Is 40 the new 20?

Used to be when a person turned 40 years old, they would no longer brag, body parts would sag and the rest would lag. Not anymore. If there's a fountain of youth then it must start behind the cosmetics counter. Several women of color seem to be turning back the clock nowadays and it's not just a passing fad.
There's a crop of people that look not only good past the 40 year mark, they look great.



To say that she started her major movie career as a crackhead in Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever," Halle Berry just keeps getting better and better. In addition to breaking the decades-long African-American losing streak for best actress Oscar, Berry has been a poster child for battered women, James Bond and now recently baby mamas. To put it in perspective, she was alive when Martin Luther King was. And she's knocked down a few racial doors of her own.


Before Michelle Obama's very defined shoulder blades and arms we had Angela Bassett's. The girl is the closest thing to black sculpture that we can think of, and the kids have not slowed her down one bit. What's love got to do with it? A whole lot.



Vivica A. Fox has always been one. A fox. She's had to be as sly and cunning as one too with scandals ranging from DUI, a sex tape and a badly-played dating charade with rapper 50 Cent. But Viv has proven to be like fine wine through it all. She's the consummate TV actress, movie girl and now, reality TV show queen as host of the new "Glam God" series on cable TV.


Little Penny has sure come a long way, even when you consider the cute, chubby young woman she was when she dropped the "Control" album in the late 1980s. But she's quite possibly the hardest working woman in show business, when you consider how long she's been at it, and her body of work. Speaking of body, are you serious?


Salli Richardson, 42, has been everybody's girlfriend in Hollywood, being linked to Tupac Shakur, Marlon and Shawn Wayans and a plethora of other brothers. But it was actor Dondre Whitfield that kept her heart. The couple welcomed their second child into the world earlier this week. And the age-defying mother and child are doing fine.


There's a certain glow about her, a vibe if you well. Kinda when you know that a person is "living right." Gospel singer Yolanda Adams, unageable as she is, is obviously living right. She can easily pass for 37 without hesitation.

Halle Berry out to make dollars and scents

With a last name like "Berry," you'd think it'd be easy to settle on a vanity fragrance.
But Halle Berry reported kept at the research for two years before deciding on a unique blend of aromas to attach her name to.
The result is called simple "Halle," produced by Coty, the same fragrance house that brought Obsession and Eternity to stores (Calvin Klein is their top seller though).

Halle joins a slew of other celebrities with smell lines, including Leona Lewis, David Beckham, Diddy and Trina.


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Check out The reinvention of Halle Berry 2.0

Advertising and the Curly-haired Black Woman

oh, it's far more than a passing coincidence: Corporate America has picked the curly-haired black woman as the prototypical avatar to lure customers.

In what was once the staunch territory of white faces with long European hair, there's been a big push to get away from the traditional customer base and widen out. Now, in various marketing and promotional campaigns, you see here wiggly hair and big smile next to a corporate logo. Is this a recent phenomenon? Surely it is. Why, how else to describe the sudden rash of similarly-coifed chicks?

It's amazing really: Corporate America has obviously determined that they can draw the middle-aged cash-spending black man, white woman and white man by the curly-haired black chick. Are curls making a comeback? Did they ever leave?
Wikidepedia sheds some light on hair and says that, while genetics play a part in who has straight hair and who does'nt, humidity and climate play just as important a role.
"Hair is genetically programmed to be straight, curly, 'kinky' or wavy, and it can change over time.
"Curly and/or 'kinky' hair is shaped like an elongated oval and grows at a sharp angle to the scalp. This growth pattern, in turn, determines the cross-section of the shafts.
"Hair, whether it is curly or straight, is affected by the amount of humidity in the air. It serves as a restoring force for the hair, forcing water back into the hair fiber and forcing hair shaft to return to its original structure. This may be more noticeable in somebody with curly hair because it tends to get frizzy when the humidity rises."
Black women know a thing or two about frizziness. But they didn't know it was now big business.

Wherefore Has Melyssa Ford Gone?

The term "video vixen" didn't have much resonance until a curvaceous Toronto native stormed the hip-hop video world in the late 1990s. Her name was Melyssa Ford, discovered pouring drinks at a T.O. nightclub by a video director. She went on to do modeling work, TV and radio, and has recently been seen on the big screen (Days of Wrath). While always priding herself with not being a groupie and sexual object, her career has taken a noticeable dip lately. She has gotten cameos in movies, but no starring roles. She has gotten magazine spreads but no prominent interviews. Is Melyssa Ford winning? Other video vixens have catapulted past her, namingly Superhead andBuffie the Body, using their curves to sign business agreements, but Ford who studied forensic psychology in school, has yet to show the business acumen that the other women have. Of course, the other women are alot more naked than she is. But will Ford keep her moral standards, or dip down into the money-rich lair of semi-nudism that so many other video women have found themselves?