Allure Takes on Anti-Aging: Can We “Age Gracefully” Instead?

When I founded Beautycounter, I did so with the desire to end business as usual for the cosmetics industry. Over the past four years, however, I’ve found myself at the forefront of conversations about environmental health, women’s empowerment, entrepreneurship and most recently, the end of the word “anti-aging.”

Last week, the New York Times highlighted the shift occurring around the use of “anti-aging” in advertisements and major fashion publications. What took so long? As a phrase that was likely dreamed up by middle-aged men on Madison Avenue, it offers an elusive promise that can never really come true. Life moves in one direction and the only thing we can guarantee is that we will age – if we’re lucky.

At Beautycounter, we celebrate people of all ages, ethnicities, shapes and sizes. We promise that we will never formulate the face wash, moisturizer and serum that our customers use with harmful ingredients, though we are careful not to promise that they will reverse the laws of biology.

Please know I’ll be the first in line for the miracle potion that permanently erases crows feet. But I also know that many of the “anti-aging” products on the market today that claim to reduce, refine and retexture not only fail to deliver on the promise of everlasting youth, but may end up leeching harmful ingredients into our bodies. Creating products with known toxic ingredients isn’t a risk I’m willing to take, for myself or for our customers.

And therein lies the beauty of what we’ve set out to do at Beautycounter: create products that help us look our best as we age (products need to work), while using safer ingredients, and never falling prey to advertising language that ultimately makes women and men feel bad about the privilege of growing old. It’s hard work, but so far we’re making this impossible feat possible.

We all want to recapture the glow of our early twenties. Christy Coleman, well known celebrity makeup artist and Chief Artistic Officer at Beautycounter, taught me that “aging gracefully” should be the goal. I’m also proud of our Rejuvenating line at Beautycounter, which delivers on the promise of aging gracefully by using naturally active ingredients to revitalize skin without relying on harmful chemicals like retinol.

For me, Fall is a time of changing seasons and a reminder that the days are long but the years are short. At Beautycounter, we celebrate growing older and wiser with each passing year. And you can expect that we will continue to deliver safer, more effective products, to help our consumers look and feel their best, at any age.