‘I Tried Jamie Lee Curtis’ Age-Defying Mirror Hack, And It’s Honestly Genius’
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Actress, author, and activist Jamie Lee Curtis has made no secret of all the wellness journeys she's been on through the years.
The Halloween franchise's Scream Queen Supreme has talked openly about her sobriety and her everything-in-moderation approach. She's posted makeup-free selfies, and posed nude.
She's called out social media for its unrealistic beauty standards, and espoused a “been there, done that—and won’t do it again!” philosophy towards plastic surgery. So it totally makes sense that Jamie has also been vocal about embracing the aging process.
“I feel good in my skin, in my mind, in my body,” the star told Hoda Kotb on TODAY earlier this year, as she approached her 64th birthday in November. And Jamie brings that youthful attitude to her everyday life, pushing herself to try new things, from running a 5K to writing a screenplay. Heck, she even co-authored 13 children’s books, including one about being brave in the face of firsts.
Authentically herself and brutally honest, Jamie just oozes confidence, so I jumped at the chance to try out some of her wellness practices. I’m almost 30 years younger than Jamie, but I’ve started to think about aging and how I want to go about it gracefully while still looking and feeling strong. So, I wanted to see if the tips and tricks could work for me, too.
I picked four of Jamie's best practices across her beauty, health, fitness, and diet routines, and spent the weekend living my best, Jamie Lee Curtis-inspired life. At the end of my 72-hours, I’d reflect on how I felt. Here’s what happened when I tried Jamie Lee Curtis’ healthiest, age-defying habits.
First, I ignored mirrors for 72 hours.
On Friday morning I began my Jamie-approved, self-imposed mirror break. The actress says she finds freedom when she has fewer opportunities to pick her body and face apart. “When I get out of the shower, I have a choice: I can dry myself off looking in the mirror, or I can dry myself off with my back to it,” Curtis said in a Good Housekeeping interview back in 2018. “I turn my back to the mirror, and I feel great!”
I doubled down on this by avoiding mirrors for the entire weekend, only looking at my reflection when absolutely necessary. I started and ended my days with a quick check (to fix my hair, do makeup, wash my face and brush my teeth). There’s a full-length mirror in my bathroom across from the shower. I draped a towel over it.
Friday was a regular work day for me, so I showered, washed and dried my hair, then swiped on some tinted moisturizer and eyeliner. I only spent about 15 minutes total looking at myself in the mirrored medicine cabinet over my bathroom sink, but I didn’t do any full body up-and-downs before or after I got dressed.
I’m not going to lie: I’m totally the type to steal a glance in mirrors as I pass. Out of habit, I'll check the mirror in the visor when hopping in the car because I just hate the thought of running mascara or food in my teeth.
This practice made me more aware of how often I mindlessly look at myself. I can be my own worst critic, so it was freeing to not have an opportunity to notice how tired I look, or to dwell on the sunspots, the wrinkles around my eyes when I smile, or the rosacea on my right cheek. I wouldn’t call it denial exactly—just putting temporary blinders on, which, I think, Jamie might say is good for the psyche and soul.
I got my sweat on with some good friends.
Jamie is fond of a good partner sweat sesh. In 2021, OK! Magazine reported that the actress likes doing yoga and Pilates—but also opts to pound the pavement with friends. “I walk with girlfriends,” she said. “[It’s] incredibly good for you.”
Unfortunately, Saturday was a soggy, rainy day in the New York City area, which did not motivate me to get up and hit a workout. Luckily, a friend of mine, Hilary Sheinbaum, actually organized a very Jamie Lee Curtis-friendly midday workout class at the new SLT Tread studio in celebration of her book, The Dry Challenge. The 50-minute class is half toning via a Pilates megaformer and half treadmill workout, and it was perfect for my weekend experiment.
I'd never done this workout before, so I was nervous. It turns out that Jamie was definitely on to something, because having friends sweat with you makes everything feel a little more approachable, and I was definitely less in my head and worried about messing up.
The class's pace was likely faster than a leisurely Jamie stroll, but the ethos was similar. Multitasking can be helpful when it comes to making time for a workout, and catching up with a friend during (or after) a class is a great motivator to get you out the door.
Her two-step skincare routine actually helped my skin.
While I'm totally behind the curve on TikTok trends, I still love a good #selfcaresunday. Treating myself to a Jamie Lee-inspired beauty sesh provided the perfect opportunity to try out her drugstore power duo, which she revealed to TODAY in 2018: Sea Breeze toner and Nivea moisturizer.
These two items set me back all of about $10, so what did I have to lose? “Sea Breeze is that astringent,” she told TODAY. “I’ve been using that my whole life.”
I don't normally use toner. But over the weekend, I used the Sea Breeze-saturated pad in the mornings, and I added a once-over with a pad to my nighttime routine, too.
Sea Breeze Fresh-Clean Astringent
amazon.com
$11.49
amazon.comThe astringent definitely tingled on contact, so I worried it might make my sensitive skin react, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, I felt a pimple forming under my nose on Saturday, and by Sunday evening, it had basically disappeared. So maybe the Sea Breeze actually did something for my skin? It’s probably too soon to tell, but I’m going to keep going with it.
The Nivea wasn’t bad either. (I reapplied a few times over the course of the weekend). And making time for this ritual after my shower on Friday and bath on Sunday felt like an indulgent yet doable practice I could do once or twice a week. It was also nice to not spend a small fortune on products and still feel like they worked.
I tried a new recipe to keep healthy eating interesting.
Jamie doesn't go into a ton of detail about her diet. But she has said that she loads up on raw veggies, fruits and protein—and she limits fried foods and too many carbs, according to OK! Magazine. She also stays hydrated. “Fluids are key,” she has quipped.
To prep for the week ahead, I decided to dedicate my Sunday night meal prep to a final Jamie-inspired activity: experimenting with a new recipe. Even though the actress claims not to be a great cook, she's constantly whipping up new dishes and sharing the results on Instagram.
For Jamie, constantly challenging herself to try different things—like a viral recipe—is one way to stay young.
"My biggest concern is that I will calcify as I get older," she told AARP. "I am a creature of habit: I wear the same clothes; I eat the same food; I am very regular in all of my activities. I can get lulled into complacency. Decalcification means constant evolution, where I'm constantly trying to shed skins and shed ideas."
“OKAY, there ARE GOOD recipes on TIKTOK” she wrote in her recent post, which featured her own poorly-lit food photography. I kind of loved that she wasn't zhooshing up her food photos either but embracing a more imperfect, realistic look here, too.
And while I couldn’t find the *exact* recipes Jamie made, that didn’t stop me from trying my hand at a similar vegetarian split pea soup.
Miraculously, the soup turned out well—I'd never tried split peas before and didn’t know if I’d like it. And thanks to Jamie, I have a new vegetarian dish to add to my rotation.
After just 72 hours, I felt more intentional and grounded—and I plan to keep going.
It sounds a little corny, but following a few of Jamie Lee Curtis’ best health and wellness practices helped me spend a couple of days being really intentional. Whether that was making time for self-care, merging fitness with friends, or avoiding the negative self-talk that can come from constantly looking in mirrors, the weekend really helped me reset.
I also crossed a few things off my personal bucket list (which I’d like to think would make Jamie proud). Ultimately, I finished the weekend feeling grounded, like I had packed a lot into my days while still taking a beat for "me time," and felt inspired to continue some of the practices, because I genuinely enjoyed them.
I’m going to keep the Sea Breeze and Nivea up until I finish both bottles; skincare requires consistency for measurable results, so I want to give Jamie's duo a fair shot. I’d definitely exercise or walk with friends again, too. It’s a little harder now that I’ve moved to the suburbs, but that’s all more the reason to make my workouts more social, trying local classes and pushing myself to talk to people.
I also liked being efficient with my “mirror time," and will try to limit it, rather than avoid mirrors altogether.
I think the biggest thing I learned is that you don’t have to do drastic things to feel better, both mentally and physically. And that’s something that I’m going to hold onto as I approach my next birthday and the aging process.
It’s easy to think you have to make major changes, but it’s often the little shifts in intention that pay off over time. Investing in yourself is always worth it, and taking Jamie's lighthearted approach to these practices can make it easy to try something new.
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