The topic of plastic surgery can be a polarizing one. While some have embraced the idea of changing their looks, others are firmly against it. And then there are those that have undergone procedures and seriously regretted their decision. Beauty YouTuber Cydnee Black is one of those people.
After getting fillers on two different occasions, she revealed in a video that the decision ultimately ruined her face and has completely changed her stance on cosmetic altering. In a society that promotes perfection, her video is a much-needed reminder of the dangers of injectables and other procedures.
Popular beauty YouTuber Cydnee Black just published her most transparent video yet.
In a video title, "I Ruined My Face, Pretty Privilege, Insecurities," she got real about her experiences with minimally invasive cosmetic procedures, and none of us saw it coming.
"I am in no way shaming people who decide to get filler, or botox, or any cosmetic surgery. But I did want to talk about this and share this with you all. I was going to go to the grave with it, I was scared to talk about it," she began.
Her first procedure came in 2017.
In the age of social media and unrealistic expectations of perfection, Black found herself succumbing to the beauty standards of the glamorous city of Los Angeles. Like many beauty YouTubers she, too, wanted to do what she could to keep up with the superficial world of beauty.
"2017 was the year that I was really drinking the Kool Aid out here in LA," she said.
The results were minimal.
"I would do my makeup and then go to edit the video and I feel like I was just constantly seeing things I didn't like about my face… Everybody I knew was getting filler and botox," she said.
Her first round of fillers consisted of botox in her jaw to make her face appear smaller. However, the results were not as noticeable as she had wanted.
Next came filler under her eyes.
In an effort to aid what she referred to as "lines under her eyes," she hoped to fill what she considered a more hollow area of her face. While at the plastic surgeon, the doctor convinced her to also add fillers to the apples of her cheeks.
Black was upset with the results, which left her appearing swollen. "I remember feeling super insecure about it," she said.
The swelling that she hoped had gone down didn't.
And Black was left with a face that was ultimately the opposite of what she wanted. "People thought I was pregnant; a lot of people asked if I was pregnant," she said.
The debacle lead her to stop posting all-together, as she didn't like what she saw. Black felt that she had ultimately been peer-pressured into something that left her face in a far worse state than it began.
"It was probably one of the worst decisions I had ever made," she said.
The video brought about a candid conversation on Reddit, where people shared their own injectables stories.
One woman described the intense pain of fillers.
"I’m 34 and just got lip fillers for the first time on Monday – let me just tell you, the pain was unlike anything I have ever felt. I like the outcome, however, I don’t know if I would ever do it again because of the pain – and yes I was numbed. ALSO, if my sister wasn’t the one who did it, and I got a deal on it, I don’t know how anyone can drop THAT much money in one sitting…it’s expensive AF," she said.
Many are concerned about how "mainstream" injectables have become.
"Injectables have been around since the 1890s but safe injectables have been accessible for over 40 years now. It’s only become ‘mainstream’ because of the affordability and openness of society to such ‘lunchtime’ procedures. Some long term studies have been carried out and peer reviewed publications have found them to be effective and safe. Most fillers used in the cosmetic industry are biodegradable and non permanent. I think the negative impacts would mainly be dependent on the practitioners ability to inject it without disrupting the facial balance. In addition mentally it does impact the way you see yourself," someone said.
One believes that women should just embrace aging.
"I was reading an article just the other day about women in NY at my age (28) getting botox, fillers, cold sculpting, etc.
It was crazy. While I'm definitely at a place where I notice that I'm aging, or my skin doesn't recover as quickly…to go to the lengths these people are. idk. I don't want to shame, but I feel like there's some value in embracing that adult humans don't look like they're 18 and they're not supposed to," she said.
As Black continued the video while speaking about pretty privilege, she also came under fire for her experience with colorism.
"I was disappointed as well, I didn't see the video, but I saw reaction videos. I don't think she realises that coloursim isn't so cut and dry as light skin vs dark skin, there's so many other factors, hair texture, facial features. Cyndee, as a dark skin black woman with naturally blue eyes, probably didn't receive much discrimination compared to someone that looks like lupita. You can't say you acknowledge the discrimination other black women have faced, and then say it's an illusion," someone explained.
Ultimately, the video deterred many from getting injectables.
"This is why I won't ever get any cosmetic surgery done. I have an addictive personality and low self esteem and Lord knows if I sat there with a doctor telling me, "Well we could do a little something to your eyebrows and your nose can get smaller without rhinoplasty.." I would just keep going.." someone said about the decision to never get cosmetics surgery.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
