I first realised my neck had betrayed me in the back of an Uber last year. I was taking a selfie and caught myself from below… and there it was. My 51-year-old neck.
My softening jawline, some light jowls, the deep lines and crepey skin exposed for all to see. It took me by surprise.
While I’ve been vigilant about my skincare almost all of my adult life, I’ve failed to show the same tender loving care for my neck, despite, as a rookie journalist, reading so many features that told me the neck shows ‘the first signs of ageing’.
Plus, foolishly, I failed to listen to my first ever facialist (a wise and lovely woman from Clarins), who told me to always take moisturiser down my neck.
So I did what any self-respecting beauty masochist would do. I pinged the photo to my best friend: ‘My neck! What the hell? Send help.’
I was taking a selfie and caught myself from below, writes Deborah Joseph, and there it was. My 51-year-old neck
While I’ve been vigilant about my skincare almost all of my adult life, I’ve failed to show the same tender loving care for my neck
We had already spent months marvelling at Instagram videos of newly-hoisted jawlines of 50-plus women and even researched plastic surgeons. I’m not ready for plastic surgery now – maybe ever. All I want is for my neck to stop ageing faster than the rest of me.
I have olive skin that has aged reasonably well. I don’t have a huge amount of wrinkling, though I have developed some age and skin freckling and some pigmentation, having not been as vigilant with SPF as I should have been.
After 21 years of editing beauty features and interviewing experts, I’ve had access to pioneering anti-ageing products.
I also believe in speaking honestly about tweakments. I have had Botox once a year since turning 45, and once tried polynucleotides (salmon sperm injections) under my eyes and Profhilo (injectable skin booster treatment that uses high concentration hyaluronic acid) in my face.
I wouldn’t do either again. I’ve also had under-eye trough filler, but had it dissolved when it started to move around my face.
But then, last year, I entered my Nora Ephron phase. I now feel bad about my neck.
I sought the expertise of Harley Street’s Dr Anne Mendelovici, an internationally renowned cosmetic and anti-ageing doctor, working between London and Paris for the past 20 years.
She often recommends jawline and neck Botox treatments as part of facial rejuvenation. And lower-face contouring for ‘patients over 40 who are beginning to see loss of jawline definition, early jowling, neck banding or heaviness’.
Dr Mendelovici explains: ‘The treatment works by relaxing muscles that pull the lower face downward. This can create a subtle lifting and tightening effect along the jawline.’
After an in-depth consultation, the actual Botox took less than ten minutes and was a lot less painful than having it in my forehead.
In the neck, Botox is usually injected into the platysma bands – vertical muscles that become more visible with age.
To be clear, this is not a facelift. ‘Patients should not expect a dramatic lifting, major skin tightening or permanent results,’ says Dr Mendelovici.
For the first few days I didn’t notice a difference – and I was a bit disappointed.
I had some slight bruising in my neck, which I easily covered with concealer. But two weeks later, my jawline suddenly looked more defined; the square ‘jowly’ appearance was not so obvious.
The crepey skin on my neck was markedly smoother, softer and less lined. People started saying, ‘You look really well.’
After 21 years of editing beauty features , I’ve had access to pioneering anti-ageing products. But last year I entered my Nora Ephron phase. I now feel bad about my neck
Not one of them asked, ‘What have you had done?’ So I told them. Surprisingly, most didn’t know jaw and neck Botox was a ‘thing’.
I’ve lost count of how many have asked for Dr Mendelovici’s number. As someone used to the effects of Botox, emotionally, I was surprised how much difference it has made.
I feel more like ‘me’. The old me, before the three children, stressful jobs and years of menopausal sleepless nights.
The effects usually last six to nine months and, three months on, I’m still happy. Would I do it again? 100 per cent. In fact, I’ve already booked an appointment for September.
This treatment, which starts from £400, has been worth every penny. Not because I think my neck is now perfect. It isn’t. Or because I’m chasing youth. No, it’s because a more facially taut version of me is much appreciated.
Or maybe the version of me who didn’t sunbathe in her teens by slathering oil all over, and reflected the sun on to her face and body with Mum’s kitchen foil (yes, I know).
Or maybe just the version of me who listened to that Clarins facialist and moisturised my neck.
