I can remember being in my late 50s and looking at anti-aging products, wondering which ones really worked and which ones were just a waste of money. I spent hours reading reviews before deciding where to put my money.
Now at 63, those days are long gone and I’m keeping my money. The $80 billion anti-aging industry won’t get another dime from me and I hope after you read this, you’ll save your money too, but no judgement from me. Promise.
The global anti-aging industry is valued between $83 billion and $149 billion in 2026, depending on how broadly the market is defined. It is projected to reach $107 billion to $149 billion by 2035 as preventative skincare and non-invasive aesthetic treatments surge in popularity. Source Grandview Research
Desperately trying to find the best anti-aging product
Did I need cream, an anti-aging serum or a full facial laser rejuvenation? It’s anyone’s guess, really. I read about Retinols and Hyaluronic acid, Vitamin C serum and so much more. It was all very overwhelming to be honest.
Digging deeper into anti-aging products and methods, I realized that it wasn’t so much what I was putting on my face but what I was putting in my body, more specifically, the devil, sugar. “Stop eating sugar”, they said. It speeds up aging.
Oooph. I tried that for 30 days and while my face didn’t miraculously look 10 years younger, I’ll admit, it did look significantly healthier. The trouble with that is sugar is hard to quit. Harder to quit than smoking and I can prove that.
Check out this video from my YouTube channel about what happened to me with this experiment.
So, it turned out I didn’t really need an anti-aging product, I just needed to watch what I eat. Fair enough. But according to this industry, that wasn’t enough. We needed to spend all our money on anti-aging products too.
The two go hand in hand apparently.
Embracing my aging face
Then one day I looked in the mirror at the aging face and the beautiful woman staring back at me. The face showed years of smoking and drinking, long partied nights and sunscreenless days.
I have deep lines, sunken cheeks, slightly hooded eyelids, sun damage and age spots. It’s a face well lived. It doesn’t always make me happy to see my aging face. When I turned 60 I hated it and became very depressed. I started grieving the beautiful youthful woman I used to be.
It took me a few years to accept this aging process and truly embrace my face.
I can now smile at the woman staring back at me but there’s a part of me that’s so angry.
Angry at the anti-industry that made women believe that we weren’t beautiful, or enough, unless we looked youthful.
Buy these anti-aging products and look 10 years younger!
There it is – look 10 years younger. Why? Why do we need to do that? Why do we feel the need to do that? What’s wrong with looking 63 or 73 or 83?
What’s wrong with our faces?
Absolutely nothing! But the anti-aging industry has us believing that we’re old and ugly if we don’t buy their anti-aging products. They have been psychologically gaslighting us into believing we’re not enough as we are.
And the sad part? We’ve been believing them.
Defining Anti-Aging
So what does anti-aging really mean? What does anti anything mean? It means to fight against, protect, make it stop.
Fighting against aging. Growing old. Life.
You don’t need me to say this but I’m going to say it anyway – aging is a privelege denied to many. I know I know, so cliche but this one line holds so much truth.
Many don’t get to see wrinkles and laugh lines. Many don’t get to see their grandbabies grow up. Many don’t get to take one more trip.
So why are we fighting aging? Life? Why can’t we just be grateful we’re still alive?
I’m not fighting my age anymore. I’m not buying into these anti-aging products that promise to make me look 10 years younger. I was already young once. I’m good.
How’s your self-esteem these days?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? But what if that beholder is you?
We are our own worst critics. We aren’t thin enough, smart enough, good enough, beautiful enough. We hate our thighs, our bellies, our sagging skin. We feel invisible, ugly and undesirable.
For our entire lives, we have equated our looks to our value, our self-confidence and our self-esteem. Now as we get older, we don’t have those youthful looks anymore and the anti-aging industrty is here to drill into our heads that without that beautiful young face, we’re nothing.
Good bye self-esteem and self-confidence and hello $200 anti-aging products that promise to make us look ’10 years younger’.
But you are enough
Look, I get that not all women want to age gracefully and naturally. Some of us want to stay younger looking for as long as we can. I mean, the anti-aging industry is set to be worth $80 billion so there’s that.
But if you can stop for one second and take into consideration that your value isn’t dependent on your looks, it’s what is inside that counts.
Doesn’t that count for anything anymore?
You are beautiful enough, good enough and awesome enough just the way you are. Your lines tell the story of your life and that is nothing to be ashamed of. You’re here, you’re alive and you’re beautiful, wrinkles, crepey saggy skin and all.
ox iva xo
