No 12-step routine, no miracle clinic. The original Wonder Woman keeps it almost comically simple. Beauty routines for women over 70 tend to come with a shopping list: serums, devices, appointments. Some icons swear by all of it. Others, it turns out, swear by almost nothing.
Lynda Carter, 75, the original Wonder Woman, belongs firmly to the second group. At Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation’s Angel Ball at Cipriani Wall Street in New York on Oct. 19, where she was honored for her advocacy for blood cancer research, she was asked about her glowing complexion. Her answer: “My skin care honestly and truly it’s soap and water.” She added, “I just have clear soap.”
“I’ve Never Had Any Facial Surgery”
Carter has been just as candid about cosmetic procedures. “The reason I’ve never had any facial surgery is just because I’m afraid,” she has said. “It’s scary, because we’ve all seen some bad ones.”
This is a woman whose face has been famous for half a century. She was crowned Miss World America in 1972, then spun into superhero history as Wonder Woman on television from 1975 to 1979. Few people have had more reasons to feel pressure about aging on camera. It is a refreshingly human answer. Not a manifesto, not a judgment of anyone else, just a 75-year-old woman admitting she would rather keep her own face than risk losing it.
A Cause Close to Her Heart
The setting of her remarks mattered. Carter’s husband, Robert Altman, died of blood cancer in 2021, and she has since become a committed supporter of cancer research. “I am fighting for the life of my husband,” she said at the gala, speaking about the cause that now takes much of her energy. Her work includes supporting research into new treatments for myelofibrosis, a rare blood cancer.
That context gives her simple beauty answer a different weight. When life has asked hard things of you, a bar of soap can feel like exactly enough.
Why Simple Still Works
Her routine is not far from the basics the American Academy of Dermatology recommends: a gentle cleanser, lukewarm water and daily sunscreen, rather than an overloaded shelf. Carter’s version is the most stripped-down take on that idea, and close to what other icons quietly do, like Martha Stewart and Christie Brinkley’s routine that starts at $11.
How to Try Her Approach
Choose one gentle, fragrance-free cleanser and use it morning and night with lukewarm water, never hot. Pat your face dry instead of rubbing. Add a basic moisturizer if your skin feels tight, and a broad-spectrum sunscreen every morning, whatever the weather. Then stop. Give your skin a few weeks to settle before adding anything else. For the rest of your routine, take a cue from icons who keep their habits short and steady, like Helen Mirren’s 12-minute workout. If you have a skin condition, ask a dermatologist before changing anything. The lesson worth borrowing is that less, done every day, often beats more.
The Bottom Line
Lynda Carter, 75, says her skin care is “honestly and truly” just soap and water, and she has never had facial surgery. The original Wonder Woman’s real superpower might be knowing when enough is enough.
