Now more than ever I believe we are scrutinizing appearance and beauty standards. With screens and apps constantly in our faces, thoughts of comparison are so easy to entertain.
Over the years we have seen waist trainers, quick fix slimming detox teas, cosmetic surgery and non-invasive body altering procedures become even more popular. And debate is rife that those who employ invasive cosmetic surgery may even be battling issues relating to a lack of self- confidence.
While this might not necessarily be the case, more “äu natural” strategies by way of non-invasive changes like cool-sculpting, oxygen facials, and body contouring among others have been gaining traction. These offer no down time and often prove to be less expensive that traditional invasive strategies.
According to Heather Widdows, Professor of Global Ethics at the University of Birmingham and author of the forthcoming book Perfect Me, “We live in a more virtual and visual culture. We look at images differently, we have HD and computer technology that means we see flaws in skin we didn’t see before. And more people we know have had non-surgical procedures.”
Non –invasive procedures whether they work or not give people the opportunity to constantly experiment as they continuously take closer looks at themselves.
It is important to mention that the culture of how we approach image has changed. Younger people are open to self-experimenting with their beauty standards, in addition to it being now increasingly seen as a status symbol. Dr Tijion Esho, founder of the Esho clinics in London and Newcastle, argues, “One big thing now is people start earlier,” adding that previously, people would not consider these treatments until they were in their mid-40s. “Now women in their mid-20s are very aware of the ageing process and are already doing things to halt it early. The non-surgical treatments are improving more and more. It doesn’t mean non-surgical will ever replace the knife – there is a limitation to what non-surgical can do — but in many areas, people can get improvements that are satisfactory.”
