No Botox? No Retinols?? 8 Anti Aging Hacks to Try Instead!

February 17, 2023

Written by Christian Brewer

No Botox? No Retinols?? 8 Anti Aging Hacks to Try Instead!

February 17, 2023

Written by Christian Brewer

Are you on the fence of not knowing if botox is the right choice for you? There is no shame here about getting botox, but it's definitely not the only option you have when it comes to anti-aging. Since we are skin care besties this is the exact advice we give everyone when the topic of botox and retinol comes up. In a world of botox, fillers, retinol, and harsh chemical treatments we are going to share our great skin care and lifestyle habits that practice kindness and care for your skin with no-tox alternatives.

Why we are no botox , no fillers, and no retinol

Here is the short straight forward answer: botox is not a skin treatment and it does not last forever. Something not everyone is aware of is that botox freezes your muscles, and overtime your muscles begin to weaken since they are not active as they use to be. This can cause skin drooping. On the other hand, fillers is a procedure to expand the skin; however, the same issues occurs that it can cause your skin to "deflate". These two procedures keep women in a never ending cycle to get more botox, continue fillers for fear that their skin would eventually sag even worse than before. Also, it is good to remember that your skin can only handle so much and there is a point in some journeys where the botox and fillers wear off or is not as effective.

Personally, I have friends that started baby botox (botox at 20), I am not going to lie, you can tell no difference between the both of us! Thankfully, I have a mom who taught me that there is a way to age gracefully. Recently, I met with a friend for dinner and we began talking about botox. She mentioned she wanted my advice if she should splurge on botox for her birthday (average cost of botox $555). I actually did not even know that botox was that expensive. This is my advice for everyone who is considering a no-tox alternative. Regardless if you choose botox or not, taking care of your skin and health is only going to make you feel and look your best. It is good to remember that botox is not a treatment and does nothing to give you glowing, smooth skin, or hydrated skin.

What are the Alternatives???

1. Eating a healthy diet for your body!

My family has always been healthy obsessed with low inflammation diets like SCD, gluten free, and the AIP diet. From getting made fun of at school for my mom packing me organic Cheetos, to thanking my mom for always making me healthy conscious my love language is healthy food now. I am always on a personal mission to make eating healthy taste absolutely delicious. This year my mom and I have been really learning how to eat to balance our hormones, if you didn’t know there are different food that is better at different times of the month that link up to your mensural cycle. Following this and a work out routine to your hormones you would be amazed how much better your body feels following this advice. Also, juicing is huge part of our lifestyle, drinking just 8 oz of freshly pressed juice a day my skin looks unreal and the glow is so noticeable. Am I perfect, no! Food is so tempting and sometimes I am too lazy to get my juicer out! I can tell you my quality of life, energy, and glow to my skin is always better when I am being active about my health.

For more about this topic these are my favorite pages for how to jumpstart your healthy eating journey!

Little Rae of Health

Dr. Mindy Pelz
Weston A Price

2. Overnight Masking

This is our favorite anti-aging routine for someone looking to have better skin over night. Overnight masking entails apply a mask that you can wear overnight to aid in the healing process of your skin while you slumber. Brighter, smoother, more hydrated skin is just the first few things you will notice in the morning. I am convinced that if you just cleanse your skin and apply an overnight mask....that's the only night time routine you need.

🌟Audra & Christian's Pick: Glass Skin Mask by Agent Nateur

3. AHA + BHA

This is something you can start as early as your teens and 20's. What are they? Glycolic acid, lactic acid, mandalic acid, salicylic acid. These help with fine lines and wrinkles, large pores, age spots discoloration. These acids, enzymes give you a nice glow and speed up new skin cells.

🌟Christians Pick: Moss Mornings Sleep Peels

🌟Audra's Pick: Indie Lee AHA Solution

🌟Poppy Customer Favorite: Honua Hawaiian Beauty Water

4. Vitamin C

Vitamin C is that lighten, tighten, brighten ingredient! This will give your skin an instant perk up. Vitamin C preserves and protects skin-firming fibers such as collagen and elastin making it an excellent alternative.

🌟Audra's Pick: Honua Beauty Boost

🌟Christian's Pick: Agent Holi C Powder

5. Retinol Alternatives Plant Base:

Retinol for us is a no go. This ingredient is known to cause and disrupt the skin barrier. Skin thinning, premature aging dark spots, irritation, redness, and discoloration are all common issues. If your skin is experiencing these side effects it's time to ditch the retinol and do something a lot more nourishing. There are many plant base options in our online shop that serve as alternatives to retinol.

✨ Indie Lee Stem Cell Serum- contains apple plant stem cells that leave your skin hydrated and plump

✨ Indie Lee Retinol Alternative Cream- a any time cream you can use morning and night with plant base retinol alternatives

✨Agent Nateur Holi Cream- contains peptides that lead to firmer and more youthful looking skin.

✨ Agent Holi Lift- has white lily bulb extract which naturally relaxes your muscles and is literally called "topical botox"!

✨Honua Youth Serum- contains retinol alternative barkuchiol oil + amazing botanicals from Hawaii

6. SPF

UV exposure seems to be responsible for 80% of visible facial aging signs, which is why an SPF is super important! And use it daily! All of our SPF options are coral and reef safe as well.

🌟Christian and Audra's Pick: HONUA SPF 30

🌟Customer Favorite: Suntegrity Tinted Moisturizer SPF 30

🌟Beach Day Essential: Chocolate Sun's Shea Hydration

🌟For the makeup lovers: Kosas Skin Improving Foundation SPF 25

7. Gua Sha

Gua sha has been known to improve circulation in your skin by increasing blood flow and draining your lymphatic system to remove built up toxins and fluid in your skin. Gua sha just 3 minutes a day, preferably best at night time with your favorite facial oil. The best way to reduce forehead wrinkles is to actually work the gua sha into the hair line! From the eye brow going up into the hair line a few inches. There are meridians that run through the forehead that actually go into the scalp. Remember to be gentle and not aggressive.

🌟 Favorite Gua Sha: Mount Lai Gua Sha's

🌟 Poppy Customer Favorite Oil: Indie Lee Squalane Oil

🌟 Audra's & Christian's Favorite Oil: Agent Nateur Ageless Face Serum

8. TOP BEAUTY SECRET

If we could carry these wrinkle patches in our online shop we would. However, they do not offer wholesale to any retailers at the moment, but we love that it is another woman owned business that will erase your desire to even get botox. We love you guys and want you to have the information you need to age gracefully. Also, this will only cost you under $30 for a box of 144 patches! Insane right! Frownies Facial Patches are made from skin-safe adhesive paper that can be cut to a desired size and shape so you can tackle the horizontal rows across the forehead and the 11's in between the eyebrows simultaneously. They help freeze the facial muscles during use, preventing expression lines from deepening into wrinkles and keeping the skin smooth. If you have heard about the benefits of mouth taping it's kinda like that but for your wrinkles. It trains your forehead not to scrinch up. We active them with water, a Laurel toner, Agent Nateur toner or even our Indie Lee Toner will do the trick. Stick them on and sleep with them a few nights a week after the 30 day forehead reset if you have deep fine lines and wrinkles.

Thank you guys so much for checking out this blog post and we hope it helps you in your pro-aging journey! If you have any questions or want a custom anti-aging routine to your budget, skin concern, and needs DM us on social media or email us hello@poppyavenue.com!