Stupid Beauty Trends
After writing last week about stupid fashion trends, it occurred to me that during recent years, we’ve seen several beauty trends that were/ are just as stupid. Here are five of them:
Trout Pout
This beauty trend is about filling one’s upper lips to the brim with collagen, or whatever it is they use to augment lips these days. Meg Ryan is one of the celebrities who are most often criticized for her “fish lips.” The photo above provides a perfect example of what seems to be an overzealous “lip work.”
Huge, Round, Hard Breast Implants on a Tiny Frame
Photo by Tawny Rockerazzi
Victoria Beckham used to look like she had a set but has apparently removed them since.
Injecting One’s Face with a Potent Toxin in Order to Look Younger
The photos above are from a clinic in Vancouver. The younger-looking twin on the left has been receiving the toxin for 13 years, which results in an unnatural, frozen, but admittedly younger look.
Applying a Potent Medicine to One’s Eyelashes in Order to Make them Longer
Photo by pasukaru76
Drugs authorities in Britain have expressed concerns about the increasing use of Lumigan as a cosmetic treatment after it was found to stimulate eyelash growth. Women are using the drug for cosmetic purposes despite possible side effects, including gradual darkening of the iris and of the skin surrounding the eyes, redness of the eyes and itchiness.
Hand Deveining
Photo by hweiling
So you made your face look artificially younger, but your hands tell the tale of your real age? Worry not. Neil Sadick, a clinical professor of dermatology in a private practice in Manhattan, developed a laser procedure to get rid of hand veins that, according to him, aren’t all that important. You can also inject cosmetic fillers into your hands to make them look more plump.
To quote Mel Gibson in the movie “What Women Want”:
Women are insane.
Comment of the Day: “I plan on aging with a woman’s body, a face that moves and a sexiness that only comes with having confidence and knowing who you are. Helen Mirren is the role model I’ll be working off, not Melanie Griffith. Anyone care to join me?” Kelly of SHE-POWER.
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Stephanie - Home with the Kids responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 10:09 am →
That hand deveining one cracks me up because my hands have always, always looked old. Combination of the skin texture, joints that are a bit bigger than usual and prominent veins.
Well, maybe they didn’t look old when I was a kid, but by early college, yes.
It’s never bothered me. Getting rid of the veins… wow, what a ridiculous solution.
Barbara Swafford responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 10:47 am →
Hi Vered,
This line concerns me, ‘…developed a laser procedure to get rid of hand veins that, according to him, aren’t all that important….” Aren’t important? What?
MomGrind responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 10:48 am →
Stephanie, my hands are veiny too. I admit it bothers me – it’s the exact opposite of “feminine” I guess, but I don’t really see myself deveining my hands anytime soon!
Barbara, I agree – this basically sounds like a bad idea. But all of these procedures show willingness to risk one’s health in order to “look better.”
Mrs. Micah responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 11:07 am →
De-veining? de-veining? *hugs hands closely* I love love love my hands and they can get as veiny as they want! They’re so helpful–they let me type and craft, and function. I wouldn’t do anything to them that might risk their safety.
The Latisse ads have been bothering me too, they’re all over hulu. How many women actually need more lashes? I’m all for the medication if a person has so few lashes that it impairs their lives or endangers their eyes…but to take medicine in place of using mascara seems ridiculous. I don’t use mascara myself, but I did when I was performing and it worked just fine.
Carla responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 11:16 am →
I almost fell off my chair when I saw “trout pout”. That poor woman looks like she was hit in the mouth! I have seen commercials for the drug Lumigan. Its bad enough when we’re bombarded with tons of pharmaceutical ads, but seeing one for a cosmetic product takes the cake. I have seen much worse such as African and African American woman using dangerous/toxic levels of hydroquinine purchased on the black markek for skin lightening purposes.
MommyNamedApril responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 11:28 am →
LOL, women ARE insane.
Mike Goad responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 11:55 am →
Not ALL are insane.
Only those who subject themselves (or would like to) to such insane extreme measures.
Bella responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 12:08 pm →
Uhm…..that first photo is not Meg Ryan.
As for people being insane, please look at yourself & your life FIRST before turning on others.
Marelisa responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 12:08 pm →
OK, well, I’m off to get some collagen injected into my upper lip, two pieces of plastic inserted into my chest, and have some botox injected into my forehead. Oh, and then some hand deveining. He, he, he.
Dr. J responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 12:21 pm →
I only de-vein shrimp! Hadn’t heard of that one
As in many things, with cosmetic surgery, it’s possible to climb the mountain, only to fall off the other side.
Kelvin Kao responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 12:31 pm →
Dr. J, now you can use laser to de-vein shrimp! (Wait, maybe that’s not how that worked.)
MomGrind responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 1:23 pm →
Thank you everyone for your comments. Will be fun picking comment of the day for this post.
Dr. J, you crack me up. Deveining shrimp does make more sense than deveining human hands.
Marelisa, you’re going to look SO PERFECT.
Bella, Uhm…..I didn’t say it was Meg Ryan in the photo.
The Lawyer Mom responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 1:50 pm →
I’d heard about that Lumigan stuff. Weird, man.
And for a little irony? There’s a botox ad running over your post!
Jannie Funster responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 3:51 pm →
I did come with naturally long lashes but I admit I’d like to try the lip plumping, to see if tomorrow I’ll wake up in a 8000 square foot home in Bel Air with a maid bringing crossants, an omelette to die for and the most perfect cafe au lait ever known to this planet. Oh, and another maid dusting my corners, and a third bathing and clipping the shih-tsu.
Off to get some collagen now! Wonder if I’ll run into Marelisa there?
Kelly@SHE-POWER responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 8:20 pm →
Plumped up lips never look good or natural in my opinion, and botox – I keep thinking “what are the side effects going to be in 15-20 years”. Maybe us natural ladies will look younger at 50-60 then our botoxed sisters. As for the last two, crikey I must live a sheltered existence. I had no idea I could buy medicine to make my eyelashes longer or get fillers to plump out my hands and lasers to strip them of their veins. How did this valuable information pass me by? I thought mascara, false lashes, and hand cream were my only options. Oh, the choices! How will I cope? What should I do to become more beautiful? It’s all so overwhelming I think I’ll stick to moisturiser, sun screen and push up bras and hope my husband has enough sense not to expect me to look 25 and perky forever.
I plan on aging with a woman’s body, a face that moves and a sexiness that only comes with having confidence and knowing who you are. Helen Mirren is the role model I’ll be working off, not Melanie Griffith. Anyone care to join me?
Hayden Tompkins responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 9:41 pm →
It always makes me sad to see people who have so surgically altered their faces that they look like a caricature of themselves. Mickey Rourke and, yes, Meg Ryan come to mind.
Patricia responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 10:29 pm →
WOW Vered, I didn’t know about the trout lips, but a woman at the gym has them and I wondered why she did not go and have her lips taken care of with plastic surgery because it was so ugly and I thought that was why she did not attract me – and her pushy, domineering personality! but I thought the lips were a great turn off.
I just saw the ad for the longer lashes…when one hears all the disclaimers one has to think? Who would do that to themselves? But then I don’t even wear make up 90% of the time…just for public speaking from a stage and then just some stuff so one can see my eyes..
You find the most amazing things – thank you for keeping me posted…WOW
Bamboo Forest - PunIntended responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 12:13 am →
Crazy stuff here. Not sure what to say.
I’m not against cosmetic surgery, but I think it can be taken too far. And can often make people look worse!
Anyone interested in having cosmetic surgery should make the decision with great care!
J.D. Meier responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 1:29 am →
Nothing quite says pucker up like fish lips.
Dot responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 8:41 am →
Hmm, I used to wonder how Meg Ryan got such a cute mouth until I read that it had been created by plastic surgery. It’s much nicer than the swollen one shown above. Also popular nowadays are lip plumping lipsticks and creams, which temporarily plump up the lips by the use of irritating substances that cause swelling. My dermatologist has brochures promoting the eyelash thing in the treatment rooms. How very medically sound. A far better choice would be taking B vitamins. As I aged, I found my upper lip was growing thinner and thinner (another of the joyful side effects of stress) and I read that B vitamins would help that (and they help stress). After a year or so of taking a medium dose of B vitamins daily, my upper lip plumped up to normal size.
What is wrong here is fear of aging, which I think is probably based on a fear of death. Americans are so afraid of death that they can’t even talk about it. They seem to think if they try to hold back age, they can hold back death. Uh uh.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 9:19 am →
Thanks again everyone for your comments.
Kelly, very well said and I’d like to join you. Sadly, I can’t completely rule out ever using cosmetic surgery or injections – there’s a chance that if I feel bad enough about how I look I will have something done – but I’m trying to work on changing that attitude and these posts are not just for readers – they are also for myself!
Dot, I agree that a large part of this is fear of aging which stems from fear of death. We see “old” as “ugly” because it’s closer to death. But young kids often talk with great affection about how much they love their grandparents’ wrinkles and silver hair – they can see the beauty in age and experience. I wish we could too.
Michelle @ Find Your Balance responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 9:46 am →
Hand Deveining, oh my goodness! I have vein-y hands but that is just not appealing. It’s also a common characteristic of Vata body types in Ayurvedic medicine. Vatas tend to be thin, small-framed people with prominent veins – the same folks who should not get huge breast implants.
Nurit responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 9:59 am →
A correction! SOME women are insane.
Kim Woodbridge responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 10:16 am →
I’ve never heard of hand de-veining. Now I feel a little ill and my hands feed off – kinda that sick bugs crawling all over me feeling.
Fannie Junster responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 10:35 am →
Off-topic,sorry — delete if you must, sorry ’bout those broken “hair and hats,” links on my post today — I have fixed them!
xo
Lori Hoeck responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 11:02 am →
Fear of aging and fear of death does seem to fuel a lot of this.
“Man is a being that knows death, but can’t believe it.” ~E. Morin.
I’ll add, “Woman is a being that knows death, and tries to cheat it with poison, pain, and pretense.” (Well, at least some women.)
Tess The Bold Life responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 11:31 am →
Hey I’m for the botox. Just haven’t done it yet. The hands were scary.
Robin responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 2:58 pm →
This is in our paper this morning – death after liposuction - she was 65 kg and 169 cm before surgery! (not fat at all)
MomGrind responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 6:31 pm →
Michelle, OMG I’m a classic Vata! “Vatas tend to be thin, small-framed people with prominent veins.” That’s me. Strangely this makes me feel better. In a I’m-not-alone-in-this sort of way.
Robin, what caught my eye when I read that article was the statistics – “The death rate from liposuction had been quoted at one in 5000″ – it may sound low, but for a purely cosmetic procedure, is sounds very high to me. Scarily high.
RC - RC Rambling responds:
Posted: November 4th, 2009 at 10:08 pm →
As mentioned before, the Latisse ads are everywhere for the longer/thicker eyelashes. It made me seriously do a double-take, as who would go to all the risks when if it bothers them that much, mascara has always done a great job of “plumping things up.”
As for veins in my hands, could we please leave them alone. These types of ads have already made me question my under-eye circles, lash length/thickness, facial wrinkles, freckles, lip size, fullness of my hair, bra size, color/shade of my skin overall, etc… Now we are focusing on the hands, too? How could a woman keep up with all these stupid beauty trends even if she tried. It would be a full-time job.
Kelly@SHE-POWER responds:
Posted: November 5th, 2009 at 11:41 pm →
Vered
I am a big believer in “never say never” as it’s very hard to estimate now how I’ll feel in another 10 years. However, I hope I don’t cave in and get injectables or a face lift. Partly because I don’t like the idea of adding foreign substances into the body (how can that ever be good for you and what if it backfires later?) and partly because I do know a lot of older women who have not had anything done and while they don’t look 30, they are still very attractive. And I can’t help but feel that it doesn’t say much about my emotional development if I only think 20s-35 is attractive and everything else must be fixed. I do have these feelings sometimes and I don’t like them and I hope I never give into them. Fingers crossed.
Kelly
janice responds:
Posted: November 6th, 2009 at 11:33 am →
Some women may be insane for doing this, but there are millions of men who are more insane for liking the results.
Rowe responds:
Posted: November 6th, 2009 at 11:07 pm →
I think if people, men and women, wish to remain ‘attractive’ as they age, then healthy life choices is the way to go. Eat good food at least 90 percent of the time and do enough exercise to get the blood pumping throughout the body. I rue the day when having cosmetic procedures becomes the norm to the extent that those who don’t will be ostracised for being natural.
Cath Lawson responds:
Posted: November 9th, 2009 at 2:30 am →
Some of these are gross. But I have to admit, I keep feeling the temptation to try botox. I know it could prove to be harmful in years to come but I keep seeing these after pics of folk who look much younger.
Bunnygotblog.com responds:
Posted: November 9th, 2009 at 7:52 pm →
Hi Vered,
The Victoria Becham is hilarious, with her frozen grapes for snacks. I don’t like her at all. Sorry.
To me any man who wants his wife to have implants, breast or lips ANYTHING has more of an issue then she does.
I’m a 34b and happy with the girls,at 31.
Davina responds:
Posted: November 10th, 2009 at 12:10 am →
Those lips and that dress (never mind the implants), look down right uncomfortable. And neither one of them look very happy either. Shouldn’t they be pleased about their… um… bodies, after putting all that effort into them? Wonder what’s going on inside? They apparently need more than a physical makeover to put a smile on their face.
izdelava spletnih strani responds:
Posted: November 21st, 2009 at 2:00 pm →
Generally i don’t impose my opinions about plastic surgery and stuff. Everyone knows for himself, but i must say i’m said, what was she thinking. She’s young and beautifull, my god, those lips …
monique responds:
Posted: February 16th, 2010 at 10:27 pm →
I had an operation on my hip at age 4 and a hip replacement at age 47….these were operations to save
my life and they were very painful….People who get surgery to look different are extremely stupid and
VAIN !!!!!!!!