Is Botox the new Lipstick?
Former Estee Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder is credited with coining the phrase “lipstick effect” to describe the seeming paradoxical rise in lipstick sales during the great depression of the 1930s. This has reportedly held true for every economic downturn since, with makeup sales rising as the stock market falls. The explanation for this is that women turn to more affordable small luxuries such as lipstick in lieu of more expensive indulgences. Apparently, putting on a good face really does lift one’s spirits, and the opposite probably holds too.
In recent years, Botox and other injectable products have become beauty essentials for many. So perhaps it shouldn’t be any great surprise that sales of these products remained steady and in some cases increased even as the market fell last year. Is Botox the new lipstick? (Credit goes to Collette Courtion, CEO of Calidora Skin Clinics for first asking the question.) All signs indicate that women are indeed turning more to Botox and nonsurgical treatments for beauty maintenance while postponing cosmetic surgery.
An interesting further wrinkle in the Botox story comes from a study published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology in March. A group of doctors in Cardiff, Wales (in the U.K.) evaluated the specific effects of Botox on mood. Since Botox works by relaxing hyperactive muscles of expression, they wondered whether this might have any feedback effect by elevating mood. They point out that facial muscles don’t just express emotions, the act of expressing emotion is part of the way that feelings are experienced. In particular, the muscles that cause the furrows between the eyebrows are involved in a range of feelings, from anger to worry to stress. So they used a standardized test of mood called the Irritability-Anxiety-Depression Scale, and found that after Botox treatment to those muscles people did have a measurable improvement in mood and sense of well-being.
Of course lipstick may provide the same type of benefit, but with Botox there seems to be more going on than simply “if you look good, you feel good.” Emotions are complicated things but there is no question that a positive outlook is helpful. So maybe Botox isn’t just the new lipstick, but something like the new Prozac!