Ah Crap, I'm Aging

On how I'm confronting another turn around the sun.

I’m as vain as the next person, probably more so given my decade-long career as a beauty editor, which puts me at extreme odds with my current predicament as a 33-soon-to-be-34-year-old. It’s a well known stat that after the age of 25, when your collagen levels start to drop (that’s the protein in your skin that keeps its full, bouncy, and youthful — you want a lot of it) 35 is the next major hurdle. As a society, we’ve collectively proclaimed it as the age when you are last considered young, that scintillating superlative we all yearn for but inevitably watch slip away with every passing birthday. And now that I’m staring down the barrel of 34 (my birthday is in less than ten days), I’m suddenly confronted with the reality that I’m going to be… old. Sooner rather than later.

Old is a state of mind, this I know, especially since I love asking people older than me what age they feel, rather than their cumulative age (the median number is around 28 in case you were wondering). But the fact remains that beauty and youth are a social currency that shows no signs of dissipating, and as far as I can tell, everyone has a moment — no matter how brief — of panicking that old age is coming for them. It’s not hard to imagine why!

Nothing more humbling than a camera that detects your sun damage

Luckily, I feel better than I ever have personally, professionally, and quite honestly, on a surface level as well. But we’re talking serious vanity here — no shame! I know the drop in protein levels, hormonal changes, and the cumulative effect of gravity are all happening in real time, but I’m quite pleased with how I’ve managed to maintain my skin and keep it looking and feeling healthy — not that it’s been easy breezy all the time. Yes, it’s incredibly easy to say “screw it” and let the aging process take place with little more than a bottle of sunscreen (you do you, BB), but I’m much more intrigued by the products and services that can help me retain my skin’s bounce, glow, and tone.

Call it the confidence that comes with age, call it the magic of my incredible dermatologists, but I think it’s safe to say I’ll continue fooling strangers into thinking I’m in my late 20s for a few more years.

So, how did I do it, and how am I refining my beauty routine in my mid-30s?