Neck Anxiety Is Getting Younger
Kat James, the first over-50 influencer to amass one million followers on TikTok, thinks of her followers as a database she can tap to predict the next big beauty trend. “I have thousands and thousands of comments a day, and you see how those comments shift,” she said. “In the last year, it’s all been skincare. One of the most asked questions in my DMs is: ‘What can I do about my neck?’”Insecurity about the region is nothing new, and was canonised two decades ago by Nora Ephron, but the Zoom era has renewed anxieties. “Tech neck”, a term which describes muscular tension or horizontal wrinkles from poor posture when using devices, recently hit an all-time search traffic peak according to Trendalytics. What is new is how the area is a focus for ever younger patients, who have been taught about the difference between their face and neck skin and are spending on products and procedures to solve what they see as a problem area.Dr Lesley Rabach, a facial plastic surgeon in New York, has noticed both an uptick in isolated neck lifts and a younger skew to its prospective patient. In the first decade of her career, Rabach didn’t lift the neck unless it was part of a facelift. “But in these really young patients you can make the neck and jawline so tight,” she said. Searches for “neck cream” ballooned by over 60 percent in the last year, per data from analytics firm Spate, and neck lifts have been on the rise since the pandemic, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. But for patients in their 30s, a cohort that had 9.5 percent more neck lifts than 2022, that rise is outpacing the average by more than double.Due to transparency around procedures across social media, stigma around plastic surgery and tweakments are softening — particularly among younger cohorts. In Sept. 2025, aesthetician Sofie Pavitt wrote an essay for The Cut that shared her reasoning behind and experience of undergoing a neck lift at 41. Rabach, who performed Pavitt’s surgery, said this increase of people willing to talk about their surgery is common. “People care a bit less if people know,” she said.The lift can also be attributed to demand for “undetectable” procedures. At between $10,000 and $15,000 on average, a neck lift can cost a fraction of a facelift, but offers a dramatic refresh. While the majority of her patients are female, Dr Rabach shared one in four of her patients are men. “Men in New York City work in professions where every year there’s young guys coming in,” she said. “They want to stay looking youthful. And men equate youthfulness with a sharp jawline and a lot of hair.” Skincare brands see plenty of neck opportunity beyond the knife, said Anne-Catherine Auvray, executive beauty editor at marketing and trend forecasting platform Beauty Streams, citing the advent of not only neck-specific serums, creams and masks but also devices that use heat or electricity to stimulate the muscles in the skin, and aim to promote collagen production.Luxury incumbents like La Mer and Clarins, and professional labels like StriVectin and Alastin have dominated the neck cream category for years. But newer launches like Trinny London’s The Elevator and Beauty Pie’s Über Youth Super Lift serum-spray have also found success in the region.Sheet mask brand Patchology has opted for a different approach with a silicone neck and décolleté patch, targeting younger consumers who’ve already been won by and incorporated pimple and under-eye patches into their weekly routines. Neck patches in general are an area that both James and Auvray see as ripe for innovation. “Not only is the scar-healing potential of silicone quite promising, it’s also a great entry-level price point for that consumer that you’re beginning to see.” Trendalytics head of trends Kendall Becker said that Dr. Jart+, Solawave and 111Skin are also finding success in neck masks, and predicts that the category will only continue to grow over the next year.Firm Believer retails for $12 — a far more accessible price point than products from Clarins and La Mer, which start at around $100. (Patchology) Physicians offices and med spas will also have other non-surgical treatment options, including Botox to relax neck bands and soften the horizontal lines caused by “tech neck.” But both Pavitt in her essay and James the influencer understand that for the neck — where the skin is thin and can’t be targeted with active ingredients like acid peels — options besides surgery have their limitations.“There’s only so much a topical can do,” James added.Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your complimentary, must-read source for the day’s most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.
