When people say ‘black don’t crack’, rarely are they lying. And a new study done by Olay proves just that.
Olay, along with Harvard Medical School Dermatology professor Dr Alexa Kimball, studied the skin aging process of women in their 20s to 70s, and included Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic and Asian women.
The study concluded that black women do indeed age at a slower rate than women of other ethnicities.
In Olay’s Multi-Decade and Ethnicity Study we have found that women of African-American background aged slower than women of Caucasian background as far as skin appearance was concerned. In fact, the aging process seemed to be slowed down by about 10 years. We believe this is not just due to the higher melanin content in their skin which serves as natural UV protection—although it certainly plays a role. We are now studying the exact molecular pathways in dark and light skin more closely to determine what drives this apparently slower skin aging process…
We have definitely seen that women of African-American background aged comparatively slower [that Caucasian women]. The study also revealed twice as many exceptional skin agers in this group—women who looked more than 10 years younger than their real age—than in the Caucasian study group. This does not mean women of African-American background don’t experience visible skin aging, but on average less/ later than lighter skin types.
I hope a lot of money wasn’t wasted on this study, because all they would have needed to do was look at some of our grandmothers who are in their 80s, and still stunting like they’re 60.
Image Credits: Getty
August 5, 2015 -
No Comment?
August 5, 2015 -
This is something that just about everyone knows. I think that in many cases, we might even be able to say 15 years. We have good genes.
August 11, 2015 -
yess, judging by how gr8 diahann carroll, tina turner, diana ross, cicely tyson and so many others have aged, i say we are good for the long haul 🙂
August 5, 2015 -
???? tell me something new.
August 5, 2015 -
This study is not surprising. Black women are beautiful and Black is Beautiful.
August 5, 2015 -
The blessing that is melanin. Good black never cracks!
August 5, 2015 -
Amen.
August 5, 2015 -
Is Alexa white? White studies just love discovering ‘new’ things.
August 5, 2015 -
And water is wet. A study didn’t need to be done here but something says this is more about researchers trying to replicate the magical, melanin enriched genes that black women and men possess to try to keep them from cracking.
August 5, 2015 -
Amen Sister.
#Melanin on Fleek.
August 5, 2015 -
Lol I would live to see that hashtag trend on twitter. We have gotten a lot of good ones lately.
August 5, 2015 -
Exactly. I love the new slang word fleek. It is certainly a very cool hashtag.
August 12, 2015 -
I’ve seen the shirts on instagram, too cute.
August 5, 2015 -
Melanin is one key component. It offers sun protection, But the beauty of our skin is 3 fold. Our skin is also more oily, which protects our skin from drying out and keeps it looking younger longer, then our skin had more layers, so that’s even more protection from aging. Cheers!
August 5, 2015 -
Also, I read studies about the benefits of melanin as well. Thank you for the extra information about the skin layers.
August 5, 2015 -
Suzar talks a lot about Melanin too. I know you’ve read her.
August 5, 2015 -
Oh yes, many years ago, I read literature from Suzar. That is like a rite of passage reading for many Brothers and Sisters.
August 5, 2015 -
In other words, “everybody wants to be Black, until . . . . etc”
Sorry peeps, we just don’t crack! And that is indeed a fact!
August 5, 2015 -
They have melanin pills can you believe it? but it cant give them the natural oiliness of our skin and our thicker skin. They will never age like black people.
August 5, 2015 -
Even my eye doctor says, ‘black don’t crack’ and he’s a white dude in Canada. I hope they didn’t spend lots of money on this.
August 5, 2015 -
An African American can be a white South African who became a US citizen. Do they age slower too. I wish we would go back to black.
August 6, 2015 -
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. – Mark Twain
August 6, 2015 -
God, im so tired of this vapid and weak rebuttal. White South Africans are not indigenous to Africa, and most have zero ethnically African genomes. They are the descendants of White Dutch settlers that claimed that part of Africa as “theirs”, raped the land and oppressed the ACTUAL Africans who had been in the area for millenia. Whenever the *blank*-American label is used, the ethnicity put in front of “American” is typically associated with their GENETIC ancestry (ie Chinese-American or Italian-American), not their national identity.
August 6, 2015 -
They do research to discover the secret and then make money with it.
December 3, 2015 -
Definitely no duh but still……yay!