Ali Weiss, 30, often adds a disclaimer when sharing selfies on Instagram: “I have not had any cosmetic work done on this face.”
“The coolest thing you can do in 2024 is not do anything to your face,” the New York-based on-air host and podcaster wrote in an email. Surrounded by peers who got fillers early and often, she considers her choice to be “in the minority,” especially among those who appear in front of the camera. “It’s crazy that people are more shocked by a 30-year-old with no plastic surgery than a 30-year-old with a whole face frozen over,” she says.
Weiss writes proudly about her filler-free face, but she still cares about a youthful appearance. She has a few less invasive treatments, including red-light therapy machines, laser facials, and facial massages. In a few years, she’d like to try more invasive laser treatments, which can cost thousands of dollars. She’s willing to try anything before considering injections.
Over the past few decades, the consumer base for neuromodulators like Botox and dermal fillers like Juvederm has grown exponentially. In 2010, more than 5.3 million people in the U.S. injected Botox and more than 1.7 million people injected fillers. In 2022, the American Academy of Dermatology reports that 8.7 million people will have injected Botox and more than 6.2 million people will have injected fillers. American Academy of Plastic SurgeonsEspecially in recent years, these procedures have evolved from being a luxury reserved for only the rich and famous to something that can be easily and frequently performed for a few hundred dollars.
“They’re highly effective, relatively low-cost and have been accepted as a mainstream term for self-care,” said Dr. Steven Williams, president of the plastic surgeons’ group.
But now many beauty-conscious consumers are saying “no” to injections and spending their money on pricey natural treatments instead.
Marta Friedman, 33, is one of them.
“I grew up in the era of over-injections and the Kardashians, so it’s only natural that the pendulum would swing the other way as people seek out alternatives,” the Los Angeles-based entrepreneur said.
Weiss and Friedman are among a growing number of voices voicing anti-injection sentiment on social media and in beauty magazines. Have Intensified Recent Year.
“Art is about erasing a piece and making it look like nothing happened.”
— Dr. Ava Shamban, founder of Skin Five Medical Spa in Pacific Palisades
TikTok and Instagram have thousands of video A video (mainly of women) documenting the process of dissolving fillers. The process can be painful and requires multiple sessions. It is done by injecting an enzyme called hyalase, which scars and bulges facial features, such as the lips, before returning to their original shape.
Many Los Angeles-based practitioners have noticed a rise in filler fatigue among their clients: Rather than just asking to have their fillers dissolved, practitioners are seeing more patients seeking alternative procedures that, while technically more natural, still maintain a good appearance.
“There’s a pendulum swing toward a more natural, best-you look, similar to the ‘no-makeup makeup look,'” says Ava Shamban, PhD, founder of Skin Five Medical Spa in Pacific Palisades. “The technique is to erase the makeup and make it look like nothing happened.”
So what do beauty-conscious people who are hesitant to get Botox do instead? Some are willing to shell out big bucks for old-fashioned, all-natural treatments, while others opt for high-tech, sometimes painful procedures if they can be assured they’re toxin-free.
Julie Siviero Pollier, who advocates non-invasive anti-aging facial massage techniques and has amassed more than 120,000 followers on Instagram, is a Los Angeles-based aesthetician and herbalist who provided in-person facials to celebrity clients like Goldie Hawn, Miranda Kerr, and Christy Turlington before the pandemic, but has since pivoted to virtual appointments, teaching clients massage techniques to lift and contour their faces.
In her Instagram video, “Ovarian support and brow lift” and “Forehead reshaping without Botox” have earned her a loyal following, and her services range from live-streamed DIY facelift classes (for $100 per ticket) to one-on-one coaching packages that can run more than $2,000.
“I don’t think fillers or Botox would suit me, so I prefer a more natural look.”
— Marta Friedman, Los Angeles entrepreneur
One of her followers is Angela Cravens, 45, a copywriter who lives in San Diego and favors chemical-free beauty products and Eastern-inspired natural remedies. After finding Pollier’s free tutorials on Instagram, she developed a gua sha and facial routine that works for her. She says she often looks younger than her age, which she thinks is because she avoids injections, “not the other way around.”
Pollier says that while clients come for cosmetic results, they also find unexpected emotional relief from her treatments: Inspired by traditional Chinese medicine, she believes that internal trauma can affect different parts of the face.
“We had a patient who had had multiple surgeries on one side of her face, but it continued to droop and be quite inconsistent with the other side, so we started looking at her relationship to her father,” Pollier says. “The left side of her face was related to her father. [our] The father is kept.
In West Hollywood, a cosmetic acupuncture clinic called Reset opened three years ago and sees patients in their late 20s to 40s who don’t want to try injections. Owner Toni Weinritt, a licensed doctor and board-certified acupuncturist and herbalist, says some older patients still use injections, but younger generations are hesitant.
Friedman, an entrepreneur who lives in Los Angeles, discovered Weinritt on Instagram and received weekly treatments at Reset for about 10 weeks last year, and she plans to resume treatments there soon (in the meantime, she’s supplementing with an at-home electric current device). Frowning These include wrinkle-reducing patches and professional facial massages.
“I’m not in favor of fillers or Botox. I prefer a more natural look,” she says.
Weinritt charges $250 per visit for the service, and advises a plan of 10 sessions spread over five to 10 weeks (after that, he recommends monthly maintenance, plus the occasional $500 microneedling treatment, which he says helps improve skin texture).
American Institute of Alternative Medicine Cosmetic acupuncture is “based on the idea that the face reflects the body’s internal balance and health,” he says. The practice has roots in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 2,000 years, but Scientific Research Investigating its effect on facial skin elasticity.
Although Weinritt’s treatments are significantly more expensive and time-consuming than typical Botox or filler treatments, her schedule is full — and she believes that’s because the results are gradual.
“When you get Botox, after 24 to 48 hours your face changes,” Weinritt says. “This is not the case.”
“When you get Botox, after 24 to 48 hours your face changes. This is not the case.”
— Toni Weinritt, owner of The Reset, an acupuncture studio in West Hollywood
Some clinics have begun counseling patients about the changes they want to make, and some are refusing requests that don’t look unnatural.
Vanessa Lee, a cosmetic nurse, nearly quit the beauty industry after a teenage girl asked her to give her lips injections, with her mother’s permission. In 2018, she opened The Things We Do, a medical spa in the Downtown Arts District (with locations in Chino Hills and Venice as well) that focuses on a medium-dose approach. With more than a decade of experience, Lee says the medical spa has received so many requests to dissolve fillers injected by other practitioners that it has had to start charging for the once-free service.
What we do Naturopathic DoctorLee has qualified medical practitioners on staff who are trained in approaching skin care through gut health, and says she turns away patients who ask for over-treatment, instead referring them to therapists.
“If someone comes to you and says, ‘I just broke up with this guy,’ or ‘This year has been the hardest year,’ they might be in an emotional place where they need a little support and aren’t ready to make big decisions about their overall facial balance,” she says. “Let’s start somewhere else.”
But Li is still in business: When patients are looking to rejuvenate, she and her nurses first recommend biostimulatory treatments such as platelet-rich fibrin matrix.
This treatment is Clinical Research Treatments that have been proven to reduce wrinkles and pigmentation involve taking a patient’s blood, extracting plasma from it, and injecting it into the face for those with volume loss in specific areas, or using a microneedling device for those with thin or dull skin.
Prices start at $1,100 for a single treatment, and after two treatments, results can last up to two years. Yes, needles are used, but no foreign substances are injected into the face, a technological consideration that makes sense for clients who want to avoid chemicals.
The procedure proves that even as the world moves towards more natural approaches and looks, people’s willingness to pay money and endure pain for the promise of beauty will never go away.
