Why I Won't Use Anti-Wrinkle Creams

If I were going to guess how many strands of grey hair I have on my head, I’d take a punt and say about a hundred.

I could have more or I could have less, but the point is that I have them. And the numbers are growing each year.

I always have the option to dye my hair of course, but I don’t. There are eco-friendly hair dyes available but I really don’t care all that much to do anything about it. If half my head was going grey, I may reconsider, but I highly doubt it. I embrace getting older and have really enjoyed observing my body change over the years.

A couple of months ago, while getting ready for a client meeting, I spotted my first eye wrinkle. There it was, in the corner of my left eye, a single fine line.

I didn’t feel disappointment. I didn’t feel shock. I didn’t feel upset.

But strangely, I was a little weirded out. A wrinkle is a real sign that you’re getting older. More real than getting grey hair in my opinion. Now while it was a tad confronting at first, I quickly got over it.

I remember calling out to my fiance at the time and telling him I’d found my first wrinkle. Ben gave me a hug as a warm welcome into his world (he has crows feet around both eyes).

Now finding a wrinkle is cause for many women to frantically seek out anti-ageing products. Other women may even consider Botox. But to me this is illogical. I don’t believe in trying to fix an unpreventable problem. We’re all going to get old and that’s just a fact of life.

If you want to slow down the ageing process keep out of the sun and eat plenty of raw whole foods. While you’re at it, you may as well quit having any sort of expression as that’ll cause wrinkles too. So forget smiling, forget frowning; just don’t move one single facial muscle!

But try as you might, doing these things won’t prevent you from getting wrinkles. You’re human and it will happen. Just accept it.

I also refuse to purchase anti-ageing products and anti-wrinkle creams because I don’t believe beauty companies should profit from women’s irrational fears about ageing. It’s just another one of my simple acts of feminist defiance.

So the wrinkle issue was dead and buried not too long after I found it.

But then a couple of days ago something happened that reminded me again just how fearful women are of ageing.

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Top: Second-hand gift from my sister-in-law | Photographer: Ben McGuire

Here’s what happened…

While putting my hands to my face (and squishing my skin as I did so) whilst talking to mum about my work in digital content marketing, mum out of nowhere tells me to “stop doing that to your face or you’ll get more wrinkles”.

Can you believe that!? I stopped what I was doing to my face of course, not because I care much about wrinkles but because I’m hardwired to follow mum’s orders.

However this incident has only intensified my concern about women’s fears about ageing, and more specifically, my mothers’.

So I want to know: How do you feel about getting wrinkles and getting older? Horrified? Freaked out? Feel free to leave a comment. Would love to know what you really think about women’s obsession with ageing.