These mouse-friendly alternatives to Botox can help to smooth out lines, without harming little cutie mice. This is because as a medical product, Botox is exempt from the animal-testing ban (by law, each fresh batch is tested on mice). It’s also expensive, hurts and makes your face look frozen. The other choice is to love yourself as you are. But if you are bothered by wrinkles, here are ethical alternatives that mice will thank you for!
There are far better alternatives than Botox to keep you looking young and beautiful. They may take a few weeks or months to work. But they are easy, cheap, natural and kind. And work better, still allowing your muscles to work.
Face Yoga (for healthy glowing skin)
Face Yoga is a beautifully illustrated book that features 40 exercises and massage teachniques to work different areas of the face to enhance firmness and health. This is a simple, cheap and natural way to help restore natural radiance to your skin, or tackle issues like reduce a double chin or lines around the lips. Each movement is illustrated with accompanying photos. Face yoga can produce amazing results within weeks, and takes only a few minutes each day. The key benefits are:
- Eliminates puffiness
- Provides greater firmness
- Combats sagging
- Eliminates jowls
- Eliminates bags & dark circles
- Lifts the eyelids, opens the eyes
- Eliminates sagging around the eyes
- Reduces & prevents wrinkles
Izumi Forasté Onuma is a Japanese/Spanish beauty who has studied face yoga and books by Japanese dermatologists, along with tips on lifestyle and diet, to come up with a simple skincare routine that can work wonders.
Upcircle Organic Face Serum is made with coffee grounds, from London cafes. It also contains jojoba, sea buckthorn and rosehip (to reduce irritation & age spots) and is scented with oils of geranium, rose & lemon. Pop the lid in your recycling bag, save the dropper and order a refill aluminium cap.
Avoid essential oils for pregnancy/nursing & affected medical conditions (epilepsy, asthma, heart – no rosemary, citrus or sage oil for high blood pressure). Avoid shea butter for latex allergies. Keep essential oils & cocoa butter (toxic if licked) away from pets.
Botox Alternative Beauty Pads
- Biotulin (Germany) is a fragrance-free vegan gel, with local anaesthetic extracted from Acmella Oleracea. It’s sold (no prescription) at registered pharmacies (one drop leaves skin firmer for up to 24 hours). The site says there are no side effects, but the main ingredient ‘toothache plant’ should be avoided for pregnancy, prostate cancer (could affect drugs) or those using water pills for blood pressure or swelling.
- Cosmetic acupuncture is safer than Botox. If you can’t find or afford it, read Your Best Face Now, a 20-day acupressure course by a beautician.
- Essentially Yours is a beauty brand founded by a 64-year old woman, who has never used Botox. These oils can look after skin naturally.
Stick A Few Patches On Your Face!
Apricot Beauty makes reusable pads for wrinkles. Made from medical grade silicone, they are giving an effect after just 1 hour, and can be reused up to 30 times. They use 2 active ingredients of aloe vera and hyaluron. All items are vegan and made in Germany. They work by stimulating blood circulation, then wash and air-dry and place on foil and store in the sachet bag. There are pads for the forehead, eyes and mouth, neck, hands and decollete. There are also scar pads and beauty tapes for ear holes, face and eyelids, and a patch to eliminate pimples using hydrocolloid to dry out and ensure rapid healing. The Magic Pin microneedles get the hyaluronic acid into the lower layers, for immediate effect as an ethical alternative to Botox.
Frownies are facial patches to stick on your skin, using corn-based adhesive. Used by Hollywood stars for decades, these are made from kraft paper. They give a temporary fix to fix muscles in place for the eyebrows and under the eyes (lasts a few hours).
SIO Beauty offer similar products (made from medical-grade silicone).
Facial Exercise Books
Face Workouts for Beginners offers simple exercises without equipment, to maintain firm skin and reduce deep lines, sagging tin and tired appearance.
The Face Yoga Journal is by face yoga expert Danielle Collins, who is almost 40 but looks around 10 years younger. She is highly trained in facial yoga and a trained yoga teacher too, who recovered from ME by switching to a holistic lifestyle, after studying literature at Bath University. She has good videos online if you prefer moving pictures, or use this journal for 52 weeks to support you to become your own expert within a year. Each week you learn a new exercise and reflect on the progress, then at the end you can just harness what has worked for you, to develop your own exercises to use thereafter. The exercises take just 2 minutes a day, to combine into a routine that won’t take more than that for the rest of your life.
Also read Yoga to the Rescue: Ageless Beauty. This beautiful and funny book includes beauty yoga poses, including eye exercises, and tips to make you beautiful within, which makes you beautiful without!
Fumiko’s Facial Yoga Method
Fumiko Takatsu is another world leader in face yoga. An American-educated academic living in Japan, at 36 she got hit at high-speed in a car and was lucky to live. But the crash left damage to her face, and so she began creating exercises to align and tone her face. People commented on the results and she is now one of the best-selling beauty experts in Japan, and has a popular website.
Like many beauty gurus, Fumiko recommends drinking hot water to increases blood circulation. This can also be likened to washing dishes: you would not get rid of gunk on plates with cold water. Likewise, to loosen digestive rubbish from your body (a cause of blotchy and puffy skin), you need to use warm (rather than cold) water. Check out the before/after photos on her website, they are quite amazing!
Zero Waste Vegan Beauty Supplements
These zero waste beauty supplements offer a plastic-free alternative to the millions of people who take them. You know the type: take a pill each day for a month, for stronger hair, nails and skin. Of course, what you eat is far more important. But if you need a helping hand and take these, then here are some better choices. Feel Beauty Probiotic offers quality vegan hair/skin/nail supplements, in compostable packaging. One pot of 60 capsules lasts a month (take with food), for a powerful formula to maintain healthy hair, skin, nails and gut. Amazing results in weeks. If you eat a few nuts, seeds or hemp, you are fine for DHA (for skin and nails). If you need EHA (for eyes, heart, brain etc), it’s better to use one of these, if safe to do so. Designed for age 16 and over, talk to your doctor if pregnant or on medication and read their FAQ.
The World’s First Vegan Collagen Supplement
Raw Beauty Lab offers the world’s first vegan collagen supplement. See and feel the results within 28 days, then compost the packaging at home. The wholefood sources are up to 1200% more effective, and the results benefit your skin, hair and nails. Unlike bovine or marine collagen, it contains a blend of antioxidant-rich superfoods to smooth fine lines and improve skin texture. And as well as planting a tree for each order, it tastes like a strawberry milkshake!
The company was founded by a former runner-up Miss Australia, who combined her background in pharmacology with Jared’s business background. We may not end up looking like her (that’s a fortunate genetic accident!) but the before/after photos of people who take these supplements are pretty amazing!
Future Kind Vegan Collagen Booster
FutureKind Vegan Collagen Supplement (US) is in sustainable packaging and profits help animal charities worldwide. This advanced plant-powered collagen booster harnesses 16 boosting nutrients including silica, biotin, zinc and vitamins. Consult a doctor first if pregnant/nursing, under 18 or a known medical condition or allergy. Keep in a cool dry place away from sunlight, not near pets or children.
