Allergan research reveals attitudes to ageing
New research from Allergan has revealed that most women don’t want to erase all their lines and wrinkles and would rather look good for their age than younger.
The company assembled a panel of women in their early 50s to find out just how many would be able to resist the temptation of a wrinkle-free complexion. During the experiment, the panel were photographed and their images retouched to different degrees – from subtle wrinkle softening, to magazine-style flawlessness. Despite being faced with a vision of themselves that appeared years younger, all of the women preferred the image that they felt represented the way they feel inside: the one that kept most of their lines, but not all of them. The surprising results were reinforced by public preference as well. When shown the images, on average nearly two thirds (63%) of the 2,000 women surveyed said the participants looked better with most of their wrinkles intact and with only subtle tweaks made to their appearance. Nearly two in three respondents (64%), thought the images of the women with a few wrinkles softened looked refreshed Allergan research reveals attitudes to ageing and 69% thought they looked good for their age. On average almost half (47%) thought the totally retouched images looked unnatural and a further 41% thought the most retouched images didn’t look real. This revelation debunks the myth that women want to look younger – according to this research, they just want to look like the best version of themselves.
Honey Langcaster-James, behavioural psychologist, attended the experiment and assessed the attitudes of the women involved. “As more milestones pass, women feel that the face in the mirror isn’t a true reflection of the vital, energetic person they feel like on the inside and yet the outside world is also full of unrealistic and youthful faces that they don’t identify with either”, she said. “What’s really interesting is that women today don’t want to look years younger; they want to age well which for them, means looking great for their age. All of the women who took part in the experiment showed just that - subtle tweaks is all they wanted and they were adamant that they wanted to still look like themselves.” Commenting on the results of the social experiment Dr Jonquille Chantrey, plastic surgeon, said, “I see women and men every day who just want to soften one or two tell-tale lines or wrinkles that are bothering them about their appearance. More people are choosing less invasive treatments with dermal fillers as it’s possible to achieve a very natural and refreshed look. This subtle, more attractive result conveys a healthy approach to life choices, rather than wanting to look young.”
The experiment was part of a wider communications campaign recently launched by the company called #THISISME.
