Back to BASICS
Why celebs are reversing their surgeries and going for the “natural” look
Former Love Island star Maura Higgins recently received a boat load of praise for appearing without a scrap of make-up on TV. Ignoring the fact she had a brighter-than-the-sun ring light pointed at her, it was still refreshing to see a celeb willing to show themselves in all their natural beauty. Maura admitted she felt “naked” and self-conscious, but stressed how necessary she thought it was to show fans the “real” her. “All the youngsters look at these picture-perfect photos on social media and think people in the public eye are perfect, but we have glam teams, filters… It’s very important to show the natural side and the realness,” the 31 year old said. “We all have blemishes – we all get the odd spot now and again. I recently turned 30 and hope to have a family someday. I fear for my kids entering social media, because kids are hard on themselves.” And Maura isn’t the only one going back to basics. While a few years ago, the Kardashians seemed to be the ideal in terms of looks, recently there has been a surge in celebrities reversing surgeries in an attempt to rewind the clock. Natural is back.
LEARNING FROM MISTAKES
At the tender age of 21, another former Love Island contestant has already had two cosmetic procedures reversed. Telling her followers she’s “going through a journey to become a bit more natural”, Molly-mae Hague recently shared the process of having her lip fillers dissolved, as well as her natural smile reinstated. The star – who was already “Insta-famous”
before making her appearance on the 2019 series of the reality show – has said that she began getting fillers when she was just 17.
Sharing her visit to the clinic and the following results, Mollymae laughed about how “tiny” her lips looked after the dissolvent took effect, joking that her doctor had told the star she’d had to use a “record amount” to break down the years of product she had built-up. The influencer also took her followers along to see her tooth veneers being removed. She told viewers on her Youtube channel, “I feel like with my teeth, at the moment, you can really tell that they’re fake, and as you guys know, I’ve been going through a journey to become a bit more natural. I’m really trying to strip everything back.”
And while Molly-mae told her fans how happy she was with her new look, it’s worth noting that Ruh Dental – who carried out the work on her teeth
– confirmed her new smile still had a little help. The surgery explained that her existing composite veneers had been replaced with “minimal composite edge-bonding and teeth whitening”, and that they would use Invisalign clear aligners “to discreetly straighten the lower teeth without the requirement for conventional fixed braces”.
A STARK WARNING
Celebrities change their looks all the time. While it’s usually fashion and make-up trends that come and go, many cosmetic procedures have become the latest way of temporarily creating a whole new look.
The medical professionals who carry out the work even call them “tweakments”, which ultimately seems to be a way for celebs to avoid saying they’ve had surgery done. But what is most shocking about the swell of surgery reversals is how young the regretful stars seem to be now.
Megan Mckenna was just 18 when she first appeared on TOWIE, and by the age of 26, she made the decision to have her lip fillers dissolved. Speaking to heat when she appeared on The X Factor: Celebrity, Megan told us, “I would never ever go back to what I was. I look back at myself and I’m embarrassed by the pictures. Being on telly for four years with my lips like that, it’s embarrassing.”
Amy Childs – another TOWIE star – had her first breast enhancement when she was just 18 years old, before she’d even appeared on TV. She has admitted to becoming addicted to surgery, to the point that she was hospitalised when one of her breast implants (from her second procedure) ruptured, and the other “flipped over”. She has since stated that she believes anyone under 25 shouldn’t be allowed to have cosmetic surgery.
Molly-mae echoes Amy’s point, encouraging her fans to hold on. “Wait a good few years until your face has matured, until you get a little bit older, and then make decisions about cosmetic work and stuff. Please don’t make the same mistakes I did,” she has said.
A WELCOME CHANGE?
Clinical psychologist Linda Blair, agrees that it is a positive step to see celebrities warning their young fans. “I think that’s wonderful. Although, I do think that generation is marvellously open to that kind of approach to life,” she tells us. “They’re ready to hear it. I think it’s great to have role models who say, ‘You know what? You can change your mind, and you can admit it. It’s fine.’”
But Linda also has an interesting take on the intention behind celebrities striving for the natural look.“it’s important for celebrities to continue to interest people – that’s their whole function – and so they can’t stay the same. They have to keep changing. And they’ve gone fairly far one way, so I think that they’re thinking the change will get them in the headlines again. In a nicer sense, I also think that – in order to endear themselves to us – they have to appear to be more ‘one of the people’. None of us right now can go get fillers, let alone colour our hair! And so it’s a real leveller.”
As all trends come and go, Linda believes it won’t be long before the pendulum swings in the other direction. “Change is the name of the game when you’re in that business,” she says. n
‘None of us can get fillers right now’