Anti-aging products are one of the most fundamental aspects of the modern beauty industry. While cosmetics often enhance or conceal physical features, anti-aging products and beauty techniques tend to take a more proactive—and oftentimes clinical—approach to beauty and health. While cosmetics have existed for at least seven thousand millennia, anti-aging techniques were traditionally tied to longevity practices in Eastern medicine that originated in present-day China and India. Anti-aging techniques associated with longevity tended to focus on nutrition and exercise techniques as ways to increase the lifespan.
In the 20th century, by contrast, anti-aging generally refers to techniques developed by cosmetics manufacturers and some beauticians to focus more on the outward signs of aging.
Most anti-aging products tend to be related to skin care and the prevention or reduction of visible wrinkles and blemishes associated with aging and sun exposure, although some antiaging products are targeted for hair care.
Development And Marketing
The cultural associations between youth and beauty, particularly for women, and the growth of visual media like film and television have greatly influenced the beauty industry and the development and marketing of anti-aging products.
The growing population of older people and the increase in life expectancy has also indirectly affected the marketing of anti-aging products.
Perhaps the earliest attempt to develop and market an anti-aging cream, as opposed to a lotion or moisturizer, was with the collaboration of a South African chemist Graham Wulff and his wife, Dinah. Using his wife as both inspiration and test subject, Graham Wulff developed Oil of Olay in 1949 as an alternative to heavier face creams and lotions. Unlike other face creams, Oil of Olay marketers emphasized its healing abilities and even suggested that the product had medical benefits. Oil of Olay developed a unique advertising campaign in the 1950s that appeared to show doctors’ endorsements of the product, thus blurring the lines between the cosmetic and the clinical. Since the introduction of Oil of Olay, numerous other cosmetics manufacturers began to market anti-aging and antiwrinkle creams, including RoC, Lancôme, and Estée Lauder.
The primary component of Oil of Olay, lanolin, or wool fat, was already used as a moisturizer. In the past three decades, scientists also began to understand the relationship between vitamins and the process of oxidation, a biological process that can damage cells. Since the late 1980s, most anti-aging products use retinol, or Vitamin A, and Vitamin E, because of their clinical ability to repair damaged skin. In the 1990s, RoC introduced alpha and beta hydroxy acids for their ability to exfoliate dead skin cells, although whether they can definitively reduce wrinkles has been questioned by some scientists. In the last decade, many anti-wrinkle products have begun to use Coenzyme Q10, or Q10, as the active ingredient because of its potency as an anti-oxidant. Some products even use caffeine for its ability to make the skin appear taut, in part from dehydration. However, the most significant development in anti-aging products has been the addition of ultraviolet protection from solar radiation, one of the primary causes of wrinkles and blemishes associated with aging. Although cosmetics producers continue to market anti-aging and anti-wrinkle products most aggressively to women, in the last several years, anti-aging products have also been introduced for men. Although not markedly different in ingredients, the special attempt to market anti-aging products to men suggests both the difficulty manufacturers have had in opening a male market to anti-aging products and the increasing pressure on men to maintain a youthful appearance.
In addition to the mass marketing of anti-aging products by major cosmetics producers, many smaller cosmetics boutiques and even spas have begun to offer alternative treatments to reduce the appearance of aging. Often times, such boutiques and spas incorporate non-Western techniques and products into their businesses in order to individualize beauty treatments and compete with mainstream cosmetics manufacturers.
Cosmeceuticals And The Debate Over Anti-Aging Products
More than any other beauty products, the cosmetics industry markets antiaging products as clinically developed and tested. In part because aging represents a biological process with a correlate in professional medical practice, many manufacturers have begun to market anti-aging products as cosmeceuticals, a neologism combining the words cosmetic and pharmaceutical. The cosmetics industry has come under fire for the use of the word in advertising campaigns, as scientists cast doubt on the clinical veracity of manufacturer reports demonstrating a link between anti-aging products and the reduction of visible signs of aging.
Because of the scientific and clinical aspects of anti-aging, the governments of many industrialized nations have begun to regulate the marketing and distribution of anti-aging products. In the United States, the legislature has responded by broadening regulations for the industry with oversight boards like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Furthermore, the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging, founded initially in 1977 to study Medicare and Social Security programs for older Americans, has begun to take an increasing interest in the effects of anti-aging products as they become more widespread and the population of older Americans increases.
While cosmetics manufacturers often fund and publicize their own scientific studies, the industry continues to follow the looser regulations developed for cosmetics as opposed to pharmaceuticals. While cosmeceuticals might potentially mislead consumers, anti-aging products marketed as such do not require the lengthy FDA test process or waiting period for drugs.
Since 2002, the FDA has approved the use of Botox, a derivative of the botulinum bacterium. Botox, which has become an increasingly popular cosmetic treatment, reduces wrinkles by paralyzing the underlying facial muscles responsible for wrinkles around the forehead and eyes. Prior to use as a cosmetic, Botox was also a common treatment for muscle spasms and related disorders. Although a number of studies have questioned the safety of Botox, the product remains the most common alternative to cosmetics products or cosmetic surgery.
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