My bestie recently visited her pregnant friend, she called me on her return concerned at how dreadful her friend had looked. Now I can personally guarantee that not all pregnant women ‘glow’ during their pregnancy. There’s a lot of bloating, swelling of limbs, cankles, the sleep deprived look brought on by nightly indigestion. Plus points are that your hair is often a little thicker and mostly your skin becomes clearer, however, you are temporarily teetotal and following a healthier diet which helps. But my bestie insisted her pregnant friend didn’t have that haunted rabbit caught in the headlights soon-to-be parents look, but she in fact had really bad lines around her eyes and major eye bags as if she had aged considerably in a few months. I’ve met this girl on a number of occasions and she ordinarily has that flawless skin, hair swishy ‘because I’m worth it’ look going on, so I was very surprised to hear that her pregnancy had resulted in such an unusual ageing process. My bestie went on to explain that her pregnant friend had said that ‘she couldn’t wait to have the baby so she could get back on the Botox’. Apparently the reason she was much more lined than usual is because she has always had regular injections to keep her wrinkles at bay. And whereas other pregnant women avoid eating shellfish and soft cheese, she has to avoid Botox so not to harm her unborn baby.

Smile your last smile!

This revelation raised concerns for me, not just because this girl is the same age as me and the conversation resulted in me looking at the scary side of my hubby’s shaving mirror and examining my own wrinkles, but because it feels very close to home. We can all often spot a celebrity Botox job a mile off and have come to accept it with Kylie, Nicole Kidman and Courtney Cox, all beautiful women but with a sort of waxwork sheen about them now they are older. Will it mean that having a Botox will become as normal as having your roots done? Our future beauty routines will consist of cleanse, tone and inject poison into our skin. We will have to carry pen and paper so we can convey how we are feeling, no longer able to rely on our expressions as we are all left looking constantly stunned.

I suppose my fear of these cosmetic procedures isn’t helped by the clinical names involved. For example, Botox is actually called Botulinum Toxic, a term that conjures up some sort of rat poison to mind. Anything ending in the word toxic surely isn’t advisable? Furthermore, another popular beauty therapy too far is the harsh facial, more commonly known as the chemical peel. It does what it says on the tin ladies! It consists of chemicals that peel your skin off your face, it could double up as a torture aid in a James Bond movie!

Plastic surgery used to be something that was contained in LA, where you would snigger at Joan Rivers Mars Attack look on television and think I would never do that to myself. As a child I remember that Dolly Parton was the only female celebrity who had admitted to a boob job and would be ridiculed by the likes of Kenny Everett and Spitting Image because of it. Nowadays it is completely normal for a female celebrity to sport a boob job, no thanks to silicone addict Katie Price. It makes me wonder what will happen in the next generation. Will my 5-year-old daughter be exposed to completely plastic celebrities when she is older or will we get to the point where we will think what the hell do they look like and put the plastic surgeons out of business? There are essential cosmetic procedures out there though and I am forever amazed at the improvements in medical science to enable people who have scars or disfigurements to seek help to change them. It is just making sure the line is not blurred, that we can be accepted for how we look wrinkles and all. And if you ever feel tempted for a bit of nip and tuck, google Jackie Stallone, it helps I promise you. “Yeah Jackie!”

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekai/2421936996/”>ekai</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>