Surgical and cosmetic procedures seem saturated in society today, with extremely dangerous methods to achieve ‘the look’ on the rise, young girls and feminine presenting people are at risk. Moveover Apetamin and BBLs, another toxic beauty trend is taking the internet by storm: at-home botox parties.

An obsession with anti-ageing methods is running rampant within gen Z, creating a new boom of baby Botox—also known as ‘preventative Botox’—along with other dangerous ways of procuring and using botox, which are becoming increasingly available.

Keep in mind that Botox can have medicinal value. It’s used to treat migraines, excessive sweating and bladder issues, to name a few. However, when used in a party environment (and paired with alcohol), Botox can be dangerous.

You can order Botox online; yes, to your door, where you would administer the product yourself. Take a quick Google search and you’ll be bombarded by choices, with prices ranging from £100 to £700 for a box of apparent Botox. While Apetamin was swiftly taken down in the UK after the dangers of it surfaced, the availability of online Botox is still here for one simple reason—demand.

According to an investigation initially conducted by Which? that was then reported on by The Guardian 12 years ago, DIY Botox kits were already available online and even sold on eBay back then. The kits’ content often contained the ‘Botox’, needles, saline and a diagram of the face detailing the areas to inject. In 12 years, nothing has changed. In fact, it seems to have only worsened. While in 2009 it was found to be mostly sold on eBay, now there are hundreds of websites dedicated to the product.

Editor of Which?, Sarah Kidner, said, “It’s easy to forget that Botox is actually a poison. We were appalled that we were able to buy a DIY kit so easily and are concerned that the internet is becoming a marketplace for cut-price cosmetic treatments.” This research hasn’t aged well, has it? And wait—it gets worse… Welcome to the world of Botox parties.

Botox parties are a social gathering where Botox injections are readily available for administration. It’s a typical party, booze, snacks and socialising, there just happens to be a nurse (if you’re lucky) standing in the corner with a needle. Sounds like a good time…

Now, even in a safe, medically professional environment, Botox has its potential side effects. The most common symptoms often involve pain, bruising, redness and even infection at the site; other potential side effects can include the drooping of the face or eyelid, irritation to the eye area, double vision, and difficulty blinking regularly to name but a few. Even when used for medical conditions like the ones listed previously, the product comes with its risks.

In fact, one user took to RealSelf for medical advice over her use of at-home Botox, “I ordered Botox online and injected myself about a month ago. My cheeks went down tremendously but, [they’re] still swollen and yesterday the side area of my eyelid [has] become swollen as well.”

An experienced Botox practitioner, Malti O’Mahoney, told The Guardian, “If you did it yourself, with Botox you could end up paralysing your whole face. Facial muscles are very complex and a lay person would not know this. It is a full medical procedure, requiring a patient’s medical history and detailed consultations before any treatment takes place.”

This becomes an issue, especially when it comes to the fairly recent surge in Botox parties—their safety is wholly questioned. Remember when I said you’d be lucky if you saw a nurse at a party? Well, often there is no guarantee that the individual administrating the injections is even a licensed professional or, at the very least, experienced. It may be no different to the dangers of you doing it yourself.

Despite Botox being not directly harmful in small medically approved doses, it is still a toxin and, although rare, could cause side effects or even an allergic reaction. Because of this, if something goes wrong, there is no appropriate immediate medical attention that you would receive if visiting a clinic. Especially if you’re at a party and drinking alcohol. I don’t know about you but some of the parties I’ve been to have hardly been sanitary.

To make matters worse, the ‘Botox’ readily available online and at (unlicensed) Botox parties is unlikely to actually be Botox. Cosmetics Business reported that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had broadcast warnings in 2015 and 2017 on the distribution of fake Botox and fillers online; the market is largely unregulated and reportedly, possibly fatal. In fact, it’s pretty easy to determine the fakes since real Botox is a copyrighted trademark made by one company.

That one company is Allergan, a pharmaceutical corporation that is the sole manufacturer of authentic Botox, which is sent directly to medical practitioners and must be kept at a controlled temperature. Cosmetics Business (in collaboration with Red Points data) disclosed that counterfeit beauty products shot up during the COVID-19 pandemic, “with 74.14 per cent of cosmetics brands seeing a spike in cybercrime.” The dangers become even higher when knowing that counterfeit products are often cut with toxic and unsafe ingredients such as lead, mercury and even cyanide.

There’s no shame in getting Botox if that’s what you want to do—no judgement here—just make sure that if you’re going to get it, you get it the right way. Go to a bloody doctor.

Last month, TikTok crowned gua sha, an ancient Chinese healing method that involves gliding a flat jade or rose quartz stone over the skin, as a must-have step in a comprehensive skincare routine. Hailed as the successor of jade rollers, the tool addresses a plethora of skin concerns from adult acne to wrinkles and sagging skin. Gen Z’s upcoming interest, as part of a growing movement towards preventative ageing regimens, now seems to be baby Botox—a non-invasive treatment considered to be the future of injectables.

On a quest to break down its demand, Screen Shot spoke to a gen Z and a ‘zillennial’ skinvestor with first-hand experiences of the treatment. From Snapchat dysmorphia to suggested alternatives, here are all of the insights they had to share.

Contrary to the literal meaning of the term, baby Botox has surprisingly nothing to do with babies. It can, however, be considered as an offspring of traditional Botox in terms of the amount administered. Baby Botox, also known as ‘preventative Botox’, refers to a treatment that involves injecting lower volumes of Botox using micro-droplet techniques to give off a natural and even look. For example, instead of injecting 25 units in an area, only 10 units may be administered.

Considered as a great entry-level treatment, baby Botox is recommended for those who have lighter, less ‘etched’ lines or those who want to get a head-start on anti-ageing methods altogether. Although both traditional and baby Botox use the same strength of botulinum toxin, baby Botox is particularly coveted for its retention of facial movements. According to Byrdie, dermatologists avoid relaxing the muscles completely while administering baby Botox—thereby retaining facial flexibility in contrast to the “frozen” and “expressionless” features that can sometimes result from traditional Botox.

In addition to movement retention, benefits of the treatment also include the prevention of wrinkles and fine lines with fewer side effects than traditional Botox. In terms of efficacy, baby Botox has a minimal effect in comparison. However, this should not be confused with the effectiveness of the procedure. Baby Botox produces less prominent results to aid a natural look that eventually wears off in a couple of months.

The treatment also offers a versatile solution in terms of the areas on which it can be administered. Byrdie highlighted how baby Botox can be used everywhere ranging from the décolletage to tighten fine lines and under the arms to prevent sweating—all the way to the jaw muscles in order to prevent clenching and grinding of the teeth.

“I found very, very faint fine lines on my forehead close to my hairline (where my forehead naturally creases) and it concerned me,” said Suhanna De Silva—a hair, beauty and lifestyle YouTuber based in Canada. Noticing the lines shortly after finding her first greying hair at the age of 25, the ‘zillennial’ YouTuber admitted to having a bit of a meltdown. “There’s nothing wrong with ageing, you see the first signs of ageing at 25 but I compared myself to my parents and brothers who all look super young and freaked out on myself,” De Silva said. “This also happened while I was stuck at home, laid off because of COVID and life was just miserable. I felt like ‘fixing’ the fine lines on my forehead was something I could at least have control over at a time where life was (and still is) extremely unpredictable.”

The YouTuber also added how nobody else noticed the lines except her, “The nurse who I did my consultation with could barely see them, it just bothered me.” De Silva decided to get baby Botox done for the first time in October 2020. “I got 10 units in my hairline/forehead area, which is actually less than the standard amount for baby Botox—it is generally 15 units for the forehead,” she said. When asked about her experience during and after getting baby Botox, the YouTuber used ‘easy’ and ‘painless’ to describe the same.

“The entire process of going into the clinic and getting it injected took less than ten minutes, the staff were all extremely friendly and professional. Even my consultation process was great, I didn’t feel like I was being upsold on services I didn’t want or need.” In terms of the side effects, the YouTuber admitted to experiencing slight headaches when the Botox first kicked in but nothing terribly adverse.

As for Julia, whose name has been changed for anonymity, the gen Zer got preventative Botox done in April 2021. “Due to genetics, people in my family tend to have a wide-set jaw and heavy lower face,” she explained. “I had previously done Botox for my TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint) to alleviate pain and clicky jaws, as recommended by my dentist—that gave me an entry into exploring non-invasive procedures.” Two years later, in 2021, Julia got a small dose of 0.5 millilitres injected into her chin for cosmetic reasons. She also highlighted how she was careful about the brand, injector and amount used—further stressing the need for proper research before getting such procedures done.

With the anti-ageing market predicted to rake in over $88 billion by 2026, a new beauty persona called ‘skinvestor’ is on the rise. The persona symbolises a wave of well-informed, investigative and science-first beauty consumers who perceive skincare as an entire investment.

“I started to really go in-depth with my skincare routine from the age of 20 when I started to experience the worst acne of my life,” De Silva said, highlighting how she believes in skinvestment—provided you have the means to do so since skincare isn’t always accessible. “I started to focus my routine on fighting acne, fading hyperpigmentation and keeping my skin barrier healthy. Now, at the age of 26, my routine has shifted. I do still focus on fading hyperpigmentation (brown girl problems) and maintaining a healthy skin barrier, but I’ve also made anti-ageing a priority.” Over at Julia’s, the gen Zer admitted to doing a big shop and investing in skincare but sticking to the same set of products and using them over again.

So why is the target market for the anti-ageing industry getting younger? What exactly is gen Z grasping at with such preventative ageing regimens? Let’s start with the obvious cultural conversation surrounding their upbringing among technology and the age of digital filters.

“I 10,000 per cent think social media and filters have influenced gen Z into getting anti-ageing treatments that they don’t necessarily need,” De Silva started, outlining how gen Z has a different perception of what people in their 20s and 30s are supposed to look like than their earlier generations. “They’re also used to seeing people who are young but look older than their age, so they think they’re going to age faster than they actually will. In reality, a lot of these treatments can end up making them look older (the overfilled faces) than younger.”

In January 2015, Snapchat introduced ‘Lenses’ which revolutionised how users looked at themselves both literally and metaphorically. Criticised for fostering an era of toxic ideals among young girls, Julia highlighted how ‘Instagram face’ and ‘Snapchat dysmorphia’ are now presumptuous terms used to explain gen Z’s perception of beauty.

“It’s easy to point fingers at the age of Instagram face, after all AR (Artificial Reality) is so readily available for just about any demographic,” Julia explained. “Perhaps my judgement is skewed as I make filters, but if we’re still blaming filters as the sole source of influence for the perception gen Zers have on themselves, then perhaps we should open up the conversation around influencers. Would these filters still be popular if influencers and celebrities were not promoting a certain kind of look?”

“Capitalism often drives trends and women have (unfortunately) been sold idealistic and often unreal expectations of beauty in the form of fads, products and treatments for decades before the rise of social media,” she added. However, Julia still believes that as designers, there needs to be ethics and regulation behind filters—along with more open conversations surrounding the topic.

On 26 March 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that “people who get a certain cosmetic procedure should be aware they could have some unwanted side-effects with a COVID vaccine.” “Certain procedures” here included dermal fillers like Botox—with multiple reports of recipients experiencing facial or lip swelling after receiving the Moderna vaccine.

In terms of the risks and aftercare suggested by their clinics in this regard, Julia admitted to being vaccinated and not experiencing any side effects so far. As for De Silva, the YouTuber had gotten baby Botox done in October 2020, which wore off in January 2021. “My city has been in lockdown for so many months and the COVID vaccine (Pfizer gang) wasn’t even available to me until well after my Botox had worn off,” De Silva explained, adding how she hasn’t been able to get a refill on her Botox ever since and thereby hasn’t been advised of any precautions. “If you’re worried about experiencing adverse effects but you’d like to get vaccinated, prioritise your vaccine. Botox can be done later on, your health is more important,” the YouTuber stressed.

When asked if the news of their treatment encouraged or influenced others around them to try it out, both Julia and De Silva denied the same. However, De Silva highlighted the difference between influencing those who weren’t planning on getting baby Botox done in the first place versus those who were thinking about it but were just hesitant. When De Silva talked about her experience with baby Botox on her channel, it gave those in the latter faction the validation they needed to try it out.

“Most of the questions I had gotten were from women around my age who were already considering baby Botox but needed to hear someone else’s real experience first before deciding if it was something they really wanted to do,” De Silva added.

Let’s face it, the news of a 23-year old getting baby Botox done (not to mention all of those times baby Botox is looped into the same category as traditional Botox) is typically frowned upon and deemed ‘unnecessary’. De Silva explained how this label has been forged out of the negative connotation and stigmas surrounding Botox “because we’re so used to seeing people who have poorly-done Botox that can severely age the face.”

“These frozen faces are the first thing that comes to mind when we hear the word ‘Botox’,” De Silva continued, adding how it often turns people off. “The reality is, good Botox is undetectable and won’t make you look older, puffier or crazy. Nobody noticed my fine lines prior to getting baby Botox, and nobody noticed my baby Botox after it was injected, then subsequently worn off. I think we’ve adopted a mindset of ‘the more the better’ when really, less is more.”

Way before gua sha hit TikTok, the traditional healing method was preached as a natural alternative to injectable neurotoxins—catering to both body and mind. In fact, a quick Google search of the alternatives suggested to baby Botox would land you with FaceXercise, a method that uses cupping and facial massage to improve blood flow, acupuncture, face patches or ‘frownies’, facial creams and chemical peels.

Before getting baby Botox done, De Silva was suggested a glycolic peel to treat her fine lines since they were faint. However, the YouTuber outlined how the peel requires multiple sessions, costing higher in the long run. In terms of all the other alternatives mentioned above, FaceXercise averages around $380 for just the initial visit with limited providers while facial creams and chemical peels require expensive prescriptions and frequent chase-ups. “Baby Botox was just a quick fix that was cost and time-efficient,” De Silva said.

Given the emerging research in the skincare industry—coupled with its rising demand among younger generations—more alternatives to Botox are inevitable in the future. So be it baby Botox or microneedling, it is essential to do thorough research and consider both the pros and cons before skinvesting in such procedures. Since most of gen Z’s appeal with baby Botox lies in the fact that it is preventive rather than overly corrective, it is also essential to lay down some basic skincare maintenance which has a significant impact down the line.

“Seriously, ageing will happen—it’s inevitable,” De Silva mentioned. “That being said, it’s easier to prevent severe ageing than it is to reverse it.” The YouTuber highlighted how we don’t need to use every other active ingredient in the market, neither exfoliate nor use retinol every single day. Daily steps like removing makeup before hitting the hay, staying hydrated and maintaining a well-balanced diet go a long way in this sense. “Oh, and wear SPF during the daytime, no ifs, ands, or buts!”