You look old, tired and run down (people actually used tell me that out loud to my face) if you don’t use Botox, and fake if you do (but it is less polite to say that out loud). I prefer the latter.
I know a couple people who get cosmetic Botox regularly, and it genuinely looks good on all of them. They got good doctors.
One person is a close friend who struggles a lot with their body and is anorexic. They do a lot of stuff to look good for their partner, including Botox. They are open with me about their horrible mental health issues.
I know plastic surgeons try to screen and reject people with body dysmorphia, but they do a shit job of it.
Using Botox is a sign that someone isn’t accepting of their body, and refusing that aging is natural/alright. It’s someone giving into the idea that you shouldn’t look wrinkly which just feeds a weird unnecessary culture for everyone to want cosmetic surgery.
It’s not as bad as the cultural normalization of steroids or ozempic, but I wish everybody would push past the need to please others and be happy with their bodies
I thought that was the entire point of plastic surgery, if not for helping mild dysmorphia then what’s the situation where someone would get plastic surgery?
Oh it totally is a sign someone wants to change their looks. I think it has to change at a societal level for you to get individuals to be less interested in it. And it is pervasive. For example, research shows that attractive people are more likely to get promoted into positions of leadership. But that’s just one (albeit weird) place it happens.
What is considered attractive seems to be made up. From small dicks being all the rage in ancient Rome, to obesity being a beautiful sign of fertility all across the world and its history (especially in modern Pacific Island countries), to having black teeth in southern Asia and Meiji Japan being the hottest thing.
Attractive people getting promoted is real and true, but what your culture considers attractive is mostly invented bullshit. Short of primal, instinctual reactions to visible disease and disfigurement on somebody, it seems like anything can be made an “attractive” trait.
American culture loves to promote artists, actors, and entertainers who get plastic surgery and take BGH/Tren/Test/Ozempic. Mainstream industries like Music labels, Social Media platforms, and Movies/TV studios are painting the image of “attractive” to people from the time they are born. I’m not exempt from thinking Chris Hemsworth is attractive, I doubt many Americans are. Except the autists. They’re too mentally transcended.
Getting Botox is falling victim to fake beauty standards, and in a minor way helping perpetuate that standard to the people around you.
Like most things, excessive usage is the problem. A little Botox can be a win but some people overdo it. Faces are supposed to have SOME lines in them!
I’m a little bit happier since I trained myself not to give a shit what others do with their bodies. Especially aesthetic choices, regardless of how ‘subtle’ or ‘excessive’. Takes a bit of mental practice to get there though.
There isn’t anything really wrong with Botox in my opinion, it’s not permanent and it works more as a preventative measure for wrinkles and visual aging than anything.q
Ikr? It is just weird that there is so much pressure on people to not do it but also remain youthful/age gracefully. In a complete rebellion to society, I’ve pumped my face with enough Botox to tranquilize a horse, but I don’t have wrinkles (I’m smiling about it but you can’t see that either). 😉
I have been using it for over 10 years for headache/migraine, so I get a way way higher dose than cosmetic, much more frequently, over far more injection sites (60-80 depending how my neurologist is feeling and what shifted complaints I have). So like take that for what it’s worth. The actual effect of it is pretty much the same, just paralyzed muscles in more places, and dosed more frequently.
It turns out after a long enough time (which, fun fact, super long-term use hasn’t really been well studied! Yay!), you actually do get some facial expressions back, but they are super muted. Mostly your face starts to employ other muscles that aren’t paralyzed. If you also get injections elsewhere for many years, like I do (neck and shoulders), the recruitment of other muscles can lead to some nasty rebound pain as the unparalyzed muscles desperately try, and fail, to make up for the loss, and knot the fuck out of themselves in the process. I’m dealing with this one now, going on 6 mths.
But for the most part, yes, you do lose a solid range of emotional expression, depending where you get the injections. Say goodbye to anger, surprise, confusion, and unfortunately compassion, among many other brow-heavy expressions (I decline injections in the constricting muscle between my eyebrows so I retain passable expressions of compassion confusion and anger, but surprise is gone entirely). For the first few weeks after getting it done, starting at about day 3 post-injection (every single time for at least a decade, I promise), you’ll feel how paralyzed your muscles are. It’s a weird feeling. You try to make a face and can’t, but you can feel the struggle. If you ever adjust to it, you still feel the first week or so, but significantly less.
I’ve declined to have any purely cosmetic injections, despite my neurologist making regular comments over the years about my lop-sided smile lines and crows feet (I use my face in asymmetrical ways; I like the wrinkles. It’s character.), so I don’t have the smile problem, tho I do get TMJ injections which make chewing tough stuff really difficult. I get enough of the shit injected already that I don’t really want more just to be “pretty”, but even with the current regimen, I get to look eternally youthful as I fall apart from the inside. Yay…
No, I’m joking - everything moves normally. But I work with my doc for a natural look (isn’t that ironic!). I actually recommend it and VERY subtle lip injections (the stuff they inject into your lip make the not chap for like 9 months).
Edit: shit, my bad, I somehow thought this was a reply to my other comment. Deleted. Sorry!
I do know that that’s the mechanism, yeah. I kinda wanted to know how it actually feels though, cause I’m sensorily sensitive. Like, do you not notice, or do you feel paralyzed, or stuff in some way?
If it matters, I’ve been considering it for excessive sweating.
You look old, tired and run down (people actually used tell me that out loud to my face) if you don’t use Botox, and fake if you do (but it is less polite to say that out loud). I prefer the latter.
I know a couple people who get cosmetic Botox regularly, and it genuinely looks good on all of them. They got good doctors.
One person is a close friend who struggles a lot with their body and is anorexic. They do a lot of stuff to look good for their partner, including Botox. They are open with me about their horrible mental health issues. I know plastic surgeons try to screen and reject people with body dysmorphia, but they do a shit job of it.
Using Botox is a sign that someone isn’t accepting of their body, and refusing that aging is natural/alright. It’s someone giving into the idea that you shouldn’t look wrinkly which just feeds a weird unnecessary culture for everyone to want cosmetic surgery.
It’s not as bad as the cultural normalization of steroids or ozempic, but I wish everybody would push past the need to please others and be happy with their bodies
I thought that was the entire point of plastic surgery, if not for helping mild dysmorphia then what’s the situation where someone would get plastic surgery?
Oh it totally is a sign someone wants to change their looks. I think it has to change at a societal level for you to get individuals to be less interested in it. And it is pervasive. For example, research shows that attractive people are more likely to get promoted into positions of leadership. But that’s just one (albeit weird) place it happens.
What is considered attractive seems to be made up. From small dicks being all the rage in ancient Rome, to obesity being a beautiful sign of fertility all across the world and its history (especially in modern Pacific Island countries), to having black teeth in southern Asia and Meiji Japan being the hottest thing.
Attractive people getting promoted is real and true, but what your culture considers attractive is mostly invented bullshit. Short of primal, instinctual reactions to visible disease and disfigurement on somebody, it seems like anything can be made an “attractive” trait.
American culture loves to promote artists, actors, and entertainers who get plastic surgery and take BGH/Tren/Test/Ozempic. Mainstream industries like Music labels, Social Media platforms, and Movies/TV studios are painting the image of “attractive” to people from the time they are born. I’m not exempt from thinking Chris Hemsworth is attractive, I doubt many Americans are. Except the autists. They’re too mentally transcended.
Getting Botox is falling victim to fake beauty standards, and in a minor way helping perpetuate that standard to the people around you.
Like most things, excessive usage is the problem. A little Botox can be a win but some people overdo it. Faces are supposed to have SOME lines in them!
I’m a little bit happier since I trained myself not to give a shit what others do with their bodies. Especially aesthetic choices, regardless of how ‘subtle’ or ‘excessive’. Takes a bit of mental practice to get there though.
There isn’t anything really wrong with Botox in my opinion, it’s not permanent and it works more as a preventative measure for wrinkles and visual aging than anything.q
Ikr? It is just weird that there is so much pressure on people to not do it but also remain youthful/age gracefully. In a complete rebellion to society, I’ve pumped my face with enough Botox to tranquilize a horse, but I don’t have wrinkles (I’m smiling about it but you can’t see that either). 😉
I’ve been vaguely curious to try it. Are you joking or can you really not move your face easily? Cause I think I’d dislike that.
I have been using it for over 10 years for headache/migraine, so I get a way way higher dose than cosmetic, much more frequently, over far more injection sites (60-80 depending how my neurologist is feeling and what shifted complaints I have). So like take that for what it’s worth. The actual effect of it is pretty much the same, just paralyzed muscles in more places, and dosed more frequently.
It turns out after a long enough time (which, fun fact, super long-term use hasn’t really been well studied! Yay!), you actually do get some facial expressions back, but they are super muted. Mostly your face starts to employ other muscles that aren’t paralyzed. If you also get injections elsewhere for many years, like I do (neck and shoulders), the recruitment of other muscles can lead to some nasty rebound pain as the unparalyzed muscles desperately try, and fail, to make up for the loss, and knot the fuck out of themselves in the process. I’m dealing with this one now, going on 6 mths.
But for the most part, yes, you do lose a solid range of emotional expression, depending where you get the injections. Say goodbye to anger, surprise, confusion, and unfortunately compassion, among many other brow-heavy expressions (I decline injections in the constricting muscle between my eyebrows so I retain passable expressions of compassion confusion and anger, but surprise is gone entirely). For the first few weeks after getting it done, starting at about day 3 post-injection (every single time for at least a decade, I promise), you’ll feel how paralyzed your muscles are. It’s a weird feeling. You try to make a face and can’t, but you can feel the struggle. If you ever adjust to it, you still feel the first week or so, but significantly less.
I’ve declined to have any purely cosmetic injections, despite my neurologist making regular comments over the years about my lop-sided smile lines and crows feet (I use my face in asymmetrical ways; I like the wrinkles. It’s character.), so I don’t have the smile problem, tho I do get TMJ injections which make chewing tough stuff really difficult. I get enough of the shit injected already that I don’t really want more just to be “pretty”, but even with the current regimen, I get to look eternally youthful as I fall apart from the inside. Yay…
No, I’m joking - everything moves normally. But I work with my doc for a natural look (isn’t that ironic!). I actually recommend it and VERY subtle lip injections (the stuff they inject into your lip make the not chap for like 9 months).
It’s a toxin that temporarily paralyzes the areas where it’s injected.
Edit: shit, my bad, I somehow thought this was a reply to my other comment. Deleted. Sorry!
I do know that that’s the mechanism, yeah. I kinda wanted to know how it actually feels though, cause I’m sensorily sensitive. Like, do you not notice, or do you feel paralyzed, or stuff in some way?
If it matters, I’ve been considering it for excessive sweating.
I don’t know the area of your sweating, but you might want to also check out MiraDry for that.
Just eat bad pickles and get botulism the fun way