Loving Beauty Without Losing Ourselves
I work in the beauty industry. I’m also a longtime beauty consumer. Beauty has been part of my life for years: the products, the rituals, the routines, the way it can be expressive, comforting, and empowering. I love it. And beyond working in this space, I’ve also dedicated my research to understanding the beauty consumer, how people emotionally connect to beauty, how identity forms around it, and why it matters.
That’s probably why a recent case study I read in Harvard Business Review stayed with me longer than most business reads. When High-Tech Beauty Marketing Harms Teen Health doesn’t argue against innovation, it asks us to slow down and look at the human impact behind the metrics.
The article explores a beauty brand whose augmented reality tool becomes incredibly successful. Engagement spikes. Revenue follows. But beneath the growth, there’s a quieter pattern: a group of young users beginning to rely emotionally on seeing an idealized version of themselves on a screen.
And that’s where I pause.
Because being a teenage girl is already hard enough. You’re still becoming, your face, your body, your confidence, your sense of self. Every phase is meant to be lived, not rushed through. But filters, AI tools, and influencer culture can blur reality, especially when edits and procedures go unspoken. The message, whether intentional or not, becomes: this is what you should already look like.
The truth is, everything comes with time. Confidence comes with living. Self-love comes with experience. Beauty changes, softens, deepens. You’re meant to love every phase, not criticize it for not looking like someone else’s highlight reel.
I love beauty. I believe in its power. But I don’t believe it should feel like pressure, or a prerequisite for self-worth.
And I’m also realistic. The world is changing. AI and emerging technologies will be part of how we experience beauty going forward. Innovation isn’t the problem; it’s inevitable. But we don’t have to push one narrow ideal harder, faster, and younger in the name of progress.
As an industry, and as people who genuinely love this space, we can build responsibly. We can design tools that inspire creativity without feeding comparison. We can embrace technology while being thoughtful about who it’s serving and how it’s shaping identity.
Because beauty should evolve with you, not rush you.
Dania Khalife
