Working in the beauty industry means that I'm bombarded with dubious claims about what a cream or serum can do for your skin. A very popular claim is that a product is 'like Botox in a jar'. This is the ultimate red rag to a bull and never ceases to irritate because it is a flat-out lie. I've had the best lotions and potions that money can buy, and I've had Botox, and nothing, but nothing, does what Botox can.
I don't advocate 'muscle freezing injections' to anyone; it's a truly personal choice so I don't judge either way. But I certainly do judge the brands who hope to make a buck or two by massively overstating what a cream can do by alluding that it will give a 'Botox-like effect'.
Botox is a trade name for a derivative of Botulinum toxin - a powerful muscle freezing agent that, in the beauty world, freezes the life out of your wrinkles, particularly in mobile areas of the face such as the outer eye corners and forehead. Effectively, these muscles are completely paralysed and take several months to become mobile again. And, it takes an injection to get the toxin into the muscle, not a swipe of cream. In the medical world, Botulinum toxin is used to treat excessive sweating, muscle spasms and migraines. There isn't a beauty cream in the world that would dare to say their cream can treat those conditions, so why do they think it's okay to imply that a topical application in the name of beauty might be even comparable?
There are ingredients that can temporarily smooth the skin, but not in a comparable way to an injected muscle-freezing agent. Not no way, no how. And when I say temporarily, I mean maybe, if you're lucky, your skin might look a bit smoother for a couple of hours. And of course, none of the so-called 'Botox in a jar' creams come cheap. By the time you've spilled hundreds of pounds on hope, you probably might as well have nipped to Harley Street for the needle. Allergan who produce Botox have started to get extremely irked at the comparisons and have been known to wave a legal notice or two at brands claiming similarities. While that might sound like big brand bullying, I'm glad they're getting legal, if only to stop the bandwagon jumping and false hope that these claims create.
Ageing is an inevitability but you won't hear me saying just go with it. These days, when we can look better for longer, why not? There are hundreds of ways to look more youthful, and it's a plain fact that if you are happy with the way you look, life is just better. I'm not advocating a face full of needle induced paralysis, I'm advocating not falling for the beauty marketing that implies you might get muscle freeze results with a cream. You just won't.