Kara Carter
Words by Kara Carter
What began as a subtle, noninvasive beauty treatment to combat aging, turned to a cultural shift within the beauty community. Suddenly overly plumped lips, full cheeks, a smooth forehead, sharp chin and exaggerated jawline became the new norm. How did this aesthetic become irresistible, and what led to its eventual downfall?
So what is a ‘pillowface’?
This term was coined in the early 2010s when celebrities in Hollywood started to appear a little bit different due to cosmetic treatments. The term “pillow face” refers to a person who has an excessive amount of filler and/or botox in their face to where it makes it look like their face is too big and stiff, like a pillow.
The “pillow face epidemic” rose from the combination of celebrity culture, social media influences and the increased accessibility to these cosmetic procedures. But within the past few years, there has been a significant societal pushback to the aesthetic. Some celebrities openly talk about dissolving filler and getting other treatments to look more “natural.”
Silicone injections increased in popularity in the 1960s. Silicone is an oily, clear and paraffin like substance that could be injected into the body to produce volume. Silicone was first used in Japan in the 1940s for breast augmentation, and the substance became a hit. The use of silicone spread to the states starting in Las Vegas in the ’60s to treat Vegas showgirls. Within the next few years, it was discovered that silicone can migrate and cause some adverse effects to the body. In 1964, the FDA regulated the use of injectable silicone as a drug, and later in 1976, restricted it as a device. Thus, making it illegal to inject silicone into the face and other areas.
After discovering the disasters of injectable silicone, bovine collagen filler was developed. Yes, bovine, like a cow. This made its debut in the 1970s. Unfortunately the Bovine filler had some undesirable side effects like swelling, redness and did not have any long lasting results. Then hyaluronic acid fillers became the industry staple for many years after. It gave long lasting results and did minimal harm to the patient, but there are some side effects.
The obsession with celebrity culture began when old Hollywood was at its peak. Many Hollywood starlets would get various cosmetic procedures done that made it almost impossible for the average person to achieve the same look.
One Swiss-American socialite became famous for her cosmetic looks. Jocelyn Wildenstein, was known in the early 2000’s as the “cat-woman.” Not for her comic obsession, but for her extensive use of plastic surgery and fillers that made her resemble a cat. Looking at her picture from 2003 with 2024 vision, she looks like an average real housewife or an ordinary woman. But since cosmetic surgery wasn’t as accessible as it is now, over two decades, they coined her that name.
As digital media became more popular like Instagram, the pressure for young women to look like a filter with smooth skin, big lips, and overall flawless appearance became more apparent. It became not only desired, but expected.
Instagram took the world by storm and perpetuated unrealistic beauty standards for women. The platform made it possible to constantly keep up with your favorite celebrity and look at their pictures in awe and envy.
The pillowface trend became popular when celebrities like Kylie Jenner flaunted her plump cheeks and lips on Instagram. Her super plumped lips began a social phenomenon by people wanting “Kylie Jenner lips.” Her audience at the time was mainly young people and somewhat easy to influence. The Kylie Jenner look was something aspirational for young women to want to achieve because it signaled wealth and beauty, especially on an online space because it could give the creator similar success to Kylie Jenner.
With the increase of celebrities and famous influencers getting these procedures done, the general public sees that as something to obtain as well. When you see overly plump lips with full cheeks, the mind could associate that with someone with wealth, power and success. This could also be a way of signaling to other people that you are a part of this exclusive group within society, by altering your face. You are like Kylie Jenner and other celebrities because you have the same look. This could be the same way that someone wears a designer bag or football team logo. It signals to other people that are “in the know” and you are a part of a certain group and therefore should be perceived and treated as such.
In the last decade, hundreds of medspas have opened across the country to be able to give the people the look they desire. Just in Jacksonville, you can find medspas next to a smoke shop, inside the mall, beckoning passerbyers to come in and get work done. They’re virtually everywhere now. This has given the public more access to things like filler and botox, which means more people having the chance to develop pillowface.
With these medspas making landfall in Jacksonville, the marketing for them has followed. If you get on the right (or wrong) algorithm on Instagram, you can find one of your local medspas advertising a BOGO deal on filler like a struggling fast food chain trying to get anybody through their doors. You can also find your local Instagram microinfluencer giving a discount code for their favorite lip and cheek filler to a medspa in the area. The advertising is strange to say the least. A discount code will get people through their doors to inject some things into their face… odd.
You can go on any college campus and see the young women that have gotten various procedures done. Many are open about having lip filler and “baby botox.” This is another procedure where these medspas will say that getting the “baby botox” in the early 20s, where there are virtually no wrinkles to combat, will prevent them from even forming. Instead, they are left with smooth shiny foreheads that are almost incapable of showing expression.
Looking at nearly any reality TV show like “Love Island” or “The Bachelor,” most of the women in their mid 20s look significantly older. Some women who have had injections have significantly damaged themselves in the process. A woman in her mid 20s usually doesn’t have deep forehead lines, but because of societal pressure, she has opted for a smooth, shiny, Botox infused forehead. This gives the appearance of someone that is in their later 30s or early 40s. There was also a recent season of “Love Island UK” that went viral just because the women looked significantly older than their real age because they were overfilled and frozen with Botox.
There is no uniqueness to a face anymore. There is an ideal for the standard of beauty, people can achieve it, and now it is boring and unattractive. Many people look the same. They have the same plump lips, full cheeks and sharp filler filled chin. A unique look is almost obsolete in today’s Instagram reality. Because of this, celebrities are striving to not look like that anymore. They want to look more unique, but still uphold those beauty standards.
In recent years, celebrities and influencers alike have received various backlash from their frozen pillow faces. At the 2023 Spring Paris fashion week, Kylie Jenner received huge amounts of backlash online for her candid photos from the Schiaparelli show. Her face looks inflated, uncomfortable and somewhat frozen. In 2023 Alix Earle, a TikTok influencer, showed her audience an old driver’s license photo of herself with the inclination that she had “glowed up” since, but her comments were flooded with comments insinuating that it was only possible with the use of cosmetic procedures.
Since that Paris fashion week, Kylie Jenner has been open saying that she saw her pictures and did not recognize herself. She has taken the time to get some fillers dissolved from her cheeks and lips because she doesn’t want her daughter to grow up in a world where she thinks that it is a beauty expectation for her. Other celebrities like Chrissy Teigan have talked about the process and choice for her to get her cheek fillers dissolved as well and wanting to be more natural looking.
In this day and age, people are more open and vulnerable online with their life experiences. Many content creators take their audience behind the scenes of what it is like to get these treatments. People are more aware of the dangers and consequences of these cosmetic procedures. Shows like “Botched” showcase different people that have had cosmetic procedures happen that they need fixed. Things like filler migration and irreversible damage can steer potential customers away from these medspas.
With celebrities trying to reverse the damage that filler and/or Botox has caused them, now what?
We are approaching the age of the “undetectables”
This is where someone could get anti aging procedures done that are not obvious and somewhat alluring and mysterious. Celebrities like Christina Aguilera have gone through the process of dissolving filler and getting an “undetectable” procedure done. She has gone from looking like an overfilled pillow, to a 20 something. Other celebrities like Anne Hathaway and Reese Witherspoon have also talked about getting different procedures done that are not as invasive as filler, but still give a natural and more elegant look.
The pillow face will come to a decline, and the era of undetectable procedures will dominate in the near future. Maybe there will no longer be any more facial signaling to be a part of a group within society, other things will come about instead to display wealth, power and desirability.
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