Salma Hayek Pinault Wants You To Know About Her Favorite Cosmetic Procedure

Spending 15 minutes with Salma Hayek Pinault is just as energizing as downing four shots of espresso. The Academy Award-nominated actor, Emmy Award-winning director, and producer speaks with such gusto, it’s impossible not to feel just as excited and passionate about the topic at hand. In fact, this is exactly why I quickly forgot that I was dying for a second morning coffee upon arriving to her suite at The Carlyle hotel in New York City. Our meeting has nothing to do with caffeine, but another energy source. Hayek Pinault has just announced her partnership with Merz Aesthetics’ Ultherapy Prime, an FDA-cleared, non-invasive treatment that utilizes ultrasound energy to firm and lift skin by stimulating collagen and elastin production.

Ultherapy Prime began rolling out to providers in September 2024, 14 years after the original technology became available in the U.S. This next-generation of the device offers 20% faster treatments and offers real-time visualization at three different depths below the skin so the ultrasound can be better customized to the area it’s being applied. So while Hayek Pinault has become known for being one of the more “real” celebrities on Instagram thanks to her makeup-free selfies and snaps of her flourishing gray hairs, what inspired her to be transparent about the “work” she’s had done?

The 58-year-old actor says it’s because there’s no shame in it. She goes on to explain that while she has never gotten Botox, filler, or has gone under the knife (she even lifted the hair behind her ears to show me she doesn’t have facelift scars), she started to notice her neck was sagging faster than her face and wanted to do something about it without getting surgery. So, she began researching non-invasive options. In a “witchy” moment, Ultherapy, one of the treatments she had been looking at, contacted her about the updated technology.

“I almost felt like the universe was answering my prayers,” she says. “Also I'm not going to lie, I love the fact that I had intel on the newest thing that nobody else knew about. So I said, let me try it and if it really works, then we can talk.”

Aging coupled with if/when to get plastic surgery is a hot topic among my over-30 friends and I. At the end of the day, you have to do whatever is right for you, whether that’s getting in-office treatments or simply being consistent with your at-home skin care routine. Whatever the case, hearing someone from an older generation muse about what they’ve done to overcome these physical changes while remaining self-confident can help ease some of the mental aguish. Ahead, Hayek Pinault shares her POV.

On Her Approach To Aging

“I've always had a very natural approach to my self-care and have tried to age gracefully. So, I have stayed away from all the trends, not even fillers or Botox.

[...] I’m an actress and I also have children and a husband. I want it to be very clear to my children when I’m unhappy about something and it shows in my face. I also want them to see my face when I'm so proud of them. So my philosophy has been not trying to see what is the best I can look today, but what am I going to do so that I can look my best at 70?”

On Building Confidence Beyond Your Appearance

“It’s important that you build enough self-confidence because you like who you are, and you respect yourself. Because you honor your ability and the effort that you put into things. It’s also important that you spend time to evolve yourself emotionally so that you're not always anxious, and finding the right tools for that. Also, that your self-care isn’t not self-judgment, but actually a time that you enjoy with yourself so that you can feel like you know who you are no matter what anybody says, and that your value goes beyond your appearance.”

On When She Feels Her Best

“I feel my best when I'm tanned and my skin is sun-kissed and I’m having a good hair day. I'm drinking a margarita in the sun with music and my family. I put a lot of work and love into this family, so when we are together and I’m in the sun and I hear the ocean, you really don’t care. You could have no makeup on and you’re still looking good.”

And the current music she tells me dancing to? Bad Bunny, of course.