In 2020, 4.4 million people received a treatment of Botulinum Toxin Type A—more commonly known as “Botox.” On a Saturday afternoon in May, eight of us added to that number. The“Botox Brunch” put on by Persimmon (a Bay Area-based, on-demand aesthetic treatments business) was in the community room of a lux apartment building in Pacific Heights.
There were mimosas. There were mini muffins. There were coolers of Botox vials waiting to be administered.
But the strangest part of the experience? It was surprisingly familiar. Even though needles were going into faces, it didn’t feel any different from other types of public beauty maintenance.
The guests were friendly and chatty. They swapped insider knowledge about medical-grade sunscreens, retinol concentration levels, and hair-removal cycles. We could’ve just as well been in any San Francisco nail salon discussing our favorite topcoats.
In fact: If you’re a regular at any business that evokes a salon-like quality to it, then you’ve likely experienced the vibe of this specific Persimmon party.
Plastic surgery clients are overwhelmingly white, women, and between 40 to 54 years old. Understandably, these demographics’ preferences have created the public sentiment on plastic surgery; people think plastic surgery is for aging white ladies who don’t have many wrinkles… but want to get rid of them anyway. Which is neither entirely correct nor entirely wrong.
Beauty is an economy. Beauty can also be a hobby. And they’re both growing.
As a smart-phone holding population, we’re capturing and posting more pictures and videos of ourselves than our 2005 selves could have possibly imagined. This has caused the “econo-hobby” of aesthetic maintenance and augmentation to “completely blow up,” per Persimmon nurse Rachel Y.—who was also my Botox nurse for the day.
An on-demand Botox service like Persimmon is an understandable response to growth in the industry. With Persimmon, hosts can invite a few friends over, open a bottle (or not), and have everyone looking a little tighter in just a few hours’ time. And — just like a Tupperware or Pampered Chef party — the deepest discounts go to the hosts.
Persimmon nurses are mostly called to homes, but they’ve also done larger parties where other beauty practitioners are stationed in tandem with brow waxers or teeth whiteners. They are even in talks with a yoga studio in Petaluma, California to set up an event.
I asked Rachel Y. about the usual manner of her clientele. I could see especially nervous or ashamed-of-Botox clients preferring Persimmon’s at-home privacy. Rachel said that about a quarter of her patients were nervous first-timers … who often go on to host their own Botox parties.
And sometimes, mothers ask Rachel to be covert around their teenage daughters. They don’t want their daughters to know mom gets Botox. (Not just yet, at least.)
While I’m mentioning Rachel Y., I must say: She was the most careful, methodical, knowledgeable nurse I’ve ever received a Botox treatment from. She really studied my face and thought about exactly where the Botox would best relax or reveal muscles. She did me right. My left “talker brow” is now tacked down and my right, squinty-er eye is more open. I look symmetrical and smooth.
“I cannot live without Botox,” one woman said. Later, she politely declined treatment because it’d been too soon since her last injections. “You don’t want to develop an immunity to it,” an attendee offered with consolation.
I tint my eyebrows. I chew teeth-whitening gum. I dab concealer under my eyes. I get Botox.
All these processes are temporary; Botox treatments last anywhere between three and six months. I get used to my smooth forehead and, when the lines reappear, I feel worse about them than I did in the first place. This leaves me wondering if simply accepting the way I look naturally would be a shorter road to happiness.
As Dana implies in the previous tweet above, when a mass of us participate in the same beauty rituals, we don’t win. We just move the goalposts.
But before I start demanding collective action to overthrow big beauty brands, my own vanity stays in my hand.
My mom would never even consider cosmetic surgery. But she’ll never tell you her age. Like most of her peers, she continues to dye her hair brunette even though she can now collect social security. When I was a kid I remember her saying: “Joe, I’ve felt 35 years old for 20 years. I don’t feel old. So, I don’t want people knowing I’m old.”
I think the question “why don’t you want to look your age?” Can be answered by the question, “How are people my age treated?”
Sometimes we want to look younger. Sometimes we just want to look the way we feel. Either way, customizing your aesthetic has never been easier, safer, or had more options.
You, too, can have a Persimmon Botox party in your living room. Tomorrow? Maybe. Who knows? Just promise me that you’ll apply SPF before leaving the house every day.
Persimmon offers at-home beauty treatments—facial peels, microneedling, Botox injections, Latisse treatments, and more —that can be booked online; Botox treatments start at $395 and include 30 units (additional units can be had a $12 each); for more information on how Persimmon’s roster to medical-grade cosmeceutical treatments, including how to book your very own Botox Party, visit persimmon.life for more information.
