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.

Some posters have talked about "a certain group" of women doing it. In my (not statistically valid) experience the lower your income/education bracket the more visible and extreme your fillers/botox/operations.

Sorry my post was supposed to quote @Anotherparkingthread

I have had similar to this.

My dentist left the practice and has been replaced. I had an email to this effect with a photo of of the replacement dentist. I was so shocked by her appearance that I have changed to another practice. There is no way I would trust the judgement of someone that had done that to themselves.

I've got a phobia of needles so I can't tweak my face, kind of a blessing really. I'm happy with my natural self. I'm not frumpy or haggard or plain.

I know someone who has botox, it does nothing and actually makes her look older (she also filters her photos so she is unrecognisable in them). But I think she has deep seated issues and wants to recapture her youth.

My old boss had botox as well, she looked like a 60 year that had botox. It doesn't wipe away the years.

Anyone who says ‘their body their choice’ is totally delusional. This is vile manipulation of women that they are not good enough as they are. That is so clear. Its got absolutely nothing to do with body autonomy. It is extreme vanity fuelled by low self esteem and it is tragic

I think OP is judging the 'looks based culture' rather than the people.

I agree the thread title doesn't necessarily reflect this- should be something like "what's making people think they need to do this to their faces?"

Agree that big, damaging social trends like this are absolutely fair game for discussion.

It's ridiculous, there's about 5 women in my small town who look so similar I keep mistaking one for the other. The ridiculous anaphylactic shock size lips are the worst! All these women are so pretty naturally and look individual, but now they're turning themselves into weird morphed versions of each other.

It's sad that we have a society that is so het up on what other people look like, commenting on it and spreading hate. It's sad young women and girls fall victim to thinking they're not good enough. But we are visual beings, always have been (sexual selection is a key driver of evolution) I remember trying (and failing) to starve myself and all the issues that brings.
But some of narrative on this thread really is part of the problem, it comes across as mean spirited and unnecessary. I agree with talking about health risks and the like, but not the slating of other women for what they look like. Looks shouldn't matter, really, but people (on both sides) are so het up on them. Why is that?

Some, not all, must have a very low self-esteem and self worth.

Honestly?
Injecting an unnecessary toxin in to their faces, for no reason whatsoever. Botulinum toxin use should be limited to when there's medical need and much more closely regulated!

I keep reading comments that these women are choosing to look this way, as if they live in a vacuum and chose this. It's dismissing the external pressures from media and society.

My daughter is 26 and she and all of friends have this look. Also all of my friends daughters who have been brought up with mine. My partner's 3 daughters all do too (completely different social circle to my daughter) She did not get it from me! I've always been more bohemian and although my hair and nails are always done, they are natural looking. I wear minimal makeup but I'm always clean tidy, wear fashionable well suited to me and well fitting clothes. I adore fashion.
I have never dieted nor gone to the gym but always eat healthy as have my children. I have practiced yoga for over 30 years. It's the way they all are now. My son is 20 and is very health and looks conscious - regular gym, eats very well, tanning, skin routine, fashionable clothes. His male friends are the same. All lovely young men doing well at uni or in work.

I was travelling, living out of a backpack and clubbing, drinking and smoking and participating in recreational drugs way too much! No one I knew went to the gym.
I never encouraged the fake look that my daughter obv enjoys. Never talked about weight/body shape and I never watched any of 'those' programmes that are full of these identi kit young women.
I was visibly and vocally quite horrified when she told me recently that she'd had Botox - at 26!!!! She said she's started now so that she doesn't get frown lines.
But, I was equally miffed at the huge tattoo she got on her 18th birthday.
I tell myself it's her body and her life and I've always told her she looks beautiful before she started with the eyebrows, lip filler etc
She's in a professional job with great career prospects. A lovely partner in a good trade. Wants to have babies but not yet and has psos and so is sensibly looking into freezing her eggs. She has been saving since 18 for a property deposit and goes on amazing holidays (pays no keep as saving) Thailand last year and Mexico next month, plus long weekends abroad a few times a year. Will be buying a place with her partner this year. She has Fabulous friends and a fulfilling social life. She is adventurous can ski, ride horses, scuba dive, rock climb and hike for hours. Started driving as soon as she could.
She and her brother are very close to each other and all our family members and visits my elderly parents weekly.
Like me, she is a feminist, stands by her well considered opinions, confident, resilient and is extremely independent. She abhors racism, sexism, ageism (as do I and all our family obv) is kind, caring a wonderful friend and fiercely loyal. No boy/man reached her high bar until this lovely young man and she would openly challenge friends being treated badly by their partners men or women.
So, I may not be chuffed with her choices regarding her face and body, and it's not the look for me nor most of my friends, but I know I'm not responsible for these choices and it's her life. I'm very, very proud of her snd so pleased she is very happy and healthy.
Try not to worry about your daughter, this trend may well have finished by the time she's old enough to have the treatments anyway.
My mum was equally horrified and worried when I went to Glastonbury festival at 16 and Australia at just turned 18........then Asia....no mobile phones or internet in 1989/90 so she got maybe a call every couple of weeks. I turned out ok too. Professional career, paid off mortgage by 50, stayed friends with my ex h, their dad, after we split when she was a young teen and we co-parented well. Same friends for 30odd years. So I hope I've been a positive role model. But her peers, media and trends won out with regards to her face and body!

I think that's true for young people. Drove into Liverpool last year to get to Anfield through some quite deprived areas and every other shop (that wasn't a takeaway or vape shop) was a beauty salon offering botox and fillers - no way anyone in those shops was a medical professional.

In Denmark over Christmas and I don't think I saw a single young woman with the kind of lip filler that pushes your whole lips out as the op is referencing. So demographic and background is a thing I agree.

My concern is that so many women are having these kinds of treatments at such a young age, and what the impact will be on them as they get older.

It's about making choices - people choose what they let into their lives! Deleting IG and TT, or at least dramatically reducing use and being selective in who you follow, is a good start.

I don't know - the treatments and surgery is excellent if you can afford it - maybe you just carry on through life having different stuff.
Sally Phillips was on a chat show recently - she looked younger than she did in Bridget Jones Diary !

However I must add that her eyebrows, eyelashes and lips are not ridiculous like some you see.
Also to comment on a PP re 'a certain type' most of my daughter's friend's parents are in very well regarded professional careers including law, dentistry, education, corporate business, finance etc

There was a radio 4 programme on it that should be played in all schools, it was chilling

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0023pw8

If you want people to not 'mess with their faces' you need to change the narrative. The focus on looks and judgement is really not going to do it. If we all look into ourselves we will probably find quite a mean spirited and judgemental part. It's that which we need to work on. Many of these comments are not even hiding it but shouting loud and clear. It's two sides of the same coin.

Quite simply - If you are making negative comments about how other people look you are part of the problem.

Absolutely, so much pressure and comparisons online.
It's changing the way people perceive each other and removes normality.

I only use Facebook but video reels pop up, one was a women with fake lips/Botox etc and she was unpacking a takeaway 'plate up my dinner with me'. Really? We're literally at that point in this country.
And this is the shite our teens will watch.

Times have changed. Tattoos were a widely discussed topic on here too with many posters horrified by them.

The world is a global village now and some people will see others from cultures with naturally large lips and want it for themselves. Thin lips for example aren’t very attractive. People may overdo it but that is due to not going to correct places to get them done.

Also mumsnet is an older crowd so everything here is a big deal. I’m not saying the posters here are frumpy/end of life; they just appear really cautious and quite limited in fashion/trends. It may not be to your mature taste but it is popular for a reason. People think they look good and get the attention they want from it. It is not going to go away so how many times do threads like this need to appear?

Choices aren’t made in isolation because society and media shape what’s desirable. The beauty industry profits by promoting insecurities and even social media becomes less of a choice when it’s how people connect, work etc. These pressures make fillers and botox into less personal decisions in our beauty obsessed society.

Gosh look at those two thirds of women who stuff their faces so their fat lardy arses stick out and their stomachs swell out over their waistbands in waves of fat.
No, no I’m not sneering at them and acting superior because I am so lovely and slim; I’m just concerned about their health.
Is that okay to post op?

It's not sneering. It's trying to understand why someone chooses to spoil a perfectly nice face.

I'm hoping there will be a backlash and it will become trendy and then normal to live in a more natural way without all the injections, surgery, shallow focus on looks, etc. It's long overdue in my opinion.