Beauty is something that we all define differently. For some, it’s based on personality, and for others, it’s based on looks. For the most part, this world has a one track mind when it comes to beauty. It’s about looks and name brands. Perfect hair, perfect makeup and perfect clothes mark today's standard of beauty.
Young girls and girls of all ages have so many social pressures to be perfect and have it together all the time that people have started to lose their authenticity.
Hollywood has given us a warped perception of what it means to be beautiful. There are celebrities who are 17 or 18 years old that have more makeup on their face than I even own. There is so much pressure on teens to look as fantastic as celebrities. The part of this pressure that is unseen is that their “beauty” is unreachable for “normal” people. Every day people are unable to reach this level of beauty because we don’t have a “glam squad” or a personal stylist. Never in our lives will we be wearing a custom made sheer Dior dress or have our hair done by the best celebrity hair stylist in the country.
There is so much more to a person than their physical appearance. Not only do we strive for something bigger, but we know that it is unreachable. What happens when we feel shame because we can’t reach all of the standards that have been put on us? We start starving ourselves and getting unnecessary plastic surgery. We spend all of our paychecks on makeup, and we cry when the boy doesn't want us. We cry because we’ve been starving ourselves and buying makeup, and he still doesn't want us.
How and when do we stop focusing on more than just what someone looks like? How do we learn to dig deeper and love people for something that is more than how great their makeup looks? When will we stop looking at celebrities and envying their seemingly perfect beauty?
The answer to all of these questions is when we finally learn to love ourselves. When we can look in the mirror and be content with who we are and what we look like at that particular stage in our life.
There is so much truth to this issue. There is so much pain and hurt that comes from the effort to reach societies view of perfection.
People are better than that. Girls are better than that. There is more to us than how we look. Blondes aren't stupid, tall girls aren't conceited, short girls aren't “easy”, and girls don’t have to look like a Kardashian to be beautiful.
It’s time for girls to start loving themselves. Loving themselves because they are brave, bold, smart, funny, successful, generous and beautiful.
This topic has been exhausted. It’s cliché to talk about body image, and how high Hollywood sets standards for the rest of the population. It’s been done and talked about. But I have a new idea.
How about we start doing our makeup because it makes us feel good; not to impress some boy or because we feel like we have to. How about we start wearing what we want to wear instead of trying to keep up to date with the newest trends. How about we find something every day to love about ourselves.
Once we get there, Hollywood will have nothing on us.
