I promise, it is okay to age
The anti-aging industry is predicted to create $271 billion in revenue by 2024. Why is it that in the current day this market in particular seems to be so profitable? I believe this market is the latest fad stemming from that desirable “dewy” look that make-up trends started pushing in the mid-2010s. This obsession with preserving youth, while not new, is more prolific and extreme than ever; the rate of cosmetic procedures has increased by 163%, with Botox being the most popularized with a reported 845% rise from 2000 to 2018.
The profitability is an important focus, I believe, when examining why it seems anti-aging products and rhetoric are so prevalent currently. Though beauty standards being pushed through magazine advertisements and television commercials are not as blaring or relevant to the rising generation, this does not mean we are free from the influence of marketing teams or toxic ideas of beauty: the medium is what has changed, not the purpose. Instead of opening Cosmopolitan to look at stick-thin models and take a test on whether you are a sun or a moon person, the current generation need only to open their phones and click on a little app known as TikTok.
Now, I feel that I should preface this section by saying that I am not here to hop on some soapbox and declare that TikTok is rotting your brain and obliterating your attention span. I myself quite enjoy TikTok and appreciate the variety in content and the creativity I have witnessed while scrolling. Still, I do think it is important to be conscious of the media that you consume and its potential hidden agendas.
Many beauty influencers are at the forefront of this pedaling and are paramount in being able to understand the ways in which this rhetoric has been internalized. Zac Mathias is one of these Generation-Z beauty influencers, who focuses in the realm of skincare. He openly talks about the procedures he enjoys getting on the regular to supplement the product he uses as well to keep his skin from wrinkling and aging prematurely. Micro-needling, laser treatments, and infrared saunas are just a few of the more medicalized procedures he pays for to keep his glow—at 18 years old—which further bolsters those watching to want to pay for these services as well in the name of “self-care.”
All of this, though, really is just evidence to support my main point: in the capitalist hellscape that is our current world, the most “radical” or “anarchist” thing you can do is not even to love yourself without exception every day, but rather just to tolerate yourself and choose contentment. This system profits from making us hate ourselves so it can sell us the next thing that is supposed to “make us happy.” In this rhetoric, we become our own worst enemies inside of a materialistic echo chamber. It is okay to want things or to desire to achieve a certain aesthetic, but like everything, there is a moderation-based and self-reflective mentality that can and should be brought into focus when considering material value.
In the modern day, it is important to be able to look in the mirror and differentiate between what you want and what you are told to want, whether that pertains to housing, cars, jobs, clothes, facial aesthetics, activities, or just what you want to watch on a lazy Sunday.
Thumbnail Photo via Pexels