When once the first rule of Botox was ‘don’t talk about Botox’, now we’re in a new era of conversational transparency. But, asks one tweakment-curious writer, for the sake of our collective self-esteem, should we think before we speak?
It’s 4pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon and I’m surrounded by six of my favourite women in a West Country beer garden. What was originally ‘Ibiza 2020’ is now ‘Airbnb outside Bristol 2022’. But 24 hours into our trip, and the pandemic-rusted wheels of our 12-year-strong shorthand greased, I wouldn’t change a thing. We’ve already covered new homes, new jobs, new boyfriends and old jokes when into this millennial female conviviality I drop... my face. Specifically, the two vertical lines that have recently made themselves known between my eyebrows.
I know I shouldn’t care, I say, but I do. In fact, I’m considering pressing pause on the process via an injection and a few hundred quid. I get the nagging sense that I’m being annoying; that I’m on slightly dicey ground – but with curiosity outweighing my caution, I press on. I’m quite intrigued to know who in my friends’ respective circles have attended to their fine lines with injectables – and if my people are toying with the idea, too. It isn’t long before the genie’s out of the bottle. But amid the shared anecdotes and insecurities, I sense mild frustration. No one eye-rolls or throws their head back, exasperatedly. But, I reflect on the train home, could I have blamed them if they had?
Here’s the thing: it’s 2022, and bemoaning the circumference of your thighs or the fleshiness of your upper arms feels like you’re crossing some sort of conversational red line; in some circles, it’s a cancellable offence. But while dropping the F-word (‘fat’) into an otherwise effervescent conversation might elicit a visible eye-roll and a call of ‘can we not?’, lamenting your lines seems almost fair game. What effect, I wonder, is this age-related self-scrutiny having on us? And should we all be learning lessons from the work we’ve already done? In short, when it comes to ageing, should we all be minding our language?
FACE FACTS
The velocity of 31st birthdays hitting my calendar right now might have something to do with my current curiosity towards the aesthetic impact of ageing, but I’m not alone; western culture is, right now, at a particularly intolerant place with skin ageing. Back in 2012, fewer than 20% of US women aged 18 to 24 considered anti-ageing skincare to be important, according to market research company NPD Group. Fast-forward to 2018 and over half of women in the same age bracket in one survey expressed a wish to add wrinkle-defying products to their skincare routine. Meanwhile, Google searches for ‘baby Botox’ – small doses of Botox injected into your
