Story by Lauryn Lovett
Lauryn Lovett
Botox has been around for decades, but its younger sibling baby Botox is attracting a new customer base. Baby or preventative Botox is a procedure done before wrinkles appear. And it’s becoming more popular through TikTok.
Nats Pop – Dr. Tyler Elkins-Williams
“Raise your brows. Great. Relax”
Courtney Cochrane
“Skincare can only do so much.”
Lauryn Lovett
Courtney Cochrane started getting Botox 7 years ago at 21. She says she’s always had problems with her forehead.
Courtney Cochrane
“Whenever I raised my eyebrows, i would have a lot of lines. And so, i just kind of wanted to get ahead of that and start preventing that from being there forever.”
Lauryn Lovett
While her mother got treatments…Courtney says Botox wasn’t discussed in her house. But she had friends who told her there weren’t many risks associated with the procedure.
Courtney Cochrane
“So, I just decided to start doing it a little bit and then see if I like it. If iIdidn’t like it, it would wear off.”
Lauryn Lovett
She now works at Finn Plastic Surgery in Chapel Hill with Dr. Tyler Elkins-Williams who says Botox is becoming more widely accepted.
Tyler Elkins-Williams
“I think back in the old days, it was like a big secret. Nobody ever talked about it. And now you’re seeing people talk about their friends and even promoted on their social media accounts, people video of themselves getting treatments.”
Lauryn Lovett
Social media has played a huge role in Baby Botox’s popularity.
Nats pop – TikTok
“Girls who get Botox in their 20s are winning and here’s why.”
Lauryn Lovett
But is it just another form of pressure for young women to meet unrealistic beauty standards. UNC Journalism Professor Gary Kayye says so.
Gary Kayye
“What happens is especially younger kids where their brains haven’t fully developed. They tend to believe everything they see or start to internalize what they see.”
Lauryn Lovett
Botox is available only for those 18 or older. But younger girls are finding other ways to enhance their appearance. Talks about “Sephora tweens” have exploded on social media with girls as young as 10 crowding the beauty store to buy not only makeup products but intense skincare like retinol.
Gary Kayye
“You’re putting something in your body before your body has fully developed that may not be a good thing when we have research 20 or 30 years from now. And we don’t have that research yet.”
Lauryn Lovett
Dr. Elkins-Williams says it’s important for people not to base decisions on what society says.
Tyler Elkins-Williams
“They should be doing things for themselves. You know, what bothers you and what you are trying to get out of it, not try to hold yourself to someone else’s standard.”
Lauryn Lovett
Cochrane says she wants people to realize that Botox is an individual procedure and that no one else’s opinions should matter.
Courtney Cochrane
“If it is an insecurity of theirs and there is something to do that they can address it, you know, why not?”
Lauryn Lovett
While social media portrays the procedure as being more widely accepted many women don’t want others to know about their Botox.
In Chapel Hill…Lauryn Lovett reporting.
