“The older a woman gets, the more invisible she becomes.”

I cannot count the number of times I have heard this statement said by or about women as they enter midlife. Things such as their changing physical appearance, being overlooked at work and their increasing dependency on others make older women feel invisible and ignored, which can greatly affect their self-esteem.

For instance, my colleague, a white woman in her sixties, says she no longer likes taking pictures of herself or looking in the mirror because of how old she looks. She feels sad and invisible when she enters a room and goes unnoticed, her beauty seemingly overlooked. 

Older Black women, however, perceive aging quite differently, especially when it comes to physical appearance. Allure’s first-ever aging survey in 2013 found that 64% of Black women weren’t worried about the physical signs of aging and 65% had no intention of considering anti-aging treatments or procedures in the future.