也谈保养 / How to Maintain?

女人最大的敌人就是时间。至今还没有哪个女人成功地战胜它，记得很久以前曾看到过报纸上登的一篇消息，说玉婆Elizabeth Tailor称她死后希望能保留她的头颅，否则她美丽的脸会永远消失，将对整个世界都是一个损失，旁边还附有她的照片，看后不禁觉得这老妖婆大概是脑子进水了，这张令人作呕的脸还不烧掉，其不是会污染环境？后来有机会看到她年轻时演的电影，才知道原来的她确实还不赖，她对自己的记忆多半还停留在她年轻的时代，不愿意接受她早已人老珠黄这一事实，才造成了上述悲剧。
这一现象在华人演艺界也很普遍，像潘迎紫，据说她多次拍着胸脯声称自己从没整过容，但那张表情僵硬的脸怎么看怎么都不像是原装的嘛；有青春偶像之称的林青霞，如今脸已变形得无法看出一点当年影子了；有不老传说的刘晓庆和赵雅芝，她们所用的技术一看便知比起潘迎紫来要先进，因为她俩看起来要比潘自然得多了，虽然还算不错，但也一看便知年届50；有着美人之称的李嘉欣和周慧敏曾是无数男士的偶像，现在也一看就知年轻不再，但因为年龄还不是太大，所以总体效果还行。
综合上述，本人以为这世上没人能掩盖自己的年龄，年龄就像树木的年轮，一望便知，只是别人出于礼貌故意不要讲出来而已。那保养还有没有意义呢？本人以为还是有的，如果一个人注重保养且又保养得当的话比自己的实际年龄看小1-2岁是有可能的，而一个不注重保养或保养不当的话比自己的实际年龄看大1-2岁也不是不可能，所以这一正一负就相差了4岁之多，（这还不包括整容哦）还是蛮可观的哦。
那要怎样保养呢？
1。 睡觉。俗话说睡美人，睡美人嘛，美人都是睡出来的，这可是有科学道理的哦。人的皮肤都是在夜间熟睡的时候进行修复的，如果在这段时间不睡觉，皮肤就无法得到修复，皮肤的最佳修复时间是12点至2点，其次是2点至4点，再次是10点至12点和4点至6点。但对我们繁忙的都市人来说10点睡觉似乎可能性不大，但一定要保证12点至4点药谁个好觉。
2。 喝水。喝水要会喝，不能一口气喝很多，只能一小口一小口地泯，一次只能喝一到两小口，如果喝太快则很快就会排出体外，因而其不到作用。睡觉前一定要和足够的水，因为修复皮肤的时候需要大量的水，清晨起床后也要喝水，因为要补充水分。注意，在正常情况下，即使晚上喝了足够的水，夜里也无需起来上厕所，只需在清晨6点以后解决就对了，如果你经常夜里起来上1甚至2次厕所，说明你的睡眠质量不好后皮肤已经损坏，存不住水分了。
3。 养成清晨排便的习惯。如果不能每天及时排便，毒素累计在体内，皮肤就会有问题。如果经常性出现2-3天才拍一次便，而且排泄物很臭，很可能是体内的酶和有益细菌如乳酸菌太少，要及时补充。
4。 要针对自己的皮肤问题用适合的护肤品。如果是针对皱纹，细纹，则须看其成分是否含多元胜肽，据本人所知，几乎所有的名牌护肤品都不含有，只有个别几款才有，如Estee Lauder的很小部分产品，SKII和Lancome的眼霜中有，含的最多的大牌护肤品是Elizabeth Arden。其他的几乎没有。如果不含多元胜肽相抗衰老，几乎是天方夜谭，在名牌的护肤品也没用。有的自称含胶原蛋白，但胶原蛋白的分子太大，想通过皮肤吸收简直是开玩笑。而多元胜肽分子较小，可以被皮肤吸收，它可以促进胶原蛋白的生成，但它起作用较慢，而且过了一段时间后会出现钝化现象，就不管用了，需停用一段时间后再用；如果是缺水则需买含有玻尿酸和神经酰胺的产品，几乎所有的名牌护肤品都不含，这就是为什么我们花了那么多钱却不见效的原因。
5。绝对不要做桑拿或蒸气浴。有些美眉为了减肥，拼命地做桑那浴或蒸气浴，这都是受了美容院的误导，在做减肥前，她们会为你量体重，做后在量体重，确实减了，有些美眉便很高兴，一位真的奏效了，其实大错特错，因为经桑那浴或蒸气浴后会失掉大量的水分，而水分是非常宝贵的，失掉容易补充难啊，而失掉水分人一下子就老了几岁，而脂肪的分子超大，根本无法通过排汗的方式排出体外。如果真的想甩掉多余的脂肪，可以到严寒且艰苦的地方去，身体为了抵御严寒，要燃烧脂肪，这就是为什么蒙古等地的游牧民族耻那么多肉类却从不发胖的原因。可能有些人会说我有些水肿，应该通过这种方式把水分排除，那你就更错了，水肿是因为你的肾有问题，应该去看医生，而不是盲目做桑那浴或蒸气浴，否则将有生命危险。
6。 玻尿酸的多少是皮肤含水量的标志。这就是为什么我们常形容好的皮肤为婴儿般的肌肤，因为他们的皮肤中含有丰富的玻尿酸，但当人们到了25岁后玻尿酸的含量会骤减，这就是为什么25岁以前的女孩子我们用娇艳欲滴来形容，但过了25岁就不再那么水灵了，而过了30岁人已经明显的可以看出不饱满了，因为30岁时一个人的玻尿酸含量只是最初的65%而已。那怎样才能补充玻尿酸呢？擦含有玻尿酸的护肤品或面膜能进去的玻尿酸是很有限的，对于25-30岁美眉或多或少是有用的，但超过30岁则作用不太大了，因为缺的不是一星半点，这是需要注射，在新加坡本人还没有看到那里可以注射，中国的大城市都有。勤力的保养加上适度整容以现在的科技比自身年龄看小5岁已不成问题了，大S，林志玲她们便是很好的例证。
7。 展望未来。RNAi技术已经崛起，并已获得了初步的成功，如果说DNA是制造蛋白质的图纸，那么RNA就是何时制造和制造多少蛋白质的指令，通过对RNA的干预，我们可以让我们的身体制造更多的胶原蛋白，玻尿酸和神经酰胺，从而使我们看起来年轻。据悉，这项技术将在2年后趋于成熟，在10年后可得到普遍使用，它的产生使得年轻10年不再是梦，也就是说10年后的我们看起来将和今天的我们区别不大。

The biggest enemy for a woman is time. So far, no woman can successfully defeat it. I remember many years ago I saw a news report from the paper saying that Elizabeth Taylor believed that her head should be preserved after her death. Otherwise, she considered that it would be a sheer waste!! There was a photo attached beside her story. On seeing the photo, I was thinking there must be something wrong with that old monster. What’s the point of preserving such a horrible face? Years later, after having had a chance to watch her movies, then I came to know that she was indeed not bad when she was young. Her memories basically stopped in those days when she was a young maiden and simply refused to accept the fact that she was already a totally different person.
This phenomenon is also popular among Chinese celebrities. No one it seems can successfully hide his/her age. So there will be no need to maintain? The answer I think is yes. If you maintain well, it’s quite possible that you will look 1-2 years younger than your actual age. Otherwise, if you don’t, it’s also possible that you will look 1-2 years older than your actual age. That makes about 4 years difference which is quite significant I guess.
Next question is how to maintain?
1. Sleeping. Like what was said in sleeping beauty. You must have enough sleep in order to look good. There is scientific proof of this. Skin will be repaired only at night. The best timing is from 12:00am to 2:00am, followed by 2:00am to 4:00am, which is the second best time. Next is from 4:00am to 6:00am and 10:00pm to 12:00am. It’s not possible to sleep as early as 10:00pm as every one of us has a very tight schedule nowadays. But we must make sure to have a good sleep at least from 12:00am to 4:00am.
2. Drink water. We must know how to drink. Don’t drink too much at one time. Just have 1 or 2 sips at a time so as to train your body to retain the water. One must drink before sleep. This is because it needs significant amount of water when repairing one’s skin. Early morning soon after getting up you must also drink lots of water because the skin needs to replenish at that time. Normally even though after drinking that much of water, there’s no need to go to the washroom at night. If you need to pass urine once or even twice, then it shows that your skin has already been damaged. That’s why it can no longer retain water.
3. Passing motions. Train your body to pass a motion every day in the morning. Otherwise you will accumulate toxins in your body. If you always have a constipation problem, you may have further imbalance, lacking enzymes and lactobacillus. You must have them replenished.
4. You must use the skin care products which are suitable for you. For anti-aging, you must check whether it has peptide. The majority of famous brand name skin care products do not have that except very few. For example, it can be found in several Estee Lauder products, Lancome and SKII eye cream. The Elizabeth Arden brand has more peptides than others. Without peptide is not at all able to fight with fine lines or winkles no matter how famous the brand is. Some claim that there is collagen inside their products. In fact the collagen molecules are too big for skin to absorb. So it is completely no use even it has the collagen. But peptides molecules are far much smaller and can be absorbed by the skin. Peptides are the raw materials that form collagen but it takes some time to show the effect. It will cause passivation and must be stopped before using again for a while. If the skin is too dry, you must use the products which contain hyaluronic acid and ceramides. Almost none of the famous brands contain these substances. That’s why we often spend a lot but fail to any improvement.
5. Do not go for sauna or steam bath. Some people in order to lose weight, always go for sauna or steam bath. That’s because they are misled by the slim centre. Before the treatment they will weigh for you, and after treatment they will weigh you again. When some people see a reduction, they think that they have succeeded. In fact they are wrong. After this kind of treatment what your loss is only water. But water is very precious. It’s always easy to lose but difficult to gain. It will make you look several years older once you have lost it. The molecule of fat is super large. It can’t be got rid of through perspiration. The only way to get rid of fat is burn it when the weather is cold and your body needs energy. That’s why the nomadic people in Mongolia are never fat even though they eat so much meat. Some people may think that their bodies are swollen, they must have excessive water. So, spa might be good for them. I shall say you are also wrong. Because if your body is swollen, you may suffer from a kidney problem. You should go to see a doctor instead. You may die if you ignore it and simply go for spa.
6. Hyaluronic acid levels regulate the amount of water your body can retain. We always describe beautiful skin as baby skin, because baby skin is richest in hyaluronic acid. But the hyaluronic acid level starts dropping at the age of 25. That’s why girls before age 25 are very well hydrated. After age 30, we can obviously see that the skin is no more firm and plump because at this time the hyaluronic acid level is only 65% of the original. How are hyaluronic acid levels replenished then? It’s quite limited through the application of the skin care products and facial masks. It might be useful for girls from 25-30. After 30 you need injections. So far I can’t find any beauty centre here in Singapore to offer such services. But I believe it can be found in the bigger cities of China. More detailed information will be given after I have tried it myself. But it can indeed make you look 5 years younger. 大S and 林志玲 are the very good examples.
7. Now there is new technology called RNAi which has already started. If DNA is the design to form protein, then RNA is the instructions given. It decides when and how much to produce. Through the RNA interference, we can produce more protein, hyaluronic acid and ceramides so that it will make us look younger. It will be matured in 2 years time and is expected to gain in popularity within 10 years time. So it’s not at all a dream that 10 years later on we may still look similar to what we are today.