shot of sass, served on (n)ice

Thursday, April 2, 2009

It's Thursday: Let's talk cosmetics

Question #4 for the big Week O' Asking All Kinds of Things We Shouldn't:

Short and sweet:

Tell us, would you go for a little nip/tuck action if the circumstances were right? And you know we want to know on which part or piece you're talking about!

18 tips left at the bar:

kristin said...

I don't think I would go for the purely cosmetic stuff (well, unless someone could just suck the fat off my stomach and be DONE with it), but I had breast reduction last year and I don't regret it for a minute!

The practical part is that I no longer have neck and shoulder pain, the plus side is that I don't have to wear huge bras anymore.

Although I do catch myself looking especially peaked under harsh lights and while the wrinkles don't bother me, I'd love something to "freshen up" my face, kwim?

penelope said...

I had a very weird dream about this the other night. I was imagining myself needing/wanting a tummy tuck. You know, to fix the post baby bulge? But, I don't think I'd ever do it. Maybe if I had had multiples?
Otherwise, no. And never a boob job. Too weird.

mendacious said...

it's like the scenario where i've become my dream weight and the skin hasn't like restretched? ew. but then i think, donating to burn victims? totally worth it right.

sheila said...

I'm not a big fan of the facial stuff, or maybe I should say I'm a big chicken. Either way, while I wish I had less wrinkles & firmer skin, I think the pain would be too much for me. Besides, my mom & grandma both look/looked great as they aged so I would like to think that those genes got passed down to me. (please lie to me if they didn't - i don't mind living in denial!!)

I would LOVE to have a boob job. I want them smaller, and back up on my chest where they belong! I want it for the reasons Kristen mentions, plus how great would it be to have them (as my sweet hubby is fond of saying) rounded up & headed in the right direction!? Also, I would love to be able to wear blouses that button up the front, or tops that don't make me look PG.

Now, if I were 'wishing' -- I would wish for some sort of magical surgery that would allow me to add 3-4 inches to my height, and it would all be in my legs. Oh, how I would love to have longer legs instead of these little stumps I've been cursed with!

Miss Thystle said...

heck yes I would. I'm saving for a tummy tuck right now!

Ruby said...

You bet your sweet bottom I would!

(I could definitely go for a 'rounding up' as Sheila said!)

almost anonymous said...

If it meant I wouldn't get stuffed up while sleeping when the weather gets hot, I'd consider a nose job.

penelope said...

I can definitely understand the breast reduction, I feel like it goes beyond cosmetic. My boobs are tiny, esp after children, but I still just feel like, nope, I wouldn't do it. Maybe if I had to have a mastectomy, I would elect for reconstructive surgery. I'd have to cross that bridge when and if I came to it.

Is anyone else torn between that feeling of wanting to look one's best and accepting our bodies the way they are? Aging, quirks, and all? Beyond the pain and expense, that is part of my dilemma. And then there's the issue of looking unnaturally stretched, i.e. Joan Rivers. Granted, she's over the top with it, but the idea that she looks younger? Uh-uh. She just looks weird!

And THEN, another issue with nips and tucks, and the issue of lipo: an expensive painful fix that may just end up back in the same place? Like if you just suck the fat out, who's to say you're not just going to eat that much again and chunk up your bottom. Because if I were to get some lipo done on my thighs, I can't see myself eating any less when all was said and done...I guess you'd have to go into it really committed to a lifestyle change.

Too philosophical for the bar? This is what happens when I drink.

Ruby said...

Dang, Pen! Give this much thought?! :)

I think it's excellent that you are happy with your body as it is, and don't have an overwhelming self consciousness about one part or piece. Unfortunately, that's not the case with everyone, so if a woman would feel more confident with a straighter nose or larger breasts, I think she should go for it! While cosmetic surgery can be (and much of the time IS) about vanity, there are plenty of times when it's just about being 'normal'.

Somebody remind me to never tell Pen when I get lipo... I might get shunned!

(And what in the hell are you doing drinking at 3 in the afternoon, young lady?! A girl after my own heart!)

pen said...

But see, that's precisely my point (and I have thought about this a lot!)--I'm not perfectly happy with my body, but would like to be. I feel like in general, we women just don't love ourselves the way we are, and I wish it were different. No matter whose fault that.

Also, I've watched one too many episodes of True Life: I had plastic surgery. Clearly.

Cheers!
:)

pen said...

Also, yes, there's sometimes when it's just about being "normal." Like, if my child were born with a cleft palette, for instance, I'd be all about fixing it. However, in general I feel like the plastic surgery industry preys our insecurities, and that alone makes me want to stand up and say no, just in principle!

I know. I'm taking the question too seriously. But it's totally an important issue! Just wish it were easier for us to feel happy about ourselves is all.

I say as I research gyms. For like, a month.

Niki said...

Pen, I think I totally get where you're coming from, and I completely agree. The issue for me is not the plastic surgery but the pressure (mostly) women feel to look "perfect." (Don't get me started on men getting calf in-plants.) So yeah, based on GP I'm against it for myself (for purely cosmetic reasons, not to be "normal" due to deformity, health reasons, etc.).

But then I'm getting older, and I'm so used to looking younger than my age, but maybe that won't last forever. I spent so much time in the sun in my youth, what about when that catches up with me and I look old? ACK! Would probably not get Botox or anything with needles/scalpels, but a laser tag thingy or super-chemical-peely facial? Um, sign me up for that shit. Ditto on the boob-lift. So it's not like I can or would be all judgmental on people that do get it.

You said something about lipo and "expensive painful fix that may just end back up in the same place." You meant it literally, but mentally/emotionally I think it works as well - if you don't learn to love your body as is, there will always be "one" thing you can fix, on and on and on - you'll perpetually end up back in the same place, the feeling of inadequacy.

Sure, going to the gym is part of that vanity, but exercise works the mental and physical aspects - you look better but you also feel empowered and healthy even if you don't look "perfect" - and that's without risking your life. Because at the end of the day, plastic surgery is still surgery and if there's one thing Grey's Anatomy has taught me is that surgery can f8&! a girl up.

Wow. Sorry. I'm going to go watch Rafa play tennis now. Instead of exercise. And will probably feel guilty for not exercising thus causing me to snack. Then I'll expand like a blimp and need surgery after all, and y'all will point and laugh and call me a big hypocrite.

sheila said...

Pen, I am totally on the same page with you, at least in terms of being torn. I worry about looking older, saggy boobs & bottom, the whole shi-bang. But the reality is getting older is a part of life, and while I want to look my best I am not altogether comfortable with all of the procedures that everyone does. I mean, I want to look good for my age, not 20 years younger or with immovable facial features.

But this does not mean that I condemn or look down on those who do this. Good for them for having the cojones to do it & getting it done. Many, many of my friends have had various procedures & they all look fantastic. It's just not my bag. At least not right now.

But still, the thought of the boob-job is appealing...

pen said...

Calf implants! Eeek. I totally think of that guy from True Life.

Yeah, I totally do not mean to sound judgmental, just reflective. It's just not a choice I would make--at this point. The Virgina Madsen commercial for Botox disheartens me, etc. I've also always looked young for my age and am in lucky in that sense, but there are definitely areas I'm not happy with. Would rather do what I can through diet (and I just mean, what I eat, not an actual diet) and exercise, and whatever comes out of that... that's me. I get down on myself for not being motivated to exercise, so feel like I don't look the best that I can. But on the other hand, I feel like we all are truly unique, that our figures and our faces, etc, do not have to and should not actually look the same. And that we should take care of ourselves the best we can and be proud of what we look like... in a perfect world.

:)

Lorrie Veasey said...

Everytime I think YES GET THEE TO THE PLASTIC SURGEON some awards show rolls around, I get a glimpse of Joan & melissa and think...erm, maybe not.

Andria said...

I go around and around on this issue as well. Want to be - and am mostly - happy with myself and have come to accept the good, the bad, the ugly and the lumpy. BUT, getting older, I do notice that big crease between my eyebrows more and more or those laugh lines around my eyes or my splotchy, sun-exposed skin. . and part of me always thinks, that's beautiful and part of you, BUT, the other part. . yeah, just a little injection, right? (Of POISON and with a NEEDLE!) or treatment to smooth it out.

And the more major "solution" of lipo. . seems like an easy fix, but also not so much. painful and drastic and then it just creates more issues with extra skin and stuff, right? And there's the cost. .surely, I could take a trip and drink lots of wine and make lots of memories? Or, I guess, I'd enjoy myself and how I looked in my memories for a long time with the change to my body. *sigh.

Karen said...

I so wish my boobs were bigger. Hell, I wish I HAD boobs. But I don't think I could ever get implants. I mean, I have 2 little girls. How am I supposed to tell them to love and respect their bodies if I don't love mine the way it is?

Pen, I totally agree with you.

penelope said...

Yes!! That is so true, I hadn't even delved into the issue of our daughters. So important. Thanks for bringing it up. I really hope I do well on that front, but sometimes it's hard to even be aware of our own habits, i.e. nit-picking the way we look when they are listening.