Don't Want Botox? Then Try These Alternatives

From microcurrents to lasers, there are other ways to tackle ageing skin, says Madeleine Spencer

- Madeleine Spencer

It is likely that you have a strong opinion on Botox; almost everybody does. Depending on whether you are fiercely pro or violently anti, to your mind it is either the perfect cure for lines or a dangerous toxin that shouldn't ever be injected. Botox, a brand name for the botulinum toxin that works by preventing muscles from moving, seems to divide opinion like no other injectable.

Even the experts are at it. When I asked a handful of them if they had noticed a decline in demand, I received some emphatic answers to say yes, it was absolutely being edged out by other advancements, while others said it remained as popular as ever.

One thing they all agreed on: gone are the days of anyone wanting Botox injections to create a blank, expressionless face, with Alice Hart-Davis, journalist and founder of The Tweakments Guide, telling me that "none of us want the sort of frozen face or wonky brows that lots of people think of when they think of Botox".

Hear, hear. In fact, I find the idea of losing character and being unable to express myself through my features so intensely unappealing that I have not yet had a single Botox injection into my face for anti-ageing purposes (I have had some in my jaw to stop myself clenching it while sleeping, to help slow my gum recession).

My reluctance to have Botox is not to suggest for one moment that I'm not afflicted with vanity, so while I don't mind the idea of ageing serenely like those women in river cruise adverts - all delicate lines and cashmere wraps - I would be horrified if all the stress and vigour of living in London became etched on my features.