Wrinkles are Wellness

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Columbia Barnard chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Sephora shelves adorn themselves with lip glosses that boast the newest peptide-technologies, each product promising results of fuller lips lacking imperfections. Tiktokers and influencers rave: Rhode can revitalize your lips (for the small price of $14!), Aquaphor is out, and Summer Fridays just came out with a lip glaze formula that is so incredibly different from its predecessors. The latest Erewhon smoothie has hit shelves promising wellness through collagen powder and sea moss. Skincare specialists and spas insist on consumers trying their state-of-the-art treatments: vampire facials, gold creams, and…salmon sperm?

In a society that actively profits off of manufacturing fears about aging, how can we truly appreciate our natural appearances?

It is no secret that much of the beauty industry today operates on insecurity. Rather than marketing a product, companies and influencers sell you a promise: of desirability, of youth, of control. But when every fine line is labeled a problem and every speck a flaw, we as a collective start to rethink the notion of beauty. Beauty becomes an ongoing project to maintain rather than the vibrancy of being alive.

We must redefine beauty as being dynamic, everchanging, and human. Textures, smile lines, and wrinkles are not degradations of our existence, but markers of it. Each groove marks a milestone within our lives; each line tells the story of a season of laughs, worries, and life. Rather than allowing ourselves to be controlled by a multibillion dollar industry full of airbrushes and algorithms, we should seek to honor the person we are.

Cultivating our self-perception beyond capitalist narratives of beauty can be done in a multitude of ways. Appreciating one’s natural appearance doesn’t mean less indulgence in skincare or beauty, but rather a reorientation of our intentions of consuming it. We can practice gratitude for our vessel of life and how resilient it is. We can seek a community that celebrates diversity in age and appearances. Ultimately, the question of beauty does not boil down to “how can I reduce or erase?” but rather “how can I care?” When we redefine beauty as an act of kindness towards ourselves rather than a struggle for societal approval, we reclaim our reflection and our humanity.