To think botox and plastic surgery....

[Poptart4]

..... has skewed peoples perception of normal ageing?

I was scrolling through the daily fail this morning and there was a story about Paris Hilton claiming shes never had any kind of cosmetic surgery. This is a 40 yr old women with a face smoother than a babys bum. Personally I suspect she's at least had some botox. Anyway the comments section is filled with people saying, well she's "only" 40 she wouldnt need botox. While I agree 40 is hardly ancient, its no spring chicken either. I'm late 30's and I definitely have a few lines on my face as does every other women my age does.

There's another story about Alessandro Ambrosio in her bikini on the beach. Alot of comments basically saying she looks rough for a women in her 40's. I think she looks great for her age. Its like people expect a women in her 40's to have the same tight pert bodies as women in their 20's.

It was the same when Jennifer Lopez also claimed she never had botox. Very hard to believe from a 50 Yr old women with not 1 wrinkle. While alot of the commenters didn't believe her there was a large portion claiming well she's "only" 50!? Seriously the average 50 Yr old women on the street does not look like JLo.

I just think people are so used to seeing cosmetically enhanced celebs that they've lost sight of what natural ageing looks like.

I am 43 and always said I wouldn't get botox....untill my face started falling off a cliff! Had it twice...its fab...
I do agree that it has skewed perceptions and ideally we should all be happy with what god gave us but as humans we are not..
From tattoos, piercings to neck lengthening rings in tribes us humans love to tinker with nature.
I wish or society would worship the older women...or any woman.but we don't.

I love my Botox and whilst I think I look "fresher", I still look my age. I think it's the fillers and invasive surgery that really can change someone's features.

However, even before cosmetic surgery was rife, famous women had an army of help from PTs and nutritionists to make up artists and stylists. All these things help someone look younger (as well as not having to do housework and the school run and your job etc.).

Botox isn’t surgery so Paris is probably telling the truth.

However I do agree that ageing has changed. I’m 40 and tbh probably 50% of the women I know do have Botox and/or fillers. I do too.

But for someone with tons of money there are an army of other treatments they are probably having as well - far dissolving injections, eye trough fillers, microneedling etc etc.

Women aren't expected to age, we should keep young and beautiful, it's our duty don't ya know!
Having said that though I'm almost 52 and don't have any lines on my face, it's just good genes and oily skin.

I wouldn’t read the Daily Fail, it’s not going to give you a healthy outlook on anything. It’s horribly sexist and misogynistic.

To be clear, I'm not against people using botox or any other cosmetic procedure, I just wish celebs were more honest about it.

I think a lot of it is down to filters on photos.
I saw an untouched photo of JLo recently and whilst she is undoubtedly a beautiful woman, I was actually surprised at how bad her skin looked.

The normalisation of it is fucked up. It's safe to assume all women in the public eye have it. It means that real middle aged women aren't seen. I also think the focus on lines is bizarre as that is only one aspect of aging and other areas more telling of someone's age

But the pictures we see are all heavily filtered so we're not seeing what they really look like. I doubt if Paris's skin looks like that in real life

Photoshopping and airbrushing doesn't help either. I was shocked at this magazine cover from a couple of months ago. Women in their 60s do not look like this.

She's probably telling the truth as in she hasn't had actual surgery ...just lots of procedures.

I think it’s easy to forget that celebs aren’t great benchmarks because they’re normally wealthy and so have access to every beauty treatments available. They might not use botox but have regular facials, chemical peels, rejuvenation treatments etc. They also have access to the best organic food, personal trainers etc.

Not to mention they’re not working 9-5 while maintaining the house, they have paid staff for cleaning/childcare/cooking. And can whiz off to a spa or relaxed getaway whenever they please. I probably would have far fewer wrinkles too if that was my lifestyle!

And of course remember that many will filter their pictures, or pay the paps to do so - so you don’t know what they really look like.

I think until society embraces wrinkles and mum bodies as beautiful and more importantly sees women's wisdom as a more precious commodity than her beauty then aging will always be airbrushed out sadly.