Are You an Age Rebel?

I turned on the TV and TOM BROKAW REPORTS: BOOMER$ was on," Marlene Katz told me. "First thing they said was, they are the "ageless generation" — I have to agree!"

Katz, the founder of Intelligent Skin Sense, which comprises a "green" spa and home spa products, thinks her penchant for beauty was established at an early age. "You know, they say if you watch kids play, it's a true indicator of what they'll be when they grow up," she muses, remembering a "mini pink vanity and a doll that you could apply make-up to" her mom gave her when she was nine. 

Later, working part time at a fitness club while in school, she noticed how at sea some women were after getting in shape — trying to figure out what to wear and grappling with self-image issues. "I thought there should be a place to teach women how to present themselves and look their best." So she left school and founded Feline, pioneering the day spa trend. "On a shoestring budget," she adds.

After selling the spa in the early '90s and working in beauty product development, a combination of relocating to Connecticut and searching for a spa that met her needs found her back in the beauty biz. "I never planned to open another spa, but the area was in need of a green spa and education — I couldn't resist."

This venture, at this point in her life, also sparked a new approach to beauty. Katz says she's now at work on a book called Age Rebel "because I see how people my age are downright refusing to age. Age is a number, and now that I'm 50 I see that it is not at all what I imagined it to be."

Katz cites Madonna, Demi Moore, and Teri Hatcher as new role models for approaching or turning 50. Although these are celebrities, she says, "I see everyday women looking just as good."

She describes her experience with aging as positive: "I haven't slowed down much; there's a line or two that may not have been there at 30, but for the most part, it's been a slow, progressive process."

Katz believes aging is so much more manageable now that people have realized that eating healthy, exercising regularly and caring for your skin slows down the physical effects. "I have implemented juicing, yoga and meditation as a part of my repertoire and can honestly say I feel better today than I ever have."

Advice to her spa clients: Be moderate.

Don't jump on a fasting bandwagon, or overdo shots of Botox. It's not about being a different you as much as it is being the best you at any age. The older you get, the more in touch you are with your real self, and that is the true essence of beauty."

To quote Katz: I have to agree!