Beauty, For Real

I love cosmetics. I always have. I love making myself look different. It isn’t so much about not liking who am I as it is loving to use my face as canvas to create something different. It’s about having fun.

And yet there are many young girls who use makeup, plastic surgery, extreme dieting, etc. to try to conform to some mythical “ideal” as proclaimed by our media driven society. Our daughters are not simply trying to be better; they’re trying to achieve something that doesn’t even exist.

The beauty that fills the pages of the fashion magazines is not real. It’s computer generated. Don’t believe me? Well check out this post from my friend Cass. Now go show that to a young girl needing to learn the truth about the beauty industry.

For a more interactive experience, take a look at Greg Apodaca’s photography website. Pay special attention to the beautiful, exotic, bikini-clad woman and the young, perky, blonde girl. Look closely at the picture, then hold your cursor over the picture to see it as it was originally taken. There are additional photos on the right side giving close ups of the photos.

Now isn’t that amazing? And wouldn’t that be great if all young girls could see the truth about beauty in the media? For that matter, wouldn’t it be just as good for our sons to see it, too. They need to know that most of what they see as desirable is a fantasy. Maybe if we can show our kids this truth they’ll finally start liking themselves enough to respect and care for their bodies. Maybe a healthy self-esteem in adolescence wouldn’t be so rare.