‘Human Barbie’ Creating The Next Designer Generation
Sarah Burge (aka Human Barbie) "protecting" her daughter by injecting her with Botox
Trending: The New 25 Is Old And Haggard
The daughter’s opinion:
Hannah Burge, age 16, said: “I wanted to have Botox for two reasons – it prevents wrinkles and everyone at my school was talking about having “B”.
I had a couple of lines on my forehead and around my mouth, which I was unhappy about.’ Appearance is important to me and I don’t want to look haggard and ugly by the time I’m 25.”
The mother’s opinion:
“I know some parents will be horrified but this is my way of protecting my daughter from back-street rip-off merchants.
Also, considering I have had so much surgery (holds the record – over a 100 cosmetic procedures, including 3 face-lifts before the age of 49), I’d be a hypocrite to tell my daughter she couldn’t have Botox.”
My personal favorite: “My opinion is that parents should be much more involved in their children’s lives from an early age and I know that Hannah doesn’t mind me knowing about her love of B.”
And back to the daughter:
“Teen Toxing is just part of life these days, which is why I share it with my mum.” (A family who Botoxes together stays together).
“With her help, I won’t get that frozen-face look when I’m older and will never have a line or wrinkle on my face.”
My opinion:
They’re nuts. Beyond that I’m not sure what to say except this is a boon to the cosmetic procedure industry and anti-aging product industry. Their market now includes teenagers…as young as 15. With a little more marketing, they’ll be getting the tweens soon. Sigh.
I shouldn’t be surprised that mothers of teenagers are willing to change their child’s looks; there’s BabyBangs for bald-headed baby girls. Granted fake hair isn’t a toxin but the behavior still displays a non-acceptance of the natural way a person looks at a given age.
An integral part of beauty pageants for children (which I’ve written about before) is mothers putting make-up and false eyelashes on toddlers. Parents are also bleaching and coloring their young children’s hair for the pageants. We know long-term bleaching destroys the hair and I hate to think about the chemicals in the bleaches and dyes that are being absorbed into the body of a developing child.
So again, why am I surprised (and sickened and saddened) that there would be a mother who would inject her teenage daughter with Botox?
But I do remain bewildered, befuddled and bemused. Aside from the alliterations I see nothing positive in all of this.
What’s your opinion?
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Oh
My
God
It stuns me that people who think about using botox don’t think it through a little more: when you don’t use a muscle, it atrophies. That means, surely, that over time the muscle loses definition, so what will hold up the skin on the face? Not to mention the way that the muscles of the face actually influence the way our body’s chemistry works… quick fix gone mad :(
I know Sandy – what will their faces look like over time? Especially if a person starts using botox at age 15. Thank goodness there’s people like you helping people learn how to love their bodies as they are. Cherry
Now there’s something to aspire to – I wanna be the next Human Barbie! Oh yeah, bring it on.
Ok, never mind. I’d actually rather be me – with all of my perfections and imperfections. I guess it’s true confessions time. I actually used to be upset because my nostrils weren’t the same size and shape. I’d look at them in the mirror and think – “How will anyone love me with this insane deformity?” You know something? No one (including all three of my husbands) have ever noticed!
A colleague of mine who does Myofascial Release on women who have had Botox treatments to soften their faces, told me that the Botox eventually slips out of the face (or injection site), but it never breaks down and leaves the body. Now there’s a happy thought for all of the 15-year olds who are getting safe injections from their mothers and dermatologists.
Jill, I didn’t know it didn’t ever leave the body – now that is scary!
Now this is even scarier, Botox stays in the body’s system and never breaks down like food and enzymes. This is one good reason I would never want to do the Big B.
Thank you for the great post, Cherry. This is so disturbing. Mothers should help their children build a positive self-image and not encourage cosmetic procedures! Besides the physical harm, the psychological effects of this will certainly be quite harmful.
And speaking of physical effects: Botox is indeed a very dangerous substance and we have yet to know the long-term effects of its use. According to this article:
“Researchers from the Italian National Research Council’s Institute of Neuroscience who injected botulinum toxin into the faces of rats found that it moved away from the site of the injection and could be detected just days later in brain stem cells. The poison was not only still present in the rats’ brains six months later, but was able to travel from one region of the brain to another.” (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/botox-the-brain-pain-805253.html)
!!!
Wow, Elena, this is mind-opening but frightening information about how Botox may move into the brain after being in a living body’s system for quite some time. Oh my goodness gracious!
The whole thing is ridiculous. This girl doesn’t want to look “haggard” at 25??? Her mother needs to keep her issues to herself, but clearly it’s so beyond that at this point. I feel sorry for the daughter.
This is why I’m trying so very hard not to pass on my own neuroses and low self-esteem to my daughters. They are only 4, but still so impressionable, and pick up on so many little things.
This, however, takes the cake. I don’t know how this Barbie mom sleeps at night. And shame on the doctor(s) who keep operating on her, too.
Erin, you got an excellent point. Children are like sponges and they can learn anything from their parents, good and bad. You are not the only person feeling sorry for that girl, I too cannot help but wonder how on earth she can think that she will be haggard by the time she is 25. She should not be worrying about this and it is a pity, she is only going to grow up to be an unhappy woman who thinks that a little tweaking here and there would make her happier in order to attain the ‘ultimate’ look. But in the end, she will just remain dissatisfied all the time.
Ditto…they are nuts! It’s a perversion. It’s one thing to use this stuff and it’s another to base it on the premise that “I don’t/won’t look good enough,” a corollary to “I’m not/never will be good enough.” And for whom? This isn’t done to attract a man (like in the old days!) but to look good for other women. Why? So they won’t bully you? Egad, this is just a mess and so many are making so much $ perpetuating it!
Dear Cherry,
Your post about the use of Botox among adolescent girls caught my attention. As a young lady in my twenties, I cannot help but be shocked at how young this girl is doing this to herself. 15 is too young to have Botox and if I were the mother, I rather put my foot down, tell her a big no and endure the tantrums and wails than to bow down to her and give her what she wants. It is wrong and unnatural to have a 15-year-old girl with a ‘frozen’ face that can’t make any natural facial gestures.
It is not just teenaged girls doing the Big B there are even ladies my age, ranging between 20 to 29, doing it too and it’s unnecessary. Why can’t these girls be happy with themselves than try putting those unnatural things inside their faces? Do they not realised that they may age badly in the future? As a young woman, I am determined to age gracefully by taking care of myself and never rely on the Big B or the knife because I rather if nature takes its course on me. Last but not least, thank you for your article.