Meet the woman who hasn't smiled for 40 years... so she doesn't get wrinkles

50-year old Tess isn’t devoid of humour, but for nearly 40 years she has made a conscious decision not to laugh or smile — even at the birth of her daughter. This is because Tess says that maintaining a perennial poker face is a crucial way to keeping her — admittedly, impressive — youthful looks.‘I don’t have wrinkles because I have trained myself to control my facial muscles,’ says Tess, ‘Everyone asks if I’ve had Botox, but I haven’t, and I know that it’s thanks to the fact I haven’t laughed or smiled since I was a teenager. My dedication has paid off, I don’t have a single line on my face.‘Yes, I am vain and want to remain youthful. My strategy is more natural than Botox and more effective than any expensive beauty cream or facial.’

As unorthodox as Tess’s regime may sound, she is not alone in her drive to suppress facial movements, such as laughing or frowning, in a bid to stop wrinkles forming.

Even celebrities such as U.S. TV star Kim Kardashian, 34, have admitted trying not to smile or laugh ‘because it causes wrinkles’.

And some experts believe that this bizarre trick might work. Dermatologist Dr Nick Lowe says: ‘It can be an effective anti-ageing technique. Undoubtedly, there are some actresses who have retrained their facial expressions to this end.

‘Wrinkles happen because of the constant creasing of smile and forehead lines by the muscles in your face, which fold the connective tissue under the skin. If you can train yourself to minimise your facial expressions, you won’t get as many lines.

‘We know this because it is exactly how Botox works — by reducing muscle activity. Not smiling is a DIY option, although I would have thought it difficult to keep up, not to mention boring for your partner and confusing for your children.’

So, is a life full of laughter really worth sacrificing for the sake of a few lines? Tess, who works as a cooking instructor for a vegetable produce company, thinks so. ‘It’s not as if I’m miserable. I love life. I just don’t feel the need to show it by walking around with a rictus grin on my face.’

Her decision didn’t start off as an anti-ageing device. Instead, it was a reaction to the strict Catholic school she attended.

‘The joyless nuns there didn’t like children to smile. I was always told to wipe the smile off my face so I learnt to smirk instead,’ says Tess.

By the time she reached adulthood, she realised a sombre expression suited her. ‘If I did smile I developed big hamster cheeks that made me look deranged. I looked up to old-school Hollywood icons such as Marlene Dietrich for inspiration; she never smiled and I loved the way she smouldered glamorously.’

Staying tight-lipped required effort at first, however. ‘When I found something funny or I was tempted to laugh — which happened on a daily basis — I learned to control my facial muscles by holding them rigid,’ explains Tess.

‘The corners of my mouth might go up a little, but I never looked anything other than faintly amused. Friends knew I was fun to be around, so it wasn’t an issue.’

She met her ex-husband Nigel, now 54, a photographer, at a bar in 1990 and they had a daughter, Stevie, in March 1991. ‘Nigel was never bothered about me not smiling, because I kept him entertained — I am engaging company. If you spent a day in my presence you wouldn’t even notice.

After Stevie’s birth I was overwhelmed with joy, but still didn’t feel the need to smile,’ adds Tess. ‘By that stage, keeping a straight face had become second nature.’

She and Nigel married in February 1993. ‘Of course, the wedding photographer was urging me to smile for the pictures, but I refused,’ she says. ‘It just wasn’t me.’

By the time Tess — who divorced in 1998 — reached 40 she realised that while friends had developed lines around their mouths, her skin was wrinkle free: ‘It dawned on me that I looked younger because I’d spent my life not smiling.’

At her London home, Tess has mastered the art of laughing inwardly at TV shows such as Absolutely Fabulous. But even after years of practice, remaining poker faced in public isn’t always easy.

Below are two of her photos in 2001 aged 36 and 1985 aged 25:

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