How Skin Care Made Us Scared To Age

If you’ve spent any time scrolling through TikTok, you’ll notice a flood of videos offering recommendations for the “best” moisturizer or “best” sunscreen. Influencers showcase their elaborate 15-step routine or even what injections they undergo to maintain their skin. When you’re a teenager, it’s not uncommon to obsess over eliminating a few blemishes or hydrating your skin, but the pervasiveness of social media has taken things a step further. 

Thanks to our lives being so online, we spend so much of our time looking at our faces. We inspect the tiniest flaws. Every small pore, every defining wrinkle, every bump, and every spot we criticize and look for ways to eliminate. We compare ourselves to unrealistic standards to reassure ourselves that we look good on camera. While youth has always been something held on a pedestal, the hyper-online culture we live in has increased our obsession with the fear of aging. With just the right moisturizer or serum, we can avoid looking older. 

Clear, effortless skin has long been upheld and tied to our worth. Beauty standards have often signified fair complexions as a “sign” of moral goodness that shines through. This is especially amplified with the rise of TikTok trends such as “glass skin,” “glazed donut skin,” and other beauty fads. While anti-aging products and the fixation on aging are not new, the market of products has skyrocketed and covered a younger audience of impressionable teenagers. We work hard not to look our age, as companies profit from our insecurities, as we see the tiniest bit of a freckle as a moral failure. 

There’s a bit of a dichotomy between the ideals of self-love held by the younger generation and the reality of this constantly profiting culture. While we’re encouraged to embrace ourselves as we are, we are still taught that any form of imperfection on our face can be easily prevented if we use a “cure-all” product. We buy into this, believing it to be our choice in confidence, not in the pursuit of perfection. 

Accepting the beauty standards so prevalent in society is not an easy journey, nor do I think it will ever happen to any of us. We are often so consumed with the thoughts of others and ourselves, with this idea of the insatiable beast of acceptance that never truly goes away. However, as we continue to live in this digital culture that further intensifies the echo chamber of universal beauty, it’s important to be smart in our consumption of hashtags and posts that may not be inherently good for our self-esteem. The value that we hold as people is not simply defined by the age that we look or how deep our smile lines are; it’s much deeper than something as contrived and manipulative as what social media shows us. 

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• beauty
• health
• life
• skincare
• social media