Botox & frozen faces

[Expressionless]

If you have Botox to the parts of your face that mean you’ve rendered yourself unable to move large part of your face or have very little movement in your eyebrows / around your eyes, does it not bother you that you essentially look frozen and expressionless?

At the end of the day, most of us, would like to reduce fine lines and wrinkles - we live in a world that holds women to ridiculous youth standards - basically we all feel we shouldn’t age and that an ageing face is the worst possible outcome. But at what cost does this come?

Watching almost all TV / films now means any woman over about 25, maybe 30 at a push essentially has a frozen face and quite literally can’t show emotions properly. Most men don’t do it, so it’s definitely a sexist standard.

Women saying they ‘do it for themselves’ - well okay, but only because you’ve been conditioned to find ageing abhorrent.

Why can’t we just be left the fuck alone, to age and have faces that move and show our expressions and feelings. Like we have for 1,000’s of years.

I’m 46 and have been having 3-4 monthly Botox injections since I was 38.
I do it because I want to , I will carry on doing it as long as I feel like it. And actually, I do it to feel better about myself.
Also, I can move my eyebrows etc, my face is certainly not frozen, just more smooth. I also get fillers too , can still move my face and I will not apologise for wanting to do so.

Oh stop 😂 That's ridiculous,

Not everyone goes for the dramatic frozen look. My treatments are subtle and I’m confident that I neither look weird nor am I trying to look ‘young’ That ship has definitely sailed.

I don’t think you are getting the point?

As someone who is a regular Botox user, it feels like you don’t understand why people who use Botox would be offended by your post.

It’s not strange to defend yourself and your choices and I would suggest you are verging into passive aggressive territory with some of your posts.

To make it clear, I do not feel under any pressure to inject my face, I do it because I want to and because I like how it makes me look. I don’t really care if anyone else likes it or not, it’s about self confidence for me. However, I’m not stupid and I think it’s insulting of you to suggest that people like me don’t see or accept that ‘the youth and beauty standards being marketed to them.’
Most things in life are marketed.

Do I get better treatment because I have less wrinkles. Doubt it to be honest?

It’s also insulting that you can’t accept what others do without calling it weird.

It’s also insulting that you can’t accept what others do without calling it weird.

Having a highly poisonous toxin injected into your face, which is right next to your brain, is indeed a really weird thing to do and to have normalised.

Being brave given some of the comments on this thread but here goes!

Photo on the left is of me aged 37, taken in June/July 2019 shortly before my wedding and prior to having any Botox. Photo on the right was taken in July this year, aged 43 having had a top up end of May.

I’m still able to be fully expressive and smile equally as brightly. For me, when I compare both pictures, and even allowing for being 6 years older, I much prefer how I look in the more recent one; with no deep frown lines on my forehead and smoother crows feet by my eyes. I am able to wear less makeup and what I do doesn’t gather in any lines. And I may sound trite, but I think you can see I feel more confident and comfortable in my eyes.

As I said in my pp, I respect that not everyone wants, needs or agrees with the principle of having cosmetic procedures, for a multitude of reasons and I respect they feel that way. For me, it makes a huge difference to my self confidence - especially as I’m now right in the thick of perimenopause and all the bountiful crap that brings! So, given I’m not pushing procedures on anyone else, I don’t see why my personal choices should cause a problem for others.

Hard hat firmly on for any comments!! 😉😂

Yet drinking alcohol is socially acceptable with no benefits whatsoever.

Do you drink alcohol? Ever smoked?

Just because you don’t agree doesn’t mean you get to insult

Well, quite clearly, you think "wrinkly" is a slur.

Well done on cultivating that sexist and ageist opinion all on your own.

You look more human in the left-hand photo and more plastic in the right.

You can absolutely be left the fuck alone op, to do or not do whatever you want to your face and body, that is your right. It is also the right of everyone else, don’t you think?

If you are happy, that is all that matters..

Hard to compare the two photos, but on first glance I would say the photo on the left looks more natural, but perhaps that's the light of photo.

(I would also say, the blue line across your eyes doesn't disguise your identity at all, and if you don't want your identity here to be public, you should probably name change or delete the photo.)

OP if you want to have lines and look wrinkly then go for it. Seriously.

But why must you force others to hold the same opinions and thoughts as you. Genuinely just concern yourself with yourself. You must be really insecure over your looks to start this kind of thread.

Thanks but to be honest I’m not worried about that - I’m not embarrassed about having some Botox done and people who know me knowing about it.

This topic again - is SO BORING

You look incredible.

Thank you. To try and find comparable pictures where I’m looking straight into camera (or as close as possible) and a photo that’s recent was difficult! I’m rubbish at taking pics on holiday/when out, as is my DH, and I often do more profile pictures when posing for photos too. Lighting isn’t the best on the right pic as at dusk, where as first one is during daytime.

Thank you. That’s lovely. x

Makes me laugh how many of the people commenting here will use face creams, make up etc to try and make their skin look nice, dye their hair... But judge others for Botox which is SO effective and makes the skin look incredible. (I use it every 6 months and the effect has blown me away - I barely wear any make up and am usually a "natural girl").

Well. You can be left the fuck alone, to age, and to have a face that moves and shows your expressions and feelings.
I personally hate that my forehead has massive deep 11’s lines and I have Botox to counteract it. I’m 41 and have been doing so for about 5 years now.
maybe you’re blessed with better skin or are less frowny than I am.
I don’t have Botox for anyone other than myself. In fact my husband would probably prefer it if I didn’t spend £300 on it every 4 months but it makes me happier and more confident.
I couldn’t give a rats arse what other women decide to do, whether they have Botox or don’t have Botox…. maybe you should spend less time thinking about it?

I am 47. I have zero interest in getting Botox. It might make people look good in photos but we live in a 3d unfiltered world and there is nothing more beautiful than raw expression.

I get Botox as well, but only a little bit here and there so unless I told anyone they would not be able to tell, I like it and it makes me look less stressed, I don’t do it to look younger and it definitely doesn’t do that anyway

It's all well and good saying it's personal choice and that it's on one's business, but I think it's everyone's business. For me, the pressure to inject toxins into our faces to try and look youthful and to meet modern beauty standards, is a huge feminist issue under modern patriarchy. If people truly don't think think things like botox are driven by the male gaze, they need to think harder.

I'm particularly talking about women in their early 20's who already have faces full of botox, lip filler, etc.

When my skin went haywire about 10 years ago, I started wearing full coverage foundation to cover everything up, which meant having to do full makeup looks to match it every day (eyes, brows, cheeks, lips!) and I was so self conscious about my skin I wouldn’t go anywhere outside the house without makeup up on. It actually started becoming a bit of an issue with my now DH as we couldn’t just ‘pop’ somewhere quickly - I’d need an hour to get my face on.

Now my skin is in a much better place, I typically only use skin tints / serum foundations that give sheer coverage with some cream blush, a coat of mascara and a tinted lip balm. I much prefer my more natural look too, plus it only takes me 20 minutes to do my skin care and make up routine in the morning vs an hour+!!

As I’ve said all along, each to their own. I respect not everyone will agree with tinkering with the usual process of ageing but I just struggle to understand why anyone would feel the need to comment and/or judge people for that personal choices? And as you say, the same argument could be made for dyeing your hair to cover up greys, which I suspect most women after a certain age will be doing.

For me, it makes me feel good about myself, particularly at this phase of my life when at times my own body feels like it’s a stranger to me and is beginning to change in unpleasant, unpredictable and novel ways. Me having some Botox 2-3 times a year isn’t harming anyone else, I can pay for it comfortably myself and without going into debt and my DH is happy with how I look and how that happens as long as I’m happy (although he does tell me he thinks I’m gorgeous regardless bless him!)

I genuinely don’t see the problem unless botched Botox procedures are costing the NHS multi-millions to put right and I’m just blissfully unaware?

I worked with 3 females who all started at work within weeks of each other. Because I worked part time I didn’t get to know them well ,I genuinely didn’t know who was who when I worked with them . They all looked the same 🤦‍♀️
My son has a partner and she just looks lovely and natural,a big difference.