I’m not sure what the American term is for a Croydon facelift.
We’ve all see women’s hair pulled up ridiculously tight in a bun or ponytail. It stretches the face and hides the lines.
It fools no one. Is it a faux pas like a guys comb over?
Example Victoria Beckham is practically ripping the hair out of her scalp and lifting the face. Google Images lists dozens more examples of other women.
Nicole Kidman does it too. The give away is how tight the hair is stretched on the forehead. The wiki article mentions early hair loss from this style.
http://health.ninemsn.com.au/healthnews/873527/nicole-kidmans-secret-to-a-wrinkle-free-face
I’m not a celebrity-watcher but last time I saw that hairdo it was the mid-90’s and a style in one demographic in my area.
Well, I think the Beckham example is fairly stupid-looking, with that wonky little bun, especially considering she’s supposedly a fashion icon. That said, I see nothing at all wrong with a sleek ponytail, and if it also gives a temporary facelift, bonus!
Victoria Beckham is only 37- she certainly shouldn’t need to have any kind of facelift. I choose to believe that she just likes this look.
I once saw on old lady that had taken two tiny butterfly (hair) clips and attached them to her temples after pulling her skin all back. It was weird.
Ladies of a certain age used to do something like that in the 1950s and '60s (Marlene Dietrich and Gloria Swanson come to mind). You braid the hair around the hairline, pull it back real tight and plunk a wig over it.
You look surprised. And you have tell-tale pull marks around the jawline.
The vanity aspect reminded me of guys and their comb overs.
Interesting that women literally stretch their hair tight to pull out lines and wrinkles from their forehead & face. 
Vanity is kind of funny and a bit silly in both sexes.
That article looks like it was written by a teenager. “Ageing”?
I thought that also. They also seemed to have red makeup(blush?) high up on their cheekbones.
Nowhere near as desperate-looking as the combover, IMO. Too many young women do that for various reasons (ballerinas are notorious for super-tight ponytails) that it’s not restricted to the trying-to-look-20-years-younger crowd.
Well, it was the Daily Mail, which means you are being generous. But seriously, ageing is correct in British English.
Kidman’s secret to a wrinkle-free face is a good derm and plastic surgeon!
I suppose it’s a good look for a dominatrix…
…and a vampiric aversion to the sun.
Isn’t that the time when many women are most upset about the obvious and increasingly apparent lines growing on their face? victoria beckham’s 37 year old face simply does not and can not look like a 22 year old face, but she is still young enough to think it still can, hence the super tight hairdo- it looks bad, but it does still make her look less wrinkled (but not younger) than she would otherwise- I have no doubt she’s intentionally trying for that effect.
Eh, I don’t think so. It’s not a particularly flattering hairstyle, but if either Victoria Beckham or Nicole Kidman want a smoother face, I’m sure they would just use botox. Kidman’s hairdo in the linked picture didn’t even look particularly tight, and discussion of her newly movable face was rampant when she was pregnant (it’s not advisable to use botox when preggo).
I’m not saying that no women do this, I’ve just never met any, and despite my advancing years it’s never occurred to me to try this. I suppose I could, although I have shorter hair and I think the 1 inch micro pony tail would look stupider than just trying to stretch my face back.
ETA: Ok, well I just went and tried it and it did nothing. Now, it’s possible that my face hasn’t begun sagging or wrinkling in the way that this is supposed to combat (possible, I do have pretty good genes and avoid the sun), or it just doesn’t work.
The thing is, a combover actually works a little bit when it’s very small. The issues develops when the patch being covered gets bigger and bigger and the amount of hair gets smaller and smaller.
I don’t think they’re the same.
MSN Australia.
The term “Croydon facelift” is more about the “Croydon” part than the anti-aging part. It’s about “chavs”, the underclass, roughly equivalent to the US term “trailer trash”. Croydon is the sort of place such people are imagined to live, by whoever dreams up these things. People do know the phrase, but only in that sort of smart-arse context.