You may have seen our National Age Without Apology Month this month - the theme for 2024 is Wrinkles Are Earned, they can’t be bought. The point of this campaign is to dramatically flip the wrinkles narrative on its head, from being something that we fight against and try to reverse, to instead being something that is honoured.
We make the point that wrinkles can’t be bought – they truly are something that come after a lived life. So imagine if wrinkles were reframed as the next beauty must-have, a bit like grey hair was a few years ago when young adults started dying their hair grey. But with wrinkles, you literally couldn’t buy them. They have to be earned.
Yes, this is a radical suggestion. But it really does just take the media and beauty articles talking about wrinkles in a different way, beauty brands talking about wrinkles in a different way, more high-profile people showing their own wrinkles/talking about their wrinkles with pride (it’s starting to happen but it’s still the minority), to help turn the tide. To help change people’s mindsets. To help people look at their faces in a kinder way.
Look at the now-coveted sun tan, which for decades wasn’t desirable as it represented working in the fields all day instead of spending a life of leisure indoors. Then Coco Chanel accidentally caught too much sun during a Mediterranean cruise and the resulting photographs made a tan desirable and considered beautiful. Proof that radical changes to beauty ideals can happen!
I’m not expecting change to happen overnight, or for one campaign to immediately change how people feel about their wrinkles. But I do want to help reframe how people look at their wrinkles, to start to change people’s mindsets, one by one.
I’m not saying you have to love your wrinkles, but I would like to help you at least accept them. I’m being realistic - wrinkles are inevitable, they are very normal, they are not something that need to be removed for you to look good. And I’m being upfront and honest – no pot of cream is going to get rid of your wrinkles, otherwise we’d all know about this miracle cream and we’d all look years younger!
Skincare is about getting your best skin, not impossible skin. I don’t want to sell you hope-in-a-jar, which is ultimately a pot of disappointment. I want to provide you with quality skincare that will give you your best skin, and help you to feel good about yourself along the way.
Jenni Retourné, Founder, Willowberry
Willowberry is nutritious natural skincare for grown-ups, for your best skin.
A favourite with top make-up artists, Willowberry's luxurious award-winning products protect skin’s natural barrier function, to nourish and revive grown-up skin without telling women to be 'anti-ageing'.
As seen in Vogue, Independent, The Telegraph, This Morning and more.
