Africology

I found my spa yesterday. Africology. All the products are 100% natural and made in South Africa. One more necessary step in my migratory settling-in process. I had a very relaxing manicure and pedicure, my first in South Africa. Long overdue. Next week I go for a facial and eyebrow shaping.

And yes this is a necessity and not the luxury (well maybe the eyebrow shaping) you might think it is at first glance. We are in a high desert after all and as my sister will attest having lived oh so many years in Colorado, another high desert, "this weather will age you!"

I saw my Dermatologist just before I left the States to get a final full body check just to make sure I did not have any areas I needed to keep an eye on with this change in altitude, humidity and proximity to the ever-present sun. He told me I have the skin of a 40 year old ... which I took as the complement he intended being I am in the body of a mid-50 year old.

Forty is probably about the age when I saw the light and started caring about the quality of my skin. Before that I spent every waking moment I could in the sun either on the sand face up soaking up the sun's damaging rays to get my annual summer tan or on the solar-reflecting water in a sailboat with a modicum of SPF between me and extra crispy. It was in my late 30's / early 40's that I decided this practice had better stop or I will be a prune by 60.

I will never forget the moment when the light bulb of reality lit. I had found a close-up picture of me taken during my college spring break in New Orleans for Mardi Gras just a few months shy of my 21st birthday. My face in the mirror looked quite a bit different from the face in that picture. (I almost cried. Ok. I cried.) Well I couldn't turn back time but I apparently could stop the clock. Or at least get it to drag its heels a little.

I began to see the beauty - and the wisdom - in the porcelain white skin of the French and Nicole Kidman. I stopped tanning, started wearing hats on the beach and in the boat and started using the highest SPF money could buy. I also started getting regular facials and using moisturizers, creams and body lotions. I am not going to let all that hard work go up in smoke now that I have moved to Africa!

There is also an Africology signature atmosphere fragrance, which you can buy in a soy-based candle or essential oil form (I bought both). It is a blend of marula, African potato, rooibos, and aloe vera. Vince noticed the fragrance on me immediately when he got home last night and asked me what that great smell was. I told him I was glad he liked it because I got some for his bathroom!

And Africology even  makes a Safari Kit with body lotion, rose wipes, tissues, citronella oil, SPF 30, and lip balm. Another necessity in Africa!