The New Way To Talk About Anti-Ageing

There is a new way to talk about skin ageing. It’s no longer about fighting or reversing it but getting strong, healthy skin. Lines and sagging are even accepted. Goh Yee Huay looks at this growing movement where beauty brands are framing this natural process in a positive light.

- Goh Yee Huay

“Ageing is natural, and that’s going to happen to all of us… I just want to always look like myself, even if that’s an older version of myself.” So said Halle Berry in a 2015 interview.

She probably didn’t know it at the time, but that sums up a growing movement in the beauty industry, where the focus is not so much on anti-ageing, but on ageing well. No more obsessively fighting the signs of age – it’s about keeping your skin in healthy, tip-top condition at any age.

What led to this new approach of prioritising skin health over wrinkle count? Well, for one, there’s the larger wellness trend of recent years. The shifting attention to things like fitness, holistic living and clean beauty has also changed attitudes on how to look after one’s skin. Much like how fad diets whose sole function is to shed kilos have been rejected in favour of more sustained wholesome lifestyles.

Another likely factor: the rise of numerous indie or “millennial” brands like Drunk Elephant, Sunday Riley and Saturday Skin, which generally target younger women for whom traditional anti-ageing lingo like “fighting wrinkles” and “firming skin” aren’t very relevant or appealing. Instead, these brands put a more positive and fresh spin on skincare, using upbeat words that run along the lines (pardon the pun) of “radiance”, “glow”, “vitality” and “renewal”.