BEAUTY

AGE DEFIANT

Welcome to the septuagenarian Botox boom

For women, ageing has long been a double bind. Rhetoric tells us that it’s our duty to stay young and beautiful, yet we are ridiculed the moment our efforts to do so become visible. Age gracefully, but not too deliberately; it’s a no-win narrative, and one that women are increasingly rejecting.

Aesthetic treatments may once have been considered off-limits by women in their seventies, but they are now undergoing a noticeable rise in popularity.

This growing cohort of women is redefining what ageing looks like: from subtle injectables (and not-so-subtle face lifts, in the case of Kris Jenner) to skin-renewing treatments, they are embracing technology not to chase youth, but to feel confident, visible and in control of how they present themselves in later life.

“For many women in their seventies, the decades before were dedicated to raising children, running households, supporting partners and navigating demanding careers,” says the psychotherapist, author and speaker Anna Mathur.