22/07/2025
Facing the Future” — Or Fueling the Fear?
Let’s talk about beauty. Not the kind sold to us by algorithms, retouched images, or celebrity-endorsed miracle serums. Not the kind filtered through social media or whispered behind clinic doors with a promise of eternal youth. Let’s talk about real beauty—the kind that radiates from wellbeing, wisdom, and confidence earned through lived experience.
Recently, a UK survey of women on their thoughts about ageing, confidence, and beauty expectations with a headline that highlights 86% of women feel celebrities and influencers promote unrealistic ideals, and that women feel growing pressure to appear youthful at social events, in the workplace, and even when dating.
But here’s my question: who decided this was news? And more importantly: who benefits from this narrative?
Are We Facing the Truth or Marketing Disguised as Concern?
While the campaign claims to “uncover how women reallyfeel,” it’s hard to ignore the context: this data comes from a skincare retailer. It’s a familiar playbook—tap into our insecurities, validate them under the guise of empathy, then sell us something to soothe the wound.
This isn’t a dig at one brand. It’s a broader industry problem. We wrap fear in the language of empowerment. We push “self-care” while quietly implying that lines, texture, or natural changes are flaws. We say “well-ageing” while still placing youth on the pedestal.
I have worked all my adult life in the beauty industry and I reject that model entirely.
Beauty Isn’t Lost — It Evolves
Our clients at Springs are women of all ages—smart, capable, busy women balancing careers, caregiving, health challenges, and dreams they’ve yet to chase. They come to us not to chase youth, but to feel good in their skin. To reclaim time for themselves. To restore energy. To age with grace, not apology.
Springs is not here to sell miracles. First and foremost, we offer a place to pause—a moment to breathe. Our expertise is always available, and our advice is given only when asked for.
We don’t idolise celebrities.
We celebrate real women, in real bodies, with real stories.
And we certainly don’t believe beauty is something to be preserved like a photograph frozen in time. It's a journey. It evolves. So should the way we care for ourselves.
Breaking the Spell of “Anti-Ageing”
The truth is: there’s a billion-pound industry that profits from telling women they're not enough.
And if we’re not vigilant, even the most well-meaning campaigns risk becoming another layer in that pressure.
Instead of asking women how pressured they feel, maybe we should ask:
* Who benefits when women fear getting older?
* What if we invested in education, not shame?
* What if we taught our daughters to view a wrinkle not as a problem to fix, but a sign of a life well lived?
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A New Beauty Standard: Truth, Strength, and Choice
At Springs, we support your right to choose what makes you feel good—we will never fuel fear to sell a treatment. We will never suggest your face, your age, or your story needs correcting.
We’re here to redefine beauty. To shift it away from perfectionism and toward wholeness. To create space where women feel seen, supported, and celebrated—not sold to.
So the next time you read a headline about how women “really feel,” ask yourself—is this empathy or marketing? And then choose to write your own narrative.
You are not behind. You are not broken. You are becoming.
And that, to me, is beautiful.