In my nine years as an injector my demographic has changed considerably. Whereas I used to see women north of 50, I am now seeing an increasing amount of ladies and gents in their early to mid 20s. Whilst I am all for prevention and beautification of the face, I am increasingly saddened by the notion that looking picture perfect in a “selfie” overrides looking good in reality.

 

What looks like airbrushed perfection at rest, can be a disaster on animation. Overinflated mid faces that create piggy eyes when smiling, lips that remain as one, hard entity when talking, motionless faces that strain in all the wrong places on expression, and so on.

 

 

I know for a fact that the vast majority of people care about their looks and want to look good. It’s hardwired in us and it can start a positive, upward spiral, energising other areas of our lives. Looking good, feeling great! This, I believe, is a good thing.

I also know for a fact that everybody ages. Everybody!

If we invest our ENTIRE self worth in looking good, and desire to be (literally) frozen in time, we’re on a hiding to nothing. Struggling to achieve and maintain this filtered, unattainable perfection and style-over-substance fantasy, will only get harder. Surely this will generate increased self loathing when the ideal-self and real-self become further and further removed from one another, as we age.

Of course I understand the power of beauty and attraction and, boy (!) is it potent.

As a specifies, our intelligence, creativity, empathy and physical capabilities can be astounding. Yet we are still simple creatures in the hardwiring, and,  however society morphs around it, our raison d’être remains to procreate. So looking beautiful (and someone others want to procreate with) is an intense power to hold. Looking good gets you more attention, better service and life is usually, well….smoother.

These days, through non-surgical beautification, it is possible to significantly alter and enhance our beauty, without the expense and time required for surgery. As a young person in their physical prime, I can see how we’re all over that and how the rise-and-rise of injectables keeps on coming. However, there’s a line, and too many gorgeous, young things are blissfully vaulting over it to find “happiness”.  So why is this generation, with their amazing online lives, cited as the most depressed yet?

I don’t know where it’s all going. Perhaps there will be a massive backlash and being entirely natural will be the thing. Or perhaps everyone will become a caricature of themselves and this will be the accepted norm. Personally I hope for faces of character!

It may be that as I enter my forties, and accept the ageing process (with my sprinkles to keep me looking as good as I can for my years, naturally ;-) it’s easy for me to despair for the selfie generation. If I was in it, I may be just the same. Unaccepting of ANY imperfection and wanting in-your-face beauty, rather than the subtle refinement I promote…

 

I watch with great interest…