Women on both sides of the Atlantic realize that the keys to aging well are obvious, but challenging if you have bad genes, spend too much time in the sun or smoke a lot.
But while American women, like me at least, approach personal care with practical efficiency, the French women I know regard the pampering of the skin, hair and body as an enjoyable, gratifying ritual.
Looking attractive, at any age, is just what French women do, especially the urban ones. For Parisiennes, maintaining their image is as natural as tying a perfect scarf or wearing stilettos on cobblestone streets. Beauty is a tradition handed down from generation to generation.
"My grandmother always told me, 'Never neglect yourself, not even in the tiniest details,' " my friend Francoise Augier said, with a sweeping head-to-toe gesture. The French actress Leslie Caron, still Gigi-like at 79, told me her mother's favorite saying: "Women's skin is too fair to go bare."
The No. 1 response to my informal survey of French women about the years of magical aging is not gaining weight. Ever. If a French woman happens to see an additional kilogram or two on her bathroom scale, she will do whatever is necessary to force the needle back where it belongs. "I keep my weight steady, no ups and downs," Caron said.
"I avoid all excess." She claims to eat all kinds of food in small -- her friends say minuscule -- portions, and she doesn't drink alcohol. It's not so much that "French Women Don't Get Fat," as the title of Mireille Guiliano's best seller had it. Rather, French women won't get fat.
French women also recommend facials, massages and spa "cures" in their campaign against wrinkles, cellulite and saggy bottoms, bellies and breasts. One spa favorite is thalassotherapy, the seawater-based treatment that originated in France.
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