Thinking about getting Botox for your wedding day? Here’s everything you need to know pre-wedding botox as one of our editors embraces the needle…
Botox for Brides: Everything you Need to Know About Botox for Your Wedding day
To Botox or not to Botox – that has been my beauty question for the past few years. Botulinum toxin type A – its fancy scientific name – has been on the beauty scene for the past 15 years, and yet I’ve never felt brave enough to try this wrinkle-smoothing injectable.
However, recently I have noticed more of my friends are dabbling with it, and then my hairdresser, who looks incredible for his age, confessed he was a convert.
READ MORE: Best beauty products for tired skin and under-eye bags
After quizzing him intensely on whether it hurts and comparing that to the Fraxel laser I had on my chin (the most painful treatment I have ever had), I felt brave enough to cross the needle frontier and zap those ever-increasing frown lines and advancing crow’s feet.
Firstly, I’d recommend finding an aesthetic practitioner that you like. This is key – look for someone with all the proper qualifications, a decent amount of experience and someone you feel comfortable with, as Botox is an intimate experience and you need to feel relaxed in their hands.
As soon as I walked into Libbie Wallace’s office at EF MEDISPA‘s flagship clinic in Kensington, I relaxed; she was so friendly and chatty. A qualified specialist in Botox with over 20 years experience in aesthetics, she was funny and honest.
She chatted about what my concerns were and explained how Botox works. It’s a muscle relaxant, i.e. the muscles relax, so perfect for around the eyes and forehead.
She explained that she works to enhance the look of her patients and with their natural beauty, focusing on natural and subtle tweaks. So, no frozen faces here then!
I had injections in the forehead, including the dreaded frown lines. And here’s the beauty of Botox – it actually stops these lines getting worse and deepening if you keep up the treatments, as the muscle cannot train itself in to these positions. It stops new lines forming and old ones advancing.
I’m not going to pretend it didn’t hurt – it does sting quite a bit, especially the first time you have it done. But, the sting is over almost immediately and there is no lasting pain whatsoever.
So, what I know for sure is this: it’s best to have your first treatment at least six months before the wedding or any event, as this allows your clinician to see how your muscles react.
It’s also better to go back after two weeks for a little top-up. I needed slightly more in my follow-up consultation.
It takes two weeks for the results to appear, so allow enough time for the process to work. Botox can last around three to four months, again depending on your particular face structure.
Downtime is minimal if at all. There can be a little bleeding from the needle punctures, but this stops very quickly. Only careful face washing and no yoga for 24 hours were my only instructions.
And I had no bruising at all (and I bruise like a peach), which I think was because I had chosen an experienced practitioner.
And the final result? I love it! I feel smooth, I don’t look tired and now wear less make-up. I recently saw a friend whom I hadn’t seen for a couple of years and she said: “Wow, you look so well, you never age!” Well, that’s mine and Libbie’s little secret…
Treatments start at £350 for one area of Botox. For more information, visit: www.efmedispa.com.
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