It is February, and although there is a light at the end of the wintery tunnel, many of us are not feeling our best. Perhaps this is reflected in your face - and the fact that we haven’t had much sun in the UK over the past few months. While many of us fret over the way we appear, this woman is nearly 100 and looks no older than 50.
Discover our latest podcast
Joan Richmond-Woodhouse turned 93 last year, but this one trick - and a few life guidelines - has kept her looking young her whole life. This grandma says the solution is simple, and you can get it at Boots for less than a fiver. Let’s get into it.
Joan Richmond-Woodhouse’s trick
We’ve all heard of the suggested remedies involving weird things like banana peel or never smiling. Celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston have said that ice facials are the way forward. However, this story doesn’t take that route. Nor does it suggest, like this 109-year-old lady, that the best course of action is to avoid men. Instead, the answer comes in a tub: Nivea cream.
Joan was born in 1930, 15 years before the end of WWII, and at age 16 she picked up this habit that she has kept up her whole life. She explains in a TikTok video:
After the war, when I was about 16, Nivea cream had just come out and my friend just came to the house and she said, 'This cream has just come out. Try it, it's brilliant’.
So I've used Nivea cream for years and years and years. Now everyone I know uses Nivea cream, too.
Boots stocks Nivea for £2.49
You’ll be happy to hear - or maybe you won’t - that a seven-step skincare routine does not seem to be necessary. You can pick up a 50ml tub of the cream at Boots.
Comments on Joan’s video confirm that is is ‘unbelievable’ that she looks so good at 93. One user wrote, ‘I'm off to buy some Nivea! You look amazing.’ Another seemed to corroborate Joan’s claim:
My Mum is 90, everyone thinks she 20 years younger, she also uses Nivea.
Life guidelines
Joan explains that she doesn’t focus on eating a particularly clean diet, and she doesn’t focus on looking young. She spends most of her time in Spain but still manages to secure and tuck into one of her favourites: pies. A couple of years ago, she explained:
I don't know how to behave like a 91-year-old - I just act the same as I did when I was 21. I've always looked young, and people are always shocked when I tell them my age as I don't look, talk or act like I am 91.
She says that she has never had trouble with her weight, and reckons that the ‘secret’ to keeping youthful looks is to ‘just love life’ and never adopt the ‘mindset of being old’:
In order to keep happy, you’ve got to stop stressing about things. I mean, it’s ridiculous! It’s no good worrying- it happens if you worry, it happens if you don’t.
Of course, keeping a peaceful mental stability is much more important that the visual benefits of what Joan is talking about. However, if the solution is really as simple as an affordable cream then it could be worth a shot?
Read more:
⋙ This woman hasn't eaten sugar in 28 years, this is how it has changed her life
⋙ Doctor astounded to discover a living animal inside this woman's body
Sources used:
Mirror: 'I'm nearly 100 but people think I'm 50 - my secret weapon is a cheap Boots buy'
