Personally I'm quite happy with my appearance. I have no beauty routine of any kind. I wash, wash my hair, shave, get dressed, that's it. I never tried to look like some fashionable male model or rock star*. I don't spend hours in front of the mirror wondering how to improve my looks. I have far more interesting things to do.
Women have always been told, one way or another, that their natural appearance isn't good enough and a vast range of beauty routines is needed to make them fit to be looked at and admired. Thorough depilation, skilful make-up, frequent hair-dos, flattering clothes - the list is endless.
It's not just women either. Plenty of men are now being sucked into the beauty game with their own lengthy requirements list. Thin and muscular, a full head of hair, no man-boobs, perfect skin. They're just as likely to be hogging the bathroom mirror first thing in the morning, hard at work with the eye-bag concealer.
I must say all this beautifying leaves me cold. I've always been drawn to natural-looking women, who to my mind look fine just as they are. Women with fancy hair-dos, thick make-up and skin-tight dresses look more like drag queens.
And the quest for a perfect body leads to all sorts of mental and emotional problems. The number of men and women being treated for eating disorders is rising rapidly. So too is the number of girls wanting to be boys because of the relentless pressure on girls to be physically flawless.
The frantic pursuit of unattainable beauty leaves a lot of casualties in its wake.
*except for a brief John Lennon period when I had long hair and a beard.
PS: Hair dye can be toxic. Actor Keira Knightley revealed that she now wears wigs in her films as constant hair-dyeing caused her hair to start falling out.
Photoshop, in the hands of magazine manipulators, is a powerful weapon. Even though I try hard to resist I am still drawn into the lies.
ReplyDeleteLiz: I don't believe in those photos of glossy supermodels any more. We all know they've had meticulous make-up, meticulous hair-dos, and lots of photoshopping, airbrushing and filtering.
DeleteYou have touched on this subject many a time. Which makes me wonder: What's your beef with enhancing the good and camouflaging the not so good (as can be achieved by judicious application of makeup and clothes, even colour of clothes)?
ReplyDeleteAnother question: If you had a noticeable skin condition (of which there are many), not least if it showed on your face (visible unless you wear a veil), wouldn't you apply, say, concealer?
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PS I hate man boobs. They don't diminish the person but they sure don't make them (physically) attractive. Not, I am sure, that much can be done about them. Which is ok. Just wear a top of some kind. Don't let it all hang out.
Ursula: Many a time? Maybe half a dozen times in over 1200 posts. Camouflaging the not so good? But who's to say what's "not so good"? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
DeleteSure, I would use make-up to hide something like an unsightly skin condition. But that's more in order to be "normal" than to be beautiful.
I dislike man boobs too. They should either wear a bra or have them surgically removed. But if a man insists on displaying them, it's no business of mine.
I trim my beard with a trimmer and clip my finger nails. I however have to go to a barber shop for a hair cut and a pedicurist to trim my toe nails. Other than these activities I have nothing to do with improving the way I look and I seem to be quite acceptable the way I am!
ReplyDeleteRamana: I get my hair cut regularly but I have no desire to dye it or adopt some trendy hairstyle. I can still trim my own toenails but that may not be the case in ten years' time!
DeleteMy opinion has not changed. If it makes someone feel better about themselves, then I say go for it. I see too many people out in public who look like they just rolled out of bed!
ReplyDeleteBijoux: The danger is that once you start doing things to "feel better about yourself" you can get a bit carried away. Like those plastic surgery addicts. But certainly you don't want to look like something the cat dragged in!
DeleteI remember my father's remark about women in the oublic eye...puts on the make up with a trowel in the morning and takes it off with a chipping hammer at night...
ReplyDeleteAll the expensive nonsense in order to conform to a vision of women developed by the 'beauty' industry.
Fly: Some women certainly look like they echo your father's description! I just wonder what they're hiding under all the cosmetics.
DeleteI enjoy the various styles throughout history of women's clothes. the era of the 30's especially. it seems the world had more style in every way then. but then I like the Astaire and Rogers films and The Thin Man series... art deco...
ReplyDeletebut for everyday living... yes! the natural look.
it's a good reminder that it's brought up now and then. wonder what this new decade will bring.
it's like 'fly in the web' says... all because of the INDUSTRY! it's a huge money maker and they'll just keep going.
I'm waiting for the Kardashians to get OLD. LOLOL!
Tammy: Women probably had more style in previous eras, but then they weren't expected to do anything that demanded more practical clothes like jeans and shirts.
DeleteThe sheer volume of advertising pumped out by the beauty industry to push us into elaborate primping and preening is frightening.
I do feel sorry for people trying to look younger when they are old. They don't. Period. They can look grotesque after multiple surgeries (I have a friend who did that, there was no stopping her) but then again I try not to judge if it makes them feel better though unrecognizable to friends of long standing.
ReplyDeleteI do nothing, no makeup - though I used to wear some foundation - and my hair remains uncoloured.
I do wish more of us embraced aging and greying and wrinkling and celebrating it rather than buying into the enormous billion dollar industry which tells us we are never good enough.
XO
WWW
www: Indeed, why not just accept the natural ageing process with all its wrinkles and crinkles rather than trying to turn back the clock and look younger - often unsuccessfully as you say.
DeleteI like makeup, always have. But I think I like trying new techniques, new products, new colors. it's like art...on your face. lol I do it for me, because I like how makeup makes me feel about myself.
ReplyDeleteMary: Fair enough. If you're just experimenting with make-up for your own pleasure, why not?
DeleteI've always been too lazy to be fashionable, so no problem here. :D
ReplyDeleteJean: Yes, I'm also too lazy to be fashionable. Why waste so much time following after other people?
DeleteI have been make up free my entire life. I see I saved a lot of money. My daughters' retain their blond hair. Chemically, since their twenties. I should worry, but don't have time.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: That's remarkable considering the endless pressure on women to "put their face on". Prolonged use of hair dye, as I'm sure you know, can also damage the hairdresser's skin.
DeleteI’ve always been annoyed by the number done on women to purchase useless beauty, age-reduction products that cost pennies to make and are sold for obscene amounts of money. I’ve generally been a proponent of natural aging and that’s what I mostly practice. If others want to waste their time, energy and monies on all that nonsense, then to each his or her own. I do see the creatures of commerce systematically trying to draw men into their money-making snare by promoting jewelry, makeup, clothing styles as once was focused solely on women’s egos. I’m quite content to allow those in the entertainment world adhere to those dictates I can view from afar. That’s what the makeup is for anyway, to enhance facial features of those on stage so they’ll be visible to an auditorium audience and not washed out by artificial lights.
ReplyDeleteJoared: I know, the profit margin on many beauty products must be mind-bogglingly huge. A few chemicals in a tiny tube for some exorbitant price. And yes, more and more men are falling for this narcissistic nonsense. When did the natural look become the ugly look?
DeleteI agree with Mary, make-up and fashion is just another form of creativity. My hair recently went through a pinkish phase - next week it might be silver - it's just a bit of fun. I do though agree that for some it can become an unhealthy obsession.
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: Sure, if it's just a bit of fun, what's the harm? So where are the photos of your pink period?
DeleteIn my younger years I was more subject to the pressure to alter my appearance to fit some arbitrary standard of beauty. Not anymore. I don't color my hair (or curl it or straighten it), I don't use any products on it other than baby shampoo, I virtually never wear makeup other than occasional use of mascara. I don't paint my nails anymore, either. And even for moisturizing I use coconut and olive oils. I'm just not willing to subject myself to any more carcinogens than necessary. And letting go of all that has been mightily freeing.
ReplyDeleteAgent: I'm impressed by your abandonment of all those traditional female beauty aids. As you say, you're also avoiding a lot of possible carcinogens.
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