I am 25 years-old and I got Botox...in a hair salon. The most shocking part of that sentence should be the latter half, but I know that people will react negatively to my age. The truth is, I believe in preventative Botox. I believe that starting young will train my facial muscles so that I never form expression lines and wrinkles later on. Not every dermatologist will agree with that assessment, but some do. But what most dermatologists do agree on is that you probably shouldn't get Botox in a hair salon. So allow me to explain.
At Oscar Blandi Salon in New York City, Blowtox is now on the menu (that is bouncy blowouts with a side of Botox). This kind of combo treatment would typically make my eyes roll into the back of my head; can you really trust the person sticking needles in your face in that kind of salon setting? But at Oscar Blandi, they carved out a legit (yet tiny) exam room right in the middle of the salon. That's where Dr. Kavita Mariwalla, a dermatologist with her own practice in West Islip, New York, stops by on Fridays and Saturdays to perform injections as well as other skincare treatments.
I visited Oscar Blandi to try Blowtox for myself in mid-December. The salon was hustling and bustling, but I was whisked right away into a salon chair for my blowout. Typically, you're supposed to get the Botox injections first followed by your hair styling (they don't want you smooshing your beautiful hair when you climb into the exam chair), but I was happy to save some time this way. Once my hair was done, I was escorted into Dr. Mariwalla's teeny-tiny exam room (seriously, this place could have doubled as a coat closet). It's stationed across from the shampoo sinks, but once she closed the door, it was as if I was in any other medical office. Dr. Mariwalla complimented my fresh 'do, sat me down, and then asked what I wanted to do. I told her that there were a few fine lines popping up on my forehead, but that I was really there to lose my Botox virginity. She assured me that preventative Botox is a legitimate anti-aging strategy, and then showed me all the spots along my forehead where she would be injecting and why. She wanted to lift my brows subtly without creating that frozen effect. After signing a few forms, I laid back and let Dr. Mariwalla do her thing (for the record, it is nearly painless). Less than three minutes later, she passed me a hand mirror and told me that I wouldn't really notice any changes for about a week, and that I should come back in six months for another tune-up.
The entire Blowtox procedure took about an hour, with the Botox being the quickest part. I left the salon with bouncy hair and a few red, swollen dots along my forehead, but it was nothing that my bangs (or a little concealer) couldn't hide. The idea of combining hair services with cosmetic injectables is a time-saving genius, yet it's executed irresponsibly in so many other salons around the country, where medispas and newly-trained nurses are the ones with their fingers on the needle trigger. I felt at ease in the experienced hands of Dr. Mariwalla, so much so that I would be willing to trek out to West Islip to go visit her standalone practice. And while my blowout only lasted two days before I had to shampoo it out, my lifted brows and smoothed-out forehead are still going strong.
Jenna Rosenstein is the Beauty Director at Harper's BAZAAR across both print and digital. While attending NYU, she held internships at Women’s Wear Daily, Bloomingdale’s, Harper’s BAZAAR, and Allure, the latter of which she parlayed into her first job as the Beauty Assistant. She left Allure three years later as the Senior Beauty Editor. She spent a few months at Refinery29 overseeing branded content in the same title, before finally landing back at BAZAAR to manage all beauty content. When she's not testing every lipstick known to mankind, getting zapped by new lasers, or interviewing experts and celebrities, you can find Rosenstein at home in New Jersey with her son, husband, and black cat named Maddie.
