“How old are you?” The one question that is always answered with a huge gasp and one or more outraged “you can’t ask THAT”‘s. It’s like people are born with that little nugget of information loaded into their brain. Never, I repeat, never ask a woman her age. I actually feel like guys detest this question these days too..

 

Dove

 

Dove South Africa delivered a bunch of #BeautyAtEveryAge press drops to media peeps earlier in the month, and it is quickly turning into what people are referring to as “the most thoughtful press drop yet”.  What was inside? Besides for the lovely Dove goodies, we were all gifted a stunning Instagram worthy Dove branded hanging wire with Dove pegs that each displayed a photo with a major milestone depicted onto it. Four of the six were generic representations of major milestones (more on those later) and the final one was a super special hand picked milestone. As I haven’t gotten married or had sprogs, starting Make It Rayne was my milestone. I love love love it.

 

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Dove

 

Now, I thought long and hard as to how I would lay this post out. Dove held a global research campaign and calculated that only 10% of women are confident in revealing their real age, and that they will go far to conceal their birth year. I am in my own funny category and I am not sure how many ladies fall into the same one.

I am embarrassed at how young I am. There, I said it. I would hate to turn this into a pity party/fishing for compliments post but I am embarrassed when asked my age as I wish I could add on a couple years onto it. I look at my crows feet on my eyes, I look at the fine lines on my forehead and I look at the faint just-beginning-to-develop wrinkles on my chest and freak the heck out. I’m turning 23 on the last day of August yet I could probably pass for early 30’s.

The media is constantly showing us these amazing people (be it celebs or regular non-famous people) who look 30 when they are 70 and it cannot help but make you feel bad. Whether it is down to fab surgeons or a non-fat, non-carbs, non-nice food diet, it makes you afraid of the future and that you will never be that person.

When people ask me my age, I always start it with “I am ONLY 22”. As if to say, “Yep, I am really this young. Thank goodness I didn’t ask you to guess my age, huh?”.

“Most women recoil when asked how old they are, as they believe that revealing their age can influence how people perceive their beauty.” – this is another line from the Dove global research findings. And, again, these days we have people all over the media who look 20 years younger. So when you are NORMAL looking for your age, you should feel bad and discouraged. Since when was normal the negative? And who exactly defines what normal should be anyway?

 

With the generic Dove #BeautyAtEveryAge photographs, it encourages the owner to look at their life so far..

  1. The day you turned 21 and celebrated your entry into adulthood…
    Wow, what an exciting time! This was only (almost) two years ago for me and I spent it surrounded by those whom I love and those same people absolutely spoilt me and showed me how loved and appreciated I am.
  2. The day you got that long awaited promotion at work…
    As I am still a newbie in my current position, I have not yet gotten this long awaited promotion. But I can see my being hired as just as exciting!
  3. The day you travelled to your dream destination…
    This is the most exciting of all three. I have travelled to Thailand, Switzerland, Mauritius, Italy and more but in December my siblings and myself will be visiting my mom in England. And THAT is going to be amazing.

 

Dove

 

In my short 22 (and three quarter) years I have achieved so much. A small business. Happiness. Loving friends. An incredible partnership with my other half. Travelling the world. My awesome blog. Being able to eat six Kit-Kats in one sitting. And even more.

Whenever I tell someone my age, they always say “you are SO young!”. And whether this is because I look older than I am, or because 22 really is young, who cares? I have a million years ahead of me to achieve even more. And heck, kids and a husband are only gonna give me more wrinkles anyway 😉
While I was planning this post, I was so unsure as to how I would turn it into a positive ending. And I didn’t need to plan it. This gorge Dove #BeautyAtEveryAge hanging had me reflecting on all these amazing memories and only made me realize just how much time I have to create even more memories! Heck yes. Viva La Be Your Beautiful Self!

 

PS; I have a 43 year old mom who looks 30 so maybe some kind genes will kick in and freeze my face in place 😉

 

Be Your Beautiful Self..

“1 in 4 women use a negative description about their appearance when asked how old they are, including words like “old” and “too fat”. In fact, the age question makes women feel so uncomfortable that 2 in 5 women have pretended to be younger and will often avoid celebrating their birthday.” How about appreciating the aspects of ourselves that we are happy with. Using the words “happy”, “content”, “fufilled” would do ourselves so much more justice! And when it comes to birthdays, celebrate the heck out of YOUR happy day!

 

By asking women How Old Are You, Dove invites women to consider how they feel when they reveal their age and the impact this has on them every day. See the film at https://youtu.be/3isFU0mXSxo and join the conversation at #BeautyAtEveryAge. Visit Dove’s Facebook page here or follow @Dove_ZA on Twitter for more information.

 

#BeautyAtEveryAge

 

Thanks for reading – and do not forget to join in on the conversation! #BeautyAtEveryAge – and leave me a comment below letting me know why YOU love your age.

Rayne XX

 

Dove