Season: 10 Episode: 150
Listen to episode 146 in Spanish:
Summary:
The cosmetic industry is a billion dollar industry with a projected sales increase on cosmetics and injections this year. More American women buy cosmetics than any other country in the world, spending money on makeup, facial products, and other noninvasive procedures like botox and fillers. What does this say about our perception of beauty and aging? In this episode we talk about how the culture defines beauty, what God says is beautiful, and some of my own struggles throughout the aging process. This episode will leave you asking yourself: am I striving to be ageless or timeless?
Get Your Bible Study Notebook Here 👇🏻
Hey guys! Welcome back to another episode of the Her Faith Inspires podcast where we take cultural issues and tackle them with biblical truth. Today we’re talking Botox, fillers, and the definition of beauty. Raise your hand if the aging process is tough. Yeah. I’m feeling it. We’re going to talk about all of that today
Before we do, I want to remind you of the Bible study notebooks on my website. You can get a hard copy or you can get it and download it. They’re inductive studies on the books of Titus, the 7 Churches in Revelation. There’s also an apologetics study on truth and morality. There are lots of options for your study needs. Go to shandafulbright.com/shop to check it all out.
Summit Ministries
Also, don’t forget about the amazing opportunity to sign your 16-22 year old up for Summit apologetics camp this summer. Right now you can get $200 off your registration for the early bird sign ups and an additional $200 off with my code SHANDA25. For only $195 you can save your students spot. Go to summit.org/shanda to sign up. You won’t regret it.
Alright, today we’re talking about some things that have to do with beauty and who defines beauty. I’m going to reveal some of my own struggles and temptations when it comes to this area so that we can all be real.
We’re going to discuss:
- The current beauty trends and the cosmetic industry.
- What the Bible says about beauty and how the world defines beauty.
- Some of my own struggles with this and what I’ve learned over the years.
Current beauty trends:
So I was born in the mid 70s, was a kid in the 80s and a teen in the 90s so I’ve been been through a few trends to say the least. I was too young for the trends of the 70s and didn’t really care how I looked in the 80s because I was in middle school in the late 80s so to be honest, so I personally think the 80s look is the most hideous out of them all. What’s with the hot pink blush? Who did that? Explain yourself. Who’s idea was it to spray your bangs two feet above your head? Were we disappointed with our height and wanted to added a few inches by sticking our bangs straight up in the air? It doesn’t make sense to me.
The 90s look is when I started to care and I actually did my hair, the MC Hammer pants were all the rage, and we would take the bottom of our jeans and sort of fold them over an then tuck them so they looked like skinny jeans. I think that’s probably why the inverter of the skinny jeans was a genius. He or she was able to channel their 16 year old self and made a pair of pants they didn’t have to fold over but had the same effect. Good one, Mr. Skinny Jeans.
Inner Person
But we’re not really talking about clothing as much as we’re talking about wrestling with keeping our beauty and investing in the outer person more than we do the inner person.
The cosmetic industry is one of the most successful industries in the world. According to helplama.com:
- The beauty industry generated $528.59 billion worldwide in revenue in 2022 and is estimated to generate $579.20 billion in 2023.
- Global beauty industry revenue is expected to top $716 billion by 2025.
- The beauty (skincare) industry generated $100 billion in revenue in 2025.
- Here’s the breakdown for consumers:
How much do consumers spend annually on beauty products?
- Annual expenditure on beauty products is $182.3 per consumer in the United States.
- American women spend, on average, $313 a month on cosmetics.
- On an average, American women spend more than $3,756 annually on beauty products and services.
- Cosmetics industry spending topped $483 billion in 2020.
- Americans spend between $244 and $313 on cosmetics every month on an average.
- 3 out of 4 beauty customers respond well to personalized recommendations.
- 1 in 5 women changed their skincare routine because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
67% of beauty shoppers say they turn to influencers to discover new products.
Source: Statista, Swnsdigital.com, Terakeet
The US spends more money on beauty than any other country in the world at 89.7 billion. China is next at 58.3 billion. Russia is the least at 11.4 billion.
Loreal nets the most at 250.22 billion dollars.
Which demographic do you think buys the most products in the beauty industry?
Millennial women aged 25-44 buys most of the products at 38% follows by women aged 45-54 who buy 18%. Women aged 18-34 use the most makeup at 85%.
The primary target market for the skincare industry is women aged 18-41.
As far as botox and filler go, according to spamedica.com they say:
In 2022, over 9 million Botox treatments were administered globally. That represents a significant 26.1% increase in one year, as more age groups now do non-surgical improvements like Botox over surgery.
Botox injections have rapidly become one of the most popular non-surgical cosmetic procedures over the past decade. It uses botulinum toxin, which is a neurotoxin produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum. This neurotoxin temporarily paralyzes muscles to reduce wrinkles and other signs of aging on the face, neck, and forehead.
Which Age Group Gets Botox the Most?
The 35-50-year-old demographic got the most Botox in 2022 – nearly half of total procedures last year based on 4.417 million injections just for this middle-aged group fighting early signs of aging skin. However, the 18-34 age range still has 2.213 million Botox treatments in 2022. Younger millennials and Gen Z now use Botox preventatively on new fine lines instead of waiting for deep wrinkles.
The average age for botox is 43 years old. The US leads the way with botox and fillers at 42.8%. Japan is next at 9.1$. The lowest is Columbia at 1%.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that nose jobs and face lifts are down since 2019, which, form my observation seemed like a trend back in the day and with the rest of non-invasive procedures like botox and fillers some women have sort of ditched those more invasive surgical procedures.
Let’s Talk About …
**Don’t look the same with botox. Always a distortion.
*You have laugh lines. That’s natural.
*What is it doing to you over time?
**Prejuvination vs rejuvenation.
*Prejuvination is where young women prevent fine lines.
*Rejuvination is where old women try to reverse the fine lines.
Both are impossible!
What does the Bible say about beauty?
You’re not gonna like it.
Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.” Passing is also translated as fleeting in other versions. That just means it does’t last.
*If you watch old movies, you know this is true: Katherine Hepburn, Jennifer Aniston, etc.
Everyone has their own idea of what beauty is.
Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. However, God has His own idea of beauty and as you might have guessed, it has nothing to do with physical appearance.
One of the things I’ve talked about recently at a few women’s events is the idea that there is a difference between being ageless and being timeless. And I believe the Proverbs 31:30 verse shows us that dichotomy. Our culture promotes beauty in being ageless while the Bible tells us inner beauty is what is timeless. Let me explain.
Eve was both ageless and timeless when God created her. But after the fall she experienced the consequence of death. The aging process started and could no longer hold on to her beauty. However, Eve is timeless. We’re talking about her today. Not for the best of reasons, but the Bible does tell us Adam and Eve feared the Lord and in Gen 4:26. No doubt Eve had something to do with the generations after her calling on the Lord.
The woman in Proverbs 31 is not ageless but she’s timeless.
Her children and husband called her blessed, not for her beauty but for her fear of the Lord. We cannot stop time or reverse it, but I think all of these beautify products and the cosmetic industry isn’t just about living forever. I think it has to do with how we value aging and how we define beauty.
God doesn’t define beauty like we do. We don’t even define beauty the same across cultures. Do you ever look at the fashion of other cultures and love it? I mostly think that I wouldn’t want to wear what they wear. It’s not beautiful to me.
Got Questions says this about how God defines what is beautiful: “Recognizing the qualities God has cherished in the lives of other people is one way to determine His concept of beauty. Noah’s implicit trust in God led him to construct a gigantic boat miles from water. Abraham trusted God’s promise so implicitly that he would have sacrificed his son of promise without hesitation. Moses yielded total control of his life to God and became the man of meekness. David gave his whole being to doing the will of God. No consequence or shameful treatment could keep Daniel from reverencing his God. Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and Timothy were ruled by God in every consideration and decision. They were totally focused upon Jesus’ will as they shared the gospel with all.
In all these qualities God saw great beauty.
While all these people were beautiful to God, virtually nothing is known about their physical appearance. It was not their physique or stateliness but their faith and service that made them beautiful. The same was true of God’s beautiful women: Rahab, Hannah, Ruth, Deborah, and Mary of Bethany. Those noted for physical beauty were often great spiritual disappointments. Rebekah was “very beautiful” (Genesis 26:7), but she was also a deceiver and manipulator. Saul was a man of physical beauty, but his disobedience against God hurt the nation of Israel.”
Does that mean we can’t invest into our physical appearance?
No. The hard part of the Christian life is the balancing act between the two extremes. On one hand we have those who invest everything into the physical. And on the other we have those who do nothing to invest in their appearance. How do we handle this?
Peter told the church to not only consider the outward appearance but the inner beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. Some thing that means Peter said women should never speak or braid their hair (which was a cultural hairstyle back then). That’s not what he was saying. He was saying that more than just focusing on the outward, is the inner beatify of the heart that. Since God looks beyond the physical to the heart, that is what God is looking for when He sees us.
First Impressions
Haven’t you ever thought someone was beautiful upon a first impression and then once you got to know them they weren’t so beautiful anymore because they had a terrible attitude? Or the other way around? That’s how quickly perceived beauty of the outward can be marred by the ugly of the inward person of the heart.
So I guess a question is: Are we investing in our inner person – the spiritual man or woman – as much as we are the physical? If not, why? And it’s sometimes easy when I make that personal – am I investing in my spiritual person as much as I am the physical?
What I’ve Learned
Alright, so look, I’m not here to tell anyone that they should or should not get Botox. I used to get Botox – about 6 times maybe in my life. I stopped 2 years ago because I metabolized it quickly and it didn’t work for me like it should have. It didn’t last and it was too expensive.
I never got filler and I won’t. I can spot a lip filler coming around the corner before the person whose lips are filled is in view. It never looks natural to me and the lips are always weird looking. A cheek filler? Don’t get me started. It distorts the structure of the face and it makes people look different.
So yes, I got botox a few times but then I stopped after I stated researching that it atrophied my muscles and over time I think it will have the adverse effect.
I used to get lash extensions, and honestly, I love those. I can’t anymore because once I got shingles in my eye last May I kept getting eye infections and had to stop. So I’ve let them grow out and I use Grande Lash to help them grow and it’s working. I finally don’t feel like someone shaved my lashes off my eyelids.
So here’s what I’ve learned:
- It’s a struggle to accept that beauty is fleeting and it’s ok to struggle through it. Some days will be easier than others. I think it’s harder for ladies because we take pride in our appearance. It takes us more time to get ready and more accessories, and more cosmetics, so it is a greater investment which means it’s harder to swallow.
- You can’t stop the aging process. We’re all going to get old. And don’t you want that? You want a long life? That’s something that is gifted to those whom God desires. Which means that we don’t value the elderly like we should. There is value in an wise woman’s words. We can glean from the old and look on them with beauty because Proverbs tells us that the crown of an old person is their gray hair. They’ve earned every single one of them through the grit, trials, and experiences that were both good and challenging. We can learn from them.
- That my boys don’t care how I look. They love me and they never say anything about getting older. In fact, when I got Botox they asked me why I’d do that to my face. They told me I didn’t need it. I learned that the ones who love you love your for your love and care and wisdom to them. They see beyond your outer shell to the person of the heart – kind of like God does because of the relationship between you.
I am 49 years old and will be 50 in 6 moths. That is crazy to me! But to be honest, I had nightmares about turning 40 which seems like 2 years ago instead of almost 10. I’m not afraid to turn 50. I just need to learn how to look in the mirror and appreciate the wrinkles and gray hair rather than dread them. And that’s hard. I’m learning to find the balance between the two extremes and remembering that God sees the beauty of my heart.
Close:
There’s a great verse that reminds us exactly of what is happening to each of us who are in Christ as we struggle with outward beauty and the aging process. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, “Outwardly we are wasting away, but inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” We are going to age. And we will get more wrinkles. We won’t be able to run like we used to or lift like we used to or look like we used to. In other words, we are not ageless and we never will be. But inwardly? We are being sanctified into the image of Christ who renews us daily while the inward person of the heart looks more and more like Him. That’s how we leave the legacy of a woman who fears the Lord – a woman who is timeless. Since beauty is fading you likely won’t be remembered for how beautiful you are, but you can be remembered for how you lived – wrinkles, gray hair, and all.
I hope this episode encouraged you. We all struggle with our appearance from time to time, whether we’re aging, struggling with weight, or something else. Don’t take your focus off of the spiritual person and invest in what is timeless and lasting. God is faithful to help you through the rest. If you have any questions for me, you can email me at hello@shandafulbright.com and I’ll catch you on the next one.
Leave a Reply