Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Beauty and the Illusion

Being someone who’s been involved with the beauty industry in one way or another, has given me a clear picture of how many men and women view their own beauty.

Let me start off by saying, that I am very much included within this picture, because I have to always keep a close check on my own self-view, and be aware of what’s real and what’s illusion.

Through the years, I’m gradually leaning to accept the things I cannot change about my physical self, and at the same time, accept the things I am.

Much of how people think of themselves as being beautiful, has to do with the comparisons they make, to what the beauty industry defines as beautiful…

*The most beautiful skin, hair, body weight, teeth, and on and on…

At one time, it use to only be women who were concerned about beauty, but in the past 20 years, I’ve noticed that men have become equally as concerned, as well. Things like: working-out, dieting, facials, and even cosmetic surgery are shared by both genders.

However, it’s no longer about simply staying healthy and looking good. It’s become an obsession.

Personally, I find that women feel more of the pressure of maintaining a certain “image” of beauty, simply because of the way our society is.

And I think that’s very unfair.

I watch, how many women (of all ages) struggle to maintain this image, to the point of exhausting themselves into depression.

And for what? To maintain an image that someone else has created for them?

I’m not saying that men don’t feel certain pressures too. But society does not place the same amount of emphasis of physical beauty on men, as they do women.

In my opinion, beauty magazines are one of the most powerfully subliminal influences of showing people how they should look. And this is why I DO NOT read them.

I use to work as a makeup artist for several professional photographers. And when I tell you just how much photographs are “touched-up” through computer technology, to make the models (female and male) look as though they appear FLAWLESS…is no joke.

We’ve gotten to the point where no matter how much we change our appearance, it’s never enough…because we continually look at these images and compare.

We have forgotten our own unique beauty.

Yes, the beauty industry has provided us with some of the most breathtaking images….

Illusions.