Real Girls Guide Beauty Confessionals
Where Botox, chin hairs, and friendships collide.
There comes a point during every dinner out with the girls when the conversation takes an abrupt turn into uncharted territory.
It usually starts quietly. Then within about thirty seconds, the talk’s gone from chatting about someone’s tropical vacation to discussing lasers, retinol, red light therapy, neck creams, and whether anyone has found a mascara that doesn’t end up halfway down their face by lunch.
One girlfriend admits she’s getting Botox, another says she quit because she got tired of the upkeep. The next friend (ok, it’s me) swears by microneedling. Still another says she’d rather spend the money on Italy (also me, but it’s not an either/or situation… it’s both!).
Later, someone casually mentions upper eyelid surgery, and suddenly three women are asking for the surgeon’s name, while another is discreetly Googling “post-op recovery time” under the table.
Nobody’s scandalized. Nobody’s whispering. We’re just… comparing notes.
And believe it or not, this is typically when the full confessions really start.
One friend will ask, “Who else has discovered a random chin hair that’s grown two inches overnight?” and the table starts nodding in unison because we’ve all had the same unfortunate discovery in the car while waiting at a stoplight.
I’ll pile on with how finding gray nose hairs feels like a personal attack that I’ll never get over. (Yep, this has happened more than once, and the day my new nose hair trimmer arrived was such a happy one in my house!).
Another friend tilts her chin toward the ceiling and asks, “Has anyone else’s neck started doing (points to neck skin waddling)… whatever THIS is?”
We all nod.
Then somebody asks, “Wait… are your ears getting bigger, too?” and for the next ten minutes the whole table is diving down internet rabbit holes trying to figure out if that’s an actual thing (it is, unfortunately) or something the algorithm invented to keep us scrolling.
These are the conversations I never saw coming. And for me: they are magnificent! I love it all.
When I was younger, beauty felt, well, kinda competitive, but thankfully it now feels collaborative. Not because we’re trying to look the same, but because we’re getting honest, and attempting to learn from each other.
A few months ago, I booked a consultation for upper eyelid surgery.
YEP, I said it. And YEP, I’ll probably do it. And the best part is nobody tried to convince me I should… or shouldn’t.
Let’s be real, I’m not trying to look 22. This choice is about the fact that every time I look in the mirror, it’s become the one thing I notice. I don’t think about my laugh lines. I don’t care about the tiny crease on my forehead. But, my eyelids? They have my full attention.
Listening to other women talk about their choices didn’t pressure me into making my decision, however.
In fact, for me, it actually had the opposite effect. It reminded me that there isn’t a right or wrong answer.
Hell, I know women who tweak everything and others who tweak nothing.
Many of us land somewhere in the middle, fixing the things that bug us while making peace with the rest.
And that feels like a pretty healthy place to be, because the biggest shift isn’t Botox. Or lasers. Or surgery. It’s realizing my face isn’t a group project.
And I don’t need Instagram to approve my choices. I don’t need strangers debating whether I’ve done too much or not enough, nor do I need anyone’s permission. I just want to like the face of the woman I see looking back at me in the mirror.
Now, it’s your turn. C’mon, tell me the truth: what’s the beauty confession you’ve never said out loud?
Why? Well, I have a feeling my own aren’t the only ones worth talking about!
#RealGirlsGuidetoMidlife #MidlifeBeautyConfessionals #MidlifeSkin
We’ve earned every wrinkle. Might as well make more laugh lines together.
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