Knife, camera, action…

Mona

Gone are the days when someone tagged you in unflattering pictures from a recent outing and you went on a de-tagging spree before they were seen by others on social networking sites. It’s all in an instant now, with everyone making a consensus before you post the pictures of your five course meal step by step on social media.

But then to have a pretty picture, you need to have everything in place.

Having done enough with the photoshop and Facebook facelifts; it’s time to direct your attention towards your crowning glory. If you go by Dr Tejinder Bhatti from Darling Buds Clinic, the desire for that perfect Facebook profile picture has fuelled the demand for not only correcting the receding hairlines but darkening your brows too.

Puneet Kapial, four times Mr Chandigarh, found himself at the receiving end when his receding hairline became the concern for his virtual friends.

Goaded by his girlfriend, Puneet went for hair treatment and he is a happy man. “The new look has really boosted my confidence. The very friends who were earlier commenting negatively on my hair seeing my picture on Facebook or my WhatsApp DPs, they are posting all sorts of compliments now,” says elated Puneet, who is due to be hitched in the coming month, yes, with the same girl.

Priya Sharma, an assistant professor in a city college, went for eye-brow hair transplant though everyone, including her mum, didn’t feel the need. “Many people would be okay with the light eyebrows that I had. But I wanted thick, dark ones,” says Priya for whom it’s a weekly ritual to change her profile pictures across the social media. But it doesn’t come so easy. “I click through the week and take my time selecting before posting pictures and it does feel good when they get 100 plus likes each time,” says this 25-year-old single, not married, not committed girl (That explains her fixation with the looks, we guess).

Hair is here to stay but it’s not like Facebook facelifts have taken a backseat. Rather, more advanced, non-invasive procedures have fuelled the demand further more. “The modern generation’s desire to stop the clock while maintaining an active lifestyle has made newer anti-ageing techniques a rage. With advanced technology, the lunchtime facelift procedures are a huge hit,” says Dr Vikas Sharma, chief consultant dermatologist, National Skin Hospital, Mansa Devi Complex. So, whether it is brow lift, an eyelid surgery or a facelift, Dr Vikas has his major patients in the age group of 35 to 50 and largely women apart from NRIs who flock their home country in the winter months and combine vacation with some cosmetic and dermatological treatments.

Social media has not only fuelled the procedures to have better looks but also gained credibility for them over social media. “Loads of queries I get are over social media,” admits Dr Vikas. Seconds Dr Bhatti, “People will go to any lengths to produce that perfect picture. I have so many people coming on their own and also being egged by their partners.”

And, as our presence increases on the virtual world more than real, they couldn’t but agree that there is more business coming to cosmetologists. Not to mention the demand for right cameras, phones, I-pads, softwares and professionals to click that ‘face’ that you are going to present to the world next!

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