Anti-Aging, ‘Memory Age’ and the Gen X Market Upside

It’s less about chemistry than it is about psychology, but it’s likely to have a major effect on anti-aging and personal care marketing, as a new survey offers insights into the question of “Memory Age” and its implications for Generation X consumers.

The survey was conducted by a California-based “facial aesthetic practice” group, Skin By Lovely™, which provides facial rejuvenation using Botox, dermal peels, microneedling and a host of other services.

They surveyed 350 women, aged 30-70, nationwide to relate how they mentally view themselves by closing their eyes and creating a mental self-image, then explain how old they looked. For most of them, their “memory photo” most described had some very interesting commonalities:

  • 90% said their “memory age” was younger than their actual age.
  • Of those, 37% said their “memory age” was 6-10 years younger.
  • And 25% said it was 1-5 years younger.

To the authors of the survey, this offered proof that women aren’t striving to recapture their youth. Their real motivation was much more telling: It was about their sense of self-worth.

The women surveyed said that their “Memory Age” was tied to an important time in their lives, with the great majority saying it was linked to a period of feeling successful and gratified in their career, the time in their lives when they felt most confident in themselves.

  • They were 1.5 times more likely to associate their Memory Age to a time when they felt successful at work over having fallen in love.

Gen X has embraced anti-aging

Anti-aging facial treatmentWhat the survey indicates about Gen X’s attitude toward aging was fascinating, too.

  • Women under 40 were nearly twice as likely to be surprised by the fact their “Memory Age” was lower than their actual age than women over 50.
  • Of all respondents, only 15% had tried injectable anti-aging treatments…
  • …but 30% of women 30-44 had already tried injectables to combat aging.
  • 68% of respondents were willing to spend $500-$800 to look more like their “Memory Age,” with smaller percentages being willing to spend considerably more.

The takeaway, from our vantage point? The survey offers an interesting new angle on consumer motivations around anti-aging. Analysts have already been projecting enormous growth in anti-aging, based on this group’s attitudes and buying habits (and that of the generation after them, too).

Thanks to their desire to feel not just youthful but strong and in control of their lives, Gen X (and probably Gen Y) women are going to power the anti-aging segment with a vigor that will outstrip that of their predecessors.

They’re eager to resist the effects of aging and aren’t willing to simply accept them as a fact of life in an age when diet, exercise, motivational thinking, and other tools give them every means and incentive to battle it.

This will power innovation and growth in anti-aging products and regimens for decades to come, as women (and, we suspect, more and more men) begin to believe there’s no reason they shouldn’t look as young as they feel.

P.S. Here’s where you can check out an infographic of the Skin By Lovely™ survey results.