Grannies Gone Wild: The Wildest Beauty Secrets Grannies Have Taught Us

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Keeping an eye on the future renowned stylist and resident cheeky chick, Melissa Muoio looks far into the past as she takes wild beauty tips from grannies on staying fabulous.

Aging can be a bitch.

Nowadays Botox, Juvaderm, lazers, lactic acid peels, and facelifts seem to be the standard for people to capture their youth and stay there... as long as possible. Before the surgeons, chemicals and needles there were still women aging gracefully, but how?

I asked several of my nearest and dearest the wildest tricks they saw their grandmothers taught them to preserve their precious youth. How did our grandmothers live without Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer, Fresh mud masks, Essie nail polish, Bliss pore-perfect exfoliator? We need to look in grandma's garden and we will find the answer. While most replies were, "My grammy always says beauty comes from the inside," other responses were true secrets. While I learned not to chain smoke Virginia Slims from my grandmother and stay away from men that will make you stress, other grandmothers had some sneaky tricks.

Time to take out a notebook and mark down a trip to Whole Foods and CVS.
-Several grandmother's were seen by many a children slathered in Pond's cold cream.
-Greek grannies use cucumbers as a skin brightener.
-A Japanese granny was obsessed with Shaklee vitamins and shakes. Her daily regiments included taking vitamin c, alfalfa, b-complex and zink.
-Grandma Hazel always brushed out her brows and NEVER went to bed without washing her face and brushing her teeth.
-Mimi, a former nightclub signer, says to prevent chipping manicures to soak your hands and nails in oil. She also thinks that cosmetics help keep the face looking a little younger, use moisturizer, Cover Girl liquid makeup, a little rouge, eye shadow, eye liner, eyebrow pencil.
-One granny used Oil of Olay, penciled in her eyebrows because she didn't have any and would put a beauty mark on her face, too.
-Evergreen granny used the aloe straight from the plant to prevent wrinkles.
-Farm granny uses an egg white as a face mask.
-Hippie granny says to make a mask with a teaspoon of honey to mashed apple, mix them together, leave on your face for 30 minutes and rinse with whole milk.
-Booze hound granny recommends beer for bigger hair.
-The perfect polished hand is important to my friend's Jewish grandmother.
-The Italian grandmother loved a little olive oil to help dry hair and mixed with sea salt for a dry hand rub/exfoliator.

And so, the haute heritage will carry on - just keep in mind, the biggest trick is to keep it simple and smile through the process. - Melissa Muoio

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