Why May is not getting botox
“May, are you getting botox?” I keep getting this question thrown at me more and more often and, despite it screaming, shouting, and yelling that you are OLD, I consider it a compliment. Apparently, the questioner thinks I look ‘good for my age.’.
The answer to the question is no. Even if it were true (I personally see quite a bit of decay), it is mainly due to Jetske Ultee and an overdose of Chanel, Sisley, and Dior. And a diet of no cigarettes, little sun, and occasionally a glass of wine. More off than on, I must say, but according to skin guru Jetske, your skin benefits tremendously from that.
The question to botox or not to botox keeps popping up during a good conversation from woman to woman. And fortunately, almost all the women around me are very honest about their biannual visits. Still, I’m not going to do it. And here’s why.
You get old anyway
It’s like corrective underwear; somewhere the fat roll comes out. Maybe not at your belly but under your armpit. It has to go somewhere. The same goes for aging. You can’t inject everything away, after all. Your hands get old, your voice betrays your age, even how you look at the world is age-dependent.
How old are you actually
As I mentioned earlier here , there comes a point in your life when your beauty is linked to your age. If you become ageless through botox, at some point you no longer know whether you look very young for your age or if you look older because people think that with so much botox and such a smooth face you must be much older than you are. The reference is gone, in short.
It can go wrong
God bless the soul (and the fillers) of Joan Rivers, but she really didn’t get prettier with the years. I also find Monique van de Ven to be such a case. Once one of the most beautiful women on screen and now… Now I always think she looks a bit like a lion with her puffed forehead and widely spaced eyebrows.
No one is waiting for a blue head
Beauty and styling should be effortless. Or at least seem that way. If you walk around for four days with a blue cheek, lip, or whatever, it makes the overall experience a lot less attractive.
The ‘yes but she has botox’ argument
In the past, when you said someone was pretty, you always got the response; “But she knows it herself, that’s such a shame.” I never quite understood that. Firstly, beautiful girls are often very insecure (how do you know if someone feels that way themselves) and secondly; that doesn’t take away from her beauty. Anyway.
If a woman uses botox and looks good, that’s the standard line that follows a compliment about her appearance. “But a lot has been tweaked there.” Even though I find this a very silly response (because it’s actually very clever if you can dose your botox so that the end result remains good), it’s still a reason for me not to do it. I want to earn every beauty compliment myself. Without aids. Except for Sisley and Chanel, of course.
It hurts
So. I’ve never done it, but experts have told me all about it. Especially in your upper lip. Hurts like hell.
So. I’ve decided to see what time will do to my face. Of course, it will all be different from the tight little face I had when I was seventeen. But it will all fold in natural lines around my head, something you can’t say about botox. You will still see if I’m happy or angry, which is also handy in life. I find comfort in Sonja Barend, Linda van Dijck, Harriet Calo and my own mother because they are the most beautiful older women I know.
Moreover, those wrinkles show that I have had a long life, in which I have been able to laugh a lot. Isn’t that the ultimate form of beauty?
