At age 34, I’m starting to notice that my body and face are changing. For a while, I thought I was pretty blessed genetically, but it seems what they say about smoking cigarettes is right: It ages you. Looking in the mirror may not be as fun as it used to be, but the most unpleasant part of this phase is the incessant advertisements that are popping up on all social apps. They’re all for Botox, fillers, preventative skin care, and plastic surgery. If I didn’t already have issues with myself, being constantly reminded that I can «fix» myself would be devastating. 

While I don’t have the funds to bow to this wild advertising and the standards of society, there are plenty of people who do. And they’re not afraid to talk about it. TikTok is definitely a hub for the promotion of skin care and skin/face-altering procedures. And people are starting to notice that the shilling isn’t just happening to those of us who are creeping towards middle age. Just this week we were alerted to the fact that there are 21-year-olds out there getting «preventative» botox. And there are 29-year-olds out there who really think they’d be haggard if they hadn’t started injecting BOTULISM into their foreheads. 

Twitter user @sshesanangel took to the website a few days ago to share a screenshot of one such Botox-promoting young woman. The clip features said woman bragging about how her preventative botox has paid off because she’s 29 and doesn’t have wrinkles. Newsflash: there are plenty of 29-year-olds who don’t have wrinkles. Anyway. The post got some people on Twitter riled up, and they were more than happy to chime in with their own takes on the practice. IMO, we should be allowed to do what we want with our bodies. But we’ve got to stop promoting unrealistic beauty standards. It’s 2022. Come on people.