S1 EP12: More men are having botox than women

Male cosmetics and male treatments are on the rise, especially in Sydney. I would say more than maybe anywhere in the world.

In the last few years there has been a real increase. Men started getting veneers, hair transplants, skincare routines. There was a general shift in starting to look better and take care of themselves. Our calendar is regularly booked out with men. Over the last year, we have seen more male clients than we have across the whole seven years we have been in the clinic.

We love that men are investing in how they look and present themselves. There is a line though. If your eyebrows are sharper than mine, we have a problem. If your teeth are wider than mine and brighter than a spotlight, we also have a problem. There is a huge difference between grooming that makes someone feel like themselves and grooming that looks overdone. We are here for the first one.

Statistics back this up. Reports suggest that since 2022 there has been around a 6% increase in men engaging with grooming and aesthetic treatments, which is a significant shift over just a couple of years. Another study reported that a majority of men in the 18 to 35 age range are influenced by social media when it comes to their fashion and appearance. Those are big numbers, and they match what we see walking through our clinic door.

We have spoken about this before. Women have always been influenced, even pre-social-media, through magazines and what was trending. Men historically did not look to those channels. That is now changing. Men are on social media and absorbing trends from it, which is why so many now dress, groom and aspire in similar ways.

One example everyone knows is the viral morning-routine influencer with the banana on the face. I cannot tell you how many male clients have come in and asked me about rubbing a banana on their face. Please don’t. There are actual products and treatments that will do what you are trying to achieve. But that one influencer alone has changed the male aesthetic conversation.

We are seeing a flow-on effect too. The rise of younger men coming in is something we recently shot a whole campaign around. Teenagers are now looking at skincare and asking questions. Every teenager goes through hormone changes and breakouts, and that period used to pass without much notice. Today, because of social media, young boys are far more aware of their skin and how it photographs. My 13-year-old brother recently told me there is a boy in his year with acne and that he does not want to have acne. So now he cleanses his skin every day.

When I was a teenager, we did not have social media bringing awareness or pressure around skin. That is not the case for the generation coming up now. It is something that needs to be addressed, and delivered in a healthy way.

I cannot think of anything worse than being a hormonal teenage boy, already dealing with all the other changes happening, and then being self-conscious about his skin on top of that because of what he sees online. For girls the equivalent is skin, body image, or both, and those are just as serious.

How often do we get mums coming in saying, “My teenage son has acne. I don’t know what to do. Can I bring him in?” Yes. Bring him in. We welcome everyone.

It is why we felt it was important to do the teenage campaign. We need to normalise this properly, give kids and their parents real education, and avoid the guesswork and the online misinformation that can make things worse. Teenage boys are the future men, and we care about how they are being shaped right now.

We see two complete opposite types of female client when it comes to their partners.

On one end, we have women who text me before their husband comes in. “I’m bringing him in. Consult him. But don’t tell him everything he actually needs. I don’t want him to look too good.” Just enough to soften the lines. Not enough for anyone else to do a double take. On the other end, we have women who want us to do everything. The husband sits in the chair, looks in the mirror, says “nothing bothers me,” and the wife says “just soften the lines around his eyes.” And then the negotiation begins.

For men who are new to treatments, we usually start with anti-wrinkle injections. The beauty of that treatment is that the result comes in gradually over about two weeks. You do not walk out of the clinic looking any different. That is why men are often more comfortable starting there, because their biggest fear is “I don’t want anyone to know I’ve had something done.” I tell clients: you are not going to walk out of this clinic with a visible result. It builds over the fortnight and settles in, and most people around you will never pick it.

We often get men who say, “just do a tiny little bit.” I’ll tell them what they actually need, and they will say, “no, I’d rather come back in two weeks and add more.” And every time, it is those same guys who come back and say, “okay, do everything. This was amazing, I need more.”

What I love most is that men are walking in with questions now. Not just “my wife told me to come.” Actual informed questions. “I feel hollow here.” “I look tired.” “What are my treatment options?” That is a real shift. We are also here to break it down properly. We talk through all the components of ageing, not just the thing they came in for, so they leave with a proper plan for their skin as well as their face.

A question we get a lot. What should a 25-year-old man be doing?

I genuinely believe any male over the age of 20 should be doing something for his skin, whether he has visible lines or not. Scientifically, our collagen and elastin production starts decreasing in our early 20s, so the whole goal at that age is prevention and maintenance. Skincare and <a href=”https://bibacosmetics.com.au/services/skin-treatments/”>treatments</a> that stimulate collagen and elastin are incredibly valuable here.

We have this conversation with friends and clients all the time. “But I don’t have acne, so I don’t need skincare.” You absolutely do not need to have acne to start a skincare routine. The industry has come a long way, and modern skincare is not just corrective. A lot of it is about keeping skin hydrated, protected and supported so you maintain what you already have.

If a man at 25 wants to combine that with anti-wrinkle treatment later, he has healthy skin to complement it. But any man from 20 onwards should be doing some form of facial. Most men train, most men sweat, and a lot of our male clients are in trades and exposed to dust and the elements all day. We see congestion, blackheads, oils, things that are easy to deal with if you are in a routine.

If needles are not where you want to start, decongesting and exfoliating facial treatments are a really sensible entry point.

Our producer just asked us something mid-episode because we had been talking about how everyone is watching figures like Ashton Hall and Zac Efron. And honestly, I had not looked at a current photo of Zac Efron in years, so we pulled one up right there in the studio to have a proper look.

Our opinion: he looks very overfilled. Yes, he has aged, and that is normal. But his eyebrows are noticeably thicker than they were in his Baywatch era. There are much deeper lines across his face than we would expect for his age if nothing had been done. To us, it looks like he has had buccal fat removal, which is a common thing younger patients ask for, but when you get older you really see the effects because those facial fat pads are what keep you looking youthful. He also appears to have had filler in the lower face, and there is a level of bulkiness that can sometimes come with other substances that hold a lot of water.

He has not aged like a fine wine. It looks like something has happened around his lips, and his smile looks different. We do not blame him. We blame the practitioner, because this is a conversation about what can happen when you chase a look instead of preserving a face.

The takeaway for anyone watching celebrity men and thinking about their own aesthetic journey: the risk is real. Adverse outcomes happen. The goal is finding a practitioner who will help you age gracefully, and “gracefully” does include some level of treatment, because nobody wants to look dehydrated and over-lined. Thoughtful is the word. Not more.

We love seeing men show up for themselves. We know it can still feel a bit taboo. Men come in and will ask us, “Are there any other men here? I don’t want to be seen.” They sit in the waiting room trying to be invisible. And then they walk out with their chest lifted, they come back, they bring their friends in, and suddenly it is a whole journey.

Here is the truth. There is no such thing as ageing with nothing anymore. We are not saying everyone needs to be filled and frozen. We are saying a little attention to your skin and an informed conversation with a practitioner you trust can keep you looking like yourself, for longer. That is the only goal.

If you are a man thinking about starting, know that it is completely okay. It does not make you less masculine. If anything, it takes courage to walk into what you think is a female-coded space and say “I’d like to look after myself.” So to all the men, we love you, we are proud of you, and we are here to hold your hand through your anti-ageing journey. You can come to us with questions and we will give you honest answers, including when the answer is “you don’t need that.”

Leave us a comment and let us know what you are noticing change in the men’s aesthetic world. And let us know your male icks, because an episode is coming on that and we need material. Thank you so much for tuning in. Wherever you are listening, make sure to like, follow and comment.

We love you guys. Bye.