Are you aging gracefully, or is Botox your BF?
When it comes to whether you should age gracefully or opt for Botox, I say you do you.
Scrolling through Instagram, it’s hard not to come across a post that is either talking about anti-aging products or before and after pictures from celebrity surgeons showing how much younger they’ve made 40-year-olds look. Even if you were to block out these types of posts, it’s hard not to notice just how young 40 or 50-something year olds are looking today compared to back in the day. How can you not be influenced in some way when you’re seeing celebrities like J Lo look better than some 20-year-olds?
Does aging gracefully even exist anymore? Half of the time, you don’t even know if you’re being told the truth by celebrities, and that doesn’t bother me in the slightest because it’s up to them if they don’t want to disclose the fact that they’ve had anything done. Although I won’t lie, it would be nice to know!
I totally understand the pros of aging gracefully. I mean, it must be so liberating to not worry about wrinkles becoming more obvious and accept yourself for who you are and how you look. The ups and downs of life can almost tell a story on your face. When you allow them to settle in, they become evidence of decades of laughing and frowning. If I’m honest, I almost feel a little envious of women who have accepted aging gracefully, haven’t gone anywhere near Botox or any kind of non-invasive surgery, and have just allowed their faces to develop into who they are today.
I’ve thought a lot about this, and I’ve realized I sit on the fence when it comes to aging gracefully or letting Botox become a good friend of mine. On the one hand, I wish I could see how I would look if I were to age gracefully, but on the other hand, if I had the choice to go back in time and not go anywhere near Botox, I think, if I’m honest, I would still choose Botox. I think a lot of it has to do with my career in the beauty industry. Every other day I’m filming beauty videos for my YouTube channel or Instagram, and even with Botox, I’ve still seen my face change over the years and look older. When the majority of your career revolves around beauty and how makeup looks on you, it’s hard not to overanalyze your face.
Yes, Botox will definitely slow down the visible aging on your face; however, somehow, even if someone has had regular Botox or facelifts, you can still see, whether it be from the eyes or other features, that the person is probably within a certain age bracket.
It was probably in my mid-30s that I started slowing down my Botox sessions. After witnessing the extremes some people were going to to look younger, I saw how it just looked wrong and weird as opposed to looking younger. It made me reevaluate how I wanted to look as I got older. I still get Botox, but less frequently than I did before. I’m no longer setting reminders to have Botox every 4 months; instead, I now wait and see how I feel when I analyze my face. Usually it’s when I can see more drooping of the eyelid, resulting in a very uneven eyeliner flick, but it’s still much less often than how much I used to get Botox.
Ultimately, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with getting a little Botox or doing a non-invasive treatment if it makes you feel better about yourself. I don’t believe in getting anything done for anyone else. My husband tells me all the time that I don’t need Botox; he would love me regardless; however, if I really was doing anything to make myself look younger purely for him, then I would listen to him and never touch Botox again. Whatever I decide to do to my face is for myself, and getting Botox is for me and only me.
I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to judge someone for either aging gracefully or opting for invasive or non-invasive anti-aging treatments. As long as you’re doing it for yourself and no one else, then I don’t see anything wrong with it.
Ultimately, it’s not just about looking young; it’s about feeling young too. I only realized this when I started my fitness journey five months ago. It’s taken a few months for that realization to fully develop because, clearly, I wasn’t as fit five months ago as I am now. I feel fitter; I feel younger, and that in itself has helped me to not fully focus on just looking younger when it comes to my face. Your genetics, lifestyle, diet, and skincare are all habits that can factor into how young you look.
Everyone embraces age in their own way; some have had work done and some haven’t. What really matters and what we should really focus on is how strong, confident, and happy these people are in their own skin.
I love this post and how open and honest you are in your writing. It truly feels like we are sitting down and having a casual conversation with each other (which is the ideal kind of newsletter for me). I have followed you on YouTube for a long time but just subscribed to this recently and am so glad I did. I really relate to this topic. I am 34 years old and have yet to try botox (for a number of reasons), but I definitely want to- for me and only me. I've struggled with the timeline - when am I supposed to start? and finding the right doctors....(I've unfortunately had some pretty negative experiences when it comes to this industry and find it hard to trust "experts" within this field). I'm an "easy sell" when it comes to all things beauty - and am really trying much harder not to fall for all the easy sales tricks. It's also much too easy to spend thousands of dollars on this kind of stuff, but in the wrong way. I'm curious how people pick their doctors and "trust" their recommendations? What's the right amount and frequency? I know there aren't any hard and fast rules, but I almost wish there were to simplify the process! I have had laser treatments, and kybella (that extremely painful injection that's supposed to get rid of a double chin but was actually a complete waste of money), em-sculpt and cool sculpting. Every kind of fancy facial, micro needling, etc and unfortunately I've done the invasive thing. I've had my nose done twice (to fix a poorly done nose job) and my chin done. So I'm no stranger to plastic surgery. Just saying that makes me feel superficial and fake, ugh. But I mention this because I want to get it right this time. I've made mistakes and been misled in the past and I think a lot of the time people just talk about all the wonderful sides and "magic" that lies in the beauty industry instead of the potential downfalls and negative outcomes if you don't really do your research. Again, thank you so much for sharing and for starting this dialogue :)
Hello Nina,
Thank you for such an insightful and honest share. I am turning 47 years old today and I can relate with both sides. However, for me it’s team Botox fillers laser treatments micro needling high end skincare ALL OF IT !! I don’t regret my lifelong love of beauty. I’ve been practicing this from the age of 4 beauty pageant star to model to designer I have spent my life in this industry. It’s what defines me. Now that doesn’t mean that I overindulge on the med spa treatments. I have been guilty of that in the past but today as I’m fast approaching 50, I I find myself more confident in who I am, armed with the wisdom gained from half a century of living, Today I am less focused on turning the clock back as I am to freezing myself in that perfect moment. Do I still spend time at the med spa ?? Absolutely but it’s by choice and not because it defines me.