A new study reveals what Australian women are concerned about when it comes to their bodies.
The study was conducted by McCrindle Research in partnership with leading laser company Cynosure, with the results unveiled at a morning tea at Ovolo in Sydney’s Woolloomooloo.
With Cynosure celebrating its 25th birthday this year and launching a new product, SculpSure, it was the perfect time to find out about the attitudes of women towards self-care.
Cynosure Australia managing director Dennis Cronje told guests at the event that the study aimed to get an insight into the body concerns of Australian women today. To do this, researchers asked over 1,000 Australian women aged between 25 and 60 how they felt about their bodies.
McCrindle’s Eliane Miles presented the findings to beauty media, explaining that researchers had asked the participants which celebrity they would most like to look like, with fairly unsurprising results.
25 per cent opted for Jennifer Aniston, 15 per cent wanted to be Miranda Kerr, 13 per cent went for JLo (aka Jennifer Lopez), and 11 per cent for Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara.
Happiness levels relatively low
The study went on to discover how happy women are with their body shape and what they would do (if anything) to change it.
Only 7 per cent of women reported feeling ‘extremely happy’ about their body shape, while 34 per cent said they were ‘mostly’ happy. A whopping 42 per cent were ‘only slightly’ happy and the remaining 17 per cent were ‘not happy at all’.
Problem areas
When asked which specific parts of their bodies women would like to change, the overwhelming response was excess body fat around the abdomen, with excess body fat on the thighs coming in second. Also mentioned were love handles, arm fat, wrinkles, stretch marks and excess hair on the face and arms.
In total, 93 per cent of women said they would change something about their body if they could.
Respondents also reported that achieving their ‘ultimate sculpted body shape’ would make them more ok with themselves (43 per cent), more confident to go out with friends (37 per cent), more confident in their love life (32 per cent) and help them enjoy the beach more (31 per cent).
What would women try?
When asked if they would try a way to sculpt their body other than diet and exercise, 55 per cent of women said they would be open to alternative body sculpting methods.
Nearly half the women reported they had never considered using laser technology to target problem areas because it had never been suggested to them, highlighting the need for therapists to educate clients about the treatments on offer.
Similarly, with 23 per cent of women stating they would need more evidence before trying laser, education seems to be the key.