So here's an article I wrote recently -
Being a woman has never been an easy role to play in the gender wars battle, but in an age of empowering, driven independent ladies we're rising to the top and looking great doing it. However looking great amongst the photoshopped models of glossy magazines isn't always easy, and when we should be concentrating on climbing the ladder to success we get lost in the search for aesthetic perfection. Unfortunately for most women, the way we feel about ourselves is governed by how we think we look.
It's important to remember that beauty
is subjective to the eye of the beholder and concentrating on wanting
to appear in a certain way is not a healthy way to lead your life. As
women we all come in different shapes and sizes, with lots of
different lumps and bumps that we may either love to have or hate to
see, but these are what make us unique and individuality is what
makes us irresistible. With that said, there's
nothing wrong with using the lovely feature enhancing tools
we've been given to help make us stand out and show off our best
bits. Make-up and hair dye, gorgeous indulging scrubs and masks and
enchanting bottles of aromatic perfumes were all put on this Earth
for us to use, so we can stand tall and proudly flaunt our feminine
figures. Its all about balance in the world of beauty, and as long as
you can recognise yourself in the mirror after a session with your
favourite products you should have got that balance just right.
But what about the other tools of the
beauty industry that have only come into fruition in more recent
years. Today there are cosmetic clinics on the corner of every high
street, and they are advertised prevalently during television breaks
and on the radio. Personally I believe making a major change in your
appearance isn't something that should be encouraged so lightly.
Without generalising, the aesthetics of each individual woman tends
to be a fairly sensitive subject. So much so that our opinions of
ourselves can change quite dramatically with one single comment. With
that said advertising change as an easy option to achieve beauty can
be a dangerous thing. Especially because most of these procedures
aren't as easy as surface value might suggest.
Feeling confident in the way we look is
core to the way we act in social situations. Everyone wants to stand
out and be noticed for positive reasons, and not remembered for our
flaws. There is no one set way that we should look, and I think this
is an idea that is sometimes forgot when we tirelessly work to
achieve our physical prime. Sometimes it's what we believe to be our
flaws that others find most endearing about the way that we look.
Whether it's a gap in your teeth, the tone of your skin, the kinks in
your hair or the way your thighs wobble when you walk, these are all
qualities that build up to make a beautiful one of a kind you, and
changing this shouldn't be at the top of your agenda.
This is not to say that I am boycotting
the recent developments in the cosmetic industry. The fact is that a
lot of these procedures can be fantastically life changing. For me,
one of these procedures did just that and after suffering a life of
unsightly scabs and sores on my lower legs, I was saved by laser hair
removal.
My hair has always been thick and dark;
which is lovely, but it comes with the price of noticeable arm and
leg hair. When I was at school it was my biggest insecurity. After
being relentlessly teased I grew more and more self conscious and
from an extremely young age refused to enter the playground without
my 50 den tights and my thick cardigan to hide away in. This made
summertime sticky and uncomfortable to say the very least, and after
seeing my despair my amazing mum offered to help remove the hair from
my legs. Sadly all the waxing, shaving and epilating quickly took its
toll on my skin. Dermatitis spread as a result of all the hair
removal and the marks it left were worse than the hair I started
with.
After researching every available
option, meeting with my GP and waiting until I'd turned 18, I was
lucky enough to undergo laser hair removal to treat my biggest
insecurity. This really did change my life and for the first time
ever I could be seen out in pretty skirts, flaunting my pins like all
the other girls.
Laser hair removal didn't wave a magic
wand and turn me into a super confident beauty queen, but it did give
me the confidence to be the person I wanted to be. There's lots of
things about the way I look that get to me from time to time. Its not
easy to be a woman, trying to look your best all the time and the
television's telling you “this is how you can change”. Nobody
really needs to change. But it's amazing that advances in the
cosmetic industry today can be so beneficial to the quality of life
lots of people lead. Including me.
