Black Women Are Using Botox To Keep Their Edges Laid
We are weeks away from warmer weather and that means sweat! Any amount of perspiration or precipitation can ruin a good hair style. For Black women, that means relaxers, blowouts, fresh braids, to silk presses. No one wants to feel like they wasted their time and money in the salon.
When sweat trickles down your face from the humidity it can destroy your make-up, your hair, and unlay your edges. The short baby hairs that frame your face naturally or slicked back with gel or edge control. After a viral TikTok video, women with natural hair are saying that Botox has helped them obtain smooth edges. This wouldn’t be the first time the “Blotox” came into play. US Weekly reported on the alternative method back in 2017. They said that women of all races have been hip to this trend for several years.
“I have been doing Blotox for about eight years,” dermatologist Dr. Michelle Henry told Us Weekly. “I had a number of patients that were resistant to working out because they didn’t want to ruin their hairstyle or blowout.”
Botox, or botulinum toxin, is known for reducing wrinkles in the face. It has also been used as a treatment for excessive sweating after being injected into a person’s underarms or hands. According to NPR, it blocks the nerve signals responsible for stimulating perspiration and paralyzes the sweat glands. Doctors have also prescribed the drug for treatments including migraines, depression, and overactive bladders.
Instead of worrying about whether an edge gel will last throughout the day or sweating out your new hair style, Black women are finding doctors who can help them keep their edges laid in place with the touch of Botox.
It’s Gained Popularity
Michelle Henry, a Black dermatologist in New York, told The Washington Post that she’s injected women with Botox to prevent sweating around their edges hundreds of times. But it’s only gained popularity among her Black patients with curly hair over the last five years.
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“There are so many women, particularly Black women, who are not working out or not doing what they can do to best promote their cardiovascular health because they feel the constraints of always keeping their hair a certain way,” Henry told The Washington Post. “After they get Botox in their edges, I get reactions like ‘This has not only changed my ability to work out, but it’s changed my work life.'”
The treatment can cost $300 to $500 to administer Botox along the edge of a woman’s hairline. Some experts say the procedure can stop perspiration in the area for about three to six months.
The “Blotox” does come with a warning. Doctors warn that injecting Botox in your hair line is not FDA-approved and repeated use could have its consequences, like hair loss.
