This post has been a long time coming. I see the attitudes and ideas of young girls concerning ‘beauty’ and it just breaks my heart. I’ve wanted to address it for a long time, but how could I? I struggle with the same things and I probably can’t reach the masses of young girls that I care so deeply about... I practically have no voice to be heard, but I’m going to give it a shot anyways and really put myself out there.
I really miss the days when young girls had very little influence on what they believed to be ‘beautiful’. When I was little I had 4 women to influence me - My Mom, my Mema, Lucy Ball & Audrey Hepburn. All 4 of these women are the most beautiful in my eyes. Although all of these women are what the ‘world’ would consider beautiful - I didn’t define beauty with what they looked like, rather who they were.
My Mom taught me the beauty of having a big heart.
My Mema taught me the beauty of having complete confidence.
Lucy taught me that beauty was being able to laugh at yourself, always.
& Audrey taught me the beauty of class, of carrying yourself with grace.
These were my influences.
Now I don’t want to get into who is responsible for sending the wrong message to younger girls - that’s not what I’m about. I simply want to lift a veil on what’s really going on that eyes can be opened and hearts can start to truly feel beautiful and walk in the light of this truth. You are Beautiful + Nothing can take that away from you.
Beauty isn’t how people view you on the outside, it is how you truly feel on the inside.
I am going to be really vulnerable and post completely make-up less photos of myself to help hopefully to prove my point - knowing fully that once I do it will be forever lost in internet-land. Knowing that some people will bully me. Some people will completely disagree with me. But if just ONE younger girl reads this, sees my photos and feels like finally she is not alone and she really IS beautiful. I’ll take it. I’m going to air my insecurities for the greater good.
A few years ago, I lost a ton of weight and started to have really itchy, bruising skin and the doctor couldn’t figure out why. During this time my eyebrows started to fall out. They never grew back. I have to draw on my eyebrows every day. Last year I was attacked by a dog and had to have emergency surgery on my face. The surgeon did a beautiful job - but I will always see and be self conscious of the scars.
But there is good news! My eyebrows and the texture of my skin does not make me beautiful. SUCH GOOD NEWS!
Here is a photo of me without any make up at all:
As you can see... my eyebrows are hangin’ on for dear life & there are scars under my left eye and on my bottom lip.
Here is another photo with my basic make up on: Foundation, eyebrows & mascara:
This next picture is for all of the girls that continue to compare themselves to the celebrities that they see everyday on instagram & in magazines and on online paparazzi websites. Those people have professional makeup artists and every image you have ever seen has most likely been photoshopped. Because I have a background in both photography and makeup I was able to do this. It is all contouring, drawn on lips and photoshop:
THIS IS WHY YOU CANNOT COMPARE YOURSELF! There is no such thing as perfect ‘beauty’ (using the popular definition of the word). Everyone is flawed and if you think you see a perfect beautiful person it is because they had a team of people surrounding them & working on them to create a desirable & profitable product.
Who cares if Kylie Jenner draws on her lips? Lucy Ball also most likely drew on her lips. That doesn’t make either one of them beautiful & it doesn’t mean you have to have big lips to be noticed and loved.
You are beautiful because you are smart, you are hilarious, you are spontaneous and forgiving. You have a big heart & you’re a good friend. These things make you beautiful. These things leave a forever impact on the world around you.
So which photo am I beautiful in? Whichever one I FEEL beautiful in. :) which honestly is all of them. I feel beautiful because i AM smart and I AM really freakin’ funny. I’m spontaneous and forgiving. I DO have a big heart and I AM a good friend! Would I ever draw on my lips and go out like that? Probably not! But I’m not gonna judge the girls that do. Would I ever go out in public without my eyebrows? Probably not, but I hope that if I did, no one would judge my ‘beauty’ on that one little skin deep thing.
I have a husband, a dog, a family, friends and a community that gather around and love me for all of these things - eyebrows or not. How beautiful is that?
Girls, love yourselves, stop comparing yourselves. You are all amazing and so worthy of FEELING beautiful. My hope is that one day you will feel just as beautiful in your sweat pants with no makeup on watching netflix as you do in your best date getup. Because you are. Because you are who you are, and you have all of the big and little blessings that make you exactly who you are.
So love it, embrace it, own it...feel it. You are beautiful.
turnnoffyourmind
amandla
stormborns
origamiaround