Women say their health matters, but a new report suggests there’s a major disconnect between prioritizing it and actually viewing it as worth spending money on. According to LYMA’s new P.O.W.E.R. Index report, created with The Future Laboratory, nearly three-quarters of women ages 35 to 54 rank health as their highest priority. Yet when asked to name the highest-value use of their money, just 18 percent chose their health. Only one-third of women even describe health spending as an “investment.”
On a recent episode of The Beauty Authority, we sat down with LYMA founder Lucy Goff to talk about what’s behind that gap, why women are finding it increasingly difficult to know which wellness and beauty claims to believe and why she thinks the industry may be due for what she calls an “era of transparency.”
Why Don’t Women See Health as an Investment?
One of the most striking findings in the report is the contradiction between how important women say health is and how they think about paying for it. Women are nearly twice as likely as men to call the same health and wellness expenditure an “indulgence” rather than an “investment.” The report also found that 61 percent of women ages 18 to 45 feel they’re expected to age well without being given the tools or information to do it.
Goff says those findings resonated with her personally. “As women, as a working mom, my kids always come first,” she told me, adding that her business often comes next. “I feel as though I come in third in a lot of places.” For her, part of changing the conversation is giving women more justification to put their own health higher on that list.
Can Consumers Tell What’s Backed by Science?
That’s another problem the report identified. Fifty-six percent of women surveyed say they find it difficult to distinguish products backed by real science from those that simply borrow scientific language. The report calls out everything from unsourced studies to vague “expert-backed” claims as examples of what it describes as science-washing. That skepticism is especially pronounced among older women: 86 percent of women over 55 say clinical proof matters more than brand cachet.
Goff believes brands need to take more responsibility for making those distinctions clear. “If you are selling a moisturizer, speak about the clinical proof of your products as a moisturizer,” she says. “Don’t market it as a longevity cream.” Her point: claims should stay within what a product has actually been shown to do rather than stretching science to meet the marketing language of the moment.
Are Women Tired of Hearing About Longevity?
Apparently, yes. Another notable finding from the research: 57 percent of women surveyed said they were tired of hearing the word longevity. Goff argues that the term has increasingly become marketing shorthand when it should be treated as something much more specific. At the same time, 80 percent say they always check ingredients when buying a new beauty or wellness product, and 72 percent believe the industry focuses too heavily on the next exciting innovation instead of established products with proven results.
“We’ve got to treat longevity as a scientific word and not a marketing term,” she says. If a product uses the term, she believes there should be evidence behind exactly how it relates to longevity rather than relying on the appeal of the word itself.
What Does Skin Have to Do With Overall Health?
The report also takes a broader view of women’s health, looking at the connections between hormones, stress, sleep and skin rather than treating each as an isolated concern. Its “Whole-System” principle asks whether an intervention recognizes that interconnected biology, noting that hormonal, dermatological and neurological changes rarely happen entirely independently of one another.
Goff sees skin as an especially powerful part of that equation because it’s visible. “It’s the only organ that you can see that ages,” she says. While we can’t look at our liver or kidneys, changes in our skin can be one of the first things we notice when sleep, stress or other aspects of health feel off.
What Do Women Actually Want From Their Health Investments?
The findings suggest it isn’t simply about looking better. When women were asked to choose between a treatment that changes how other people see them and one that changes how they see themselves, 72 percent chose the latter. The report also found that 37 percent of women name financial security as their biggest priority for the next five years, more than three times the number who choose physical appearance, reinforcing its larger argument that women already understand the idea of long-term value but don’t always apply that same framework to health.
Similarly, 67 percent said they value the confidence that comes from knowing their body is in excellent health over confidence based on their appearance. Among Gen X women, that jumps to 73 percent. The report points to that shift as evidence that health, beauty and aging are becoming less about isolated cosmetic fixes and more about how women feel and function overall. It’s a shift also showing up in the way women approach menopause and aesthetics.
So, What Is the P.O.W.E.R. Index?
The report’s proposed solution is a five-part framework women can use to evaluate a health or wellness purchase before making it. P is Proven: Is there credible science? O is Outcomes: Does it deliver a meaningful result? W is Whole-System: Does it account for the interconnected nature of women’s health? E is Empowering: Does it leave you more informed and in control? And R is Return: Does it create lasting value rather than a short-term result?
Goff hopes that kind of scrutiny ultimately pushes beauty and wellness toward greater transparency. “I think we need to move to a world of honesty and take a bit of hysteria out of the beauty industry,” she says. For consumers, that may mean asking a much simpler question before buying into the next big promise: What has this actually been proven to do?
Watch the full episode of The Beauty Authority above for our complete conversation.
