If all my friends have botox and I don't....

[DonPablo]

Will I look old an haggard stood next to them? And can anyone recommend me a product to help with lines?

I'm 40. I take reasonable care of my skin. I have some lines, crows feet, normal ageing but nothing severe. My last, non botoxed friend caved last week and had it.

I feel old and ordinary but I'd never have fillers, botox or the likes. I don't even dye my hair! I love makeup and like to look good, but I guess I'm being left behind and I'm worried it'll show. Am I Being Ridiculous?

Yes, I think so, a bit. I get what you're saying, but have Botox if and when you want to, not because your friends have had it.

No you’ll look lovely and natural. Botox makes people look odd (I’m sure many will protest but it does).

Find some new friends! Honestly, they all have it? I only know a couple of people who do. I'd hate to be part of a group of friends who were so obsessed by their looks.

Weird friendship circle. I literally know no one in real life who tells the world they have had Botox. Frankly, I'd be hard pressed to identify anyone who'd had it. I'm in my 50s.

It's not weird bellini, it's probably a difference in age thing. I'm more the op's age and it's ubiquitous. I know loads of people who've had it. Same with the lip fillers, I know a few who've tried it.

I probably do look older than those people but I don't really give a shit. I'm OK with looking my age. I refuse to give in to the idea that women shouldn't age and I can think of far more important things to spend my money on!

I just find the whole thing of injecting poison into your face utterly bizarre, all to look a couple of years younger. You might look fresher to start with but it always looks odd in the long run and ageing will always catch up with you eventually.

I’m 42. I don’t know anyone who has had Botox!!

OP, it sounds like you take care of your skin and appearance. You are enough. Don’t compare yourself to others, just be happy in who you are!

I put a little fake tan on my face which makes me feel better about my haggardy ole boat race but generally I just am who I am!

Say no to the bo

You won't look haggard, because they won't look younger, just different.

Your friends will like the effect but continue to have it because they can’t let their faces deflate and then they will get more and more plastic and weird looking whilst you will age naturally and beautifully. I’m 53 now, have my fair share of wrinkles but refuse to go down that route.

I also have friends that have been users since 40 and they don’t look good anymore after a session of fillers. At least not until it has worn off again!

If you're 40 you will most certainly not look either old or haggard. Also, if you're 40 with Botox you will not look younger than 40, you'll look 40 with smoother skin than you had before (for a little while).

It's not weird bellini, it's probably a difference in age thing. I'm more the op's age and it's ubiquitous.

If it is an age thing I'm very glad I'm nearer 50 than 40. Bit I think Bellini is right, it's more ubiquitous in some friendship groups than others. It will depend on the jobs people have and how much emphasis is put on appearance, e.g. I bet more actresses have botox than scientists at any age.

I work in the public sector and I see a few younger colleagues who have had Botox and lip plumping treatments. They look shiny and alien like, they look daft and needy, and have not improved their looks one whit. They have masked the bloom of youth with artifice, which is weird.

This need to artificially tamper with your face is becoming more widespread amongst a certain demographic but hopefully, like sun beds and dark fake tans, it will seem old hat and unfashionable soon.

I would not do it to fall in line with other people. FOMO is a thing, but you are not missing out at all. The trouble with trying to look younger all the time is that you step on a treadmill that becomes hard to step off of. You can't win either. The winners are those who accept the ageing process, work on their inner selves, realise that how you look is not the be all and end all. The goal is to be the best and most healthier version of you, not the version of you being injected by a dental hygienist or beauty therapist.

Each to their own, but this obsession with frozen faces and duck lips is a form of self hatred and goes beyond hair dye and other temporary changes.

I’m early 40s and live in London (so probably target market) and none of my friends have had it done. I’m slightly tempted but wouldn’t as I’m too chicken and seen too many bad examples.

Oh, I'm not getting botox and I don't judge those that do, I'm just worried about looking obviously older next to them all!

I move in 3 friendship circles and I kid you not, they all have it. Some have fillers and some have other treatments too. I don't even get my nails done! And we're all very ordinary people!

I'm 39, don't have botox, fillers, fake nails, fake lashes, dyed hair (but not grey yet either) etc. I use eye make up and lipstick, don't even put on BB cream or foundation. Neither do my friends. I think that it is my friendship group though, they're mostly a bit hippy about natural stuff and eating organic etc. and would recoil from using such artificial stuff in their bodies. However, I have had some laser treatment on my face for rosacea. So I will do something, as long as it looks completely natural.

You would be surprised how many people have had it done and don’t say they have. You can even get it done at the dentist now. All I am saying is don’t be so sure ‘nobody I know has it done’. If it is done well then it can just freshen up tired skin. Don’t believe all the shiny frozen stories - that is the likes of Katie price who overdoes everything.

I’m not saying no one I know has had it done. I definitely know some people where I suspect they have had it. But I don’t think any of my friends have as i am pretty confident they would have told me.

People only notice bad Botox. When it’s done well, it looks perfectly natural and takes years off.

However, I think 40 is a bit young, unless you’re very wrinkly and unhappy about that. No cream will get rid of lines.

Bool it's true, none of my friends look plastic or frozen, they just have no wrinkles. One of my friends has been having it a while and her forehead is starting to look a bit too smooth, but she looks fantastic and I think it's only because I know iyswim? They all look fantastic tbh.

Botox stops wrinkles forming in the first place. When they are there there is not a lot you can do apart from fillers. And I really wouldn’t go there. Therefore 40 is the ideal age to start (and they even say earlier) before the wrinkles ‘set’.

Can’t help wondering why, if it’s so easy to get good Botox and fillers, so many relatively young actors have bad Botox and fillers.

I can understand that many of them don’t have a choice about whether to do it - it’s just part of the job, and in some circles not getting Botox would be like not shaving arm pits - but still doesn’t explain why the results aren’t better.

@merrymouse who are you thinking of? I suspect there are a vast load more who have it and look amazing eg Jennifer Anniston, Jennifer Lopez, Kate what’s her name hahaha can’t remember her name but you know the British actress I mean!

I think Amanda Holden is starting to overdo it. But that’s because I think she is looking for perfection rather than a freshen up. That’s when it goes haywire.

I’m not going to celeb shame, or debate whether particular actresses look bad, but I think the main problem is that when actors hit their 50s and 60s they just look odd.

Honestly wrinkles and lines would look better. Thank goodness we don’t all have jobs that demand that we pretend we are still 28.