health than in curing disease. Her forthcoming book, Creating Feminine Health, Finding Balance in a Masculine World addresses the consequences of valuing masculine qualities over feminine ones, including our society’s difficulty in accepting, let alone honoring, aging and elder wisdom.
Website: www.rebeccaelia.com You may sign up for her free Creating Feminine Health Newsletter on the homepage of her website.
Blog: www.rebeccaeliablog.blogspot.com
Links in Post:
Elissa Stein’s blog: http://elissastein.blogspot.com/
Elissa’s Huff Po post: The Age of Invisibility http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elissa-stein/the-age-of-invisibility_b_400896.html
Dove’s Evolution video: http://rebeccaeliablog.blogspot.com/2009/08/evolution-courtesy-of-dove_16.html
Timeless Beauty
Once again, I am thankful to Twitter for connecting me with like-minded people. More and more women are exploring our society’s refusal to accept death and aging, and, lately, they’ve been tweeting about it. Elissa Stein, author of FLOW is working on her next book project, Wrinkle and her recent Huffington Post piece, The Age of Invisibility, was about our mistreatment of the elderly. Through twitter, I also learned of Robbie Kaye’s work.
It’s time to address this peculiar societal dysfunction.
In the not so distant past, the anorexic teenager was our society’s single representation of beauty. The Twiggy template lived on, decades beyond her actual owner. Dove’s relatively recent campaign was one of the first to use normal-looking normal-sized women models. Their famous Evolution video revealed the false representation of the final icon of a female model that appeared on a billboard. By the time the initial picture was adjusted, it was so far removed from the original that it was difficult to connect the two. Our sense of beauty, both outer and inner, has become unbelievably warped.
It took my traveling to Greece to become aware of just how culture-specific beauty is. I was relieved when I discovered that the Greeks were blind to the dark hair on my body that was deemed socially-unacceptable in the U.S. I was thrilled that women who we would consider overweight showed no hesitation in wearing tight clothes in public or bikinis on the beach.
But there was another difference, and this one had more to do with inner beauty. In Greece, the elderly were cared for, honored, and respected by their families. Often, these elderly women provided the structure and foundation for the family. Many of my Greek friends were raised by their yiayias (grandmothers). Because the Greeks are a very social people, I had more conversations with elderly women there than I did with one of my own grandmothers. I could not return to my apartment without talking with a yiayia who lived in my neighborhood. She would pull out a seat cushion and rush to make Greek coffee when she saw me approaching her marble steps. In fact, I had to add an extra thirty to sixty minutes to my trip home if I didn’t return during her afternoon nap.
These grandmothers not only shared their life wisdom with me but provided me with such a strong sense of family and stability that it eased the 6,000+ mile distance from my real family. Looking at the world through their eyes provided me with an immediate sense of what is truly important. Linear time disappeared. Relationships and relating became crucial. It was clear that what we do is not as essential as how we do it, and that those we love are more important than anything else in this world. The emphasis on artificial physical beauty disappeared in a land where nothing could be more gorgeous than the dramatic scenery, weathered by the same natural elements that wrinkled the lovely faces of the elderly.
I became aware of another striking difference. These Greek women lived each day in the present moment, just as children do. In fact, they lived their entire lives in this way. This was a country in which the natural cycles of life were recognized and death was accepted along with life. The Greeks understood that in order for anything new to be created, the old must dissolve. They remembered what we have forgotten, that unrestricted growth is unsustainable and undesirable.
Both of my biological grandmothers died long ago. Now, more than ever, I absorb my mother’s memories of her mother and her mother’s generation. Not wanting to miss any of their wisdom, I grab hold before it disappears forever. By forgetting her, I lose. By forgetting them, we all lose.
Ours is a young nation. How can we expect to mature without the wisdom of our elders? We are quickly destroying our earth and ourselves. The longer we hold onto this notion of unrestricted growth, the more we destroy. When will we, as a nation, begin to face our fears about aging and death and, instead, honor the hard-earned wisdom of our elders? When will we see their true beauty? Until we do, we will remain blind to our own.
Bio:
Rebecca Elia is a Holistic Gynecologist who is more interested in creating health than in curing disease. Her forthcoming book, Creating Feminine Health, Finding Balance in a Masculine World addresses the consequences of valuing masculine qualities over feminine ones, including our society’s difficulty in accepting, let alone honoring, aging and elder wisdom.
Website: www.rebeccaelia.com You may sign up for her free Creating Feminine Health Newsletter on the homepage of her website.
Blog: www.rebeccaeliablog.blogspot.com
Links in Post:
Elissa Stein’s blog: http://elissastein.blogspot.com/
Elissa’s Huff Po post: The Age of Invisibility http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elissa-stein/the-age-of-invisibility_b_400896.html
Dove’s Evolution video: http://rebeccaeliablog.blogspot.com/2009/08/evolution-courtesy-of-dove_16.html
Monday, January 25, 2010
Marilyn & Eunice, Memphis, TN
This sassy Southern Bell Marilyn, has been working with Eunice for 50 years! That's as old as I am! It was so entertaining to interview these two. I couldn't stop smiling from their witty repartee...humor so dry that I had to pay close attention to get their jokes coming out like rapid fire. Eunice keeps a photo of Marilyn's 'girls' at her salon post. The 'girls' are two greyhounds who are Marilyn's pride and joy. Ruby and I felt lucky to have met Marilyn and Eunice and we will be enjoying their energy for a long time to come. As a side note-Eunice has so many clients that are like family...one client even gave Eunice a car. The love is ever-present and proof of the amazingly intimate relationship between client and hairstylist. Stay tuned for some video of these two...
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Gene Finney, Memphis, TN
This is Gene Finney. He works at Gould's Salon in Memphis, TN and is 81 years young. He has been working as a stylist for 48 years and still continues to do so. Gene plays the harmonica in church, on a CD and for his clients as they sit in his chair. His finger is taped because the nerve in one of them is dead. His hand went through a window as he was helping a fellow passenger on a bus. That hasn't stopped him from working, playing or enjoying his life. His energy is contagious and I enjoyed the personal concert he gave me in Memphis!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Blossom's Hand, Long Island, NY
Blossom's hand, the hand of a woman, still working, still dressed impeccably and rich in years and life experience. Her manicurist, younger hands adding to the beauty of her elder...there is something very beautiful and poignant about this generational "hand off" - an evident camaraderie.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Harriet, Santa Monica, CA
Harriet gets taken to the beauty parlor by her daughter for her weekly appointment. She is shy and has been working with her stylist, Cindy, for quite awhile. Her stylist used to own the shop where she is
now. I love the way Harriet's curlers match her shirt, color coordinated like her shoes and cane. Beautiful.
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