I was sooo happy when I received my May issue of Lucky with Salma Hayek on the cover! 
The shopping-and-fashion mag tends to have lots of under 35 starlets from both TV and movies on the cover, many of them I’m either unfamiliar with or just don’t care about. But Hayek’s life, how she’s managed her career, and what she thinks of herself are important reads for any woman at any age.
Some of the key takeaways from Jean Godfrey-June’s feature on Hayek ,for me, were about how she views her body and her skin. She admits to being short and curvy (read: not fat) and sometimes wanting to be smaller. Yes, the world around us sometimes makes us want to hide our breasts and behinds as they are so often objectified. Thus, we might fear that we, too, are objectified–and who knows that better than a celebrity, who may be picked apart at any moment for a change in her face, or what she eats, or anything….
Hayek also admits to acne when younger, taking Accutane, and the resulting skin sensitivity. She also mentions her grandmother’s beauty concoctions (my mom had some too!) , her own Nuance beauty line, and NOT having Botox.
Now, how many of our celebrities can admit to *that* one? Not many, that’s for sure, and a whole ton of the over 40 set seem to be addicted to the stuff. Rumor has it that some dermatologists are recommending it for women in their late 20′s and 30′s. Here’s her thoughts on Botox and skin:
“Botox, trust me I’ve been tempted—but I resist! Think about what happens to your muscles—and your skin—if you’re sick and don’t move for a few days. It all atrophies! Plus, if you freeze a muscle in your face, other muscles have to compensate! And once you stop, what does that look like?” Before I can issue a rebuttal she offers another theory: “You know Latin people? African-American people? How our skin ages more slowly? Even though we’re dramatic, we move our faces, we eat higher-fat foods, we’re the ones with fewer wrinkles—it makes you wonder.”
IMO, what one eats definitely has an effect on one’s skin. I know this from my own experience. Yes, some of it is genetic, but also if you eat good fats–extra virgin olive oil, avocados, salmon–and this helps skin integrity. Eating these kinds of mono unsaturated fats is a good idea at any age. Staying out of the sun and out of tanning beds helps too. The late 70′s and early 80′s were big on tanning, and I got a lot of ribbing about being “whitey” during that time when I was in my teens. However, it’s paid off in the long run. Even the dermatologist I saw last week for a sun-un-related skin condition remarked that my overall skin was quite nice. 
Yet, Hayek, indirectly, brings up another point about our perceptions of beauty: it has always been more acceptable for Latin and African-American women to be curvy. Anglo, and those of us who resemble the Anglo side of our heritage more than the more “ethnic” sides tend to be overly concerned about our weight because the image of the perfect Anglo-Saxon Protestant American woman is one that also reflects the Nordic marauders–tall, slim and blond– who contributed to that gene pool. So, if one is not identified as Latina or African-American, there’s this odd assumption that to be anything but tall and thin and small-breasted is somehow an indication of weakness…
I could go on about these ridiculous assumptions, and their roots, but I digress. .
All in all, Hayek is, perhaps, one of the healthiest women in Hollywood today, and this profile gives us a peek into how we, too, could foster healthy attitudes about our bodies as we are getting older, to no obsess over our minor imperfections, and how to, ultimately enjoy our lives.
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