As I mentioned earlier this month, I’m currently engaged in a fight to the death with the attractive (not) set of pillow lines I’ve managed to acquire through years of sleeping in the same position every night, with my forehead crushed against the pillow. My first line of defence in this ongoing battle was the purchase of a box of Frownies Facial Patches – or Frownies Forehead and Between Eye Patches, to give them their full name – which I’ve been diligently applying to my forehead (almost) every night since they arrived.

Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar with Frownies facial patches, they’re little cardboard stickers, as shown above, which you tear off, dampen, and stick to your head. Yes, I know that sounds a bit bizarre, and, indeed, it looks a bit bizarre, too – in fact, even although I’ve been using these for a couple of weeks now, Terry still has to stifle a laugh every time he sees me with one stuck to my temple. The idea, though, is a good ‘un: once attached to the skin on top of the wrinkle you’re trying to remove, the Frownie will keep the skin taught, and prevent the line from forming while you sleep, simply by preventing your face from forming the expression that caused the line in the first place. Over time, they claim to remove lines altogether, making them a much less intrusive/expensive alternative to treatments like Botox.

So, do they work?

In a word, yes. And no. Let me explain…

I’m mostly interested in using these to smooth out the pillow lines on my forehead, and prevent me from waking up every morning with a couple of train tracks on my face. (I’m also going to be trying them on the dreaded “11s” between my eyes, but for now I’ve been sticking to the pillow lines). Every night, I apply my Frownie before bed. When I wake up, as promised, the two lines that have become the bane of my life aren’t there: this is very, very good news for me, because previous to this, those two lines were very visible first thing in the morning, and still visible (although much less so) for the rest of the day. Now, while I can still see a very faint trace of them, they’re no longer visible at first glance, which is great.

The problem with Frownies facial patches…

The problem is, however, that instead of my usual two lines, I’ve been waking up in the morning with a NEW line. This is another pillow line, and it forms where one edge of the Frownie makes contact with the skin on my forehead. What’s obviously happening is that while I’m sleeping my head is pressing against the pillow, and that’s forcing the skin up against the edge of the Frownie, thus creating an all-new pillow line. This line, to be fair, is one that vanishes almost right away, so it’s not a big deal right now, but I tend to think that if I keep on using the Frownies facial patches, it will deepen over time, and I’ll have simply succeeded in moving the pillow lines to a different part of my face. This leads me to suspect that while Frownies do seem to be pretty good at erasing lines (at least for a little while), they may be more effective for expression lines, such as “the elevens”, than they are for the type of pillow lines that are caused by lying on your side. I’ve also noticed that if I miss a night, the lines will be back with a vengeance: Frownies say that once the line has completely disappeared, you can stop using the patches, but in this case I think the lines would just re-form as soon as I stopped.

To break it down:

THE PROS:

• Successful at getting rid of lines overnight.
• Much less expensive than treatments like Botox, etc.
• Easy to use.

THE CONS:

• Created a different (albeit temporary) line where the patch meets the skin.
• Would require continuous use to keep my particular lines at bay.
• Not the most attractive thing to wear, especially for those of you who don’t sleep alone.

THE VERDICT:

A good quick-fix for expression lines, although they’d probably be most effective as a preventative measure.

I bought my Frowies direct from the manufacturers website, where they’re currently £17.50 per box. This is a box of 144 patches, though, and I normally only use one or two per night, so they’ll last a long time, making them very good value. You can click here to buy a box.

Anyone else tried Frownies Facial Patches? What did you think?

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