By { Aja Mangum
In 2017, Allure banned the term “anti-aging” from its pages, challenging the beauty industry to rethink its language. Meanwhile, actress Thandie Newton partnered with RoC Skincare to address ageism with a “For Your Age” campaign. Clearly, the conversation surrounding beauty is changing as women and men are increasingly accepting the fact that growing older is natural, and that the onset of maturity is something to embrace and appreciate, rather than to treat like an end-of-days plague.
British beauty journalist Inge Theron, who formerly wrote the column “Chronicles of a Spa Junkie” for the Financial Times, is at the forefront of the graceful aging revolution. In the past, she experimented with a plethora of plastic surgery treatments, until the procedures started to take their toll on her face. A thread lift left her with a puckered jaw and botched fillers left pillows under her eyes. “For three months, I looked like I had a car accident,” says Theron.
The wife and mom of two now maintains that looking youthful despite the passage of time shouldn’t come with a steep price tag or disfiguring side effects, so she conceptualized FaceGym, a studio in which you can sculpt and tone the 40-plus muscles in the face the same way you firm glutes, abs and quads in a traditional gym. There are now four FaceGym locations in the UK and a mini studio on the second floor of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. Two standalone studios—in downtown Manhattan and Los Angeles—are scheduled to open in late 2018 and early 2019, respectively.
A workout with a FaceGym trainer consists of a warmup, cardio, sculpting and cool-down using machines designed to lift and tone facial muscles. Prices range from $70 for a 45-minute Signature Workout to $275 for the advanced 75-minute Game Face. “I want to offer services at a price that allows you to come back regularly to improve efficacy and use advanced technology,” explains the beauty entrepreneur. Also available are skin serums and elixirs, as well as mini yoga balls to promote lymphatic drainage.
Rather than zapping wrinkles, Theron strives to make clients feel like the best version of themselves. “If a woman says, ‘My face feels like a baggy pair of jeans,’ we put her into skin tight pants again,” she says.
Click here for Theron’s Beautiful Gift List.