The XX Factor : Botox

Spoiling Susan Boyle

Kerry Howley — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:47:00 GMT

I think the Susan Boyle Preservation Project has crossed the line into creepy. From Us Magazine : "I won't let Simon Cowell take her to his dentist and I certainly won't let her near his hairdresser," judge Amanda Holden tells the U.K. Mirror. The frumpy...(read more)

Orbach's "Bodies," Ourselves

Jessica Grose — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:36:00 GMT

A guest post from Slate intern Margaret Johnson: Those interested in the crazy things we do to our bodies might want to look at Deborah Solomon’s interview with British psychoanalyst Susie Orbach running in this week’s issue of the New York Times Magazine...(read more)

Faint Praise Indeed

Jessica Grose — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:02:00 GMT

I'll take the bait, Willa . I found the Oscars as predictable and smarmily self-congratulatory as usual. Unlike Slate 's Troy Patterson, who called the presentation of the acting awards by the five previous winners "a welcome development," I found it...(read more)

What Price Beauty?

Marjorie Valbrun — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 05:31:00 GMT

Susannah , I so agree with you. If only the dismal economy really did persuade lots of women to forgo botox injections and plastic surgery and opt instead for more natural alternative beauty therapies. I have to admit that while I am all for going au...(read more)

Alex Kuczynski Rented Another Woman's Womb. So What?

Susannah Breslin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:33:00 GMT

In last weekend's New York Times Magazine , beauty writer, Botox fan, and Beauty Junkies author Alex Kuczynski writes about how, after she'd spent more than $100,000 on in vitro fertilization and suffered multiple miscarriages, she hired another woman...(read more)

But a Boob Job IS an Investment

Rosa Brooks — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:57:00 GMT

In his " Human Nature " blog, Slate 's Will Saletan rejoices over the recession's toll on the cosmetic surgery business and expresses horror at the idea that some suckers (social parasites?) still refinance their homes to get cosmetic surgery during economic...(read more)

We Are All Under 40 Now

Hanna Rosin — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:45:00 GMT

This excessive Botoxing and retouching has something to do with the collapse of the classes, or at least the shifting in what used to define the super-rich. "The 'luxury' experience has become thoroughly middle-class, even prole (two words: 'Gucci T-shirt'),"...(read more)

Peddling Botox

Liza Mundy — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:38:00 GMT

Ah, yes, the unsolicited-Botox pitch. My experience wasn't nearly so harrowing or prolonged as Melinda's, but a couple of years ago I went to a dermatologist for a small, straightforward medical matter. It was hard not to notice the large photo on his...(read more)