Living in Mexico or Visiting: Great Beauty Products You'll Want to Try
Updated September 2023
Mexico is resplendent with beautiful women. While it may lose its sense of urgency as we grow older, our desire as women to look our best is something we never outgrow. Maintaining our exterior selves becomes a "value-added" proposition to our spirit, compassion and outlook on life. Living here as a single woman, I keep my ears open as to what my beautiful friends are up to, especially if the technique or product is unique to Mexico.
I have been delighted to learn that I can occasionally indulge in a few procedures in Mexico that I have probably would not be able to invest in at home in the U.S. Several great treatments, such as Retin-A and Latisse are available over the counter.
My aesthetician in Denver, Kenna, who’s passionate on the subject of beauty, is always interested in hearing my news from Mexico too.
“Other countries are always years ahead of the U.S. in products and techniques,’ she once remarked. The FDA approval process is slow and made slower still by commercial interests that impede competition.
One of the reasons I like exploring services and products in Mexico is that I simply don't trust that competing commercial interests don't interfere with our choices in the U.S., especially when I read the amount of money at stake. (Botox-maker Allergan made $502 MILLION in a single quarter on the product. Botox accounts for billions in company profit overall. An example of one such alternative is Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy, which uses your own enriched blood to smooth the skin.
While much can be found on the risks of Botox, you have to look hard to find anything negative on Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy, which has been hailed by the National Spine and Pain Centers as a “revolutionary treatment for pain in the back, neck and shoulders.' Much has been written about its use by injured athletes.
Also called the “Vampire Facial,” Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy is preferred by my girlfriends in Mexico who opt for the more natural alternative of having injections of their own centrifuged blood over having injections of Botox, “the most acutely lethal toxin known.”
Platelet Rich Therapy
I initially learned about "The Vampire Facial" after admiring my Mexican friend Lupita’s beautiful skin. The process uses your own blood to stimulate collagen growth. PRP injections are prepared from one or two tubes of your own blood with strict aseptic technique.
After being centrifuged, the plasma is injected via largely tiny pen-like needles, releasing growth factors. You can be treated anywhere, including hands. Side affects are minimal; you are using your own blood plasma, to which you will have no reaction. PRP therapy is more known for its use in treating injuries. I finally found the right place and did three last year for about $75 per treatment. They don’t take the place of Botox but they are the ultimate facial. Schedule these treatments with a few weeks between sessions.
Here are a few other beauty products or procedures to try in Mexico.
Hair products in upscale hair salons
I enjoy experimenting with European hair masks that aren’t available in the U.S. I recently purchased a spray on sunscreen moisturizer called Leche Solar that you can spritz on over makeup. These products are usually less expensive than their counterparts in U.S. salon.
My results with Lumigan
Lumigan (Latisse)
Ironically also made by Allergan, the drops offer the same benefits as Latisse but is available from pharmacies without a prescription in Mexico for about $45 a bottle, about half the cost of Latisse (picture: my results).
Use a fine tip artist’s brush to dot it above your lashes. It takes only one drop to treat both lashes and eyebrows (before this product, my eye brows looked like apostrophes).
As with Latisse, the only risk is a chance of turning blue eyes brown without proper application. I love this product. Buy the Lumigan brand (blue box) as the bottle is bigger.
Barra
One of my best friends in Mexico has used mineral clays for years with amazing results, especially around the eyes. Mexican clay for exfoliation and facial masks, are sold in botanicas (botanical stores) in a variety of types their colors; pink, black, brownish -red, each color indicating their mineral properties. Mineral clay has been used cosmetically for thousands of years. Clays detoxify pores, tighten the skin, exfoliate and moisturize. You can buy it by quantity you want at botanical stores.
Fermodyl
Fermodyl is a reconstructive serum (There are five types) for the hair and comes in a box of four ampules. This amazing product is the first I’ve found that will repair and give my fine hair shine without weighing it down. Available for about $5 a box at Walmarts in Mexico.
They also make a very good Keratin Treatment which is applied with your curling iron and costs about $15 as opposed to the $200 my friends pay in salons in Denver, although the benefits don’t last near as long as a salon's.
Retin-A
Yeah, I admit the bottom one has seen a little use.
An excellent wrinkle reducer, I have paid anywhere from $15 to $120 for Retin-A in the U.S, plus going through the dubious process of finding a doctor with a sense of humor about writing a prescription to treat my ‘acne” (its official use) to get my insurance to cover it.
Tubes of Retin-A can be purchased over the counter at a pharmacy in Mexico for about $20. At that price, my friends here joke that we should bathe in it.
My dermatologist's office in Mexico
Botox
If you still want to go this route, Botox injections cost less in Mexico. I alternate injections to my forehead and crow’s feet every year by a dermatologist in Mazatlán for $300, at least $50 less than in the US, and I hear that where I go is one of the more expensive places in town. They are the best Botox treatments I’ve ever had – I definitely get my money’s worth.
Dentistry
Thousands of people go to Mexico for dental work, which has gotten outrageously expensive in the U.S. even though the most common procedures have been fundamentally the same for 40 years.
I love sweets and suffer the consequences. The first year I was “doing Mexico,” while I was passing through San Diego on my way to Mazatlán, a friend of mine took me to the dentist on the other side of the border in Tijuana. For a small fee, he frequently ferried people there from San Diego.
The dentists office we visited was high-tech and well-staffed. Two attractive young dentists replaced two fillings and cleaned my teeth for $150. A few years later I had a nasty crown replaced at a dentist’s office in Mexico for about $350 U.S. (six trips it took) and had four teeth bonded ($110 US., as opposed to $300-600 a tooth in the US.) Considerable savings exist across the board in all types of dental procedures, as thousands of people living in border states and and go back and forth all the time can attest.
Lip, Eyebrow and Eyeliner Tattooing
Are your lips fading out? Maybe it's because the heat melts off make-up in nothing flat living in Mexico that many women have their lips tattooed in natural pinks and mauves. Most women only outline their lips but some have their entire lips stained.
Eye-liner and lip-lining tatooing - ouch! The color fades by about half after a few days.
In watching it being done on a couple of friends, it seemed a little painful, like getting any tattoo, but as an expat friend told me, "15 minutes of pain to never have to wear lipstick again is a pretty good trade-off."
Practitioners of many services, from massages to hair-coloring, will come to your home in Mexico. These services will probably cost about $50 (only a little more than a tube of Lancome lipstick!).
Thermage
Thermage is a FDA-approved laser therapy for tightening the skin. The heat is said to stimulate latent collagen growth. I recently discovered a salon here in Mazatlán that offers the treatment and plan on checking it out. I researched that the procedure costs $2,000-3,000 dollars in the U.S. and about $800 (dollars) in Mexico.
Finding a service in Mexico
When looking for information on these type of services, you need to do the search in Spanish and might need to use a VPN (virtual private network) set to Mexico to really get listings in the city in Mexico you want to visit. For example, if looking for botox treatments in Mexico City, google search “tratamientos con botox en Distrito Federal” (Mexico City is always referred to by Mexicans as the Federal District). From there, plug the search results it into Google Translate for the information in English.
Related Links:
Does the newer Thermage procedure work? article Real Self
"Need a Good Dentist? You Might Want to Head to Mexico" - Fiscal Times
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About the author:
Kerry Baker is a partner with Ventanas Mexico and author of "If Only I Had a Place" a guide to renting in Mexico for aspiring expats
The second book released was “The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity, and quality of life through life in Mexico.” This is a how-to book that unlike others of its genre, won’t leave you numb. Most recently she published The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico. In Mexico, you must cook to maintain a healthy diet which isn’t easy as. newcomer. Over 150 recipes in the book come to save the day.