Why is everyone drinking through an ‘anti-aging’ straw on TikTok?
Now you might be thinking: what world have we landed in? I get it. An anti-aging straw? That really exists. My mouth dropped (appropriately) open in surprise when a video appeared on my for-you-page: a girl with earmuffs on her head had to explain how to use a ‘wrinkless straw’. If someone could look into my eyes, they would see two big question marks. It's not botox or extreme peeling where you use your own blood that the girls swear by, but this new trend. Why does everyone want this? Well, simply put: they don't want to get wrinkles from drinking through a straw. How this works and whether you should rush to buy one of these things, we will tell you.
This is why you get wrinkles from drinking through a straw
That you can even get wrinkles from drinking through a straw is something I never thought about. Okay, I'm only twenty-four, but the thought of ever getting botox or having eyelid surgery has definitely crossed my mind. This is something new. Just like all those red LED masks and other beauty trends, all the influencers are jumping on this, so it's not surprising that the rest follows. If they have it, we want it too. But is it really necessary? Or is this just another ‘late-stage capitalism’ problem?
There are all kinds of muscles in your face. When you move it, you stretch them every time. Think of it like a rubber band that you try to stretch further and further each time. As you get older, you produce less collagen and elastin. This is the ‘lubricant’ that allows your skin to bounce back without you seeing it in your skin. Once you have less of those substances, you start to get creases, a.k.a. wrinkles. And yes: you get them from everything you do, including drinking and eating. By sucking on a straw, you pucker your lips. You often repeat this movement because you try to suck the drink out.
@wrinkless.co simply perfection 🤩 #wrinkless #lipfiller #influencer #beauty ♬ original sound – Wrinkless
Don't want wrinkles around your lips? This is how the ‘wonder straw’ works.
For every ‘problem’ there is a solution. Enter: the anti-wrinkle straw. Yes... If the world can do one thing well, it's making money off women's insecurities. They're doing it again. With the round design of this straw, you no longer have to make the puckering movement. You can relax your lips and gently drink from the straw without moving a muscle. Does that really work? That says dermatologist Dr. Adarsh Vijay Mudgil: “The short answer is: yes, it really works. By drinking from this straw, you can prevent perioral wrinkles. These occur from moving your facial muscles around your mouth.”
However, according to him, it is difficult to determine whether this will continue to work well in the long term. There are of course many other factors that can contribute to these wrinkles. For example, the sun, or when you laugh and eat. All movement can contribute to their formation. You specifically prevent the wrinkles with the straw, but it doesn't eliminate everything else. “It actually just ensures that you get wrinkles in a different place.”
@wrinkless.co 🤩🤩🤩 #lipfiller #wrinklessstraws #antiaging #need ♬ background music – Dyna
So no: you don't have to immediately scour the internet for such a straw, because it doesn't really help that much. It does prevent some, but like with many things in life, nothing is really guaranteed. While you twist and turn to drink from this, you still get the wrinkles from that sushi you eat every week. You move that mouth anyway, so you might as well take good care of your skin with retinol and consider the possibilities for botox in many years, if it really bothers you.
