to think 'omg there's something WRONG with her FACE' when I see so many American actresses

[OTheHugeManatee]

Especially older ones. Their mouths don't move properly! It always looks like they're trying to hold in a mouthful of marbles. I think it's all the Botox and it gives me the creeps.

I find it really unfair that male actors are allowed to have foreheads and lips that actually MOVE while the moment women hit 28 or so they're supposed to become increasingly mannequin-like. Often too you see these frozen old-lady-dolls playing great characters and their weird, weird faces just makes me dislike them no matter what. AIBU to be creeped out by it? Should I just accept that this is the way the world is now?

Yes it's fair game to question it but I also think it's a bit ... I'm not sure that the word is ... inconsistent when everywhere you go on Mumsnet there are threads about how not to look older, or posters talking about 'old witches' (and then getting huffy if they're called out on it).

Extreme plastic surgery, complaining about your frown lines or calling women 'old bags', in my opinion, it's all part of the same problem. And I'm just bad by the way - I'm forever bewailing my jowls!

It looks good the first few times because you're relatively young when you first get it done, and you end up looking like a polished, refreshed version of yourself. Hard not to want to continue.

But in the meantime, the months and years pass, and you're getting older, but expecting the same result. It's not going to happen. You need more 'refreshing' and 'polishing', but the canvas is getting older every day.

The result is, 'the look' that we all recognize.

Yanbu, I think it's awful and hate the botox and fillers industry. I'd rather see people age naturally, it's beautiful. I never buy tabloids/celeb magazines etc for this reason, I don't want to encourage misogynistic bashing of women.

Nicole Kidman is another cautionary tale. None of her face moves in the slightest. O have no idea how she makes a living acting.

I agree it feels spooky, or "other"

I lived in South America for a few years, and women at the private school my kids went to were often in bandages or showing off their new tits/nose/tummy. It was quite par for the course. I was considered smug for not thinking I needed anything done.

I wonder if we will get used to it, and start considering naturally old faces as "wrong", at some point?

But this infatuation with youth is not just confined to women. I am regularly subjected to infomercials with promises of a rock hard body for older men. My dh thinks they look good (he will never be allowed to take testosterone whilst I have any say in it!!!) but I think a grandad's face on top of a buffed dude's body is incredibly creepy!

It reminds me of a incident several years ago when I was in nightclub in Los Angeles. In the bathroom there was a tanned, skinny young women in a skimpy outfit leaning close to a mirror putting on lipstick. Then she turned around and I'm afraid I gasped out loud! She had the face of a woman in her sixties on the body of a woman in her thirties. Logically having a young looking body would be good you would think, but it was so much at odds with her face that it just looked very creepy unfortunately.

Charlotte Rampling. I love her and she looks bloody fab,a strong beautiful woman, looks good whatever her age
She is amazing

I often wonder who tells them they look good its bizarre

Donatella Versace looks terrible, she is meant to be a fashion icon can no one tell her enough Donatella

sad thing is so many are now being ridiculed for the surgery they have had their talent is of less interest. plastic surgeons are making huge amounts of money from feeding people insecurities about getting older

Lauren Bacall never had any surgery and often spoke out about the ridiculous obsession with trying to look years younger than you are and said that your life shows in your face and that is something you should be proud of

she looked great I think she is in her late 70's here

Sharon Osbourne looked great about five years ago. She should have stopped then.

I've been binge watching Once Upon A Time, and I find myself wondering who Storybrooke's cosmetic surgeon is because several of the cast have 'filler face'. Rose McGowan can barely do expressions anymore, she has to squint to portray a negative emotion, and I find it very hard to watch her.

I feel sorry for them. Hollywood is so ageist, they thought that they would never get work if they looked under 30. Then I think what has happened is that casting directors still cast young women or actresses from other countries like Brits and Aussies because they don't look ridiculous. The older women are then still stuck with their ridiculous faces.

Yes, base9 - I was waiting for someone to mention Nicole Kidman. What a waste. I watched Grace of Monaco on Sky and was fascinated by her solid face.

Rainbunny OMG. That is seriously disturbing. My brain won't process it.

There is a lot of work going on round here. One of my dds friends mum has gone from looking really pretty to generic done face with shiny forehead, huge lips and whilst she looks compelling it makes me feel wtf was up with your lovely old face. We have never mentioned it... Not even the mega lips which move oddly when she talks. I wonder what she thinks of me, do I look hideous with wrinkles and grey hairs... Not to me I don't but have these things become so awful they are worth obliterating instead of grumbling about.

YANBU I think the tide will turn soon and people will start to want faces with character and signs of ageing.

It's not fair to compare these "done" actresses with the way they used to look. Yes, Meg Ryan no longer has that pert, pretty face from When Harry Met Sally. Such a shame. But what would she look like now had she not gotten any work? Perhaps she'd look better for looking more natural, but maybe she'd just look like an ordinary old woman. And God knows people love to gloat over how plain and ordinary the stars of yesteryear have grown.

But the thing is, once you start, you can't just stop.

Sharon Osborne couldn't have had stopped five years ago, and expect her face to look just as the surgeon left it, forevermore. She needs to either keep having surgery, on an older and older face (resulting in what we see now) ... or give up entirely, and the latter simply isn't a choice for many of these people.

Once you're a public figure, and you're on that hamster wheel, you have to keep on it.

but maybe she'd just look like an ordinary old woman - she's only 53

There is a lot of misunderstanding around plastic surgery and non-invasive treatments. I had Botox in my 20s just before my wedding. It wasn't for ageing as I looked very young, it was to iron out the lines on my forehead and between my brows. The forehead lines I was born with, the others developed in my teens. People always commented on how miserable I looked even when I wasn't. I didn't want to look like that on my wedding day.

When plastic surgery is done well, the results can be amazing. Cindy Jackson, for instance. I love her anyway because she's a veggie and animal lover, however I think she has got it just right with the plastic surgery.

Cindy Jackson

A girl I was at school with started in her twenties with a nose job, not really sure what she's had done since bit we are both 40 now and she looks easily in her fifties. Her skin just doesn't look right and her mouth doesn't move properly. It's really odd. She was a very attractive woman before she did this to herself but the sad thing is her daughters who are growing up to believe that this is normal.

But her face still looks very plastic Barbie on . Only her mouth seems to move. Barely.

She was mainly lucky that she didn't get an infection or a bad reaction to implants.

Having never heard of Cindy Jackson, I've googled her, and looking at stills of her from interviews (as opposed to publicity shots, which frankly, have almost certainly been photo-shopped), she looks just like someone who's had plastic surgery, with all the same tell-take signs as everyone else...

Noooo Cindy Jackson just looks like someone else who hated herself. She really doesn't look natural - the whole surgery thing is bonkers and the look isn't real. It's depressing.

She is approaching 60 and obsessing over visible veins in her hands and - I find this sad, I think she said only 16 of her surgeries out of 50 plus needed full anaesthetics- only! She has spent more time in bruised and painful recovery than most if us spend ill in our whole lives.

Also, I'm curious about "non-invasive treatments". Does that include botox and collagen injections? Because those are definitely invasive.