The OLAY Woman

Strong, resourceful, driven but never forgetting to be a lady, beautiful inside and out. That is the Olay woman to me.


My grandmother, apart from having a glass bottle of Oil of Olay on her vanity before I was even born, is a fighter, a survivor and above all, a lady in every sense of the word. She grew up during the Japanese Occupation, orphaned when her mother was shot crossing a river with wares she was to sell on the other side. Relatives brought her and her siblings up and educated her. She was also the local beauty queen until showing a streak of daring, she eloped with and married my grandfather. She said it was not much of a scandal in those days and that the elopement was prepared for by everyone. When my grandfather brought her to his mother's house, all she had to do was put on the prepared wedding gown and go to church in it!

My grandmother, the beauty queen!

She was also a true entrepreneur, holding a puwesto at the Monumento market selling dry goods and operating a canteen. She was a byahera, travelling by boat to buy premium items in Hong Kong, transporting them here and selling them. Clothes, fabric, make-up, perfumes, around the 60's I guess that was when she first picked up Oil of Olay, as it was known back then. She was able to send all her 7 children to school, help her husband, my grandfather, purchase land, build their house and live a life of modest, debt-free means.


Through long, grueling days and late nights at the palengke, my lola nevertheless kept herself fresh and beautiful. She may be tired or her surroundings weren't exactly glamorous, but I don't remember a time when she wasn't neatly dressed, powdered, smelling like flowers and smiling with painted lips. My lola was neat, simple and proper but always pustura. Even as she grew old and stopped travelling. Even as she gave up her spot in the market. Even as we would just visit her at home, she would always be simply dressed but powdered, lipsticked and smelling so nice and fresh.


I actually remember her when I think about Olay, as it is now simply known. She had a nightly beauty routine which included gently massaging her face with the pink beauty fluid. I was supposed to be writing about my Olay experience but I can't help writing about my grandmother or even my mother, for that matter, since my experience encompasses theirs.

My mother on my youngest sister's baptismal.

My mother naman is just as driven as my grandmother, her mom. To help augment my father's income while raising us five kids, she took a leaf from my grandmother's book and sold stuff as well. She did school bazaars, operated a school jeep, even sold jewelry for a time. I remember how tiring it must have been for her. But she must have inherited her strength from my grandmother along with her beauty routine!

Alas. I could not find a picture
of the old Oil of Olay bottles
so I'm making do with these.

Apart from being pustura like my grandmother, I noticed how every night, my mother would put Olay on her face. On heavy make up days, she might even use it to remove her make up. I remember, as a child, I'd be so curious about that glass bottle with the pink cream that I'd open and smell it every time my mom wasn't around. I really loved that smell. The bottle, pink beauty fluid, the scent, the Olay name became a symbol of womanhood as much as make up and high heels were. I knew I was continuing tradition and becoming a woman as soon as I had that bottle of moisturizing lotion on my adolescent vanity.


Feeling and being beautiful in these modern times is made even easier by technology. I'm glad that this time, tradition is easier to celebrate. Olay came out recently with a new line of truly luscious soap bars! Now, I can have the luxury of the Olay experience all over my body! I had understood that the lotion was a luxury for the face and hands so I carried the habit of using Olay sparingly. But now, I can literally bathe in it!


I still consider myself a new mother even if I'm on my 2nd child. I can't even begin to compare myself to veterans like my mother, let alone my grandmother. Even with help from family (because we don't have a nanny or a maid) I still feel like I'm drowning in babies, diapers and milk everyday! I seriously don't know how they did it. In lipstick, no less! And they were able to put in a beauty routine every night! I'm lucky if I get 10 seconds to go to the potty all by myself! So you can bet my beauty routine is non-existent by now.


That's why the new Olay soap bars are such a blessing. I can bathe, refresh myself and pamper my entire body with the Olay beauty routine simultaneously! Maybe someday I'll learn how the mothers before me achieved balance between caring for their families and caring for themselves. Until then, I'm only too glad to be able to indulge myself with the Olay soap bars. It's like I'm swimming in the Olay beauty fluid every time.

(1) Green OLAY Fresh Reviving. It goes beyond cleansing, delivering OLAY deep moisturizers to the skin while helping to wash away dry surface cells. So after you dry off, all that's left is skin that feels clean and revived.


(2)  Orange OLAY Ultra Moisture is specially formulated with creamy, OLAY lather and Shea Butter. It goes beyond cleansing, delivering OLAY deep moisturizers to the skin while helping to wash away dry surface cells. So after you dry off, all that's left is skin that feels clean and petal soft.

(3) Blue OLAY Age Defying Bar. Each bar is formulated with creamy, OLAY lather.

These OLAY soaps are gentle enough to use on your face.You can try everything and see which OLAY bar is for you. 


We all still use Olay. There are a lot out there to try but we keep coming back to this beauty fluid to keep our skin soft and beautiful.And with their full range of skin care, skin LOVE products, it's easier to be a strong, beautiful woman, inside and out.