People have been trying to reverse the effects of aging since ancient times, and bored rich people have been trying to live forever since, well…forever. But historically the practice has been targeted to people who are actually “aged.” So how did we go from Jane Fonda selling us miracle creams, to retinols marketed towards actual children? As the anti-aging “cosmeceuticals” market explodes before our very eyes, children overrun our locals Sephoras, and millionaires inject litres of their progeny’s blood - it seems the beauty industry has tapped into our collective, all-consuming fear of death, and exploited it to the very last drop. In this episode, Hannah and Maia discuss the emergence of cosmeceuticals and anti-aging “prejuvenation” procedures (preventative botox, morning shed routines, and the retinol epidemic), and their dastardly effects on the human psyche. Tangents include: neighbourly etiquette, Canadian pride, and crying in public. 

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Intro and outro song by our talented friend Ian Mills:

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SOURCES:

Charlotte Cripps, “The rise of the skincare tweens: How retinol serums and eye creams took over childhood,” The Independent (2025).

Haykal et al, “Prejuvenation: The Global New Anti-Aging Trend,” Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum (2023).

Katie Kilkenny, “How Anti-Aging Cosmetics Took Over the Beauty World,” PS Mag (2017).

Lauren McCarthy, “Zoom Face is Real - Here’s How to Fight It,” Nylon (2021).

Stefan Odenbach-Wanner, “The Biohacking-Code: An Eternal Pursuit of Perfection - The Myth About Living Forever?! From the Fine Line of Self-Optimization to Self-Destruction,” in Innovations in Healthcare and Outcome Measurement: New Approaches for a Healthy Lifestyle, Springer, (2025).

Sarah Radin, “The ‘Sephora kids’ aren’t going anywhere,” Vogue Business (2025).

Orianna Royle, “Tech billionaire who spends $2 million a year to look young is now swapping blood with his 17-year-old son and 70-year-old father,” Fortune (2023).

Danielle Sinay, “Leave TikTok’s ‘Morning Shed’ Trend Alone,” Glamour (2024).

Sarah Spruch-Feiner, “Glossy Pop Newsletter: How TikTok democratized retinol,” Glossy (2022).

Lauren Valenti, “Why Preventative Botox Injections Could Be Aging You,” Vogue (2025).

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