Pretty, Exhausted

Retinol at 20, collagen yarn face wraps, and a skincare routine that takes longer than a night's sleep. Is Gen Z okay?

- By Ananya Rai

What is it about beauty that makes us feral and foaming at the mouth? We hear the word "anti-ageing" and start maxing out our credit cards. We cling to every bizarre skincare "ritual" that might come out of a conventionally pretty person's mouth: "Oh, I use my own spit to treat acne", or "I shove my face in a bowl of ice", or—no one has actually said this, but give it time—"I just buy a pack of good genes over the counter." We introduce retinols in our routines the second we enter our 20s (let me de-influence you: You don't need to go anywhere near it if you're not at least 30 years old), and spend hours staring at our reflections in the mirror, scrutinising every single laugh line or enlarged pore. The mere mention of crow's feet or turkey neck (why does ageing sound like an Animal Planet episode?) is enough to send us spiralling. It is almost like, if The Substance (2024) were real, half of us would be on it.

As per writer Sable Yong, beauty has been integrated into our lives way before our original chromosomes paired up. In her book Die Hot with a Vengeance: Essays on Vanity, the former beauty editor of Allure, writes, “It [beauty] is everywhere, even if you don't see it—kind of like dust mites. Beauty is embedded in the ways we are socialised to value people, so that makes it kind of a big issue.”