As I gaze into the reflection of the mirror a thousand and one thoughts run through my mind each one tugging my confidence down yet another notch. Another coat of mascara? Maybe get my eyebrows done again? I am not even going to look at my body. More eyeliner? Maybe I should try that new foundation. Running the brush through my forcefully straightened, expensively sleeked hair, I glance at my alarm clock. 7:21 was displayed in bold red letters and I just sighed, my shoulders slumped pathetically. I spent an hour and a half…again. I just wish I could be pretty. I feel hopelessly flawed. I will not be accepted until I look like the girls in the magazines and in the movies the best I can. I have heard that beauty is pain, but really? This emotionally draining as well?

These are the unfortunate echoing thoughts of young girls all across America. Dissatisfaction rattling in their minds, low self esteems settling in upset stomachs. 94% of teens wish they could be more beautiful. 85% of women say they are not even as attractive as the average woman is. Half of girls, ages- 9-12, wish to be thinner when, 70% of these are already average weight. What is the source of this distasteful low self satisfaction with a bitter aftertaste of restlessness when they look in the mirror each dreaded morning? Our perception of beauty is distorted through the 3,000 advertisements women see every day. Upholding unattainable role models on metal billboards like idols, or within the worn pages of today’s most popular magazines easily located in any waiting room, office, restroom, even in the checkout stand, they are set up like posters to be overlooked by any and all bystanders. Or they come over the cable televisions in the form of annoying commercials interrupting your show where they too live in a fantasy world where everyone is perfect, flawless and unbelievably, but honestly fake.

Fake. The reasons why they look like barbies is because they are made up of the same thing…plastic. Models..we all wish we could meet the 5’10”, 110lbs high standards when in reality the average woman is 6 inches shorter and 35 pound heavier(5’4”, 145 lbs.) Plastic nails, hair extensions, false eyelashes, spray tan, implants, lip plumper, make up, make up, and more make up. A living Barbie. No wonder 90% of girls think they have to wear make up every day! Researchers generating a model of a woman with Barbie-Doll proportions found that her back would be too weak to support her upper body and her waist would be too narrow to contain more than half a liver and a few centimeters of bowel. In consideration, a real woman built this way could not live, but would suffer from chronic diarrhea and eventually die from malnutrition. Sorry to break it to you Ken, but Barbie wouldn’t make it to your dream house.

So why do we wish to look like this? Oh yes, the media… says we can have it all! If we just lose those extra pounds, cover our faces with foundation, mask our eyes with colors, and squeeze into those second skin pants. Why does the media throw these criterion in our faces? Well maybe it’s the 40 billion dollars spent on diet products, 38 billion on hair products, 24billion on skin care, 6 billion on makeup, we are giving them each year. So we can posses the “beauty” and “glamor” that they say we should have, the “beauty” and “glamor” they don’t actually have. Yes! So and so gets to walk down the red carpet but, if you look deeper into their perfect gowns, shinned hair, and lovely heels you’ll realize those attendees routinely fasted and are enduring tight fitting under garments to flatten stomachs for those unforgiving evening gowns. So smile for the camera! And don’t faint! We know you can’t breathe and are hungry, but you do look beautiful. After all beauty is pain, right? This is where we are wrong… it shouldn’t be. What they want is money, and so they serve fantasy expectations for us to try and live up to and pay from our pockets for. What we need is too see where true beauty comes from.


Shine those eyes, and jut of those dimples…smile and laugh. Be happy, be healthy this is beauty. Use make up to enhance the beauty you have, not to create a beauty that looks like those superstars. 75% of men wish that their partner would wear little to no makeup and say that they prefer a fuller figure than a small skinny one. The reason is because, they look healthy…and are able to reel in that fish, walk down the street, and carry in the groceries without passing out or getting hurt. Isn’t that what you want? Fuller isn’t fat. Stay average, stay healthy for your height, everyone is different sizes and shapes! Enhance and flaunt yours the way that looks best for you! Not the way everyone else is trying to look. Beauty emanates from within. Remember, makeup is only skin deep, personality is from the heart…let it come through and be your beauty. Be loved for who you are not what you look like.