Should we stop betting on our beauty?

For Tarini Manchanda, there may be more beauty in putting down that LED mask and eating a packet of Magic Masala over conversations with friends.

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Every night, I do my skincare routine. I lather on tiny creams, squeeze serum pipettes, and rub lotions on my face. I feel like a scientist in a lab or a pickle being preserved in a pickle factory. Then I scroll through Instagram, which as though ridiculing me, tells me I need a new eye cream and that it is about time to add retinol to the mix. The thing about chasing coveted glass skin is that, like all glass, no matter what, it eventually shatters.

My thoughts often wander to a statement I've heard a lot growing up "Beauty is a depreciating asset." I'm not sure where I heard it first, but it was always said to make me understand that the pursuit of beauty can be a frivolous one. For me, however, it has not been so easy to digest. Beauty has been a big part of my world, and I think it’s finally time for me to unpack that loaded thought.

So as an attempt to deconstruct it, let’s ignore that beauty is subjective, let’s ignore the media trends and the cultural aspects of what is considered beautiful. From the lens of “physical beauty”, in its most superficial and universally conventional form, the answer is quite simple—of course beauty will fade as we age. Much like a shiny new Mercedes parked in the driveway, the value of it will forever depreciate; no matter how much you invest in it, you know you’re only going to get to enjoy it for a few years.

So, if you’re profiting off youth, and conventional beauty, yes it can simply be cast aside as “a depreciating asset” that loses its value with time. This thought leaves me unsettled, and so I asked a few women I consider beautiful across different ages to help me out.

Vasudha Rai, beauty journalist and bestselling author [Glow], interestingly brings up the 1996 Barbara Streisand movie,