Throughout my life I've barely ever put on any cosmetics..
As for shampoo, I've used it a few times out of necessity when the soap ran out..
Even when I go sea fishing..or play golf, I hardly ever put on sunscreen..
As for my teeth, all my molars have fallen out except one
but since it doesn't interfere with eating rice or meat I haven't had new ones put in..
Among my front teeth, the left one isn't in particularly good shape..
and I declared to my wife that even if the left front tooth falls out I won't have it replaced
but under the pressure of "do that if you want to get divorced"
I'm now considering having it put in if the front tooth does fall out..
I don't enjoy having my photo taken
but these days all sorts of apps have developed so much that they erase wrinkles and make skin look fair..
I'm also a member of a Band group that Koreans from all over the world have joined
and the distinctive thing about this Band is
that you have to put your own photo in your profile and write your age and name..
Naturally my eyes go to the photos..
and quite a few women already past 50 look like they're in their 30s..
Whether they really take care of themselves that well
or whether they've made use of the conveniences of civilization, I really can't tell, but..
when I'm faced with a pretty, taut(?) face
along with the thought that she's really pretty and young, another thought comes..
that people really do hate growing old..
I have a lot of wrinkles around my eyes..
Smile lines, that is..
and looking lately, fairly deep wrinkles have appeared on my forehead too..
I don't wear sunscreen
but maybe because I was born with such good skin
no freckles or anything like that have shown up yet..
Instead I've noticed a lot of moles appearing on my face..
An acquaintance went to Korea and had the moles removed from his face
and recommended it to me too..
For one thing I can't be bothered..and the moles probably appeared because there was reason for them to
so I've decided to just leave them be..
When I watch TV..
the actresses I used to watch when I was young are still maintaining their youth..
Whether they've had Botox, their lips and faces are so taut
that they look without a single wrinkle..
When you reach your 40s..50s..60s, wrinkles naturally appear
and your body shape changes to match your age..
but the world we live in now sometimes looks like it jumps straight from the 30s to the 70s..
The actors who appear on TV and in films all have long, long legs, every one of them..
They're not made of rubber bands..
but apparently there's some retouching technology that stretches them..
Most Asians are about 6 heads tall
yet with celebrities, maybe they have Westerners among their ancestors
because most of their figures are quite different from ordinary Asians..
The actor I liked when I was young was Ahn Sung-ki..
Of course I still like him a great deal..
Ahn Sung-ki is an actor whose face creases with a great many wrinkles when he smiles
and those natural wrinkles struck me as so appealing..
I remember thinking that when I reached middle age I wanted to make wrinkles like that too..
I did this thing called getting married in my early 30s..
Having done it once, there was so much involved..
that I resolved never to get married a second time..
Before the wedding ceremony you take photos in advance..
With makeup on my face..
with a hairstyle that isn't my style but one the stylist creates
wearing a suit..
I did the photo shoot from morning until late in the evening..
After finishing the grueling photo shoot
I sat in front of a computer choosing photos
and talked about this and that with the person managing the photos..
My wife chose most of the photos..
I have no eye for choosing, and I'm not really the type to care about that sort of thing..
When we were choosing photos back then..I said exactly one thing..
That the wrinkles..the moles on my face..should be left in exactly as they are, without removing a single one..
The person in charge was surprised and said..
that in all her time working at a wedding shop, a request not to remove wrinkles..blemishes
was the first she'd ever received..
But..
despite all that requesting
when I actually received the photos, all the wrinkles had been removed..and it was a face without a single blemish..
My wedding photo..the biggest one..still hangs in my mother's house in Korea..
Every time I go to Korea, that photo catches my eye the moment I open the door
and honestly I still haven't gotten used to it..
Is that really my face..
By my own judgment..
my face with the wrinkles is more appealing..
but since everyone and their neighbor removes wrinkles, I suppose that person just forgot my request..
There's still one part I don't understand..
and that's the fact that the person in charge saw my face in person..
Having seen my sculpted looks with her own eyes
ah..she should have known that laying a hand on this man's face
would be the same mistake as drawing eyebrows onto the Mona Lisa's face..
and yet she went and made the mistake of removing the wrinkles..
Really..
weddings and everything else..all going into a factory and within a fixed mold
getting churned out in an instant..
and everyone following along with it — I just find that state of affairs regrettable..
