A NEW WRINKLE
Guerlain beauty expert tells Aleesha Harris why we need to embrace aging, not fight it.
Skin care experts say it’s time to embrace aging
The pressure to have youthful, luminous skin, at every age, is one women have long been faced with.
In recent years, the term “antiaging ” has become the go-to moniker for the plethora of tonics, tinctures, lotions and creams — not to mention treatments — that purport to keep the oft-dreaded fine lines, wrinkles and spots at bay.
But, does this term still fit today? Are we really so against the idea of looking older that we want to oppose it completely?
To some, it’s high time we put the term to rest.
“Anti-aging — what is anti-aging? I don’t really understand,” Maxime Poulin, the international beauty expert for Guerlain, says when asked about the term. “I’m all about accepting your aging and your wrinkles. I always say you worked so hard to get them. You earned them.”
And Poulin, a Montreal-raised former model and Canadian Makeup Artist of the Year, is not alone.
In August 2017, the American magazine Allure announced they will no longer use the word antiaging in its pages.
“We’re not the same at 18 as we are at 80. But we need to stop looking at our life as a hill that we start rolling uncontrollably down past 35,” the magazine’s editor in chief Michelle Lee said in her editor’s note of the decision.
Rather than talk down about the signs of aging on our skin, Poulin says women should consider viewing the surface changes in a more positive way than we typically do in North America.
“I’m really of the approach of French women that aging beautifully and gracefully is much more normal there,” he says. “Here, we’re exposed to so much. Now, it’s modification. You’re not maintaining, you’re doing the extra.
But simply nixing the word antiaging from our collective vocabulary doesn’t mean we have to sit back, watch and wait as our skin naturally ages and transforms. Not even close.
We just don’t have to feel so darn bad about it.
Outward signs of aging such as wrinkles and dark spots, after all, are said to be symptoms of changes that are happening within. And, oftentimes, the speed and severity of skin changes has more to do with your lifestyle than your number of years.
“A lot of the products target what you see. But what you see is only the top layer of skin, which is going to be gone in a couple of days,” Poulin explains.
“The skin cycle is 28-30 days, depending on the age. It slows down as you get older, but it starts slowing down as early as 25 because of factors such as pollution and diet.
“So, if someone drinks or smokes, their cycle can be further slowed down and they won’t rejuvenate as often as a normal person.”
In addition to lifestyle and eating habits, Poulin says it can be helpful to examine the different chapters of your own skin’s story.
Mainly, identifying if there was any damage done in early years by sun exposure or acne, as well as noting the point at which proper skin care practices were picked up.
“When the skin is healthy, you’re glowing and you’re beautiful,” he says. “There are a lot of older women who have wrinkles — but they look glowing, radiant, healthy and fresh.”
And, according to the Guerlain pro, finding that freshness begins with being realistic about the skin you’re in rather than comparing yourself to some celebrity ideal. It’s important, he explains, to find a “healthy approach” to your skin care regime that includes using a product that promotes “a healthy, normal skin” cycle rather than one that promises to eliminate issues.
“Your skin is your skin. We don’t make promises,” he says. “You’re not going to read on this box that it removes wrinkles or it turns back time. Because that’s not true.”
When it comes to the efficacy of products, Poulin says it’s important to have patience.
“People say they want results faster, so they want to try every new product that comes onto the market. But ... anything that is going to give you results quickly is unsustainable and not that great in the long run,” he says. “If you’re trying to lose weight, you can eat cabbage soup for one week. But, are you going to maintain that? No, it’s not possible.
“Anything that gives you a real improvement should be taking an approach that is going to be for the long run.”
Poulin says when starting a new skin care routine, it’s not a good idea to expect dramatic results in the first week — but rather accept the fact that cumulative results will occur over a period of months (typically three). Then, your skin will likely plateau.”
Another buzzword that’s been creeping up in skin care circles, is prejuvenation — mainly the practice of anticipating skin care concerns early on and upping your regime with products and preventive treatments. But, while Poulin is a proponent of proper skin care regimes as early as possible, he says it’s important to be aware of the types of products you’re using on your skin at a younger age.
“If you’re using a real ‘anti-aging ’ product that is going to repair wrinkles or firming, for example, and you’re young and you don’t have (skin problems), it will only be a moisturizer,” he says. “It won’t be able to do anything else. But, if you choose a product that targets the functioning of the skin — everyone’s skin should function the same way, whether young or old — it’s not targeting symptoms, it’s targeting the mechanisms of the skin.”
Poulin points to the multi-step skin care practices of Korean and Japanese beauty fans as an indicator of just how beneficial proper skin care at an earlier age can be.
“Asian cultures do their skin care religiously from a very early age — and they never age. They look ageless. And they don’t do surgery. They just have beautiful skin,” he says. “The tone of the skin is always great. But they are religious about taking their makeup off, cleansing, serum, lotions — they do everything. And you see it.
“It’s this really global approach to more healthy skin, rather than an ageless face,” Poulin summarizes. So, RIP anti-aging.
And good riddance.