to be freaked out by the frozen, filled faces littering our media

[PhelanGood]

Seriously. And I bet they all think nobody can tell! Will this trend ever end?

I'm often too distracted by the botoxed plumped juvedermed visages on display, to concentrate on what the bearer of said face is actually saying! Doesn't help that they can no longer engage viewers with natural facial expressions.

I find it fascinating and alarming that paying to have the world's deadliest poison injected into you is becoming the norm, especially when all it achieves is a face that doesn't move, and ultimately a weakening of the muscles, which surely are the thing we should be strengthening to prevent wrinkles long term..!? And concentrating on eliminating toxins!

(Obviously I'm not talking about its medicinal uses such as preventing migraines.)

Fillers are even worse, they look absolutely repugnant to me. Especially in the lips! Who wants to kiss a pair of plumped up plastic lips that look like you've had an allergic reaction.

Am I being unreasonable, and am I alone in finding this trend so disturbing and weird... do I need to get with the times? Are injectables just today's "whalebone corsets"? It's got to a point where I actually adore seeing lovely wrinkled faces on the screen as it's so rare now.

Stevie - I find it relaxing getting my feet pedicured and also gel polish lasts forever, my beautiful toes also make me happy to look as as I like pretty colours and like looking groomed. It's something to look forward to! As I'm sure a botox session is, for many. It sounds like it gives those of you who do it a spring in your step!

Facials are not a waste of money at all! They are super relaxing. My life is hectic and stressful so it's so welcome to have this respite of lying in a scented room having my face steamed, masked and massaged. I stick to natural ranges and steer clear of any lotions or chemicals which offer unnatural 'anti ageing' effects as I'm aware they are often full of acids that irritate your skin into swelling and producing a plumping effect which I'm not going for. As Zadig says they generally are short term fixes bordering on cons. Don't want my skin addicted to chemicals, I also have really sensitive skin! I just want to feed n nourish it, and a side effect is that I do generally look healthy and glowing. Lines don't bother me, I think they add character and sexiness. I have nasolabial lines from my big pout and smile, forehead lines appear when i express surprise or concern, and yep the beginnings of crows feet - I love them all!

Maybe I will feel differently when I hit my fifties, I dont see why, though. I'm not scared of being or looking fifty. Looking young has never been my thing though. I'm more a dark sultry type, never looked
'young' even when I was 😉 can hardly wait til I go grey either. At first I will use henna as it will look like natural highlights. My hair is so dark it refuses to be bleached, so I'll use the whiteness to embrace all sorts of rainbow colours! Or even shock horror leave it silver. Well conditioned silver hair is beautiful!

I don't think botox and fillers make people look younger, rather they are symbols of affluence, like a designer bag. I don't like the look and so wouldn't go down that route, but it is a very 'wealthy woman of a certain age' aspirational look which some women want.

I am more bemused by the lovely young girls with hideously fat sausagey lips. It looks so vile to me, but that is fashion - like when high foreheads were in women would shave their hair line. Or painted on moles. Or lead white faces. It is about looking fashionable for the time, even if that fashion is actually rather odd and ugly.

@PhelanGood actually a Hollywood is a really good example

My DH's preference was for me NOT to have it all taken off downstairs, but would never tell me what to do, and respects that it's my decision to do with my body what I like

I get waxed for ME because I love the feeling of it - he loves me and he appreciates me whatever my grooming, so if I choose the Hollywood look then that's entirely my choice.

If I decided NOT to get myself waxed in deference to his preferences, that would presumably be LESS empowering, than my decision to do what made ME feel good

So quite an apt example actually

Exactly, same procedure, but different motivation to someone who felt forced from porn. It's fab that Hollywooda are widely available now, my local salon offers lycon which is practically painless too!

My OH would be deeply upset if I ever got botoxed so if I were to get it done it would fully be for me, so in that way, empowering that I wasn't just doing it to please some man. However - say I had been cajoled into the procedure by a lifetime dripfeed of women with 'done' faces ( media, or friends) slowly making me feel self conscious of my lines...?
I would still get the boost, yes. It would empower me in this sense - yes.
But would it truly be empowering to women for me to add further to the crowd who created the pressure? And does that even matter, if I'm happy..

I had a Semitic nose and had cosmetic surgery when they were fixing a deviated septum. My sister never had hers fixed.

I have horrible rosacea where my eyes, scalp and sinuses are affected. I went to a top NYC dermatologist last week and half of the wait room was there for a cosmetic procedure. It really put me off. I've booked another appointment for a different dermatologist who doesn't do any costmetic injections.

Fwiw my previous dermatologist who just retired always told me that a good facelift is worth the effort but to never inject anything put water into my face. He told me that a good diet, lots of water, low stress and 8+ hours of sleep a night would result in anyone looking good for their age. He had some great advice for my breakouts. My fav was putting honey on my face as a mask. I could not believe the results. I now buy thick raw honey for my face!

Angela Rippon too on staying younger program

A Semitic nose?! Do you know how racist that is?

wets Of course it's racist. It only affects Jewish people. Me being one of them! I'm very happy I was supported by my father to change it. Thank goodness my DCs have their daddies nose and not mine. If they did I would be offering to pay for it be fixed if that's what they wanted.

This language is the trouble; 'fixed' implies their noses are broken.

They aren't. Media has led you to believe they are.

Well yes with the nose I was blessed with it did need fixing. I couldn't wear glasses easily. My sister has a terrible time with glasses and sunglasses. I also used to bump my nose all the time because of its dimensions.

Phelan - it sounds as if you might have a bit of a fear about needles which is compounding your horror about Botox?
Honestly, It feels like the tiniest pin pricks - you hardly feel a thing and it's done in about 2 minutes.
I think I must have mentioned to my DH that I had Botox, but he either doesn't care or never took it on board. He's never asked about it . Maybe he thinks it's some kind of facial?

@WetsTheFinger I used the word semitic earlier in the thread, about obviously semitic looking faces with tiny ski jump noses

Like @Want2bSupermum I am Jewish and I had a very obviously semitic nose

(Which I don't any more because yes I also got mine fixed. Like @Want2bSupermum my parents paid for me to get mine done. Best gift ever - I'm beyond grateful for the surgery)

Im 44 and dont have any wrinkles yet. I dont smoke I dont drink. (i have NEVER been drunk not once.) And ive never sat in the sun. But oh when i hit 40 i woke up to very coarse chin hairs (im a dark brunette) I was not prepared for this. I HATE it. Ive been having them waxed off. Last Monday to try and save money i used a facial hair removing cream for the first time. I chose one for sensitive skin............did a patch test the day before.........left it on for the time instructed and still ended up with a chemical burn on my chin. Back to a salon wax. I can no longer afford salon waxes for legs and underarms (i hate shaving and will NOT do it) so i wear trousers/tights if im in a skirt. and sleeved tops.

I have my hair professionally coloured at a salon to cover grey. But i cant afford all these treatments. So something had to give and it was the body waxes. I can cover those up with clothes. I cant cover my chin though. If they were left to grow they get longer and curl like pubic hair.

Other than that im happy with the way my face looks.

Being the goody two shoes when i was younger really paid off facially.

I'm a jew too and I find the semitic nose a very racist term. It's such a stereotype and not even true.

It's not just women who do it, although it's often only women who get castigated for it.

Someone mentioned Love Island earlier ... many of those young men who appear on the new breed of reality shows also have Botox along with other cosmetic procedures, veneers are a very popular one.

I believe it's all part of the new trends towards instagrammable grooming - everything ultra HD. In real life it does often look very different from how it appears on camera. I see young girls wearing false eyelashes just to go down the shops. I used to love false eyelashes when I was about 18 - I couldn't be bothered to put them on every day though. I just think it's a very expensive and time consuming way. Not necessarily ugly or wrong.

@wanttobesupermum
I also have always used honey as a face mask, it's the absolute best, none of my friends believe me! I always slather it all over my face and neck before important occasions and it makes my skin feel smooth for days. That was a very interesting post. People with a healthy lifestyle do have a glow about them, I've noticed vegans often look young for their age and have bright eyes and skin - I couldn't do that diet hard-core though!

This semitic nose thing... I say this as a Jewish lass. I understand people here are offended, so I will not casually use the term outside of this post, but I'm not at all offended by the phrase - especially not when used by Jews to describe themselves! Is the phrase Roman nose offensive too?! It's just a thing.

Having grown up in a Jewish community, I was surrounded by people with (we and they called them) "Jewish noses" - some did get rhinoplasties, most chose not to. At uni my best friend had a very 'Jewish nose' as she used to call it - she was 100% English and not Semitic! It's not even an insult to use this term, just a common feature of our race, I agree the stereotype isn't always true though, my nose isn't hooked - though it is pretty sizeable.

I am vehemently offended by any actual negative stereotypes about Jews, though. And 'Jewish nose' if used as an insult becomes one of these.

@helenadove - I'm inspired by you lady! I have the odd black hair that pops up on my chin and just pluck them. It's awkward as hell when you're sat talking to someone and feel one that's somehow managed to escape you and have to hide it for the rest of the convo! I carry emergency tweezers 😉

@kittywindbag you're right, as said above these procedures along with contouring make up etc look fabulously glam in photos, and weird in reality. The thing is nowadays people depend on photos for a boost to their self esteem. I know people who get all dolled up for a selfie session the way people used to do for a party!

@Zadig you are spot on about my phobia of needles, i would do a lot for beauty but they nail that coffin against injectables for me! I'd never get it done anyway, I don't like the look, it doesn't seem healthy and products placed under the skin creep me out too - it calls to mind embalming... Each to their own.
Oof at school people used to put needles thru their finger skin. Cringe as hell..

Phelan i bought a pair of new tweezers the day after i burnt myself on that bloody hair removing cream.

If you find the term Semitic nose offensive I think you are easily offended. It's a shape of nose typical to the Jewish community, because you know, we are a race, so it's not that much of a surprise to me at least that a shape of nose is more common.

Of course not every Jewish person has the same shape nose just as not all Jewish people have dark brown hair. However there are a heck of a lot of Jewish people with a larger nose who would prefer a smaller one. I was one of them. Ironically I got my eyes lasered almost a decade after getting my nose fixed. If I wasn't needing glasses I probably wouldn't have bothered changing my nose.

They all look awful. All of them.
I struggle to think of many people, other than Judy F who don't look terrible.

@Helenadove - glad to hear it! A decent pair of tweezers are a great investment. That hair removal cream burns like hell and doesn't even work on my thick dark hair. There was a funny review I read once from a man who tried it 'down there'. Put it this way - at one point during his agony he was praying for a gay snowman to appear 😂

Oblomov - good to hear from a lady who shares my pain. There must be more women in the public eye who aren't scared of looking their age.... Surely..

Supermum - ♥ it's very clear you are no racist! The term Semitic doesn't even refer just to Jews!

Phelan i bought a pair of tweezers from Superdrug.

Boots had some Tweezermans but at between £14 and £23 no way can i afford it.

Who is 'all of them'?
I don't want to link but have just seen a picture of Yasmin Le Bon, who looks amazing at 52. She must have had work done but she looks about 35, not frozen just very youthful.

@Delatron - have a look at a clip of her on YouTube, the only thing that moves is her mouth! Photos are deceiving.

@Helenadove ask Santa for some tweezermans, they're the best! They've paid for themselves, the amount of threadings they've saved me. The colourful ones with the circle grip thing are fab. Or maybe save up boots advantage card points?

Yes, true a still photo doesn't tell the truth. It's when the face starts moving. Shame I thought she'd found the key to eternal youth!