We live in a world that overwhelmingly equates beauty with youth and perfection. 

For many women, especially during adolescence and early adulthood, their appearance may feel like a measure of self-worth, resulting in pressure to conform, be flawless, and fit an ideal. This standard places an incredible strain on young women, distracting them from their life goals and adding unnecessary anxiety to their lives.

As time passes, many women begin to shed these burdens, developing a stronger sense of self, with the development of confidence and self-worth based on other attributes, and a greater acceptance of their physical appearance.  However, for many women in their later years, the loss of youth leads to increased anxiety and the search for a panacea that will restore their youthful appearance. 

As creators of skin care products and observers of advertising across this vast industry, we are acutely aware of the exploitation of women’s anxiety over their physical appearance. It can affect all stages of a woman’s life, and generates large amounts of money. Beauty and personal care products are set to exceed $655 billion USD in sales worldwide in 2025.

The obsession with a youthful appearance is damaging to women, physically and mentally, and an enormous waste of human potential, not to mention money and resources. What can we do to change this?

How women can break the cycle

Learning acceptance 

Accepting our appearance means looking in the mirror and saying, “This is me, and I am enough.”

As the wonderful Emma Thompson said in interviews after making the film ‘Good Luck to you, Leo Grande’ in which she stands naked in front of a mirror: If I stand in front of a mirror I’ll always pull something in, turn to the side, I’ll do something. I can’t just stand there. Why would I do that - it’s horrifying. So that’s the problem isn’t it, that… we’ve been brainwashed all our lives to hate our bodies. That’s the fact of it. And everything that’s around us reminds us of how imperfect we are…’

And when asked what she would tell her younger self, she said: Don’t waste your life’s purpose worrying about your body. This is your vessel, it’s your house, it’s where you live, there’s no point in judging it.

When we accept ourselves, we are liberated. We can begin to focus on nurturing ourselves instead of wasting our lives criticising, adjusting and perfecting our appearance.

Redefine beauty

Women of all ages should feel comfortable in their less-than-perfect bodies, go without makeup if they wish, and dress to please themselves. As they get older, their ageing bodies should be embraced and cherished. Women should be able to enjoy their appearance and style themselves as they please, without placing it at the core of their value.

Representation in society matters

To change the status quo, we need to change how women are represented in media, art and culture. 

Girls and women need to be educated to understand how easily they can be targeted by media to feel inadequate - and how to neutralise these attacks on their sense of worth. 

Society must celebrate women of diverse ages and backgrounds living lives of purpose and pleasure. The more we see women honoured for their minds, characters and actions, the easier it will be to lose our obsession with achieving unattainable beauty standards.

Changing expectations

We should allow ourselves and others to be present without commenting on appearance, without comparing, and without pressure to improve or conform. 

Embracing the skin we’re in

At Mokosh, we consider that our skin is beautiful at all stages of life. When it comes to caring for our skin, our approach is the same as caring for the rest of our body: to nurture it with the most nutritious ingredients available. The result? Healthy, calm, resilient skin.

At different stages of life, during different seasons, and for some women at different times of the month, our skin changes. No matter what stage your skin is in, Mokosh can provide everything it needs, in its purest form, to be in that state of perfect, beautiful health. 

Not sure which product is right for you? Go to our Routines by Skin Type page or get a private consultation by filling in our Skin Consult Questionnaire.