According to some people, social media is the devil, while we know better: it’s fun, it’s great to keep in touch with people who are your friends (or maybe not) and it also keeps you informed of things. However, there are of course also many problems with social media, such as for people’s self-image. Young girls would especially suffer from always having those perfect lives that they see (and want to have) online. For example, we would use more botox than ever and that is due to social media. We understand that.
There are many reasons why social media promotes these extra physical adjustments. We not only look at botox, but also at plastic surgery, for example. Social media are kind of ultra-sales channels for that kind of thing. First of all, you see someone you think is great and who looks good: you wonder: how? So you see a ‘perfect’ face all the time and want it too.
Filter over it?
Then you want to post a selfie yourself and slide a filter over it. I rarely do that myself, but I can really see it too: when my skin has faded a little, it looks a lot healthier. No spots, no redness, no pimples (or at least fewer): it’s just a little more appetizing. In the long run, people want to become more and more like their filter self and therefore try to achieve this in a somewhat longer-term way. That ‘forever duck face’ for example, have it done by a plastic surgeon..
In addition, there is another reason why we have physical adjustments or embellishments done more often: these plastic surgeons can also be found online and they share one success story after another. It seems like a kind of ultimate solution, especially if you are extremely insecure and very dissatisfied with yourself. I also have it regularly, even though I am now a fully grown woman, I also think: If my nose were a little smaller and my teeth a little whiter, then I would have a face that would look okay in every photo.
I have also had something done because I saw it online, although for a slightly different reason. And that is also why I am writing this article, because we have known for a long time that it is so intense with the increase in botox and plastic surgery. But there is often another side that is not highlighted: namely, how it can genuinely make you very happy to adjust something about your appearance. I am someone who has been pulling my eyelashes and eyebrow hairs since I was very young. Is it a tap, is it something psychological? Opinions are divided on this, but I will do it.
Eyebrows done
I have had eyelashes again for a few months now and my eyebrows always look good. The reason? Adjustments that I have had made thanks to social media. An acquaintance of an acquaintance came across social media who has a company in permanent make-up. Normally she colors people’s eyebrows, well, with eyebrows. I, with my half eyebrows (I don’t pluck them all the way), could never walk out the door after getting up, because then I would be walking with strange half eyebrows. Since I was 8 years old, I have had no eyelashes and virtually no eyebrows, so eyebrow pencil and eyeliner are my lifesavers.
I made an appointment with her and she not only made sure that I always have eyebrows, because they are now simply tattooed (albeit less deeply than a normal tattoo, because that’s how PMU works). So I always have eyebrows and I’m so happy with that. I have to check every year to see if I need any touch-ups, but I am very happy that I no longer need eyebrow pencils (unless I want to use them a bit myself).
But yes, you cannot suddenly make those eyelashes ‘appear’ in this way. However, I have something else for that. Because of all the tapping and because I’m just not that careful, I always have quite short nails. Online I saw all kinds of people with beautiful long nails and they apparently had something called biab: a thicker layer on top of your own nail, which allows your own nail to grow longer (after all, it remains sturdier). Besides the fact that I now like my hands a lot better (and that is very nice if you often have to photograph devices for reviews), that extra layer ensures that my own nails are no longer a kind of tweezers to pull out my hair. So I don’t actually do it anymore.
A mentally good end result
And voila: there are the eyelashes, which now make it easier to get rid of them now that they are there. Are these nails sometimes a bit difficult? Certainly: don’t ask me to take a piece of tape from the roll, but other than that I’m actually happy with it. These are things that I probably wouldn’t have done or wouldn’t have known well enough without social media. Social media showed how someone works, what people look like with the end result and also provides inspiration for, for example, new nail art for when I go to the nail lady again.
The key question is of course: should I continue? At this point I say no. I don’t have the money for it and I trust that I can also visually shrink my nose a little with make-up. But I can imagine that if you see something often and really like it, you will become interested in it. The danger is that people, especially young people, often cannot foresee the consequences. Or they haven’t fully grown yet and then have to keep updating a lot more later. And I often think it’s a bit too much of a good thing. For example, look at someone like Stefflon Don: she looks beautiful, but look at her friends and it’s like you’re looking at the same person. It will all become very homogeneous if we all order the Kim Kardashian special from the plastic surgeon. But hey, if that’s something that makes you get out of bed happy every day, like me with my tattooed eyebrows, then there’s nothing wrong with that. As long as the end result is not only physically, but also mentally good.
