The Older We Get, the More We Need Beauty

Recently, I came across some consumer research on beauty and personal care. Unfortunately, it did not include men over 64.

That made me think.

I have come to believe exactly the opposite of what the beauty industry often assumes:

The older a man gets, the more he needs to take care of himself.

I am probably the best example.

When I was younger, I hardly took care of my skin at all. Honestly, the idea of a man putting on one cream and then another lotion every day seemed unnecessary to me. I had neither the patience nor the interest.

But after I turned 70, I began to realize something very simple:

Aging is real.

My skin became drier and duller and began to lose its glow. And because I live in Taitung, where I spend a lot of time walking under the strong sun, sunspots and age spots became more and more visible.

Recently, after having PicoCare treatment for my spots, I did something I never thought I would do.

I started taking care of my skin every day.

It is actually quite funny. A man in his seventies who never cared about skincare now looks in the mirror every morning, applies skincare products, and can honestly say:

My skin looks better.

Apparently, young people are not the only ones who care about looking good.

Old people want to look good too.

Older People Need More Than “Cut It Short and Cover the Gray”

Hair is another example.

When it comes to older people, we seem to have only a few expectations for their hair:

Keep it clean. Keep it neat. Cut it short. Cover the gray.

Why?

Why can’t an older person have a younger-looking, stylish haircut—something with personality, something they can even mess around with their hands in the morning?

And why does gray hair always have to be hidden?

Maybe it can be colored. Maybe it can be highlighted. Maybe it can simply be beautifully gray.

The point is not to make an older person look young.

The point is to help them look good—and still look like themselves.

Gray hair is not something we have to hide. Aging is not something we have to disguise.

Good beauty care should not erase our age. It should help us look and feel our best at our age.

Maybe it is time to redefine what it means to age gracefully.

To me, ageing gracefully does not mean quietly accepting decline. Nor does it mean desperately trying to look younger.

It means actively choosing how we want to grow older.

Take care of yourself. Stay curious. Stay connected. Keep your own style. Keep enjoying beauty.

Not anti-ageing. Pro-ageing beautifully.

We don’t need to fight ageing.

We can learn to age beautifully.

I have discovered that there are surprisingly few people who really think about designing hairstyles for older people that make them look energetic, interesting, and alive.

Foot care and nail care are even more obvious.

As we get older, poor eyesight and bending down can make basic care more difficult. I need a Nail Angel to take care of my toenails because my eyesight is getting worse. Toenails become harder to manage, and our skin needs more attention.

At a certain age, these are no longer simply “beauty services.”

They become part of everyday living.

And that made me ask myself:

Have we been thinking about beauty as something too young?

Beauty Does Not Belong Only to the Young

The beauty industry naturally loves youth.

Young faces. Young skin. Young hairstyles. Young models.

Even the term “anti-ageing” seems to tell us that ageing is something we should fight.

I no longer think that way.

I don’t need to pretend that I am not old.

I am 77.

That’s 77.

But accepting ageing does not mean giving up beauty.

They are two completely different things.

I don’t need to look 50.

I simply want the 77-year-old me to look energetic, dignified, and still like myself.

That is why I increasingly believe:

The older we get, the more we need to take care of ourselves.

The older we get, the more we need beauty.

And I would add one more thought:

The older we get, the more we need beauty salons.

As we age, we need skilled professionals to take care of our hair, skin, hands, and feet. But perhaps even more importantly, we need a place with love—a place where we can be cared for, seen again, and reminded of who we are.

Beauty should not simply be about how other people see us.

And it is not just vanity.

Beauty is my choice. It is my responsibility to myself.

Not to please everyone.

Not to meet someone else’s expectations.

But for myself.

For the person I see in the mirror.

Taking care of my hair. Looking after my skin. Keeping my hands and feet well groomed. Putting on something I enjoy wearing.

These may seem like very small things.

But each of them quietly says:

I am still living.

I still care about myself.

I deserve to be treated well.

It Has Changed the Way I Think About Beauty Salons

I have been in the beauty industry for many years.

And at this stage of my life, I am beginning to believe that the real value of a beauty salon may be about much more than making people beautiful.

If a salon in Taiwan simply provides haircuts, color, facials, and nail care, those are services.

But imagine someone walking into a salon feeling a little tired, a little lonely, perhaps even feeling that because they are old, they no longer matter.

A few hours later, their hair is done. Their skin, hands, and feet have been cared for.

They look into the mirror.

They sit up a little straighter.

And they smile.

That is no longer just beauty care.

That is restoring a person’s dignity.

This is also what I have always meant by being a Daymaker.

Daymaker is not about “helping people.”

I don’t even particularly like the word help.

We make other people happy because, in the end, it also makes us happy.

When a hairstylist sees an older person who walked in looking tired and, after a haircut, watches that person smile at themselves in the mirror—at that moment, who is the giver and who is the receiver?

Perhaps there is no difference.

That is where human connection happens.

A Shared Future for Salons, Products, and Professional Services

Taiwan’s beauty industry has been built by many different people: salon owners, hairstylists, educators, product brands, and long-term partners who support the professional development of salons.

Canmeng AVEDA, as well as Paul Mitchell and Lebel, represented and operated by Canbran, each has a different brand identity, different products, and a different professional role.

But all of us, in different ways, support Taiwan’s salons. We give professionals better tools, better techniques, and better ways to serve their clients and friends throughout their lives—from youth to old age.

The important question is whether we can now reimagine the future of the beauty salon in Taiwan together.

A salon should not be only a place where young people go to look fashionable or beautiful.

Nor should it simply be a place that sells products or provides individual services.

It should be a place where people, from young to old, can maintain their dignity, happiness, sense of beauty, love, and vitality.

A salon could—and should—also become a third place for the neighborhood: a place for human connection and a cross-pollinator for the neighborhood economy.

We don’t just do hair.

We don’t just take care of skin.

We don’t just take care of hands and feet.

Products, techniques, education, and services should ultimately come back to one simple purpose:

Helping every person look in the mirror, smile, and feel happier about being themselves.

The Older We Get, the More We Need Beauty

So my hope for the future of beauty salons in Taiwan is not simply to create more fashionable places for young people.

A beauty salon should be a place where people can maintain their dignity, happiness, beauty, love, and vitality throughout their lives.

Perhaps what we really do is something much simpler—and much more important:

We remind every person who walks through the door:

No matter how old you are, never give up beauty.

Truth is beautiful. Kindness is beautiful. And beauty itself can be part of a positive cycle of truth, kindness, and beauty.

Perhaps this can become a manifesto for Taiwan’s beauty industry as we face the future together.

And increasingly, I believe this is about much more than a business opportunity.

Taiwan is getting older.

But I don’t want us to look at older people and simply see a “silver market.”

I want us to see people who still want to live.

People who still want to be seen.

People who still want to look and feel like themselves.

If the beauty industry can do that, then beauty is no longer simply vanity.

It becomes a personal choice, an act of self-care, and a respect for life itself.

Beauty can be dignity.

Beauty can be vitality.

Beauty can be love.

Beauty is my choice.

It is my responsibility to myself.

For myself, for the person in the mirror—not to please everyone else.

The older we get, the more we need beauty salons.

The older we get, the more we need beauty.