Recently I've been doing some thinking about make-up. This is something I contemplate every now and then. In high school I wore make-up every day and curled my hair. In college I decided that people should like me for who I really am and decided that make-up was a mask to hid behind(plus I like to just roll out of bed and head to class). Then I was in Erin's wedding and she found this great make up person that made me realize that make-up can be used to just enhance your 'natural beauty'. I also found that buying better make-up made for a better look. So I bought some good make-up and started wearing it. Then I got married and had kids. This leaves little time for make-up and I only wear make-up when I have extra time(ha!) or when I get dressed up. Every now and then something will make me realize that I look better with make-up and I decide that I should wear it more. This time my thoughts were sparked by a couple things. I was putting together a portrait collage and I thought about the pictures I was picking of me were all ones where I had make-up on. Now I don't wear any form of make-up at least 99% of the time. I don't like to have my picture taken when I don't have make-up on, so there are not that many of me in my normal state of being. So I started thinking about how I should wear make-up more. The next day I read this post and I thought 'Well, Erin looks fine without makeup.' Then I think of the pictures of me with make up and looking in the mirror every day and again make-up seems like a good idea. After all I do want to be attractive to my husband and look like I have it a little bit together to the rest of the world. Then today I saw one of these videos posted in Jackaroo World. This prompted me to look on YouTube for myself. I found some more videos that made me realize there is a way bigger picture. They made me think of Lily and how she will think of herself when she grows up. Then they made me think of Ryan and what he will think of himself and how he will look at girls. They made me realize I need to be making sure every day that my kids know they are beautiful and wonderful and to learn to embrace things that make other people different than them. This message from Dove hits me so hard that I joined YouTube just so I could post these videos in hopes that more people will post them and more people will see them and they might make more kids out there(and grown ups too) realize that they are beautiful. Thanks to Dove for their Campaign for Real Beauty. So for me, maybe I will wear make-up more often because I feel prettier with it on, but I will also know that my husband loves me for way more than how I look with make-up on.
dove 'little girls'
This is an important message. Kudos to Dove for starting the campaign for real beauty!
dove film
These girls make me sad. Unfortunately I think they are not in the minority.
dove evolution
This is incredible.
9 comments:
I hope those workshops can help mothers and daughters communicate. I still remember your telling me "You're my mother. You HAVE to say that" anytime I gave you a compliment or told you that you were beautiful. Yet you believed anyone who had anything negative to say! Now that you are an adult, do you realize you are beautiful in many ways?
Now I realize there is a delicate balance that I want to maintain between being grateful for my gifts and accepting that I have been gifted in some ways with the appropriate amount of humbleness.
Wow, you really are grown up! How'd that happen?
Jen,
Those Dove films ARE amazing. I'm so glad you posted them. I love that last one, "Evolution." I was shocked to see the computer part. That is crazy.
Again, thanks! I needed to be reminded.
That second film was so crazy. That little girl (the first on in the pool) wasn't the least bit fat, and it's crazy that she already thinks something is wrong with her at that young age.
I think most men would agree with me that if make-up makes y'all happy or makes y'all feel pretty or whatever, go for it. But y'all look mighty damn fine without it.
Besides, make-up is a pretty small thing compared to what we do... to make us feel happy or feel manly we spend lots of money on electronics and cars ;) Manliness-extenders (the sanitized version, at least) is what you used to call it, I remember.
- Philo
Jen aren't those ads incredible? It just makes me want to cry when I see the young girls who are still growing into their bodies want to starve themselves just to be accepted. I was just like that when I was in high school. I remember feeling like I was the biggest person in the world - like some freak. And now I look back and I think I looked great. Sad. But I love that Dove is actually trying to do something and just getting these videos out there and having us all talk about it is so great.
Thanks for posting these. It would be nice if they were shocking, wouldn't it? It makes me glad, in a way, that I have boys. Though I realize boys can have their own peer-pressure problems, body-image issues are so pervasive for girls and are almost impossible to fight. I know you can't shelter them forever, but...it sort of makes me want to think about homeschooling my fellas!
I question this too. Since coming to MIT, I've basically slobbed it up. No make-up, sneakers, jeans, sweatshirts. Very different from BU. But then, although I was more body self-conscious at BU, I was also much healthier because I exercised, ate better, etc.
So I do think that making an effort can end up being healthy, but it can also make you miserable about yourself. Very double-edged sword.
I do love those commericials, although I remember discussing them with friends when they first came out and they were like, but what does Dove sell? Cellulite reducing lotion!
I never wore make-up in high school. My mom doesn't wear much makeup and never taught me about it.
I wish she had though b/c I always had acne problems and that gave me low self-esteem when I was a pre-teen/teenager. I think make-up could have helped me. So, in that regard, I think simple and subtle beauty regiments can help you feel good about yourself.
I didn't figure make-up out until my later years of college and I am still trying to figure it out. Even now I wear very little to none.
What I worry about more is the whole body-image thing. I never thought about dieting or any of that when I was a pre-teen, but nowadays, little girls do worry about that. It is so sad. It really is a huge problem with young women these days. I really like that Dove commercial you posted.
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