What are people doing to their faces?!

[Mania89]

I am mid 30s. Colour my hair, wear makeup, thread my eyebrows etc so not completely natural but my goodness what are people doing to their faces?! Young women who are beautiful now have so much injected into their faces that they cannot move them at all. I was looking back at photos in my mid 20s and was wondering why on earth did I worry about my looks at all. Hindsight is wonderful! And I am despairing that girls younger than this have already started to inject Botox and fillers. The world is going mad and don’t even get me started on weight loss injections for those who are not clinically obese! I have two daughters and really feel so worried for them up.

I think Debbie Harry was beautiful, amazing bone structure and lip shape.

This is quite an interesting point. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though. My children are late teens and I was an early Facebook adopter.

We were naive enough in the early years of Facebook to think it was like a family photo album and it was something nice to share with friends and family. We hadn’t considered digital footprint at that time. So I don’t think it’s especially fair to blame parents of the late teens now for something where the implications were not widely understood.

As my understanding grew and my children got older I daughter permission to post anything, but as a baby and toddler, no.

Oh and my dad was a heavy smoker. He told me not to smoke. I’m an avid non smoker. Which seems to be a broader societal change so I’m not sure your point actually stands in this instance.

I do wonder who decided two massive Nike ticks was going to be the eyebrow ideal. Each to their own I suppose, but I can imagine future generations looking at photos of great granny in her prime and wondering what on earth was going on!

Not your face, not your business

One of the issues is that younger people can't see the beauty in their own 'flaws', such as slightly crooked teeth or an amazing profile with slight nose bump such as Cheryl Tweedy.

I think a slight “flaw” enhances or offsets the beauty if that makes sense as it makes it stand out. Im not explaining it very well but if you think of many of the worlds beautiful people they don’t tend to have individual perfect features but all their features together just work. I also think getting stuff too young means people haven’t grown into their faces, a nose that doesn’t fit at 18, can look great at 30 for example.

With respect, weight loss products are, to a certain extent, to boost willpower as you still need to watch what you eat while taking them, and for those for whom weight is threatening their health, they can be a godsend. The same cannot be said of cosmetic enhancement. It isn’t necessary, it’s largely unregulated and some of it will undoubtedly prove to be damaging in the long term.

I wonder if anyone is giving any thought to what’s actually in all these injectables etc. and whether it’s a good thing to have in their bodies?

A relative of mine started having botox in her late 20's, then filler. She's now in her mid 30's and has had so much work done to her face that it has changed beyond recognition. Her lips are so big now it's actually affecting her speech. There must be an addictive element to these procedures because many people seem to spiral quite quickly from having quite subtle botox and filler to looking completely artifical and don't seem to realise how noticeable it is. A family friend who hadn't seen her in a couple of years told me they walked right past her in the street, and when she approached them and started chatting they suddenly realised who she was and struggled to hide their shock. . I would never say anything to her as its her body and I respect her right to do what she wants with it but I can't help but think it's sad. There was nothing wrong with how she looked before.

From my perspective this is the nub of the matter.

People have always had ill advised fashion choices from poodle perms, to mullets to electric blue eye shadow.

The point is that this was short term with no damage done, short of a cringe when a photo came out.

There is potentially something more long term at stake here that we dont really understand and this is the cause for alarm - not so much the fact their choosing to do it at all

I have a DD in her 30's, in her friendship group of about 8 there are only two of them who have not had any work done. One beautiful young woman now has huge grotesque lips, it's awful, like some comic caricature of who she was.

Foot binding used to be considered beautiful in China, girls foot bones were crushed into shape. Injecting poison into your face will, hopefully, one day be viewed with the same horror.

Fashion, current trends, pressure to be up to date, to fit in and be the same as others?

Madness isn't it.

As a teen I was bullied endlessly, for having big lips!

Maybe I was just born too early!

Do we really need another thread on this. Is this your first time on mumsnet?

Nope. I was that poster. As l said in my previous reply, you didn’t answer it, you dismissed it as irrelevant. There’s a difference. Anyway, moving on……

One of the guys my partners plays sport with has had at least three look a like 'girl friends' I have now learned not to say 'Hi Sarah' incase it's another person!

Only when it goes tits up for them (excuse the pun) like the breast implants that were used years ago.

I did.
You just didn't agree.

Well seeing as we’re now thirteen pages in to an interesting debate, clearly the impetus is there isn’t it ?

@Anotherparkingthread have you heard of the term 'marketing'? You might think you're making rational, independent decisions about your looks but several hundred bilion pounds says otherwise (and it's not women making most of the proift):

www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/09/21/2747046/28124/en/689-8-Billion-Digital-Marketing-Market-Analysis-by-Digital-Channel-End-Use-Industry-and-Region-Global-Forecast-to-2028.html

And Debbie Harry was using heroin, which can do wonders for showing your bone structure. But not recommended. Plus, she’s said she’s used cosmetic procedures since at least the 90s.

I believe the reason she’s considered so beautiful is her attitude and artistry combined with her looks. If she’d not bleached her hair and wore frumpy 70s/80s fashions, her looks would barely get a mention. I wish some young women today would realise this. Let your own personality shine through and rock your own unique look.

Not really, it’s just the same posters shouting about how bad other women look who try to improve their appearances, versus a small minority trying to defend themselves. Nothing comes of this debate.

There has always been a lot of negativity directed at women who do things to their appearance with the aim of looking more attractive. Women have been called names by other women throughout history for various things - painting their faces, bleaching their hair, short skirts, high heels. It's all part and parcel of the same thing, only procedures give the nastiness a veneer of legitimacy because they can veil it as a health concern or a feminist issue. No one who cares about women would dream of referring to a woman their daughters age as looking like a sex doll.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Give me Audrey Hepburn any day.

Heroine- female bravery
Heroin- drug

I also think Audrey Hepburn was beautiful 🤷🏻‍♀️

Social media, whatever that means and insecurity.
Let them get on with it, as they say, my body my choice.
😁