By Thubelihle Mathonsi
The obsession with youth has made it synonymous with beauty. There is a desire to always appear younger, and most of the influencers on our screens have Botox. I am not against these, but I’m curious about the goal. Why is everything always about looking vaguely young? People in their late teens and early 20s feel they have to buy expensive creams to have ‘good skin’.
Okay, so humans have been searching for a way to fight the ticking of time since long before this. In the 16th century, a Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de León, set out to find the Fountain of Youth that was rumoured to be in Florida. During the Elizabethan era, women were said to have undergone meat facials to slow the ageing process. All in a bid to combat time.
In the 1900s, anti-ageing products started gaining more fame with creams like Ricker’s Violet Cerate, advertised in 1905 as being able to wipe out wrinkles. Today there are a variety of suggestions from a lot of places on how to always look young. “Don’t smile,” says one TikToker. “It gives you wrinkles.” He then provides instructions on how to smile in order to prevent wrinkles. That is no way to live! Besides, most people following these trends are still in their youth.
We seem to have traded expeditions to find the Fountain of Youth for encouraging consumerism as a way to fight ageing as if it were a monster. Everything we know succumbs to time, be it mountains or rivers – or trees that have stronger roots as they age, a testament to all the beautiful seasons that have passed or storms they have weathered.
There are several articles online mentioning the importance of introducing anti-ageing skin care in your twenties. It is unfortunate that, particularly when it comes to advertisements, the target seems to be women and girls. Not the same pressure is given to men. In fact, society has managed to naturalise the idea that men get better with age while women live with an ‘expiration date’.
Capitalism has found a place in this desire that has been around for hundreds of years, trying to convince people that perhaps a 10-step skin routine of very expensive oils, masks, and creams is the answer to happiness and beauty. With trends like the morning peel, where influencers sleep with an absurd number of masks and contraptions. According to one TikToker, ”I think the crazier you go to bed the better you look waking up.” Video shows a girl removing more than four masks that she claims to have had on the whole night, along with a chin strap. People compliment her and tell her she looks like she is “fresh out of high school”. She’s in her mid-twenties!
I have two theories: one is that they are genuinely spending nights with all the LED masks, and the second is that routines are performed only for the views. If it is the latter, then the lack of transparency is concerning for people with platforms and influence. Saying “I’m not telling you to do this” is being dishonest and choosing to be naive, ignoring what a platform can achieve. In a way, the media shapes and reinforces narratives. Branding these ‘rituals’ as self-care is an unjust oversimplification at best. With the global market for anti-ageing products pegged at $47 billion in 2023 — and expected to rise to $80 billion — it is interesting that it is women who receive more advertisements for anti-ageing skin products. According to Bonafide Research, the South African anti-ageing market is expected to rise to $50 million by 2028.
A healthy dose of scepticism would be very useful when entering different ‘youth’ movements.
I am not against self-care and wanting to do what’s best for your skin. After all, it is an act of love. But a lot of things contribute to the ageing process, like genes, environment, and the type of food consumed. Ultimately, time keeps moving, and it is, for now, the way of life: for things to grow, age, and change. Wasting a chunk of that time chasing youth is counterintuitive.
An ad from 1905
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FXJXWMPjZUo
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AqU8z5YNBwo
https://cosmeticsandskin.com/efe/cerates.php
Articles.
https://intothegloss.com/2015/03/history-of-anti-aging
http://blog.herbacinusa.com/2018/02/a-history-of-anti-aging-
skincare.htmhttps://www.statista.com/topics/10423/anti-
aging/#topicOverviewhttps://www.bonafideresearch.com/product/6304189517/south-africa-anti-aging-market
