Does Beauty Have To = Botox?

I recently blogged about the terrible new trend of Teenage Cosmetic Surgery for highly invasive and dangerous procedures such as liposuction.  I don’t think any person in their right mind would see this as a good thing.  I wonder however what the general response is for procedures that are not as invasive, like for example, Botox?

Once thought of as the domain of middle aged men and women, Botox is now being wholly embraced by young people.  Take Courtney Lovell, who aged 21 looked in the mirror and spied fine lines on her forehead. Within a week she was having her first Botox injections for $300.    I find this such an extreme and unecessary reaction to what is quite simply a normal, human response to being alive and having the utter privelege of getting older.  Courtney however clearly does not see things the same way and has even started buying cosmetic surgery gift vouchers for her young friends.  Wow.  I certainly hope one of those is not waiting for me under the Christmas tree this festive season.

In the clip below from A Current Affair, Courtney likens her getting these injections to being no different to buying a pricey face cream, getting a massage or dying hair.  Seems like she may have forgotten the part about the needle, which actually saddens me on her behalf.  Have people like Courtney and indeed many others forgotten, or do not know, that Botox can actually cause harm and long term injury?  Has the pursuit for eternal youth blinded people that much?

Botox for under 30s

Heidi Costa, 25, also interviewed in the story, believes there is really not an age that is too young to have Botox.  Does this include teens I wonder? Both Courtney and Heidi are beautiful young women (and it can be clearly seen would be so without the Botox) so it saddens me to hear Heidi say things like “I think I need it.”  No – you don’t Heidi.  There are many things we need in life, but Botox is not one of them.  You don’t need it.  You don’t need it at all.

What is driving increasing numbers of lovely young men and women to undergo these cosmetic procedures?  Is it just a sign of our times and the new wave of beauty or is something more serious at play? I’m tending to err on the side of the issue being deeper than just availability of something new.  While it’s true we have always searched for ways and purchased products to combat wrinkles, things have never gone as far as they have now.

Hearing young women like Heidi almost craving the Botox needle I think is a sad sign that we have become such an image and youth obsessed society that some people do not know when to stop in an attempt to make themselves beautiful, attractive or even acceptable.  At the core of this is the yearning and searching for something ‘outside’ of ourselves.  A pill. A cream. An injection. A procedure.  All in the name of ‘fixing’ something about the way we look.  The truth is though that only true, real and lasting feelings of confidence, beauty and attractiveness can come from searching within ourselves and developing feelings and thoughts that clearly show the world we believe we are ok – wrinkles, saggy bits, spots and all.  In my mind, that is what real positive body image is all about.

Wrinkles to me are the way our faces show we are ‘living the good life’.  We are growing older.  Wiser.  We have more stories to tell.  More insights to share.  They are not anything devastating to be injected away.

This is my 89 year old Nana.  She is as whip smart and beautiful today as she was in my first memory of her.  I pray I am alive and as beautiful as she at 89.  She has never used Botox and I surely hope nothing dents my confidence to the extent that I ever would either.