Leave a good looking corpse behind?

There is a saying that extols the benefits of dying young because it leaves behind a quality corpse. Why is it so hard to just age gracefully in our society? Why are we so often bombarded with messages that tell us that it is not okay to get old and our youth and beauty have to be maintained at all cost? Have you ever looked in a fashion magazine? You’ll find articles, ads, and pictorials about how to stay young, to not age, to fight aging, like it’s something that you can fight. Just by the virtue of living and breathing air everyday prompts the body to age. So why fight something that we all must do? Wouldn’t it be healthier to embrace it?

Waist not, Want not.

In a fight to stop the battle of the bulge some women are going to absurd lengths to stay or at least appear thinner. It seems that some people have decided that it makes sense to reach back to torture devices of a bygone era to feed this illusion. There has been a resurgence in using corsets to slim down, now being called waist training. This article talks a little bit about celebrities that are choosing waist training and some of its alleged benefits.

As a form of acceptance or as part of a trend, some women are really embracing the idea of going gray. For years it has been a given that as we age and our hair goes gray that we should reach for the dye bottle to cover our locs and keep the illusion of our youthful looks (this is a trend that I have embraced). However, I have been seeing articles and more about women that are embracing gray hair, sometimes even dying it gray.

(An aside: is it grey or gray hair? Why is this spelled two different ways? Does anyone know? This feels a little like the dress debacle of a few days back.)

Just Like my Mummy

If you are obsessed with the idea of making sure you are fabulous in the after-life you may want to take a page from the ancient Egyptians who specialized in leaving behind a well-maintained corpse. If grey/gray hair can come back in style so can mummification. If you are thinking about mummification, here are the steps to achieve the look:

Steps for Mummification:

This is the step-by-step process* of how mummification took place:

1. Pull brain out of nose using a hook
2. Make a cut on the left side of the body near the tummy
3. Remove all internal organs
4. Let the internal organs dry
5. Place the lungs, intestines, stomach and liver inside canopic jars
6. Place the heart back inside the body
7. Rinse inside of body with wine and spices
8. Cover the corpse with natron (salt) for 70 days
9. After 40 days stuff the body with linen or sand to give it a more human shape
10. After the 70 days wrap the body from head to toe in bandages
11. Place in a sarcophagus (a type of box like a coffin)

More information on mummification