WHAT IT REALLY Means to age Gracefully

There’s a problem with society’s idea of aging well. Let’s start out by being crystal clear: aging gracefully does not mean not aging, let alone aging backward. It’s not possible, and you’ll end up disappointed if you buy into products that promise to “take decades off of your face.”

We aren’t here to take a neatly sharpened pin to your self-care bubble, though. This is an uplifting promise! Of course, there are a million little things that can be done to lift, tighten, smooth, and whittle. But with age comes it’s own kind of beauty. A lived-in wisdom of learned experience that can’t be masked or lasered or injected away. And we think that is absolutely gorgeous.

It’s not our fault for wanting to fight aging. Products and procedures themselves are literally marketed to us as the anti of the inevitable. While we are proponents of wellness for vitality, longevity, feeling overall great, and of course, beauty, we have to keep this one little thing in mind—roll with it.

The more we do to combat aging with extreme tricks and procedures, the more stressed our skin becomes, and the more warped our faces look. We can try and make significant, expensive choices to restore youth, but if we depart too far from what makes us ourselves, we are concealing our natural beauty that comes with age.

The best way to age gracefully is to welcome each year that passes, instead of cringing, shrinking away, and obscuring it. Smile more, and in turn, don’t scowl upon your smile lines. Walk tall and embody grace. The most beautiful thing a woman can do is be comfortable in her own skin.

If that feels impossible or even pretentious, we hear you loud and clear. We aren’t always there—Jen and the Âmé team don’t wake up every single day on a cloud at the end of a rainbow feeling exuberant and sparkly. That kind of self-love takes work, reflection, and constant mindfulness, but the payout is tenfold.

When we can accept ourselves, we begin to see more clearly in all aspects, including the respect that comes with lines we may have earned, the grey hairs that surprise us with an earnest and substantial character, the texture and elasticity of our skin. Doing our best to nourish, hydrate, and condition our bodies intuitively makes us feel vital from the inside out.

That is not to say an excellent facial or a thoughtful skincare regime doesn’t come into play. Mindful and thorough cleansing, a routine of exfoliation (not too much!), a potent vitamin C topical and or ingestible, a nourishing serum, and plenty of hydrators are sure to make a vast difference vs. nothing at all.

But we think it’s high time that we fall away from the notion that only the rich can afford to remain young-looking whilst denying any “work done.” By all means, do what makes you feel your most youthful, but don’t die painstakingly fighting the clock. It’s a losing battle. Choose life as it exists which is constant; be here, now.