The Body Part That Gives Away Your Age Faster Than Anything Else

Heading toward 50, we all have it. That one body part we suddenly notice looks just like our grandmother’s (that means you, too, men). Mine is my neck. (Which makes me really miss Nora Ephron, who wrote the iconic I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being A Woman.) 

My legs are stronger and harder at age 48 than they have ever been, thanks to twice-a-week ballet barre classes. When I’m particularly obnoxious, I ask grown men to punch me in the stomach and to not hold back because, under an insouciant layer of fat, my stomach is iron. Be careful, you might break your hand.

But the body part that gives my age away faster than anything else: my neck

Photo from Author

My neck is beyond my control, as are most women's necks as they age

The flesh there is 48-year-old, raised-in-Southern-California-with-no-sunblock flesh. It’s soft, loose, and buckling under the pressure of time. "As we age, the efficiency and ability of our skin cells to fight toxins slow down. This translates to more dull, perhaps sallow-appearing skin," dermatologist and plastic surgeon Dr. Michele Koo explained, adding that our necks often age faster than the rest of our face because people often skip SPF or anti-aging application on that area.

I first noticed the slight bit of paper-mâché turkey neck when I was 36. As I perused an earring display at Yoga Works, I accidentally glimpsed said neck in a mirror with the sun hitting it just so. I became my grandmother in that instant. Past her prime and folding slowly down and down and down to the earth and obsolescence.

I didn’t so much mind that my neck looked suddenly unattractive to me, but rather that I became aware for the first time that I, like all humans, was going to get old and eventually be no more.

I’d known this intellectually, but hadn’t really understood what happens to women's necks as they age in the profound way that an altered body brings home.

I’m not young anymore, but I fight age with the ferocity of all of the warriors in 300: Rise of an Empire, soon to spray blood in 3-D across movie IMAX screens all over the nation.

I’m determined to drive, read, laugh, drink wine, travel, listen, learn, and love right up until the last moment before the curtain closes on this body of mine. Which makes me feel unexpectedly tender toward my neck.

My neck reminds me that life is short and that I’m lucky to be alive

My neck reminds me I'm lucky to walk the planet like so many who have come before me and who will come after. It reminds me of my vulnerability and, extrapolating from there, the vulnerability of all people. Which elicits this well of goodwill and love toward my fellow man.

That, dear friends, is the Zen of an Aging Neck: The Art of Aging Gracefully.

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Shannon Bradley-Colleary is a writer of films, books, and several teenage/young adult journals. She is the author of To The Stars: A Novel.