2 people who tried 'face taping' instead of Botox said cheap drugstore patches clear up their wrinkles overnight — but it's a time commitment

• Frownies are adhesive facial patches that keep facial muscles from moving, thus reducing wrinkles.
• They're considered a low-cost and less invasive alternative to Botox, though they require more work.

For anyone hoping to reduce facial wrinkles, whether for aesthetic purposes or to ease migraines, Botox can be an expensive investment, costing around $400-$500 per session.

As a more affordable alternative, some people on TikTok have been steadily getting into "face taping" or wearing facial stickers to try to freeze their facial muscles, ostensibly mimicking the effects of Botox. Some videos featuring actual tape have amassed millions of views, while others discuss the differences between face-taping products.

One popular brand is Frownies, which offers anti-wrinkle facial patches that cost about $24 per pack of 144. Originally called "Wrinkle Eradicators," Frownies have existed as a brand since 1889 — a century before Botox first became FDA-approved in 1989.

Frownies are adhesive patches that keep facial muscles from moving

Frownies are wrinkle patches designed to reduce fine lines by physically keeping your skin taut and facial muscles from moving.

"Think of them like a splint on the skin," said Dr. Joshua Zeichner, director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology and an associate professor of dermatology at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

Botox, on the other hand, relaxes facial muscles to reduce lines.

The results of using Frownies are less consistent than a Botox injection

Frownies' effects fade quicker throughout the day compared to a Botox treatment, which lasts three to four months, according to Dr. Cameron Rokhsar, a board-certified dermatologist and Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital.

"While facial stickers can help in the short term, as soon as you take them off, the skin will start to fold again," said Zeichner.

For example, Germaine Caprio, 57, uses them almost every night. "After removing the Frownies in the morning, it feels as if they're still on my forehead the entire day — I swear they work like Botox in the way they freeze those muscles," Caprio told Insider. "But by evening, that feeling tends to fade until I put them on again before heading to bed."

She started out only using one piece to help her "11s" — lines between her eyebrows. But once she became familiar with them, and watched a few Instagram instruction videos, she was pasting them over her forehead like a mask. "The results were amazing," Caprio told Insider.

On the other hand, Alyssa Benson, a 26-year-old Frownies fan, says she sees a clear and lasting effect from wearing the patches about three times a week.

Benson wanted something to "help combat the progression of some pesky forehead wrinkles." After using them consistently for 2-3 weeks, she said she saw a difference in both the smoothness of her wrinkles and the overall firmness of her skin.

There's a small learning curve for putting on Frownies right

Frownies wearers have to let wet skin products (like lotions and serums) dry before attaching the adhesives, otherwise, they can "leave a residue making them tougher to apply," said Caprio. She mitigates this by putting on her nighttime products an hour before her Frownies.

Benson's main learning curve was removing the Frownies. "You truly have to get the Frownies rather damp in order to remove them effectively and without damaging your skin," she said. "If you do that correctly, they come off very easily."

While neither Caprio nor Benson experienced any acne after wearing Frownies, Zeichner also mentioned that "facial stickers can trap dirt, oil, and sweat on the skin, causing breakouts" and that some people might also get an allergic reaction or irritated skin from the adhesive itself.

There are other small annoyances with Frownies, but fans see them as minor setbacks

Some other complaints include the smell ("definitely distinctive and clings to the skin," says Benson) and the packaging.

Caprio, who identifies as an environmentalist and switched most of her beauty products to ones that come in glass or aluminum, wished Frownies would "green up their packaging making it compostable and forgo the inner plastic bags that hold the patches." Then, she said, she'd be "a lifer."