Gen Z using bizarre device in order to avoid getting wrinkles
The Gen Zers are in a panic because they believe their obsession with fancy water bottles is having an unintended side-effect on their appearance.
Gen Z — this is the last straw.
The generation, born between 1997 and 2012, continues to be obsessed with the latest viral beauty secret, the “anti-wrinkle straw,” which many claim can turn back the clock.
Instead of drinking through a vertical straw, they slurp through a hooklike apparatus meant to keep the lips from pursing less, thereby supposedly creating fewer wrinkles, the New York Post reports.
However, experts say there isn’t enough data to prove the method works.
“There is no scientific evidence as to whether anti-wrinkle straws are an effective method of preventing perioral wrinkles — also, some slight pursing of the lips is still involved,” Dr Leah Totton of the Dr. Leah Cosmetic Skin Clinics told The Telegraph.
“You would have to be drinking through a normal straw very often for this to contribute to the formation of perioral wrinkles,” she added.
Doctors say wrinkles form from sun exposure, loss of collagen during ageing and smoking — not straws.
Another expert said that everyday laughing and talking also impacted facial wrinkles.
“Might they help in the short term? Yes, as anything that slows down the [ageing] process a little will do something,” Dr Daniel Hunt, founder and director of Imperial Aesthetics, also told The Telegraph.
“But do I think they’ll cause dramatically less of these lines in 30 years? No.”
He also suggested that minimal use of the implement — say, when out drinking on the weekend — simply “won’t do much for you.”
However, that hasn’t stopped TikTokers from posting videos testing their “anti-wrinkle straws”, and clips about them have upward of 350 million views.
However, some posters weren’t even sure if the straws were doing all that much to combat fine lines.
One TikToker who goes by @bigg_sal posted a video last year about the anti-wrinkle straw that has since garnered more than 600,000 views.
“I tried it out. I think it’s OK,” she said after detailing the wrinkles she saw around her mouth.
Another woman named Rachel Carlisle also shared her experience with the straw.
“When I saw it I was really confused how I was gonna learn how to use it,” she said in a video.
“It looks really odd while using but, I mean, if I stay looking youthful,” Carlisle added.
Commenters below her video laughed with her about the awkwardness of using the apparatus.
“Anti wrinkle straw to look younger but it’s giving I have a rare incurable disease,” one person said.
“This looks like it will give you worse wrinkles I’m confused,” said another.
Gen Z isn’t the only one recommending people use the straw.
A 54-year-old content creator who goes by Cristina.Noh on TikTok said she also uses the special straw to prevent ageing.
A video she posted last year has soared to 1.3 million views.
The Post reached out to the social media users for comment.
Skin expert, Dr Totton, said if people want to avoid ageing they should focus less on straws and more on wearing sunscreen, getting enough sleep, and reducing their alcohol intake and smoking habits.
This article originally appeared on the NY Post and has been republished with permission.