Look closely at the gal to the left of this text. She’s not just smiling in a non-threatening manner while demonstrating product placement skills, she’s also wearing the product. See it there on her forehead, between her eyebrows?

I looked a little like that every night of the last month as I climbed into bed after affixing a clear, triangle-shaped single-use skin smoothing sticker over my furrow zone. (Though typically I wasn’t necessarily grinning.) I used the locally designed and developed product, called Furlesse, to see if I could decrease the appearance of what are often called ‘forehead rows’ or ‘frown lines.’ I can’t say that the overall existence of those wrinkles-in-training has permanently decreased—though on good mornings, at least until I was halfway through the new day’s emails, I had the sense that they were less pronounced. And, after this conversation with founder Cathy Tousley, I’m confident that the little nighttime stickers must be doing some good.

WWW: So, we frown and make that frustrated or deeply concerned face in our sleep? Researchers have verified this, thus leading to products like yours?
Tousley: Many of us tend to scowl while we toss and turn at night. Sleep positions also have a lot to do with the development of sleep lines, which eventually turn into wrinkles. Our patch helps keep this area from compressing and creasing.

So the theory is that the sticker keeps us from frowning and furrowing for eight or so fewer hours per day. Furlesse is more about wrinkle management than wrinkle removal.
Furlesse helps relax fine lines and gently smooth this area of the face. We don’t claim to eliminate wrinkles but people may generally see a reduction with consistent use.

I just wish there was a way to stop frowning during the waking hours too. If I could only adapt the attitude of the Furlesse girl…
We also frown during the day while we are concentrating on certain things, reading, working on our computers, etc. I will often put on a patch while I’m at home or getting ready to go out for the evening. I can take the patch off right before I head out and my lines are nice and smooth.

I guess I’m not sure about using them during the day. It was weird enough using them at night—talking to my husband with a sticker on my forehead…it seemed a little like trading a less-than-gorgeous natural consequence of life and maturity for a prominently placed if clear and low-key ‘band-aid’ that sort of called attention—not just to the area—but to my vanity. But on the other hand, I can and should own that vanity, and the conflicted mindset that goes with it.
Furlesse offers a natural alternative to more aggressive solutions such as Botox. We are finding however, that some Botox users are also enjoying using Furlesse in between their treatments to extend and maintain this area of their forehead.

Well, I’ll leave that to another blogger to try.

We did, however, road test another brand of stick-on skin smoothers, just to better familiarize ourselves with this type of product. The name alone caused some scowling, and overall we found that Frownies were essentially a more complicated, less easy-to-use product when compared to Furlesse. And of course, if there’s a locally developed, locally owned option, that’s the best option.

If you’re interested in trying Furlesse for yourself, you can buy them on the Furlesse website, on Amazon.com, and other online stores. They’re also available at Swink Style Bar in University Village.