Why Beauty Has No Age
Maleka Dattu spent more than 30 years in the corporate beauty business, helping to promote luxury beauty products all over the world. But now, at 53 and with a young daughter, she is on a different type of mission: to unite every woman who ever felt insecure about the way she looks, in support of one another. Her campaign is called #beautyhasnoage.
“So many of us so often feel invisible because we are not deemed “perfect”. This damages our self-esteem, making girls, from a very young age, lack confidence. And then, when we get older, there’s all the negativity used in the language of anti-ageing. I want to work to help that change,” says Dattu.
With parents from Tanzania and Zanzibar, Dattu went back to her cultural origins when she decided to launch her own beauty brand, Merumaya. The products are based on natural oils with exotic fragrances and simple ingredients.
“But the important thing is inside ourselves. We have to stop focusing on our faults and giving in to our insecurities. When we look in the mirror we have to see the good stuff.”
Dattu does not want to prescribe what is beautiful to any of us today. And it certainly shouldn’t be fixated on our age. She has just dyed her hair pink – “it’s liberating; I feel even happier, and it makes other people happier too” – and she is using Instagram to spread her motto #beautyhasnoage. Some people have added their own “beauty-full” age - but only if you want to.
