Any chance I have to write about Shania Twain, I’ll take it. The Canadian songstress took to Instagram on Aug. 28 to celebrate her 60th trip around the sun. “Happy birthday to me! How can I be 60?” she wrote. “So glad to have kept some photos from this time in the 80s when I had no idea what was ahead of me and Shania f**king Twain didn’t exist yet.”
Quick shop:
In the first of the two photos, Shania can be seen wearing a dazzling, shimmery blue suit with white heels and dangling statement earrings — an ’80s outfit if there ever was one.
In the second photo, the “You’re Still The One” singer is glowing as her 60-year-old self, donning a pair of black boyshorts and a sexy white button-down.
A bombshell in both, the music icon at 60 is a spitting image of herself four decades ago. Her beauty secret? Vermont’s Original Bag Balm.
The 60-year-old has been a decades-long devotee of the moisturizing balm. In 1999, Shania mentioned Bag Balm in an interview with The London Telegraph, saying, “When I’ve been flying a lot and my skin is really dry, I’ll rub it over my face and on my hair and leave it there all day.”
More recently, in an interview with Us Weekly, the Canadian country music star called the balm “the best of all things.”
“I try to drink as much water as I can. I have always exfoliated. I don’t actually buy an exfoliator; I just make it. If I’m somewhere near the beach, I’ll use sand,” she told the magazine. “I believe in old-fashioned things, like a bit of Vaseline. I always thought Bag Balm was the best of all things. The cosmetic one that’s been a staple for me is Crème de la Mer.”
Originally created in 1899 — yes, 1899 — Bag Balm is a moisturizer that was designed to heal chapped cows’ udders. It’s formulated with petroleum jelly and lanolin and has been made in a small town in Vermont for the past 120-odd years.
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Shania, alongside other beauty icons like Raquel Welch, even inspired a new generation of social media “skinfluencers” to try the product. TikTok personality Alix Earle swears by the jelly as a cure for chapped lips and dry skin, and thousands of others have recommended the long-time farmer’s secret as an alternative to Vaseline for skin slugging.
Celebrities swear by Vermont’s Original Bag Balm (Photos via Getty).
The healing balm works similarly to a good old tub of petroleum jelly. You can apply it to dry, cracked skin on your hands, feet, elbows and even your lips. Some people swear by it as the miracle cure for diaper rash or irritated skin, and skincare obsessives say it’s ideal for slugging. Do you suffer from painful skin chafing? Bag Balm can help with that, too.
More than 600 people have purchased the celebrity-approved balm on Amazon Canada in the past month. Reviewers say it not only “works” but “works harder than anything else.”
“I love [it] beyond words,” writes one shopper. It’s “even better than the expensive French hand cream I’ve been using for years.”
The salve is “wonderful,” echoes another. It “heals chapped hands, feet and even diaper rash!” It’s “gentle and effective.”
With a 4.5-star average rating, shoppers say it’s beyond “worth it.”
It’s “awesome.” If you have dry, cracked skin, “this is what you want.”
While the vast majority of reviewers call it a moisturizing superstar, some note it’s “a bit greasy,” something to keep in mind when placing your order.
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