The internet is raving about ‘nature’s Botox.’ Does it work?

Many beauty enthusiasts have recently turned to ingredients you’d usually find in the food aisle, such as bananas, flaxseed and even beef tallow, as a way to hydrate the skin and reduce acne.

“You don’t need Botox, you don’t!” stated Kirti Tewani in a video posted on TikTok, where she has over 475,400 followers. One might have expected words of empowerment and self-acceptance to follow, but instead, the Ayuverdic therapist and makeup artist started rubbing the inside of a banana peel across her face. “It’s a wrinkle reducer,” Tewani continued to explain, noting that the peels contain lutein, an antioxidant that “can brighten, hydrate and soothe your skin.” When selecting bananas, “the riper, the better,” she advised. To date, the video has amassed over 2.2 million views and more than 61,200 likes. Tewani, who is based in New York, dislikes the taste of bananas, although her children enjoy and eat them frequently, she told CNN over a phone call. “I was reading about bananas and how they’re rich in potassium and the peel has many nutrients inside. I wondered if it could help to hydrate the skin,” she explained. “When I looked it up online, I saw that a few people were already doing it, so I started experimenting on my face every time my kids ate a banana,” said Tewani. After a month of trials, she noticed that her “smile lines were a little bit more plump and fuller, even though I hadn’t changed too much in my skincare routine. That was really amazing to see.” Tewani is not alone in finding alternative methods to improve the appearance of her skin. Many other beauty enthusiasts have also recently turned to ingredients you’d usually find in the food aisle, such as yogurt, flaxseed and even beef tallow, as a way to hydrate the skin and reduce acne. Rather than ingest the items, they’re rubbing them directly onto their faces — marking a trend that has since been coined on social media as “nature’s Botox.” It’s a surprising development following the pandemic-induced skincare boom, where people spent heavily on science-backed moisturizers, toners and serums from high-end brands including Augustinus Bader, Dr. Barbara Sturm and La Mer, and the rise of tween girls (typically between 8 and 12 years old) flooding specialist beauty stores such as Sephora, as they shop for buzzy skincare labels like Drunk Elephant, Sol de Janeiro and Glow Recipe.