For so many women, life gets better in their later years. They grow into their looks and trade in their spotless perfect skin for experience and self-fulfilment. But if we are all living longer on average, we are going to spend most of our lives “not being young” and we might as well embrace it.
Women complain of becoming invisible to men in middle age and research supports this as our programming. But older women have their life experience written into their faces – all these fascinating, inspiring, individual stories. Young girls have inimitable, peachy, smooth skin with their future unmapped in their faces.
We can surgically enhance till we are blue in the face but we can never be beautifully young again. Instead, lets embrace our experiences and cherish the face that shows how interesting life we had.
Source: Walter H. Beauty and truth. Harpers Bazaar, August 2010, 76.
Marketing agency, Sturm und Drang, were interviewed by Cossma Magazine recently and revealed the cultural codes of beauty across continents. Europe, US and Japan are distinctly different in the perception and meaning of beauty.
In Europe, particularly in Germany, true beauty is not visible on the surface. It comes from your personality; it is all about charisma and individuality. German beauty routines are fairly uncomplicated and take about 20 minutes a day. The focus is on the eyes and how we express our personality through our eyes. It is all about how we feel, what we eat and how we look after our soul. It is not about applying a product onto the surface. To respond to advertising, the Germans need “a reason to believe”; they are always asking questions and looking for “the truth”.
In the US, beauty is all about shine – glossy hair and “whiter than white” teeth. Beauty comes from the outside and American women put lots of effort into making themselves look attractive. Their routine is about an hour a day and a lot stricter than in Europe. However, it is limited to their professional life and happily abandoned at weekends. It says, “I am in control”. Advertising in the US focuses on the benefit, on the “object of desire”, on visual attributes. “This is it. Do you want it? What you see is what you get”.
Beauty in Japan is all about purity “down to the pore”. It is all about looking young! Japanese women spend 2 hours a day on their beauty routines, particularly cleansing, detoxing and UV protection – applying as many as 5 layers of skincare. Being cute equals being sexy. Advertising is about the context of the product usage. “How do I feel afterwards?”
Richard Lewis, the crosscultural guru, suggests that Britain’s cultural position mirrors the geographical – it is between the US and continental Europe. Do you feel that may be true for how we perceive beauty too?
Source: http://www.cossma.com/news/detailansicht/artikel/europa-bendig-on-beauty-routines-in-different-cultures-in-web-tv.html?tx_ttnews[backPid]=7067&cHash=6df7565254
From Temporary Lines to Permanent Wrinkles
Wrinkles develop progressively through our lives. When young, we only see temporary lines when making a facial expression. Later in life, lines and wrinkles become visible permanently. It is the mechanical stress caused by repeated facial expressions along the same skin groove that makes temporary lines become permanent wrinkles. The most significant period of change is in the 40s! Light skin tone and low hydration make our skin more prone to wrinkling. Also a low intake of water and a belief that tanned skin is healthy looking skin will contribute.
A Tipping Point
Research presented at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) in San Francisco shows that skin elasticity and resilience has a tipping point at about 35 years of age. Compressing the skin of a 20-year old and that of a 40-year old skin with the same amout of stress and force – a skin compression imaging device - shows a big difference in the ability of the skin to withstand pressure. In a study of 100 women aged 25 – 55, skin power gradually declined through their 20′s and early 30s but dropped precipitously at their mid thirties. This is due to collagen and elastin, skin’s two main structural components, being damaged by oxidation (UV rays, pollution and intrinsic stress). The damage builds up till the scaffolding can no longer hold it at bay and the loss of elasticity and thickness shows as textural changes in our face e.g. wrinkles and sagging. It is a dramatic shift rather than slow degrading overtime but whether it is at the age of 35 depends on how much damage you’ve had accumulated so far.
What To Do
Source:
http://www.pgbeautygroomingscience.com/assets/files/posters/AAAS09/Hillebrand%20P101%203MB.pdf
Maggie Bullock. A Wrinkle in Time. US Elle Oct 2009
The New Trends of 2010 are:
We also anticipate the groundbreaking research by Olay – on a change in wrinkle depth that is visually discernible to our eye – to come out in 2010, a key piece of information that will enable us to predict true efficacy of skincare. These are all exciting times ahead!
